Much has changed for women in America since LIFE magazine had its original run from 1936 to 1972. But when it comes to the beauty industry, much remains the same. That is, women still spend an awful lot on their appearance. According to one survey 52 percent of Gen Z females regret how much money they spend on makeup, with a majority saying that social media has contributed to their overspending.
This generation is experiencing its own version of what has been going on for ages. The price of beauty was also an issue way back in 1956, when LIFE magazine ran an article headlined “Billions of Dollars For Prettiness: Big Industry Thrives on Woman’s Struggle to Stay Young.”
The story began by setting out the dilemma confronting women: “With youth and good looks bestowed upon her at birth, the American woman matures to face two mortal enemies. In a land where youth is at a premium, she finds age stalking her. And in a land of fried chicken and fudge sundaes, fat is dangerous sabotage.”
While the story presents the beauty industry as an “ally” for women, it also sound makes it sound like an enemy in some ways. Consider LIFE’s description of what women endure as they try to look young and slim:
In countless beauty shops and salons her flesh is mortified. She is shaken on tables, beaten by machines, starved, steamed, packed in mud and needled with cold water. In earnest conferences she picks her hair shades and face powders. And she pays. This year her defense budget will be: cosmetics and toiletries, $1.3 billion; beauty treatments, $600 million; soap and electric devices, $400 million; reducing, $65 million—a total more than double the defense budget of Italy.
The photographs by Leonard McCombe are impressive in their range. In addition to portraits of beauty moguls such as Elizabeth Arden, Lily Dache and Helena Rubenstein, McCombe shows women encountering the beauty industry at the grassroots. He is there for a moisturizing mask demonstration in San Antonio, at the cosmetics counter of a fancy department store in San Francisco, and during a salesperson’s visit to a California trailer park. The most distinctive pictures he took are inside an Elizabeth Arden weight-loss spa in Arizona called “Main Chance”; McCombe followed opera singer Martha Lipton as she went through treatments that ranged from the conventional (getting a scalp massage and pedicure by the pool) to one in which she is wearing a mask that was supposed to stimulate her circulation and looks better fit for Hannibal Lecter.
The technology has obviously advanced since 1956, but the quest goes on.
Customers at a beauty product demonstration in Joske’s department store, San Antonio, Texas, 1956.
Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Customers at a beauty product demonstration in Joske’s department store, San Antonio, Texas, 1956.
Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Customers learned how to use a moisturizing facial mask in Joske’s department store, San Antonio, Texas, 1956.
Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Customers learned how to use a moisturizing facial mask in Joske’s department store, San Antonio, Texas, 1956.
Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
The Charles of the Ritz powder bar at the I. Magnin department store in San Francisco, 1956.
Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Edna Courtney of Beauty Counselors Inc. operated a home demonstration in a trailer camp in Burbank, Calif.
Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Slenderella VP Irene Ward measured a client’s bust at a Slenderella salon; in 1956 the company operated 152 “slenderizing parlors.”
Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Women at a New York hair salon watched an instructional film on hair curling, 1956.
Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Women at a New York hair salon watched an instructional film on hair curling, 1956.
Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Women exercised at Elizabeth Arden’s reducing resort in Phoenix, 1956.
Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Singer Martha Lipton enjoyed a breakfast tailored and delivered to her at an Elizabeth Arden spa in Phoenix, 1956.
Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
At Elizabeth Arden’s ‘Maine Chance’ spa, singer Martha Lipton (center) sat poolside, along with several other women, as she received a simultaneous scalp massage and pedicure, Phoenix, 1956.
Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
At Elizabeth Arden’s ‘Maine Chance’ spa, singer Martha Lipton sat in a heat box, called a ‘Howard Cabinet,’ as attendant May Walsh applied ice eater to her forehead, Phoenix, 1956.
Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
At the ‘Main Chance’ spa, American singer Martha Lipton received circulatory stimulation from a heat mask operated by therapist Gladys Horton, Phoenix, 1956.
Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
At Elizabeth Arden’s ‘Maine Chance’ spa, singer Martha Lipton received a hot paraffin treatment, called an ‘Ardena Bath,’ Phoenix, 1956.
Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
At one of Elizabeth Arden’s spas, women sat under hair dryers in a rooftop garden, San Francisco, 1956.
Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Hat designer Lily Dache trying on a new model, 1956.
Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Hat designer Lily Dache trying on a new model, 1956.
Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Lilly Dache, president of General Beauty Products and hat designer, read over advertising plans with her staff, New York, NY, 1956.
Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Cosmetic executive Elizabeth Arden Graham in her salon. 1956.
Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Cosmetics magnate Helena Rubinstein (right) at work, 1956.
Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
Revlon President Charles Revson (left) showed his hand painted with Revlon fingernail polish while executive Martin Revson (second from right) watched the demonstration of the new Revlon fingernail polish on model Suzy Parker’s hand.
Leonard McCombe/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock
