Cheryl Cole passes the UK beauty test but would she be considered as beautiful in South America?
What do you consider beautiful? A golden tan and long flowing locks like Jennifer Aniston or Cheryl Cole may be top of your beauty wish list. What about stretched ear lobes or lip rings? No? Well if you lived in South America you may think otherwise.
Beauty ideals vary greatly across the world and some techniques may seem downright scary to us. So forget about how time consuming your own make up routine may seem and imagine trying out these tips.
Lip plates are popular with women in some parts of Africa and South America today. The lower lip is pierced and a plate inserted into the hole to stretch it. Over time larger wooden plates are put into the hole until a size of 15 cm is achieved. Ouch.
Ear lobe stretching goes back thousands of years. Weights are used with piercings to stretch the earlobes, mmm sounds nice. In Borneo shoulder length earlobes are seen as very beautiful whereas in Tibet they were a sign of intelligence.
Filing down your teeth is something we would never, ever, want to go through but in Bali women have been doing so to attract husbands for generations. The teeth are filed to sharp points and are deemed elegant.
We're all for piling on a few necklaces but in some Asian and African cultures women wear many neck rings to elongate their necks, a cultural idea of beauty. The rings push the collarbone and ribs down, stretching the neck by a few inches, causing pain and even infection.
We don't know about you but we'll never complain about how long it takes to achieve the perfect smokey eye again!
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