As a female emperor, Wu Zetian is also very concerned about her appearance. Her beauty secret recipe is to use motherwort for beauty, which is recorded in the secret recipe of foreign Taiwan in the Tang Dynasty. The method is to pick motherwort on the Dragon Boat Festival, then dry it, pound it into powder, and finally add water to the flour to make it the size of an egg. After drying in the sun, put it in a furnace until a touch of grass turns white, then take it out, air-cool, grind it into very fine powder and put it in a container. When in use, take twelve taels of motherwort ash, add one tael of talc and one tael of rouge, grind them evenly and wipe your face. Because of Wu Zetian's long-term use, she is like a girl in her twenties in her forties and fifties, and her appearance remains the same.
Empress Dowager Cixi of the Qing Dynasty was also a very beautiful woman. According to historical records, Cixi was well maintained in her later years, so at the age of 60, her face was still intact and her skin was smooth and delicate. It is said that Cixi drinks a cup of human milk, eats a teaspoon of pearl powder and applies a layer of flower liquid soaked in flowers picked in spring every day for beauty. In addition, Cixi also pays great attention to diet. "Shennong Herbal Classic" records: "Poria cocos is flat in nature and sweet in taste. After long-term administration, it soothes the soul, nourishes the brain, strengthens the spleen and stomach, and moisturizes the skin. " So Cixi often eats tuckahoe cakes. And at night, Cixi will also apply a mask, and will apply egg white on her face, especially where wrinkles are long.
Therefore, in ancient times, women with high political status paid great attention to their appearance, not to mention those concubines who competed for favor.