Before Botox: What ancient women knew about beauty – and what God says about it

For thousands of years, beauty was simple. It was animal fats on the face, floral waters on the body and actually embracing the woman God created you to be. But somewhere over the last 100 years, we’ve traded the real, ancestral beauty of our forebears for modern convenience made with synthetic chemicals and artificial ingredients. And it’s coming at the cost of our health.

I know this because it happened to me. For years, I suffered with acne, and nothing took it away. It wasn’t until I began learning about God’s creation that I realised He had already given us everything we could ever need to nourish our skin. So why wasn’t I using it?

READ MORE: Discovering ‘clean beauty’

I began reading the labels on my beauty products and was shocked to find that the ingredient lists were a mile long

I began reading the labels on my beauty products and was shocked to find that the ingredient lists were a mile long, filled with strange names and rarely included anything from God’s earth. It was at this point that I realised these products were contributing to my acne, and they needed to go. This sparked one important question: what exactly did our female ancestors use to nourish their skin?

Well, let’s start with tallow – an animal fat prized by Cleopatra for its skin compatibility and bioavailable nutrients such as vitamins A and E. The tradition of using tallow quickly gained popularity and spread throughout the world, especially in the Nordic regions. It’s still adored today for its profound effect on the skin.

Botanicals such as frankincense and myrrh, which were gifts to baby Jesus, were sacred in ancient times. We see this in the book of Esther, where the soon-to-be queen undergoes beauty treatments consisting of myrrh-infused olive oil, followed by six months of “sweet odours” – which many believe may have included frankincense (Esther 2:12-14). These two ingredients don’t just have delightful scents, but contain properties that may help support and repair the skin barrier.

READ MORE: The Beauty Trap: Has the Church bought into the world’s standards?

Red and pink clays from the earth were used for lipstick and blush, helping to protect the lips and skin from the desert heat while providing nourishment and adornment for the face. Ancient women also created a kohl-like mascara and eyeliner by combining activated charcoal with oils and fats, famously seen in depictions of ancient Egyptian women.

As you can see, beauty was often curated from the land, not the lab. Because of this, our ancestors learned to steward their beauty to enhance their natural features, rather than change them. But in 2026, women are being conditioned to cover themselves up, change how they look and wear more make-up in order to feel valuable. The consequences of this cannot be overlooked.

Anxiety and depression rates in women are at an all-time high. Nothing is real anymore. Fake lashes, fake hair and fake breasts. We’ve been told the next serum will save us, or the new Botox will finally grant us eternal youth. But it’s all lies.

READ MORE: How much make-up should a Christian woman wear?

And it’s time we started seeing ourselves the way God does. He says we’re “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14), so why are we constantly trying to change the way He made us? The truth is, we as a society have fallen far from God’s original design for beauty, which was pure, natural and beautiful. Not to mention that it was meant to benefit our health, not disrupt it.

But now, studies show that women put an average of 168 chemicals on their bodies every single day

But now, studies show that women put an average of 168 chemicals on their bodies every single day.[1] And the weight of this can be costly. Hormone disruption,[2] irregular periods, infertility[3] and skin issues are all on the rise, with research suggesting links between exposure to certain chemicals in personal-care products and reproductive and endocrine health. God never wanted you to cover up the beauty that is you, and He certainly didn’t want you to harm your body in the process. In fact, He already knew women would want to nourish their skin and smell nice, which is exactly why He gave us so much in creation to do so.

So what if we chose to return to God’s original design? To tallow, oils and botanicals. To real beauty from God’s creation, rather than synthetic chemicals that may be harming our health.

Well, we would all be healthier. And I know this because, once I did, my acne cleared, my hormones balanced and my health was restored. And that taught me a valuable lesson: God really did give us everything we need to thrive.