In Myanmar, everyone swears by this natural skin cosmetic
People use thanaka as a beauty aid. It’s said to soften the skin, prevent wrinkles and sunburn, and keep mosquitoes away.
Near shwebo, MyanmarWhen did human beings first decorate their oldest canvas: the body?
It is impossible to say. The primordial evidence—the hides of Stone Age peoples—has long since turned to dust. Yet clues remain. A rouge-colored mineral called ocher has been discovered, finely ground and ready for application, inside a 100,000-year-old abalone shell in South Africa. Other archaeological finds suggest that cosmetic pigments were used by pre-human ancestors as long ago as a quarter of a million years. Vanity is very old, indeed.
Today in Myanmar, or Burma, this ancient human impulse for self-beautification remains on bold display everywhere. Women, men, and children of all backgrounds wear thanaka, a pale yellow paste made from pulverized tree bark that is painted artfully or
