In cosmetic there is cosmos; and it is not by chance that the word ‘mask’ has been introduced in the vocabulary of beauty salons. A ‘bushy’ hair style has always presented the image of nature in a wild and rebellious state, similar to that, described by myths, prior to the creation of man and the birth of society. When the elegant woman has her hair done, when she ‘masks’ her face with cream, powder and various dyes, when she rectifies irregular lines with her brush and pencil to give them a style, although she may not be aware of it, she is carrying out on her face – a universe in miniature – the gestures of the Demiurge, organising the cosmos, destroying monsters and introducing the arts of civilisation.

Lévi-Strauss, anthropology and aesthetics Boris Wiseman