Aren't you thankful that you were born in modern times? If you were around earlier, you would have been taping microphones to your head, smearing rose petals on your face, and plucking your hairline, all in the name of personal beauty.
Eyelash Plucking
One of the most bizarre and painful popular beauty practices was the continual removal of woman's eyelashes. For some reason, this beauty trend caught on and died off very quickly. That's probably because plucking your own eyelashes out is extremely painful and doesn't offer much nuance to one's appearance.
Showing Off Those Man Calves
Fellas, you might want to start taking notes here. Back in the middle ages, ladies used to think that men who had trim and muscular calves were the bee's knees. Wearing high-heeled shoes and tossing some padding into your stockings was a good way to fake them quickly.