Very few of us realize that the vast majority of women over 30 in the Soviet Union were ugly, fat, untidy, with bad teeth. But that wasn’t their fault. They were forced to live according to the rules which their mothers and grandmothers lived according to. They did hard men’s work and didn’t care much of their beauty… Well, this post is about strong Soviet worker women who, in spite of their outer ugliness, do deserve admiration!
In the 30′s Soviet women were sat at the wheel of a tractor and forgotten to be taken off.
And it’s them (yeah, those blonds working on tractors) who obliged Russian people with the victory in WWII.
Only because of them Russians could call up much more soldiers than Germany could afford.
Almost a third of a fit for military service Germans remained in the rear! A German Frau couldn’t and didn’t want to replace her husband at the lathe! Russian women could. Not because of the great desire… but still.
A high price had to be paid for this – current problems with demographic statistics go back to those times. No more than one child in a family was a natural thing for that period of time…
However, let’s return to the question of beauty and think of the following: where were Soviet women supposed to get all this “beautifying” stuff?
In a country of triumphed socialism, cotton wool was the only thing used for all hygienic purposes. Only by the time of the Olympic Games held in Moscow, there appeared the first sanitary pads similar to a bath sponge.
As for cosmetics, they used powder resembling crop dust and eye shadow looking more like blacking. Other popular cosmetics were an indelible pencil (quite ordinary, not cosmetic) and parquet lacquer with acetone coming complete. Note, all this took place in the 70′s.
But by the beginning of the 80′s the progress was obvious. Polish cosmetics imported into some Soviet stores were something exotic. And it doesn’t matter that the Polish themselves used them for making up the deceased… The first French brands appeared in the USSR during this time were often produced in Syria and Egypt.
Perfume “Red Moscow”, the only decent smell released by the powerful perfume industry, was popular till the very 80′s.
No need to mention that Soviet women didn’t care much of a bikini line and armpit hair. Everyone wore white pantyhose put above hairy legs. And if blonds were somehow justified, the southern ethnic groups weren’t exactly. A mustache got little attention as well. There were too many other things to fight against…
Besides, a Soviet woman was considered “chic” if she could allow herself to wear the whole pantyhose under trousers. But if she allowed herself not to wash them, she was considered…
Most Soviet women had a permanent wave on their heads. It made their hair look like wire and come out by the old age.
Some of them wound their hair with iron rollers.
Imagine the feelings of a husband when he came back home from work and saw this: a fat monster with the mouth full of metal/gold teeth, cucumbers on cheeks (skin care), hairy legs and several rows of fashionable heated rollers on the head.
Speaking of teeth… Nowadays gold teeth are considered a sign of apparent provincialism, but at those times they were a sign of wealth.
The underwear of Soviet women in 90 percent of cases was produced in the Soviet Union. Very often these were shapeless pants and a bra of the same kind, more resembling a portable parachute of the Airborne troops.
Dyed in bright colors they contained up to 100% of synthetics.
Outer clothes were a little bit better. Czech shoes were quite popular in the capital in the 80′s. Strong-durable, comfortable but not aesthetically acceptable.
Fur coats resembled heavy bulletproof vests. Caps were made from the tail of a Siberian fox.
However, if a Russian woman took off all these clothes and washed off all heavy make-up, she would turn out to be quite pretty.
The problem is that it was almost impossible for an ordinary Soviet woman to break this vicious circle. Only celebrities were able to do this.
Plus, the massive use of female labor in hard and low-paid jobs.
It was really hard for a Soviet woman to remain a woman but as you see she tried…
via kryaker
A wonderful and very interesting article!
I dont know who you really refer to, these women are genuine and hot! You couldn´t been more than 5 years at that time (80´s)
Rosie the riveter.
Its the same in Europe and USA now!
Come to the American south I bet you differ.
What about the Hero mothers than had a passel of kids to repopulate the motherland after the war. They gave medals for having 5 kids etc
Not original Soviet idea. Google “Mutterkreuz”.
“Some of them wound their hair with iron rollers.”
Now that is my kind of woman!
I personally prefer steamrollers.
…and it didn’t take much time for former Soviet block women to amaze the world with their natural beauty.
Still not impressed
Soviet woman’s underwear; “Painted in bright colors they contained up to 200% of synthetic fabrics.” The English translation failed here! It probably should be; Dyed in bright colours they contained up to 100% synthetics.
Russian women have made up for the old days, there are so many beautiful women there. Beautiful and feminine.
(Not that is anything wrong with the women of the old days! Many beautiful women then, too.)
that is why now the woman in Russia and the ex Republics is like this:
from 14 to 18 ..School only local, local boys, local wedding
from 19 to 23 ..University ready for found love abroad (register in bride ru natasha bride etc etc)
24 to 30 no job single and smoke and have bad breath
and in Ukraine the woman are not for sale
they are for FREE!!!
In the US, egocentric fat women are not interested in you. Sad.
The “Revolution from Above” by Stalin and the Stalinists created these stereotypes. The massive industrialization of the Five Year Plans, collectivization, and the coercive migration patterns established from 1928 onwards were the causes of this. In the 1920s women were allowed free abortions (which Stalin outlawed), and progressive laws on divorce and free childcare made the 1920s a socially egalitarian era.
What I miss most about Russia are the women and their hospitality.
Perhaps others notice this as well maybe not but in case you did notice some of the articles on this site are serious and others(many) are intended to be satire I guess some readers are not intelligent enough to understand this.
Do not know what satire means? View an episode of “The Daily Show” or “The Colbert Report” now read a given article on this wonderful site if you are smart enough you will know when you are reading one meant to be taken as satire.
If this is satire, it’s not obviously so. Satire needs a more intelligent author to work properly.
“Contained up to 100% synthetics”? Silly statement: everything is made of 0%-100% synthetics, isn’t it?
Exactly, somebody similar to testicules.
No matter what you think of their looks it is a well known fact that Russian women were very much part of the defeat of the German-Italian-Rumanian armys that invaded the USSR during WW II.
It is also a fact that, unlike the USSR, GB and the US German women were not part of the wartime production and this kept a lot of able germans out of the armed forces. This was not because german women were in any way less able or willing to work for their “Fatherland” but was for ideologic reasons. A huge part of the Nazi ideologi was the breading of the Masterrace. The nazis would not have women working because they were needed to give birth to and raise the new generation of “übermensch” that would rule over the “untermensch” of eastern europe after the german army had won the war and reduced the population of eastern europe by 75%. To do the work that was done by women in the allied countries the Nazis tried bringing in slave-labour from Poland, the USSR and so on. How effective these people were in production compared to women who fullfilled their duty to “Mother Russia” I think anyone can guess
first picture the girl is stunning its a pitty girls now are plastered with make up no natural beauty anymore and also women love themselves now and don’t care about anybody except jersey shore
I find Russian women very very rude,and money hungry every time i am at the farmers market there is some Russian woman accually pushing me aside[personal space please]Never have met one that is nice or sincere unless there was something in it for them.
The Russian women you are criticizing are mostly city women, mostly of the middle class. They are ambitious, greedy for money, with little moral values, and their dream is to leave Russia … But Russian women in the country (or small towns) are not like them. Russian Country women still carry the values of old Russia, i.e. generosity, bounty and faith… When in Russia, the tourists visit big cities only ; they never see the people in small towns or in the country.
I found your article harsh towards the Russian women of that area, especially when you write : “Imagine the feelings of a husband when he came back home from work and saw this: a fat monster with the mouth full of metal/gold teeth, cucumbers on cheeks (skin care), hairy legs and several rows of fashionable heated rollers on the head.”… Do you think that Russian men were better looking ? They too were not handsome either ! Past 30, they too had missing/ metal teeth, were badly clothed, had a fat stomack and were always drunk. besides, the vast majority was very poor. It was a very tough life back then, and the only people’s concern was : how to survive … So please be more tolerant towards the women of that era. The suffered a lot. Do you think that you yourself would have been better looking, were you living in the same era and in the same conditions as they? … Believe me, those women back then were far more human, kind, generous and sincere that today’s Russian women.
Da,Ilana I agree with you.
That’s so true Slavic women are soo gorgeous! I found lots of charming Russian Belarussian and Ukrainian ladies on Globo Girls. And even met one already.