This device was a glamour bonnet and unfortunately didn’t have anything to do with going into space. It was pretty hi tech though as it promised to give users a rosier complexion by lowering the atmospheric pressure around the user’s face to resemble Alpine conditions. Whoever invented that must have been an absolute genius if they convinced anyone else to use it other than the woman in this picture, because the idea behind it is completely absurd, I’m sure you’ll agree.

In the 30s, the idea behind getting smooth, spot free skin was to get all the bad stuff sucked out of your skin with glass nozzles, a rubber hose and a vacuum pump. Again, sounds like it definitely worked.

This isn’t an outtake from the first series of American Horror Story, but another set of beauty masks, this time from the 1920s. I’m not sure if they’ve become better or worse since they first came out.

This was big in the 1940s – especially amongst actors and actresses who liked to party – and was again invented by Max Factor. It was called ‘Hangover Heaven’ and let you put water in the plastic cubes which could then be frozen. Apparently that would really help you with a hangover, providing you were prepared to lie down and stare straight at the sky whilst you tried to get over it.

‘Freezing’ freckles off with carbon dioxide was a popular treatment in the thirties. Patients’ eyes were covered with airtight plugs, their nostrils were filled in for protection, and they had to breathe through a tube. Not sure if the process work, but at least you didn’t look like a dickhead. Oh, wait.

☛ More Weird Old Stuff: WTF Black And White Photographs