In Ancient Hindu civilization, man's conduct throughout his life was to be guided by certain rules & precepts, To postulate these rules, the field of human conduct was divided into three distinct categories:

Dharma which defined religious duties and stated the law which governs the rights and obligations of individuals.

Artha the part of human activity which relates to social welfare & political exigency.

Kama which is concerned with the exploitation of the senses and pursuit of pleasure.

A full and integrated life was possible only if due regard were paid to all three types of activity and happy balance between them were established.

The Kamasutra of Vatsyayana is a well known classic Hindu treatise on love and social conduct written nearly 2000 years ago. Though the Kamasutra is a book on sex and love but it is quite explicit on the use of beauty aids in pursuing Kama. If we put aside the chapters dealing with sexuality and social conduct, the Kamasutra then appears to be a work on cosmetology and the author seems to be a perfect cosmetologist.

According to Vatsyayana, Prajapati - the lord of Creature after creating man composed a treatise of one hundred thousand verses, defining the rules of social life at the triple level of civic virtues, prosperity and sexuality. Vatsyayana probably between lst to 4th century AD studied, confirmed and wrote his own version of Kamasutra.

Kamasutra & Cosmetology
Though the Kamasutra is a book on sex and love but it is quite explicit on the use of beauty aids in pursuing Kama. If we put aside the chapters dealing with sexuality and social conduct, the Kamasutra then appears to be a work on cosmetology and the author seems to be a perfect cosmetologist.

Vatsyayana in Kamasutra stressed on learning sixty-four arts (Kalas) of kamashastra by every woman to get a higher status in the society. Of the sixty-four arts (Kalas) mentioned by Vatsyayana in Kamasutra, eight arts are connected with preparation and use of beauty aids and beauty accessories.

These eight arts are as follows:
Tatooing- Cutting out small stencils from paper or peel (Bhojpatra) for marking forehead or other parts of the body with patterns.
Decorative aids-Coloring the teeth, garments, nails hair and bodies.
Beauty accessories- Stringing of rosaries, necklaces garlands and wreaths.
Perfumery -Art of preparing perfumes and fragrances.
Proper disposition of jewels and decorations, and adornment in dress.
Magic to enhance beauty and sexual power.
Manicure -To softens hands spoiled by work or age or products.
Beauty culture -Art of applying perfumed ointments to the body and of dressing the hair with unguents & perfumes and braiding it.

Cosmetics & Toiletries of Ancient Hindus

Skin care
The seventh chapter of Kamasutra deals with occult practices comprising of two chapters dealing with six subjects. Means for becoming attractive is one of the important subject dealt in this part of the book containing information of personal adornment, subjugating the hearts of others and tonic medicines. In this part of the text Kamasutra has described number of cosmetic recipes which when used by someone brings beauty and good luck to that person. The recipes mentioned in kamasutra are a variety of lotions and ointments to enhance beauty, luck and glow of skin.

Hair care
For the hair a variety of lotions are used to keep it in place (hairdressings) or to disguise white hairs (hair dyes) and to make the hair shining and soft (conditioners). For hair treatment, the hair is smeared with camphor, saffron, and musk for a few moments after bath is taken. Vatsyayana made references of Grihya samhita of Varahamihira who says that if the hair is white all the ornament wore by a man lose their attraction. He Recommends that practices like hair dyeing should be practiced to hide graying of hair due to old age. He mentioned the following recipes to change the color of the hair.

Dental/oral care
According to Kamasutra the qualities of good teeth are as follows :
They should be equal, possessed of a pleasing brightness, capable of being colored,of proper proportion, unbroken with sharp ends. Defects of teeth are that they are blunt ,protruding from the gum,rough, soft and loosely set.

Eye care
Eye cosmetics are used to enhance the attractiveness to the eyes, benefits the eyes, increases good luck and give them subjugating beauty.

Bath
Townsman take a bath with scented water, scented with various ingredients. First the townsman sits on a soft towel and his servants pefume him and massage his head. Then his body is massaged with scented oil, after which he plunges in to the pool. He then sits on the marble table to wash himself and his assitance pour the scented water over him. The townsman is then soaped with a soapy material called pheneka, after which he dresses again.

Perfumery products
Scents and perfumes appear to be very popular during ancient Hindu period. Vatsyayan Kamasutra says that perfumes in fashion were musk, saffron, camphor, aloes, lemon, lavander, betel leaf, Hardwickia pinnata, bull's gall, etc. These perfumery materials were used to scent beauty products such as lacquers, oils, black for eyelids and eye brows and products for the hair and clothes. Thus, according to the season, time and circumstances, the townsman was able to check the smell of sweat on his body using the perfumery compounds and perfumed beauty products.