VIDEO: Extreme Beauty Practices Around the World

Women have been concerned with beauty since the beginning of time and they have always gone to great lengths so that they could be called “beautiful”.

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Each culture has its own definition of “beauty” and its own ways to achieve it, but some of these ways are quite extreme and painful.

The most fascinating one is for sure the neck ring.

According to Wikipedia, neck rings are any form of stiff jewellery worn as an ornament around the neck of an individual, as opposed to a loose necklace. Many cultures and periods have made neck rings, with both males and females wearing them at various times.

Of the two most notable types the first is the torc, an often heavy and valuable ornament normally open at the throat. These were worn by various early cultures but are especially associated with the ancient Celts of the European Iron Age, where they were evidently a key indicator of wealth and status, mostly worn by men.

The other type is one or more spiral metal coils of many turns, often worn only by women. In a few African and Asian cultures neck rings are worn usually to create the appearance that the neck has been stretched. Padaung (Kayan Lahwi) women of the Kayan people begin to wear neck coils from as young as age two.

The length of the coil is gradually increased to as much as twenty turns. The weight of the coils will eventually place sufficient pressure on the clavicles to cause them to deform and create an impression of a longer neck.

The custom of wearing neck rings is related to an ideal of beauty: an elongated neck. Neck rings push the clavicle and ribs down. The neck stretching is mostly illusory: the weight of the rings twists the collarbone and eventually the upper ribs at an angle 45 degrees lower than what is natural, causing the illusion of an elongated neck. The vertebrae do not elongate, though the space between them may increase as the intervertebral discs absorb liquid.

The South Ndebele peoples of Africa also wear neck rings as part of their traditional dress and as a sign of wealth and status. Only married women are allowed to wear the rings, called dzilla. Metal rings are also worn on different parts of the body, not just the neck. The rings are usually made of copper or brass.

Although it can vary from person to person whether the removal of neck rings can cause pain, if they are removed incorrectly this may result in death. The custom requires that the girls who do choose to wear the neck rings start before puberty in order to get the body used to them. These heavy coils can weigh as much as 11 pounds.

The neck rings put a huge strain on the body. Once a persons neck has adjusted to the neck rings they have to leave the neck rings on permanently. Because the rings have been on these women for such a long time, this weakens the neck muscles causing the neck to essentially not being able to support itself.