Geisha makeup is a strange thing. On one hand, it unquestionably looks beautiful on them. On the other hand… it looks strange. Why the white powder? Why the huge wigs?

This is on my mind because I just somehow stumbled across a video showing two geisha applying their makeup from start to finish. I can’t remember ever searching for anything geisha-related before, so I have no idea how or why this showed up in my suggested list. The algorithm works in mysterious ways. But I’m glad it did, because this is cool.
Watch it here, then return for some comments on those whys I mentioned above:
Pretty interesting, eh?
As to the whys, well we’ll start with the hair first.
The Hair
The style geisha wear was the cool thing for unmarried women to wear in the late Edo period (1603–1868). That style was called the shimada (島田), if you’re curious. It became the standard look for geisha in the late Edo and early Meiji periods, when the geisha profession crystallized into its modern form. Especially as Japan turned more and more toward Western hairstyles, geisha retained this older style as a marker of classical Japanese art and values.
As elaborate as it looks, it was originally considered fairly simple. Courtesans (oiran, 遊女) wore far more elaborate hairstyles with excessive ornamentation. Geisha, in contrast, wanted to appear simplified and refined — more artistic than sensual.
Only geisha wear wigs. Apprentice geisha (maiko) have to style their own hair, which is a lot of work. Once they graduate to geiko (fully-fledged geisha) they typically switch to a wig just because it’s easier and faster.
The White Powder
So why white?
For one, white skin was considered a sign of beauty, refinement, and high status in classical Japan, especially among the upper classes. This idea still lingers today, but it was even stronger in the past.
Second, the white face creates a blank canvas on which to paint a new face, helping to emphasize facial features. This is similar to a kabuki actor. They are painting themselves a new face for their artistic role.
But there’s also a more practical reason. Historically, geisha worked at night in dimly lit areas. The stark white makeup made their faces more visible and expressive in the low light, helping to emphasize gestures and features.
Maiko wear very dramatic white makeup — really going overboard to some degree, looking more like dolls than people. Junior geiko still wear white makeup, but they tone it down into something much more refined and elegant, as you see in that video above. Senior geiko usually stop wearing it, except for select highly formal occasions.
So there you go — probably more than you even wanted to know about geisha. Any questions?