Cosmetic Restoration

Cosmetic restoration is the treatment and preparation of the dead body prior to its disposition. Today cosmetic restoration is a series of sophisticated procedures that utilizes technology, prosthetics, and makeup. Taking place at the same time as embalming, cosmetic restoration is usually concentrated around the most visible areas of the body, such as the face, throat, and hands. It is widely considered to be a significant part of the funerary ritual process, and it is related to analyses of the denial of death.

Cosmetic restoration is the practice(s) of making the body appear lifelike and natural; some would even go so far as to say making it look alive. It is typically undertaken when a body is to be viewed by bereaved survivors. Restoration normally involves facial and bodily reconstruction, the application of cosmetics, and dressing of the body. The actual activities that surround preparing the body after death are culturally specific, including when the activities are performed and by whom.

Currently, cosmetic restoration is most popular in North America and is undertaken by a mortician once the body is in the possession of a funeral director. Overall, Christians neither overtly support nor object to it, whereas Orthodox Jewish and Muslim religions consider it a desecration of the dead body and therefore prohibit it. One of the motivating factors for cosmetic restoration to be undertaken is due to the physical, bodily changes that take place once a person has died. In places and religions where it is customary to cremate the body, such as Sikh and Hindu communities, or where it is not usual to view the body, there is little need for the body to be restored, and therefore it is not common practice. In the United Kingdom, for example, where cremation accounts for over two thirds of all dispositions, and the deceased is not typically available for public viewing before or during the funeral, it is unusual for the body to be cosmetically restored. In the United States, where public viewings of the deceased are much more popular, it is much more common to attend to the body in some way. Thus, the act of cosmetic restoration needs to be understood as intricately associated with cultural customs surrounding the handling and public display of the body after death.

The process of restoring the body is often promoted and marketed as the option to create a lasting and lifelike “memory picture” of the deceased. This lifelike impression has strong associations with postmortem photography, which was particularly popular in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, whereby the dead body was arranged to appear as if asleep.

The actual process of cosmetic restoration is unique to the deceased person and the manner of his or her death. Once a person has died and the heart has stopped pumping blood to organs, gravity causes the blood to sink to the lowest part of the body. For example, if the body is face up then blood collects in the back and buttocks. This is accompanied by a loss of muscle tone, the result of which is discoloring, and parts of the body beginning to sag, with eyes in particular prone to sinking into the skull. These early stages of putrefaction can be extremely distressing for the recently bereaved to witness, and this is one of the main reasons why funeral directors suggest cosmetic restoration prior to a viewing.

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