Precolonial and indigenous Philippines already had established, well-defined
ideals and standards of beauty. Most of the precolonial and native
languages of the Philippines saw and described beauty as
natural—meaning, what is pleasing to the eyes and to the other senses, in nature, is considered beautiful. Precolonial Filipinos were recorded to describe what was the ideally beautiful person. For both men and women, precolonial Filipinos defined beauty with long, healthy, shiny black hair that was well-tended to and well-combed. Healthy skin, of good sunkissed complexion, was also a determinant of beauty. Excellent personal hygiene and observance of community sanitation, including bathing in the morning, before the day's activities, and bathing again in the evening, before retiring for sleep, was seen as a precursor to health and beauty. Bathing, too, was a necessity before and after sexual intercourse, and was heavily imposed socioculturally.
Tattoos, especially in the
Visayas, were also believed to elevate and accentuate one's beauty. A person's beauty, too, was not only limited to their physical appearance, but was also defined by their character, intellect, sense of community,
altruism, and other values—which were greatly emphasized and required by indigenous Filipinos for one to be "truly beautiful". A darker sunkissed skin complexion than women's were seen on
men as determinant of beauty. A harmonious and proportional distribution of well-developed muscles on the body, from working in the fields, hunting, or building, was also another
determinant of beauty for precolonial Filipino men. For precolonial Filipino women, beauty of physique was determined by the
overall harmony and symmetry of the body, healthy, sunkissed skin, long black hair, and how subdued they carried themselves.
Elegance was seen as a paramount valuable trait, and was one of the
precolonial Filipino woman's determinants of beauty beyond the physical. Men and women alike, in indigenous Philippines, adorned themselves with
gold, jade, diamonds, rubies, and other precious stones believed to accentuate, emphasize, and elevate one's beauty. The Philippines then inherited the practice and promotion of beauty pageants from the
Kingdom of Spain and
United States during its
colonial history, and reflected their keen interest in pageantry through the
Santero culture. The first officially recorded beauty pageant competition in the Philippines was held in 1908 during the
Manila Carnival, which organized both American and Philippine diplomatic relations, The competitions were held annually from 1908 to 1938. ==National pageants==