Clothing in Ancient Egypt Part 5- Hair and Wigs
As was noted in the previous post, Ancient Egyptian Clothing Part 4: Hygiene and Cosmetics, cleanliness in ancient Egypt was particularly important. The quest for cleanliness was especially important in regards to their hair. It was quite common for the ancient Egyptians to shave all hair from their bodies in a quest to remain clean. This may have been quite helpful in that count as it was easier to keep disease and parasites such as lice from infecting a person (http://www.egyptologyonline.com/wigs_&_hair.htm). Ancient Egyptian priests were completely shorn and wore no false hair as an act of purity (http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/priests.htm).
That is not to say the ancient Egyptians were not mindful of their hair, natural or otherwise. There are many remedies for balding and greying that survive on medical papyri that can still be read today. It was common for the ancient Egyptians to try to dye their hair to meet the cultural expectations to have jet-black hair. Juniper berries would be ground up to make a black hair dye. Henna was also used as a hair dye, to give people an orange or red tint to their hair (http://www.egyptologyonline.com/wigs_&_hair.htm). This is evident when studying the mummy of Ramses the Great. Whatever his true hair color was as a young man, it is obvious he dyed his hair with henna as his hair began to lose its natural pigment (http://www.white-history.com/earlson/rameses.htm).
Balding was treated with as much care and scrutiny as hair color. There are many remedies detailing how one was to incite hair to grow again. Often essential oils such as fir and rosemary were used to massage the scalp (http://www.egyptologyonline.com/wigs_&_hair.htm). Other remedies call for more exotic ingredients such as fat of lion, fat of hippo, fat of crocodile, fat of tom-cat, fat of snake, and fat of Nubian ibex (http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/timelines/topics/eberspapyrus.htm).
Natural hair is rarely seen in ancient Egyptian artwork. Only in representations of children or young girls is a person’s natural hair represented in artwork. Children were completely bald save for a circle of hair left unshorn on the side of their head. The side lock was completely shorn when the child reached puberty 
(http://www.egyptmonth.com/mag07012000/mag4.htm). There are also depictions of dancers, mostly young girls, with long, flowing hair. Other depictions of dancers show the girls’ hair plaited with weights at the ends to swing with the beat of the music (http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/dance.htm).
While great care was taken to preserve one’s natural hair, even more care was taken with the wigs of the ancient Egyptians. 
Wigs, which were constructed out of human hair, were worn both by men and women and much like the clothes of the ancient Egyptians, the wigs’ styles changed with each dynasty. During the Old and Middle Kingdoms, the wigs were fairly simple. Men wore short wigs and women wore long wigs. When Egypt became influenced by the Nubian culture in the New Kingdom, the wigs began to mimic the hairstyles of the Nubians. Both men and women wore whatever length of hair was their fancy, though the men still favored a shorter hairstyle than the women. The wigs became more wedge-shaped with tiny braids throughout. For the more elaborate wigs, the hair was braided with luxurious items such as ribbon or even gold. Wigs were important enough to the ancient Egyptians that not only were their wigs made during life, but there would be numerous wigs buried in the tombs for the afterlife (http://www.king-tut.org.uk/ancient-egyptians/egyptian-wigs.htm).
During the pre-dynastic period, it was not uncommon for men to sport facial hair. As the dynastic period began to take hold, facial hair was shunned. All men wanted to be clean shaven. It is thus interesting to note that the beard was a symbol of the pharaoh;s power. The false beard, also sometimes referred to as a postiche, was worn for special occasions and festivals. It was long enough to reach the top of the collar bone, was thicker at the chin than at the end and often was slightly turned up at the end. The beard, plaited and made of such diverse materials as leather, metal or hair, was attached to the face with a chinstrap that hooked over the ears. It represented the pharaoh’s connection the god of the dead, Osiris, who is depicted with the same style of beard. This famous symbol was used almost exclusively by the pharaohs, but sometimes a queen would sport the false beard, as well., and noblemen were often portrayed with a short form of this beard (http://www.ancientegyptonline.co.uk/royalemblems.html).
© 2010, Page Strong. All rights reserved.
That's a Wrap!
Questions? E-mail the Scribe!
About The Author
History of beauty treatments and cosmetics is rich. People It is known that Egyptians are famous for their treatment of hair. Many sculptures around the world has different hair styles so it suggests that these things are not new for us.