on personal taste, fashion, sex, age, and social standing.
Priests were required to shave their heads and whole bod-
ies for ritual purifi cation. However, other ancient Egyptians
cropped their hair short or shaved it to fi t their heads in wigs,
to keep them cool in the heat, and to keep lice at bay. Small
children had their heads shaved except for the so-called side-
lock of youth, a long, side ponytail. Hairdressing tools were
carved from bone or ivory and were used as metal hairpins
and combs and to help curl, braid, and attach tresses of hair
as extensions with the aid of beeswax and resin.
Th e upper class and royal family wore wigs of human
hair reinforced with vegetable fi bers. Th e hair of mummies,
including those in the Royal Mummy Room in the Cairo
Museum, has helped scholars piece together the various hair-
styles, wigs, and hair colors of the ancient Egyptians. Gray
hair was rare, for hair could be dyed with juniper berries and
other plants. Hair loss and wrinkles could be combated with
advice from medical texts.
One decorative element that continues to confound
Egyptologists is the cone-shaped objects or headdresses that
banqueters wear in reliefs from the Eighteenth Dynasty on-
ward (aft er ca. 1550 b.c.e.). Although the symbolic mean-
ing and practical use of these cones remains contested, it is
generally assumed that they contained beeswax or perfume
of myrrh along with wax, animal fat, or tallow. While they
may have been used to combat the dryness of natural hair
and wigs, their presence seems to be confi ned to party cel-
ebrations, suggesting that they may have been intended to be
purely cosmetic and aromatic.
Th e ancient Egyptians took great care to clean, moistur-
ize, and perfume their skin. Some of the body scrubs they
concocted contained natron (a sodium carbonate–based
cleansing agent), salt, honey, and animal fat and vegetable
oils. Ancient Egyptian perfume did not utilize alcohol as a
base; instead, Egyptians used a base of oils and fats that they
infused with the scents of a multitude of plants, as displayed
in tomb reliefs and Greco-Roman texts. Plants that may have
been used for perfumes include the henna plant, the lotus,
and the Madonna lily. In addition, it appears that ancient
Egyptians used cinnamon, herbs, spices, carob, juniper, ce-
dar, and resins that contained myrrh, frankincense, lauda-
num, and galbanum.
Th e ancient Egyptians are known for their use of kohl, a
darkening cosmetic applied in the way we apply eyeliner to-
day. It was not restricted to the living; it was also placed on
statues of the gods and goddesses and on the deceased. Kohl
was aesthetically pleasing but also may have helped refl ect
the rays of the sun and alleviate infl ammation around the
eyes by repelling insects that carry disease and cause infec-
tions. Kohl came in a variety of colors, such as black, taken
from the bluish-gray lead ore galena, and green, which was
derived from malachite. Kohl was placed on the eyes with a
small stick of ivory, bronze, stone, glass, or wood both be-
low the eye and above, on the eyelid. Th e ancient Egyptians
also decorated their lips and cheeks with lip color and rouge
Glass kohl tube in the form of a palm column, from the Eighteenth
Dynasty in Egypt (© Th e Trustees of the British Museum)adornment: Egypt 5