Appearance, cleanliness, and good grooming were important. Even mummies were carefully manicured. Medical papyri include formulas for preventing baldness, fighting wrinkles, and coloring gray hair. The Egyptians washed with natron-and-oil soaps, shaved with copper or bronze razors, and plucked stray hairs with copper or silver tweezers. They applied eye paint (called kohl), scented oils, and deodorant made of powdered carob. They admired the results in hand-held mirrors of highly-polished copper.
Egyptian clothing was light, simple, and elegant, especially in the Old and Middle Kingdoms. Egypt was almost always hot, so both men and women wore as little as possible. Men wore plain linen loincloths that hung to the knees. Women wore linen shifts. Children generally ran about naked, wearing only amulets or charms (often depicting the god Bes) to protect them from harm.
Many men shaved their heads-a sensible choice in a hot, dry, dusty, insect-infested land. Many women, including legendary beauty Nefertiti, did too. For dress-up, both men and women wore wigs made of human hair, or a mixture of hair and plant materials, stiffened with beeswax. Wigs came in many styles. Some included braids, plaits, ribbons, and jeweled ornaments. Wig fads came and went. Nefertiti favored a short, curly Nubian-style wig, widely copied by her subjects.
Children had shaved heads except for what was known as the “side-lock of youth” (also called the “Horus lock”), a narrow shock of hair left hanging to one side. The falcon-god Horus was the Egyptian archetype of the good son, and the Horus lock was worn as a pious reminder of Horus’s role as a virtuous and devoted child. Cutting off of the side-lock was a rite of passage when a child became an adult.
During the New Kingdom, enormous wealth flowed into Egypt. The elite adopted colorful, elaborate clothing, jewelry, and personal adornments. Increased contact with the Near East, where colorful, ornamented textiles were popular, influenced
Fashions.
Health, Beauty, and Tabby Cats
Men, women, and children of all ages and social groups wore heavy eye makeup called kohl. On stone palettes, they ground malachite (a green ore of copper) or galena (a dark gray ore of lead) into powder, blended it with fragrant oil, and applied it in thick bands above and below their eyes with a rounded-end tool called a kohl stick. They also brushed natural pigments made from colored earth and minerals onto their eyelids and eyebrows.
Scholars have long known that the thick eye paint offered some protection against the constant glare of the sun, blowing sand and dust, and the unavoidable clouds of insects. Eye paint was an ancient version of sunglasses; modern-day athletes still paint thick black lines under their eyes.
In 1999, Egyptologists and chemists studied the contents of several 4,000-year-old pots in the collection of the Louvre Museum in Paris, France. The pots were from ancient Egyptian makeup kits. The researchers found chemical compounds that were used thousands of years later by Greek and Roman doctors to treat infectious eye diseases such as conjunctivitis.
Elaborate eye paint was also a fashion statement, and even a form of religious devotion. Worshippers of the catheaded goddess Bastet may have painted their eyes in imitation of the tabby markings on their cats' faces. The dark rings around a tabby cat's eyes are still called "eyeliner" today.
Women enjoyed the opportunity to dress up in elaborately pleated, embroidered, and decorated gowns, capes, and shawls in many colors. Even men got into the act, wearing richly pleated kilts, capes, and long skirt-like garments emblazoned with decorations and rich embroideries.
Even at their fanciest, Egyptian fashions were graceful, tasteful, and (almost) never overdone. Most clothing was made of natural-colored linen, spun and woven from flax, one of Egypt’s major crops. Figurines and paintings show women in multi-hued sheaths with geometric patterns of red, yellow, and blue.
Egyptians went barefoot most of the time. During the prosperous years of the empire, royals and the elite completed their outfits with rush or papyrus sandals, leather shoes, or leather slippers. Both men and women wore clothing and accessories made of wool and leather. But these materials were not considered ritually pure, so leather and wool are seldom depicted in art works.
World History
