This is my third (and final) post in the Egyptian fashions
series. I finally get the chance to focus on something I have wanted to from
the beginning- how the Egyptians wore their hair. Throughout history, how
people have worn their hair has included clues to their gender, wealth and
social class, something no less true for the ancient Egyptians. Alex wrote an
absolutely fantastic post on wigs a few weeks ago, so this post will focus
instead on how Egyptians dealt with their natural hair, and some of the seemingly
strange practices involved in it.
Ancient Egypt was rife with disease, as the Nile floods only
encouraged the spread of water-borne illness such as schistosomiasis and
malaria. As such, grooming was incredibly important, as keeping clean was vital
to a long life. Long hair, and beards, was sometimes seen as unclean, as it
encouraged head lice and was a breeding ground for other diseases. This is
where we reach the first hurdle in studying hair, as to prevent the spread of
illness many Egyptians, and particularly men, shaved their head.
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| An Egyptian man with a shaved head |
The first hairstyle any Egyptian wore, regardless of social
class or gender, was a shaved head with a braided sidelock, or very occasionally
in the New Kingdom several braids. This sidelock had a mythological importance,
it was the hairstyle worn by the god Horus as a child, a form he was often
represented in. It was due to the mythological significance of the sidelock
that we also see it worn by various religious figures, notably ‘sem-priests’
who helped ensure the safe passage of the dead to the afterlife.
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| The Pharaoh Akhenaten, his wife Nefertiti and their daughters |
Evidence from mummies suggests wealthy women did sometimes
wear their hair long, augmented by accessories made of ivory or gold. Unlike
men, women were rarely depicted as bald, save as children or during the Amarna
period. The positioning of some mummies suggests occasionally women wore their
hair long beneath their wigs, and when they didn’t wear a wig at all may have
styled their hair extravagantly to look like they were.
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| Egyptian women sporting a variety of different hairstyles |
Men would wear their hair short, either closely cropped or
completely shaven. The poor, servants and slaves are often depicted without any
hair at all, a symbol of their low status. Short hair was also donned by elite
men however, to make their wigs easier to wear. Men also shaved their beards,
only allowing it to grow as a sign of mourning, and likely shaving again
shortly after the funeral. The ‘false beard’, a plaited and curled accessory
which jutted from the chin, was worn by the Pharaoh as early as 3,000 BCE
however, and continued to be worn until the late period (664-332 BCE) by the
Pharaoh and other elite citizens. Actual beards seem to have become more
popular by Greek and Roman Egypt, where they appear on mummy portraits.
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| King Tutankhamun sporting a false beard |
So that is it for my series on Egyptian fashions! I hope it
proved interesting, and somewhat informative in places. I know I enjoyed to
write it at least! Especially this last post, which I had the pleasure to write
and research in Rome, which it absolutely glorious. I am still mulling over
what I want my next series of posts to be- however whatever I decide on I hope
proves to be as fun to write as this series has been!
Sources:
Robins G. Hair and the Construction of Identity in Ancient Egypt, c. 1480-1350 B.C
Robins G. Women in Ancient Egypt
Tyldesley J. Daughters of Isis: Women of Ancient Egypt
Image Sources:
http://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/civil/egypt/egcl06e.shtml
http://portsmouthpoint.blogspot.it/2013/03/ides-of-march-lecture-ancient-egypt.html
http://me13in.tumblr.com/post/83802148271/pseudofailure-yowhosedogisthat
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/21/king-tuts-mask-damaged_n_6520910.html
