History & Life: How The Ancient Egyptians Improved Their Looks.

The wealthy Egyptian lawyer turned to his wife and asked her to check that his eye shadow was even. Although he was well practised in the art of applying make-up, he wanted to be absolutely confident that he looked his best for tonight's grand fest. It had taken him 3 hours to arrange his hair and make up his face, and still he was not satisfied.

Lotions and Potions

Since both men and women wore elaborate make-up, one of the Egyptian househould's most prized possessions was a cosmetic box. This contained a shiny copper disc used as a mirror, razors for removing body hair, combs and hair curlers, tweezers for plucking the eyebrows, thin eyeliner sticks, pots for eye shadow, rouge and lipsticks. Upper eyelids were shaded deep blue with powder shadow made from ground azurite; lower lids were painted bright green with eye colour made from ground malachite (copper ore). Both shades were mixed into a paste with water or gum. Women made rouge and lipsticks from ground red ochre (iron-stained clay) mix with fat, and used henna to color the palms of their hands and their nails.

EYE DESIGN
Both men and women mixed ground black gelena or lead ore with fat to make kohl. They would apply it to their eyelids, eyelashes and eyebrows with a fine stick.

Crowning Glory

Wealthy Egyptians were just as fussy about their hair, dying with henna and applying plenty of perfume. Both men and women wore wigs made from human hair and vegetable fibre padding, piled high and styled with masses of curls and braids. Sometimes the wearers adorned the wig with semiprecious stones, or set it off with a miniature cone of scented animal fat, which slowly melted during a warm evening and dripped down their necks and faces.

CLOSE CUT
It was fashionable in ancient Egypt to shave a young boy's head, save for one side lock.

HAIR CARE
Women spent hours dressing each other's hair, brushing it, plaiting it elaborately, and adorning it with fancy combs.

In summertime, face creams, made of vegetable or animal oil, mixed with ground limestone- were worn more out of necessity than vanity; and to keep skin supple, Egyptians rubbed oil all over their skin. Heavy eye make-up had a dual purpose. It protectes their eyes from the glare of the sun and helped to ward off flies. The Egyptian preference for strong perfumes further helped to repel flies.

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