Hairstyle in Ancient Egypt

The Egyptians gave a great importance to cosmetic and personal cleanliness.

The well-off people had a bathroom in their homes, but the poor also did not renounce to wash themselves at least once a day, using ashes or clay as a detergent. The hair care was particularly important.

Even if in the official events the ancient Egyptians wore a wig, they did not renounce in keeping their natural hair healthy and clean.

The wig in fact did not cover them completely: the portraits often show a straight bang that appears from under a wig of little braids. The wigs were made with natural hair or with vegetable fibers and the queen’s ones were sometimes decorated with ribbons and jewels and sprinkled with perfume. 

The pharaoh wore over the wig the characteristic headgear called nemes, made with a fabric in azure and gold stripes, that fell on the shoulders with two strips. On their forehead they wore a diadem in the shape of a cobra, the uraeus.

The priests shaved their heads completely for spiritual purity reasons, except for a braid that from the right temple came down to the shoulder.