Ancient Egyptians had naturally dark, wavy to curly hair, though what you’d actually see on the streets of Thebes or Memphis varied enormously by social class, age, gender, and era. Over more than three thousand years of civilization, hairstyles shifted gradually, but a few constants held: elaborate wigs signaled wealth, shaved heads were common across classes, and hair carried deep symbolic meaning tied to religion, status, and stage of life.
Natural Hair and How It Was Worn
The natural hair of most ancient Egyptians was dark brown to black with a texture ranging from wavy to tightly curled, consistent with the population of northeastern Africa. Men of all social classes typically wore their hair short or shaved their heads entirely. Elite women sometimes kept their natural hair long and sometimes cut it short or shaved it, depending on the period and personal preference. For everyday laborers and farmers, short cropped hair was practical in Egypt’s intense heat.
Henna was the most widely used hair treatment. The dye comes from dried, crushed leaves mixed into a paste with water or an acidic liquid like lemon juice. Its active compound binds to keratin, the protein in hair, producing shades from auburn to deep red. Henna also absorbs UV light, offering some protection against sun damage. Mummies have been found with hennaed hair, suggesting the practice spanned centuries and crossed social boundaries.
Wigs as Status Symbols
Wigs were a defining feature of Egyptian elite life, but they were luxury items, not universal accessories. Skillfully constructed from real human hair, which was a valuable commodity in Egypt’s barter economy, elaborate wigs could only be afforded by the wealthy. They functioned as a visible signal of social rank, worn at banquets, religious ceremonies, and public appearances.
The craftsmanship was remarkable. A well-studied wig in the British Museum collection was made entirely of human hair with no padding of palm fibers or wool. The construction started with a mesh foundation, secured with a setting mixture of two-thirds beeswax and one-third imported conifer resin. This mixture was warmed before application and then hardened, with beeswax’s melting point of 140 to 149°F making it durable enough to withstand Egypt’s extreme climate. Individual lengths of hair, roughly 15 strands at a time, were looped around the mesh and wound tightly to anchor them in place.
Elite women owned wigs regardless of how they wore their natural hair, switching styles for different occasions. Men’s wigs ranged from short and closely fitted to long and heavily layered, depending on the fashion of the dynasty.
The Sidelock of Youth
Children wore one of ancient Egypt’s most distinctive hairstyles: the sidelock of youth. The head was closely cropped or shaved except for a single long plait hanging from behind the right ear. Boys wore this style more commonly than girls, and it was typically cut off at puberty as a symbolic transition into adulthood.
The sidelock carried religious weight. Its most significant wearer was Horus, the god who served as the model of a dutiful son and rightful heir. Royal children were depicted with it to emphasize their position in the line of succession. The young Prince Ramesses, for example, appeared in reliefs wearing the classic plaited sidelock to mark him as his father’s heir and co-regent.
Priests and Ritual Shaving
Egyptian priests took hair removal to an extreme. The Greek historian Herodotus, writing in the fifth century BCE, recorded that priests shaved their entire bodies every other day so that “no louse or anything else foul may breed on them while they attend upon the gods.” This wasn’t vanity. Ritual purity was a job requirement for anyone serving in a temple, and body hair was considered unclean in a sacred context. The completely hairless priest became one of the most recognizable figures in Egyptian society.
Tools of the Trade
Egyptian hairstylists worked with three main tools: the razor, a composite tool that combined scissors with a hair curler, and the comb. The razor did most of the heavy cutting. A stylist would use a bodkin, essentially a long hairpin, to separate and section the hair, then sculpt each section with the razor before snipping stray hairs with the scissor portion of the composite tool. Clients checked the results in polished bronze hand mirrors.
The sophistication of these tools reflects how seriously Egyptians took grooming. Hair styling was a skilled profession, and the layered, precisely shaped wigs and natural styles visible in tomb paintings required real technical ability. Scissors left clean, blunt-cut ends, a level of precision that shows these weren’t crude implements but purpose-built hairdressing equipment refined over centuries.
How Styles Changed Over Three Millennia
Egyptian hair fashions evolved slowly but noticeably across dynasties. Early Old Kingdom styles tended toward simpler, shorter cuts and modest wigs. By the New Kingdom, wigs had become longer, more elaborate, and more heavily adorned with beads, gold tubes, and perfumed wax cones placed on top of the head at banquets. Women’s styles grew increasingly complex, with braids, curls, and layered arrangements that required significant construction time.
What remained constant was the interplay between natural hair and wigs, the association of grooming with social standing, and the use of hair to mark life stages, religious roles, and rank. A shaved head could signal priestly devotion or simply practical comfort in the heat. A towering wig announced wealth. A single plait behind the ear told everyone you were still a child. In ancient Egypt, hair was never just hair.