Antike Schminke

COSMETICS

The sun and heat required the Egyptians to pay considerable attention to their skin and their appearance for reasons of good health as much as vanity.
Egyptians bathed frequently, some several times a day. Unguents and oils were applied to the skin by both sexes. One popular mixture was made of plant extracts mixed with the fat of a cat, crocodile and hippo.
Eye makeup was regularly used to provide protection from the glare of the sun and from disease bearing insects. Red ocher was applied to the lips and cheeks for the same reason women use makeup today.
Hair was a special problem. It was hot, hard to keep clean and easily infested with lice. Many solved the problem by shaving their heads and wearing a wig. The wig could be raised on small pads to allow a flow of air between the scalp and the hair and, of course, they never turned grey or bald.
Women who kept their hair were told they could enhance its natural color by rubbing in a mixture of oil and the boiled blood of a black cat or bull.

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