News
TrendsThe “Choppy Rachel Bob” Is the Most Flattering Winter Hair Trend—How to RecreateNatural hair15 Stylish Haircuts That Make Growing Out Your Hair Look ChicNatural hairNamibian Rasta sues gov’t after locs chopped in prisonTrendsAriana Grande’s Flipped Bob Is Fall’s Sweetest TrendNatural hairJa Morant Cuts Off Signature Locs, Reveals New HaircutNatural hairHGTV Star Leslie Davis' Natural Hair Color Is So Different From Her Signature Look (But Gorgeous)TrendsThe “Bombshell Blowout” Trend Has Entered the VillaTrendsColour Melting Is The Hair Technique To Know This WinterTrendsWhy Top Hair Stylists Are Crowning The ‘Flip Bob’ Summer’s Most Wearable Hair TrendTrendsThe Waterfall Bob Is the Polished Fall Haircut That Still Looks EffortlessTrendsThe “Choppy Rachel Bob” Is the Most Flattering Winter Hair Trend—How to RecreateNatural hair15 Stylish Haircuts That Make Growing Out Your Hair Look ChicNatural hairNamibian Rasta sues gov’t after locs chopped in prisonTrendsAriana Grande’s Flipped Bob Is Fall’s Sweetest TrendNatural hairJa Morant Cuts Off Signature Locs, Reveals New HaircutNatural hairHGTV Star Leslie Davis' Natural Hair Color Is So Different From Her Signature Look (But Gorgeous)TrendsThe “Bombshell Blowout” Trend Has Entered the VillaTrendsColour Melting Is The Hair Technique To Know This WinterTrendsWhy Top Hair Stylists Are Crowning The ‘Flip Bob’ Summer’s Most Wearable Hair TrendTrendsThe Waterfall Bob Is the Polished Fall Haircut That Still Looks Effortless
EveryHairstyle

School or museum, Egypt

Egyptian Museum, Cairo

The Tahrir Square museum whose statues, wigs and wig boxes show how ancient Egyptians shaved, braided and covered their hair.

The Egyptian Museum on Tahrir Square, opened in 1902, holds one of the largest collections of ancient Egyptian objects, and with the Grand Egyptian Museum at Giza it shows thousands of years of Egyptian hair. Statues and paintings show shaved heads, heavy braided wigs, the sidelock of youth worn by children and the striped nemes headcloth of kings, and real wigs survive from tombs.

Shaved heads and wigs

Many ancient Egyptians of high status kept their heads shaved or cropped for cleanliness and comfort in the heat, and wore wigs on formal occasions. Wigs were made of human hair, sometimes padded with plant fibre, set with beeswax and resin and arranged in braids, curls and layers. Priests shaved their heads completely as a sign of purity. Styles changed over the dynasties, from short layered wigs to the large rounded Nubian wig of the New Kingdom.

Children and kings

Egyptian children are often shown with the head shaved except for one long lock on the side, the sidelock of youth, which was cut at puberty; the child god Horus is shown the same way. Kings wore the nemes, a striped linen headcloth pulled tight across the forehead and falling behind the ears, as on the gold mask of Tutankhamun. Queens and goddesses wore heavy wigs crowned with vulture headdresses.

Hairstyles of Egyptian Museum, Cairo

Sidelock of youthThe single lock worn by Egyptian childrenNemesThe striped headcloth of the pharaohs

Still to be written: Wig, Nubian wig.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

The weekly digest

Every Monday: the hairstyle of the day, new pages on EveryHairstyle, and the conferences and anniversaries of the week ahead.