Welcome to Gaia! ::

1st Stop: Ancient Egypt
(year to be decided still)

Additional information, pictures, etc. coming soon



Clothing:

Men: white loin clothes made of flax linen worn at waist level

Women: white flax linen dresses with 2 straps across the chest.

Children: Children were often nude until puberty, especially in the summer heat. In the winter, cloaks & wraps would be worn.

Lower Classes:
Simple white flax loin clothes were worn, but sometimes workers went nude (while working) in the heat of the summer months.

Shoes: Most social classes went barefoot, upper classes wore sandals made of braided leather or rush. (Sounds like the sandals woven from rushes might have been cheaper.)

"The Egyptians went barefoot much of the time, but wore sandals on special occasions [8] or when their feet were likely to get hurt. ... The cheapest kind of sandals were affordable to all but the very poorest. " (source)



Hair:

"The Egyptians thought that an abundance of facial hair was a sign of uncleanliness and personal neglect. An exception to this was a man's thin mustache or goatee. There was no soap so an oil or salve was probably used to soften the skin and hairs of the area to be shaved. Tweezers with blunt or sharp ends were used for removing individual facial hairs." (source)

Shaved heads were common, as was short hair. (It's really hot there.) People wore wigs made of wool (more affordable) or human hair (more expensive).

"The common people of the land wore their hair short. Young girls often wore pigtails, while the boys completely shaved their heads. Sometimes, one branded clump of hair was worn to one side of the male appearance. Both men and women wore wigs during this time, which were fashioned from sheep wool, as well as human hair. These wigs served two purposes: protection from the heat, as well as decoration. They were also worn during get-togethers. Just like today, the ancient Egyptians also wore hair extensions and kept their wigs in special boxes. " (source)



Hygiene, Perfume, Cosmetics:

A general summary of the Egyptians' feelings about hygiene, perfume, and cosmetics would be that looking and smelling good was important to people from all social classes. They lived in a very hot country, so staying clean and pleasant-smelling was a lot more difficult, but that was important to them.

Soaps, Perfumes, & Deoderants:

Egyptians bathed once or more per day using a cleansing cream made of oil and lime.

"In a hot climate deodorants were much in demand. To repel body odour men and women alike were advised to rub pellets of ground carob(?) into the skin, or to place little balls of incense and porridge where limbs met." (source)


"For fresh breath they chewed parsley or similar herbs." (source)


Cosmetics (worn by both genders):

Eyeliner: kohl
Eye shadow: crushed malachite
Lip color: ochre
Nails: henna

Eye makeup was very important to the Egyptians, they believed that: "Spiritually, once applied, eye decoration acted as personal magical amulet against the evil eye whatever the wealth." (source)

"Red was also required to paint the lips. The lip gloss, possibly made of fat with red ochre or with one of the plants used for dyeing, was applied with a brush or spatula. Red colour was used to give glow to the cheeks. A rouge consisting of red ochre and fiat, possibly with a little gull resin, has survived: it was some four thousand years old." (source)



Jewelry:

Ancient Egyptians loved jewelry and wore as much of it as they could afford. Even the lower classes wore jewelry of simple glassware. Stones commonly used in Egyptian jewelry were:

lapis lazuli
carnelian
turquoise

Gold was plentiful.

"It didnt matter what social class you belonged to, everyone wore some sort of jewelry. Some of the popular pieces during ancient Egyptian times included bracelets, anklets, earrings, as well as armlets. Both men and women wore these. Some pieces served different purposes. For example, rings and amulets were looked upon as a way to keep evil spirits away, as well as prevent injury. Wealthy individuals wore collars made of jewels or beads, as well as pendants. Their jewelry was created from silver and gold, while the less fortunate wore pieces fashioned from copper." (source)


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Links:

http://nefertiti.iwebland.com/timelines/topics/clothing.htm

http://www2.sptimes.com/Egypt/EgyptCredit.4.2.html

http://www.levity.com/alchemy/islam23.html

http://www.womenintheancientworld.com/women's clothing.htm

http://wapedia.mobi/en/Clothing_in_the_ancient_world#1.

http://www.unexplainable.net/artman/publish/article_4252.shtml

http://www.egyptologyonline.com/introduction.htm

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