Appearance was very important in the ancient Egyptian culture. Appearance, of which hair was an important element, indicated a person’s status, role in society or political significance. Just like today, ancient Egyptians dyed their hair for beauty, and the most popular color is was red. But how did they obtain the color without the technology we have today ?
Scientists have found a material called henna in a strand of Egyptian hair from as early as 3400 BC. Research has shown that the Egyptians used henna to dye their hair red. There is a body of evidence from paintings that depict the existence of people with red hair, such as in the 18th Dynasty Hunutmehet. Henna is still used today.
Scientists found a material called henna in a strand of Egyptian hair from as early as 3400 BC. Research showed that Egyptians used henna to dye their hair red. Henna is still used today. Also there is a body of evidence from paintings that depict the existence of people with red hair, such as the 18th Dynasty Hunutmehet.
Ancient Romans dyed their hair black with lead acetate, by dipping a lead comb in vinegar, and then combing through the hair. A mixture of walnut shell and garlic sprouts gave the same effect. Germanic people obtained a black color from a mixture of suet and plant ash juice.
In China, there were also many methods used to dye hair. The Eastern Jin Dynasty medical scientist Ge Hong wrote that artemisia stelleriana could dye the hair black, which was recorded as a secret in the Palace. In the “Compendium of Materia Medica” written by Li Shizhen in the Ming Dynasty, there were more than twenty kinds of drugs that could be used to dye hair.
We can see that the ancients were also fashionable in dyeing hair, even without advanced technology. They achieved it through natural means but the pro-blem of color fading still remains today.