posted
I was shaving earlier and was just wondering how ancient men may have rid themselves of their facial hair? I don't think Tut was walking around with clippers...lol.
Posts: 1219 | From: North Carolina, USA | Registered: Jul 2004
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Shaving predates history, yet we found that it was the men and women of early Egypt who really established shaving and hair removal as a regular part of daily grooming, a custom which continues today for people all over the world. The Egyptians had an unusual obsession with personal body hygiene, with curious customs to go along with this. The great Greek historian and father of early history HERODOTUS (485-425 B.C.) stated that the Egyptians bathed several times a day, and "set cleanness above seemliness." Clearly, being so clean all the time was associated with fanatical behavior by outsiders. The ancient Romans thought that a lack of major body hair was some kind of terrible deformity. But not in Egypt..... priests there believed that body hair was shameful and unclean. Wild animals and barbarian people had hair, not the sophisticated, super-advanced Egyptian civilization.
Being hairless was accomplished by shaving, using depilatory creams, and rubbing one’s hair off with a pumice stone. Men, women, and even the children of ancient Egypt all shaved their heads bald and wore elaborate specially-made wigs, which were preferred over a natural head of hair for ultimate protection from the sun’s harmful solar rays. These wigs were made of natural or artificial hair, and were strategically designed to keep one’s head cool. It was rare to find a man or woman out in public totally bald-headed, not just for sun protection, but for making a fashion statement as well.
Another reason for removing all body hair, including that on the scalp, was because being hairless gave the people an excellent way to prevent various body infections and diseases. Back then, living in the Nile Valley wasn’t all that easy because it was so very hot; body hair and heat could become an irritating combination. Soap was not readily available to the masses, and the Egyptians certainly didn’t have the kind of hair care products like the ones we use today. Keeping shoulder-length hair clean was very difficult, and washing it didn’t always correct the problem that most people had with hair lice. But a baldhead could be easily washed and dried. A baldhead didn’t feel itchy under a wig, or create a place for the lice to hang out. Eventually, everyone started shaving everything, everywhere. Being hairless kept one cooler, as well as more bug and odor-free. The less hair one had, the easier life was.
Egyptian men also thought that having facial hair was an indication of personal neglect for some reason. So wealthy Egyptians normally kept a barber on their household staff. And in nearby Mesopotamia, barbers were held in very high regard by society, like a doctor or dignitary. Every town had a street or area where a number of barber’s shops could be found. These barbers took great care of the general public by shaving their clients daily with razors and pumice stones, and then massaging perfumed oils and lotions into their skin.
But what about the evidence we’ve seen on ancient murals that prove some Egyptians did have hair on their faces? Well, even with their dedicated obsession for absolute cleanliness, they also realized that a beard was the sign of a Real Man, of masculine identity and dignity since the beginning of time. It could give a man status. Therefore, on certain occasions, the kings of Egypt were seen wearing artificial beards, which they strapped on with string that, fastened beneath their chins.
Posts: 22721 | Registered: Oct 2005
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posted
^ This reminds me alot of the practice seen in Nilotic and other peoples in East Africa who bathe daily as well as shave all of their body hair off.
From what I understand, the earliest shaving utensils were simple single blades, the first of which made of stone or bone but later forms made of metal of course. They would use this to carefully scrape the hair off the surface of the body.
Posts: 26285 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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King_Scorpion, You have to realize the people at that time had razors like they had mirrors, combs, and other cosmetic devices.
Numbers:6:5: All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the LORD, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow.
Posts: 342 | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
Mike111, The quote is from the Old Testament Bible. The timeframe is after Exodus. I merely provided to show the people at the time had razors.
The verse I provided is an old Nazerite law. The no razor to the head is one of a few a Nazerite will take as a vow to seperate themselves for God.
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posted
Thanks blackman: I was just curious, it seemed to be saying that NOT removing hair (I take that to mean going natural - not grooming), was holy, but at the same time it is said that cleanliness is next to Godliness. (As from the shaving piece, it was difficult to be clean with a lot of body hair).
Posts: 22721 | Registered: Oct 2005
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posted
^ Biblical references aside, the point is that shaving in ancient times was done using simple one bladed razors.
quote:Originally posted by Djehuti: From what I understand, the earliest shaving utensils were simple single blades, the first of which made of stone or bone but later forms made of metal of course. They would use this to carefully scrape the hair off the surface of the body.
Posts: 26285 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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posted
Does it mean then that the mustachioed man with the pale wife that Eurocentrics love to show off as representing "the Egyptian" was not really of Egyptian stock?
Posts: 5492 | Registered: Nov 2004
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posted
The fact that this supposed "Prince" of Egypt, (son of Snefru (2600 B.C.), has a full head of hair and a mustache, (forget his and his supposed wife's facial features and color), leads most people to declare this statue a forgery. (Of course there are many other problems with it).
quote:Originally posted by King_Scorpion: I was shaving earlier and was just wondering how ancient men may have rid themselves of their facial hair? I don't think Tut was walking around with clippers...lol.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Razors
Old Kingdom (about 2686-2181 BC) and First Intermediate Period
posted
^Hausa men still use those razors.
Posts: 3423 | From: the jungle - when y'all stop playing games, call me. | Registered: Jul 2006
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Watercolour, pencil and gum on paper Signed and dated 1881 lower right Sothebys
In 1878 William Strutt made the acquaintance of a party of 'Nubian hunters' - Egyptians - who were visiting London with the Munich wild animal dealer, Hagenbeck. By his own account, they arrived bringing with them 'everything that could possibly illustrate in the most complete manner the habits, manner of travelling, camel racing, war dances and toilettes of these most interesting people. Of course it was a magnificent chance for an artist to make sketches and studies'. Strutt went on to remark that 'mixing with the swarthy Nubians and their animals, I could almost fancy myself at Kordofan or Khartoum'. (1)
One of the resulting finished works was 'The Nubian Barber Plies his Simple Trade When Egypt's Haughty Kings in Splendour Reigned'. A Shaving Scene in Nubia. The watercolour was exhibited at the First Autumn Exhibition, Nottingham Art Gallery, UK, in 1881. The background shows the vestibule column and wall of an ancient palace, on which are the characteristic hieroglyphics'. The watercolour subsequently came into the possession of a Sydney collector, T. H. Kelly, and in 1897 was lent by him to the Loan Exhibition at the National Art Gallery of New South Wales. Nothing is known about the work's later history until its reappearance at a local auction in Sydney.
(1) Quoted in Curnow, H., William Strutt, Art Gallery Directors Council, Sydney, 1980, p. 54.
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Posts: 1549 | From: California, USA | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
Excellent find Myra! It's a beautiful watercolor! Was this a recent reapperance? I wonder if I could purchase a "print"(poster) of it?(supposing, they were made?) Posts: 67 | Registered: Feb 2007
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quote:Originally posted by Honi B: Excellent find Myra! It's a beautiful watercolor! Was this a recent reapperance? I wonder if I could purchase a "print"(poster) of it?(supposing, they were made?)
Signed and dated 1881. It sold at auction for $30,577 USD.
I doubt that the buyer will allow reproductions of it, because it may bring down the value.
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Posts: 1549 | From: California, USA | Registered: Jan 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Mike111: The fact that this supposed "Prince" of Egypt, (son of Snefru (2600 B.C.), has a full head of hair and a mustache, (forget his and his supposed wife's facial features and color), leads most people to declare this statue a forgery. (Of course there are many other problems with it).
Ra-hotep and Nofret
It's the first time I've heard this. Can anyone provide any further information / sources for doubts about the authenticity of the Rahotep - Nofret statues? Thanks.
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I did find some information on the auction/reappearance date-Sep.19th 2005. 
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