People here may have seen this wall painting from a New Kingdom tomb, which depicts men winnowing grain.
But has anyone here paid attention to the wraps of white cloth that the dudes have on their heads? To me, they look suspiciously like African-American do-rags, which are supposed to protect their hairstyles.
Other than these do-rags (and the various royal crowns, of course), I haven't seen too many images of Egyptians wearing cloth wraps around their heads. However, we know they were really into styling their hair (most especially braids and dreads). And since plenty of people across Africa and the African Diaspora wrap cloth around their heads to protect their hairstyles today, I would think the ancient Egyptians would have felt a similar impulse to protect their hair (or wigs) too.
So what are your guys' thoughts on this?
Posted by Elite Diasporan (Member # 22000) on :
Interesting thread, but doubt it is similar to du-rags. Du-rags are not just to project hair but to maintain a hairstyle(for us males is maintaining our waves).
The headwraps the Egyptians are wearing seems to be mostly work related. Maybe so dust or other material don't get in their hair while they do their labor.
Posted by Tyrannohotep (Member # 3735) on :
quote:Originally posted by Elite Diasporan: Interesting thread, but doubt it is similar to du-rags. Du-rags are not just to project hair but to maintain a hairstyle(for us males is maintaining our waves).
The headwraps the Egyptians are wearing seems to be mostly work related. Maybe so dust or other material don't get in their hair while they do their labor.
Well, with all the Saharan sand and dust flying over the Nile Valley, I'm sure hair wraps would still come in handy for that.
Posted by Elite Diasporan (Member # 22000) on :
^^Yeah, but I THINK the Egyptians did have "waves" due to using some type of animal fat. So who knows?
Posted by Tyrannohotep (Member # 3735) on :
quote:Originally posted by Elite Diasporan: ^^Yeah, but I THINK the Egyptians did have "waves" due to using some type of animal fat. So who knows?
Like this dude, apparently?
Posted by Elite Diasporan (Member # 22000) on :
^^^Yes.
Posted by the questioner (Member # 22195) on :
Posted by Clyde Winters (Member # 10129) on :
quote:Originally posted by the questioner:
. Nice!
Posted by Linda Fahr (Member # 21979) on :
I think they wore head wrap, to protect their hair from the grain dust.
Posted by Djehuti (Member # 6698) on :
quote:Originally posted by the questioner:
As discussed before, the Egyptians used animal fat and butter products as hair gel along with head wraps to achieve the look. Speaking of which...
quote:Originally posted by Tyrannohotep: People here may have seen this wall painting from a New Kingdom tomb, which depicts men winnowing grain.
But has anyone here paid attention to the wraps of white cloth that the dudes have on their heads? To me, they look suspiciously like African-American do-rags, which are supposed to protect their hairstyles.
Other than these do-rags (and the various royal crowns, of course), I haven't seen too many images of Egyptians wearing cloth wraps around their heads. However, we know they were really into styling their hair (most especially braids and dreads). And since plenty of people across Africa and the African Diaspora wrap cloth around their heads to protect their hairstyles today, I would think the ancient Egyptians would have felt a similar impulse to protect their hair (or wigs) too.
So what are your guys' thoughts on this?
The white headcloth pictured above is known as a khat and is a unisex headcloth worn by people of both sexes and of all classes. The khat is generally white in color though it can be dyed differnt colors as well.
I remember reading a source some years back that the Egyptians had a custom wherein persons especially women when going out in public either had to have their hair braided, tied, or fashioned in someway or else covered by cloth. Uncovered hair that wasn't braided or fashioned was either a sign of mourning, toiling/labor, or simply being sloven. As I understand it, this same custom is practiced in many parts of Africa which is why people either have their hair braided or fashioned if not covered by hats or headwraps.
I also remember seeing a source that traditional Somali headwraps bear a good resemblance to the Egyptian khat.
