Employment of natural hair / wig in ancient Egypt
Do the various hairstyles reflect the different roles of the sexes in ancient Egyptian society?
Head hair in ancient Egypt is an important thing, and
it was through its employees in a certain way that it was able to convey a specific event, or to express the identity of the person, and more than that, employment of poetry
entered the funerary life, in the case of mourning some scenes depicted the hair of a woman It hangs in a certain way as a sign of mourning and sadness, for death in ancient Egypt had consequences of confusion, chaos, and instability affecting everyone who
communicated with the deceased, a state of expressing the loss of a relative or lover, and there was an embodiment of this state of confusion that afflicts relatives beyond the stage of death .. Therefore There were dances accompanying the funeral, as a kind of
memorial required The dancers, mourners, and relatives of the deceased women would solve their feelings in symbolism of the imbalance of the system that brings death and the performance of gesture (elan) by making hair fall on the face
In the early ages of the history of Egypt since the early families, poetry took a descriptive tradition of some practices and the role of the individual, along with rituals, especially in some contexts such as funerals.
Poetry also has an essential role and work in building identity in the ruling family, where poetry was placed in its social context, where poetry was an integral part of building self in ancient Egypt and is an integral part of Egyptian social life
To understand the importance of different hairstyles in ancient Egypt, poetry and hairstyles must be studied in the first place, and the role of poetry in ancient Egyptian society can be better understood by relying on social development through relationships and roles of people, and the way the body is used and photographed
The body and hair with its various hairdos represents a special interface for the individual in terms of: (biological, social, group and individual relationships, restriction and free will) and cannot be reduced, as most of those things in the body cover the role in building identity, self, collective and individual, but hair is one of the most parts of the body It expresses the individual because he is above the head, and it is one of the most visible and changing parts of the human body, where most of the attention is focused on the human body and on the head
In ancient Egypt, the head alone can, through the murals, without the rest of the body, express the entire person until it can be said that (borders and measurement are in the skin, their ambiguity is hair)
That phrase (boundaries and measurement in the skin, their ambiguity is the hair) is related to multiple levels as it refers to the physical restrictions imposed on body imaging, while the hair is free to send many different signals, the body is usually male or female subject to some restrictions related to the characteristics Each sex from the other, while they can both wear wigs, or remove hair completely, or allow head hair to grow naturally or cut in different shapes (long or short), and it can also be curled, straightened, and arranged in many styles And different, and enables both men and women to wear the hair It is borrowed with different lengths and styles, for example, the triangular hair style divided on the sides of the face and the back of the head, and Egyptian women were often worn more than men, so hairdressing in a certain way is a kind of gender discrimination, in order to preserve and enhance the person's social position.
Body decoration and different hairstyles is an artwork through simple behaviors (putting golden rings or plaiting hair in a certain way or sweetening it with tracts) all of this can help define the boundaries of a social group, and define the various subgroups within that
community .... just as societies It consists of multiple categories. Not all of these subcategories of individuals share the same culture, for example women / men, youth / elderly, craftsmen ... etc. Within groups, there are slight differences to some extent according to routine and work. The farmer who works in Earth, for example, cannot raise and lengthen its hair
However, poetry can be a means and a style that indicates different ethnic groups, so the body and hairstyles and clothes are considered a form of projection, or a simulation of the world, or to distinguish the residents of one region from another within the regions of Egypt or to distinguish some groups from outside the land of Egypt, so the human body Expresses himself through some signs
But where did the different forms of hairstyles come from and where did the ancient Egyptian people borrow them?
