How Egyptians started the day
4/1/2001An ancient Egyptian woman's morning routine went like this, said Joann Fletcher, a freelance Egyptologist who delivered two lectures at the Toledo Museum of Art last weekend:
Go to bathroom, where servants shower her with warm water, which runs down a drain in the floor.
The servants shave her body, or use a depilatory to take off her hair.
They dry her with a towel.
Moisturizing oil, probably with a lotus fragrance, is “slapped on very generously.”
A makeup artist would do her eyes, cheeks, and lips, and apply henna to her nails and palms, which would stop her palms from perspiring.
If necessary, the servants would do a manicure or pedicure with a sandstone file.
She would choose her wig for the day, which a servant would arrange for her.
She would then admire her reflection in a mirror of polished bronze or copper.
Clothes of fine linen would be wrapped around her. Perhaps one hand would be restricted to show everyone she didn't have to work for a living.
She would choose her accessories for the day - earrings, collars, amulets, bracelets, beaded belts, anklet, and hair ornaments.