Egyptian Discovery: Many women nowadays regard their hair as an ornament with which to experiment, altering its appearance, color, and even length depending on the season, their attire, and whether they are feeling informal or serious, or simply in the mood for a change.
Hairstyles are a significant element of a woman’s appearance, just as important as the shoes she wears or the pocketbook she carries. Even women with short hair may now sport a long, curly style by simply adding extensions to their hair, giving their appearance a whole new aspect.
Most women today believe that extensions (and other cosmetic modifications) are modern inventions, in contrast to their grandmothers’ day when the only option was a bottle of peroxide, and that was only if they wanted to look like a bombshell movie star. Choices were restricted in those days, perhaps 75 years ago, at least when it came to color. But, as the phrase goes, nothing is truly new on this planet. And the ancient Egyptians, a highly advanced and sophisticated people, demonstrated this over and time again with everything from body preservation procedures to haircuts, colors, and curls.
Thanks to the Egyptians, everything we do now in high-end salons, procedures that hairdressers think are cutting-edge, is 3,300 years old. Many ladies in ancient Egypt used extensions, which celebrities like Kim Kardashian praise as trendy and fun. They were even buried wearing them.
Take, for example, the cemetery in the city of El-Amarna. In 2014, the treasured archaeological site, which has been undergoing study and excavation since 1977, discovered evidence of ladies who wore complicated updos, extensions, and even skull caps thousands of years ago. Experts sought to replicate exactly what the Egyptian mummified body would have looked like when it was alive — hairstyle intact – after a skull was discovered six years ago with roughly 70 hair extensions still attached.
The current project is being carried out by Cambridge University’s Institute of Archaeological Research, with the cooperation and approval of Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities.