Like Egyptian women today, their forebears colored their nails, palms, soles and sometimes hair also with a paste containing the yellowish-red pigment of henna leaves.
Tattooing was also used to enhance feminine charms. The patterns on some predynastic and archaic statues are usually regarded as the earliest examples.
The erotic overtones of the art emerge clearly from the figures of ‘brides of the dead’ laid in tombs from the New Kingdom onwards; these were decorated with the familiar tattoo motifs.
Even in ancient Egypt a gorgeous complexion did not last for ever. To treat wrinkles (and freckles) oil of fenugreek was recommended, a plant freely available because of its use as animal fodder.
No sooner had they stepped outside the dim seclusion of their homes than the Egyptians were exposed to the full impact of the sun. The deep blue sky was seldom hidden by clouds blowing in from the Mediterranean, to be dissipated later over middle Egypt and only rarely reaching into Upper Egypt.
The low humidity of the Sahara, the world’s largest desert, affected the Nile valley too, so that human body temperature was regulated by the evaporation of sweat even at a time of great physical exertion.
The pioneers in dress and hygiene alike were understandably the women, who learned to enhance the natural beauty of their dark-haired, dark-eyed Mediterranean kind and the charm of their graceful movements by the tasteful lines of their egyptian costumes, striking coiffure, relative cleanliness and the use of alluring perfumes.
From prehistoric times the climate of the country had forced people to wear light, airy clothes. Heavy perspiration led them to take care of their skin and hair not merely by washing, but by a quite elaborate cosmetic routine.
In the New Kingdom dignitaries of the highest ranks, such as the vizier Rekhmire, the overseer of the physicians Nebamun and the royal herald Intef, sometimes wore a distinctive Egyptian costume not unlike women’s dress - a tunic fitting under the arms, held up by a narrow ribbon round the neck, and reaching to the ankles.