Ancient Egyptians: First People to Use Powders, Cosmetics

Did you know that powders and cosmetics were the first to be used by the ancient Egyptians?

The Egyptian woman was the centre of focus in the Egyptian society since ancient times and ancient Egyptian artists were interested in taking their beautiful photos.

Furthermore, ancient Egyptians provided perfumes and gifts to their wives to make them happy.

Dr. Magda Ahmed Abdullah, the History and Archaeology professor in Kafr El-Sheikh University, said that the dawn of history, kohl, aromatic oils and powders were found in ancient Egyptian cemeteries.

He added: “Kohl is extracted from malachite, which is one of the green copper ores and is spread in the Sinai and the eastern desert.”

Kohl bearing lead ores, grayish color are being extracted from an area near Aswan or on the Red Sea coast; both materials were found in leather or linen bags.

"Rouge", which is the red color applied to the cheeks or on the lips of women in ancient Egypt, was used in its manufacture of iron oxide red. It was utilized by ancient Egyptian woman on the face using fingers, while the lips using brushes.

The perfumes which women use in ancient Egypt varied according to the variety of the substance they extract from plants and aromatic flowers by mixing and soaking flowers in aromatic oils for some time.

The women used to squeeze them together to extract the desired fragrance as well as the most famous aromatic oils from lotus bitter almond, olive and cardamom.

The Egyptian woman also knew the importance of the ‘henna’ plant in making pastes to dye the palms of the hand, feet, nails, and hair.

Also, they knew how to highlight their beauty by drawing the eyes with kohl. The ancient Egyptian woman skilfully applied kohl as if she was using "any eyeliner" around the eyes; she beautified her the lips in a red or pink color, as well as her skin that made it look light-colored and fresh.