All About Indian Hair

The 18th century saw the emergence of elaborate wigs, mile-high coiffures and highly decorated curls. White powdered wigs with long ringlets were the order of the day often tied back with a black bow for men or decorated with feathers, bows and garlands for women. Big hair was definitely the "in" thing and many styles were modeled over a cage frame or horsehair pads and the bigger the better. Some immensely tall coiffures took hours to create and were heavily starched and powdered. However, the length of time spent creating these elaborate styles did mean that weeks went by between styling and the mixture of horsehair and heavy powder created perfect nesting material for vermin!
This didn't seem to put them off though, and some adventurous souls had mini gardens or maritime scenes complete with model ship incorporated into their style and in fact it was not unknown for imaginative ladies to create mini-bird cages complete with birds on top of their heads!

Due to the many tribal customs African hairstyles were many and varied and usually signified status. Masai warriors tied the front hair into sections of tiny braids whilst the back hair was allowed to grow to waist length. Non-warriors and women, however shaved their heads. Many tribes dyed the hair with red earth and grease and some even stiffened it with animal dung. The complex style of the Mangbetu women involved plaiting the hair thinly and arranging over a cone-shaped basket frame, flaring the top then adorning the whole thing with long, bone needles. Other tribes such as the Miango took a more simple approach, covering their long ponytails with a headscarf and adorning with leaves.

In classical Greece women's hair was long and pulled back into a chignon. Many dyed their hair red with henna and sprinkled it with gold powder, often adorning it with fresh flowers or jeweled tiara's. A Mans hair was short and even shaved on occasion.

In the heat of Egypt, noblemen and women clipped their hair close to the head. But for ceremonial occasions heavy, curly black wigs were donned. Women's wigs were often long and braided, adorned with gold ornaments or ivory hairpins. Man's faces were generally clean shaved, but stiff false beards were sometimes worn.