Ancient Egyptians may have been as egotistical as modern people. The study reveals that they groomed their hair using fat-based treatments to improve their look and emphasize their uniqueness.

“Personal appearance was so essential to ancient Egyptians that the embalming procedure was tailored to maintain the hairstyle in circumstances when the hair was groomed,” researchers from the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom wrote in the Journal of rchaeological Science on August 16.

This guaranteed that the deceased’s uniqueness was preserved in death, as it was in life, and highlights the significance of hair in ancient Egyptian culture.

The researchers analyzed the hair of 18 ancient Egyptian mummies who lived about 300 B.C. (15 mummified in a desert cemetery and three from museum samples of unknown provenance).

After examining the hairs under a microscope, the researchers discovered that nine of the mummies had an unidentified material covering their hair.

Α mummy from the Dakhleh Oasis, showing perfectly ‘gelled’ and curled hair. This specific mummy wasn’t used in the study, but is the same age and was preserved in the same way as some that were. (Image credit: Copyright Α. Αufderheide)

Chemical analyses of the coating revealed it was made up of fatty acids from both plant and animal origins.

The researchers believe that this fat-based hair gel was used by the Egyptians to mold and hold the hair in position to enhance appearance, since some of the deceased that had been mummified naturally in the desert also had fats in their hair.

When mummified using embalming chemicals, the undertakers seem to have taken special care to retain the deceased’s hairdos, as they used different chemicals on different parts of the body.

“It is evident that different materials were used for different areas of the body,” the researchers write. “The hair samples from the Dakhleh Oasis were not coated with resin/bitumen-based embalming materials, but were coated with a fat-based substance.”

The mummies had all different kinds of hairstyles depending on age, ????ℯ???? and presumed social status.

Researchers have previously discovered objects in Egyptian tombs that seem to be curing tongs, so they might have been used in conjunction with the hair product to curl the hair into place, the researchers speculate.