I was very interested to find out about the eyeliner that the ancient Egyptians seemed so fond of wearing. They even decorated their sarcophagi and often put a container of eyeliner in tombs. I think that it was so that they would look good in the afterlife. I time traveled back to the New Kingdom in Ancient Egypt and got a line on eyeliner. No pun intended. ;)
Kohl, or khol, is the name of the eyeliner that the ancient Egyptians, men and women, used on their eyes. Kohl is the main makeup item that was used by the ancient Egyptian kings and pharaohs because it showed high status. The products in kohl are galena and soot. The galena was acquired from lead sulfite and it is a blue-grey natural mineral. The soot was what gave kohl its black look. Soot is from burned materials such as carbon. Kohl was kept in jars called kohl pots and it was painted on with a paintbrush. The higher your status, the more kohl you wore.
While I was time traveling, I learned that the ancient gods Horus and Ra believed that eyeliner was a magical material that protected the person who wore it from illness. When I got back to present time, I found out that when scientists recently studied bottles of kohl preserved in the Louvre in Paris, they found that the chemical elements created by the ancient Egyptians actually prevented eye infections.
Even now, people still use kohl, except we call it eyeliner. Some makeup companies, like Lancôme, still put the word kohl (sometimes spelled khol) on their eyeliner. I have a question for you. Who do you think wears kohl better? Lady Gaga or Tutankhamen?
By: Adele Wells
Sources Used:
"Egyptian Make Up." King Tut. n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2011
http://www.king-tut.org.uk/ancient-egyptians/egyptian-make-up.htm
Iles, Judith. "Ancient Egyptian Eye Makeup." Tour Egypt. n.d. 29 Oct. 2011
http://www.touregypt.net/egypt-info/magazine-mag09012000-mag4.htm
"Ancient Egyptian Cosmetics: 'Magical' Makeup May Have Been Medicine for Eye Disease." Science Daily. 11 Jan. 2010. Web. 29 Oct. 2011
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100111112845.htm
(Photographs courtesy of Google Images.)
