Chapter 5 Some Thoughts on the So-Called “Hair-Curlers” or Tweezer-Razors

In: Rethinking Ancient Egypt
Author:
Catharine H. Roehrig
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Chapter
Pages:
89–105
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004708402_006

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Abstract

The subject of this paper is an enigmatic implement that has been called scissors, a hair- or wig-curler, or a tweezer-razor, which is the term used in this study. The author has identified more than one hundred examples, most in museum collections and in publications. The majority were acquired on the art market, but about forty are associated with a provenance and twenty-five are noted in excavation publications. The author agrees with Reisner that the tweezer-razor is most likely a tool designed for first aid rather than for hair styling, as suggested by Petrie. The excavated examples also suggest that these implements belonged predominantly, and perhaps exclusively, to men.

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Rethinking Ancient Egypt

Studies in Honor of Ann Macy Roth

Series:  Harvard Egyptological Studies, Volume: 22
Cover Rethinking Ancient Egypt
E-Book ISBN:
9789004708402
Publisher:
Brill
Print Publication Date:
24 Sep 2024
Front Matter
Part 1 New Interpretations
Part 2 Rethinking Methodologies
Part 3 New Evidence
Back Matter

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