Paintings from ancient Egypt depict people with long hair and often elaborate hairstyles. But in many cases the hair was fake.

Ancient Egyptians had a good reason for creating wigs: lice. The tiny bug relies on direct contact with the blood vessels of the scalp to survive. Wearing hairpieces effectively thwarted the pest.

Wigs were practical solutions to other problems, too, such as disguising deformities and making hairstyling simpler. "They loved ornate hairstyles, but it was more practical to give the hair to someone to style," says Joann Fletcher, a consultant to the Bioanthropology Foundation in the UK.

In what Fletcher calls an "absolute, thorough study of all ancient Egyptian hair samples" - some of which were found in Victorian shoe boxes in the UK - she discovered the world's oldest head lice, and also identified Egypt's oldest false hair. Preserved in the dry Egyptian sand at Hierankopolis, the hairpiece dates to 3500 B.C.

"As with the Inca, costume was correlated to status, but there were no fixed rules in Egyptian society as to who wore false hair. It was all a question of wealth, since hair was an expensive commodity." Poorer people usually used extensions, which were cheaper. Since wigs were expensive, laborers would not wear a wig in the field while cutting or herding cattle and run the risk of soiling it or sweating profusely on it. Furthermore, a full wig was hard to keep in place for someone bending and moving around a great deal. Extensions were more fixed, and could be tied back.

Hairpieces were sturdy specimens. If the hairpiece was treated properly with emollients and oils (made from vegetable oils and animal fats), it would last for a long time. The hair was perfumed with petals and fragrant wood chips, such as cinnamon.