Ancient Greek Hairstyles: Awesome Locks of the Balmy Old Greeks

Ancient Greek hairstyles needed to fit a certain profile of what was "proper" or most accepted. It wasn't that much different than today. Just like you'd be surprised to see a politician with dreadlocks, there were certain standards for different people regarding ancient Greek hairstyles.

Slaves's Hair

The most clear cut social restrictions on hairstyles were with slaves. Slaves always wore their hair short, whether male or female. Slaves wore their hair short throughout Greek history. Of course, if they were freed by their masters, they had a plethora of new hairstyle choices.

Ancient Greek Sculpture

Women's Hair

Women tended to wear their hair long in the 7th century BC. Just like in many modern day cultures, Greek women would cut their hair short when in mourning.

Women's hair went down past their shoulders and on their back in this time period. Women would fasten their hair with headbands, known as mitra, tainia, ampyx, or anadesme. Another way to fasten their hair was with an ornate headdress known as a stephane.

 Greek Fashion

In the 5th century BC, there was some more variety with ancient Greek hairstyles, and the hair was not as long. Hair would be tied up in a bun, or held in place with headbands or a stephane.

 Hair History: Ancient Greece

Another option presented itself for women in the 5th century BC. Women could put sakkos over their head. A sakkos was a cloth or scarf that covered the hair almost completely. Also used were spherdone, a broad headband that was essentially a smaller version of sakkos.

In the Hellenistic period, women ditched the sakkos and spherdone. They went back to wearing their hair up, but would use a variety of different styles for their hair.

In all Greek times, women would dye their hair. Dyes were either used to darken gray hair, or make blond hair. Blonde was the preferred color for hair. The Greek goddess Aphrodite and the legendary Helen of Troy were both the highest examples of beauty to the Greeks, and they both had blonde hair.

Greek hairstyles from the Archaic, Classisal and Hellenistic periods

In general though, the poorer or middle class women had to keep their hair more functional, whereas the rich and elite had the time and money to go wild with their hairstyles.

Men's Hair

In the 7th and 6th centuries BC, men wore their hair in the same manner as women: long and with a headband such as a mitra. In the 5th century BC, that long hair was worn up, tucked into a headband.

As the Greeks progressed into the 6th and 5th centuries, ancient Greek hairstyles moved towards short hair. Freemen and young men often wore short hair, but older men kept their long hair.

Boys still commonly wore long hair. An exception would be Sparta, which just likes to do everything different. Spartan boys kept their hair short, while adults wore their hair long.

Men's hairstyles and hats 

Later, Alexander the Great set a new trend for hair. He kept his hair a little longer than usual, and wore a diadema, another type of headband. Men began to follow his example.

Many of the male trends in hairstyles seem to mirror the female trends, but one are definitely doesn't. That area would be beards.

The hair and beards of the men of Ancient Greece

Men would often wear beards up until the 5th century BC. They would sometimes wear a moustache with the beard, but wearing a moustache without a beard never happened. Wearing a moustache without a beard would be like going to your high school dance without your pants. It wasn't just weird; it never happened.

Of course, kids and young men often wouldn't wear beards, because they didn't have the capability to wear beards. However, the head Greek trendsetter Alexander the Great did not wear a beard. So, in the Hellenistic period, many men began to go with the clean-shaven look.

Pytheas von Massalia