# How did the Babylonians get curly beards? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 17, 2009, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-babylonians-get-curly-beards/500011 "2009-06-17T01:04:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![No\_Wikipedia\_Cites](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@No\_Wikipedia\_Cites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_Wikipedia_Cites)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-babylonians-get-curly-beards/500011/1 "2009-06-17T01:04:23Z")
Word on the street is that the Chaldeans and Babylonians have, in their surviving art, portrayed their men as having long beards with curly strings. How did they get beards like that? Was it some genetic unusual strain, or (my guess) don’t on purpose? Did they somehow have curling equipment? What? You don’t see men do this these days . . . And lastly, what would happen if an American man today did this babylonian beard style? ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-babylonians-get-curly-beards/500011/2 "2009-06-17T01:17:40Z")
About what I would have guessed. Curling irons aren’t exactly advanced technology: > **[Beards: Historical Presentation - Word Information](https://wordinfo.info/unit/3365)** > > the bearded races of mankind have commonly held the beard in high honor > [@](#): > > The Mesopotamian civilizations (Chaldean, Babylonian, Assyrian, Median, Aramean, and ancient Persian) devoted great care to oiling and dressing their beards, using tongs or curling irons to create elaborate ringlets and frizzles, in a tiered effect. > [@](#): > > And lastly, what would happen if an American man today did this babylonian beard style? He might burn himself before he got the hang of it? ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-babylonians-get-curly-beards/500011/3 "2009-06-17T01:18:11Z")
It’s not the _beards_ which are in a style unfamiliar to you. It’s the _art_ which is in a style unfamiliar to you. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-babylonians-get-curly-beards/500011/4 "2009-06-17T05:47:27Z")
> [@sassyfras](#): > > And lastly, what would happen if an American man today did this babylonian beard style? Ever heard of ZZ Top? ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-babylonians-get-curly-beards/500011/5 "2009-06-17T05:54:54Z")
I was reading a manga the other day and I wondered, gosh, how do the Japanese get that wild sticky-up hair and those giant doe eyes? ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-babylonians-get-curly-beards/500011/6 "2009-06-17T07:07:05Z")
**Scissorjack** , maybe you are joking, but it’s hard to tell. I think the Japanese hairstyle that you are talking about is a wig. The doe-eyed look is done with makeup. But maybe you are speaking of something else. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-babylonians-get-curly-beards/500011/7 "2009-06-17T16:04:17Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > **Scissorjack** , maybe you are joking, but it’s hard to tell. I think the Japanese hairstyle that you are talking about is a wig. The doe-eyed look is done with makeup. But maybe you are speaking of something else. I think \*\*Scissorjack \*\*is pointing out that with any work of art it’s a mistake to automatically assume that it’s realistic. If you had never met someone from Japan but had seen a lot of manga, you might assume that Japanese people naturally have spiky hair and enormous eyes, but that assumption would be false. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-babylonians-get-curly-beards/500011/8 "2009-06-17T16:08:08Z")
But, of course, Japanese hair is pink, blue, green – every possible colour except black. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-babylonians-get-curly-beards/500011/9 "2009-06-17T19:43:08Z")
Karen Rhea Nemet-Nejat’s _Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia_ doesn’t have much beyond what **yabob** cited in post #2. I don’t think there’s any reason to assume it’s an artistic convention that does NOT reflect the reality of the time. It does add that beards were “meticulously waxed” in the Old Akkadian period, and that “greying hair was treated by a lotion and an incantation.” (p. 155) ---
**Author:** ![TheFaerie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@TheFaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheFaerie)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2009, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-babylonians-get-curly-beards/500011/10 "2009-06-17T20:46:55Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > …“greying hair was treated by a lotion and an incantation.” (p. 155) That’s how my hairdresser does it. 😃 I have a good friend who curls his beard into 4 curls. He’s a wonderfully odd person. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-babylonians-get-curly-beards/500011/11 "2009-06-18T13:35:24Z")
My beard grows in curly, although to reach Babylonian lengths I would have had to start growing it in Babylonian times. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-babylonians-get-curly-beards/500011/12 "2009-06-18T14:19:09Z")
> [@TheFaerie](#): > > I have a good friend who curls his beard into 4 curls. He’s a wonderfully odd person. So where does [this guy](http://www.worldbeardchampionships.com/chevalier.html) fit in the "wonderfully odd’ spectrum? ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-babylonians-get-curly-beards/500011/13 "2009-06-18T15:11:46Z")
The beards were dipped in water and then wrung out. That’s also how the irrigation problem mentioned in this thread was solved: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=521496](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=521496)