Perhaps you might be someone in diaspora who wants to introduce some tradition into your beauty routine. Maybe you are someone who looks at the intricate Moroccan or Arab beauty rituals in wonder or envy. Well, you're in luck. Central Asian women did once have a similar beauty ritual which dates back centuries, and though most were rooted in Iranian tradition, there are some you might also find surprising.

# The Hammam

For lower class women who did not have a dedicated bathroom, a hammam was how one kept clean. These were once places of community, where women would gather with their friends- and the domed roofs of hammams once littered the Oxus.

There were two things a sedentary Central Asian woman needed to clean her body- a qissa glove, traditionally made from crocheted material, and a slab of clay mixed with sheep fat to create a saponification agent.

What?

Yes, it's true! My Uzbek grandmother used a rushur stone, a traditional soap used across Iran and Southern Central Asia, to clean herself- and folk soaps back in the day were made with sheep fat during the Medieval era. Iranian and Afghan women still use it- they swear it makes their skin lighter, but it only exfoliates the skin. It was used with the glove to cleanse themselves in the hammam.

However, if you aren't a huge fan of rubbing animal fat onto your body, there are plenty of [independent soap makers which integrate clay into their recipes](https://sauboon.com/collections/soaps).

Before the age of shampoo, across the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, sidr powder was used to cleanse the hair. This is partly because the powder produces a lather that rids the hair from grease and dirt, but also due to its religious importance in the hadith. The prophet commanded it be used to wash the deceased, and the tree from which the powder was derived was forbidden to be cut down without good reason. Sidr is famously used in Somalia to promote healthy hair and skin as a mask, but if you choose not to use the powder as a hair mask, [you can purchase shampoos imbued with the product instead](https://beautyblends.co.uk/products/sidr-shampoo-500ml).

Though reserved for the upper classes, volcanic pumices were also imported and used to soften callouses in the feet. Clay pumices are another feasible option.

# Skincare and Hair

To color the hair, O’sma was used to darken the strands. In the old days, the beauty standard was having black hair and brows with fair skin, so the herb was used as a beauty ritual passed down from mother and daughter to encourage thicker and darker hair. In some places, especially Afghanistan and among the Uyghurs, henna is still used to colour the hair but I would advise against it if you have anything other than black or very dark brown hair unless you want bright orange hair (was told so by my grandmother who said I will look like a villager). If the natural hair is black or dark brown, it will instead provide a glossy mahogany or burgundy tint in direct sunlight.

We also know that historically, the Timurids were huge fans of roses. Babur and Timur were patrons of gardening and enjoyed being among the flowers. Upper class women would historically use rosewater to wash the face and take care of the skin. While I cannot vouch for its benefits if kept on the skin, it does create a wonderful aromatherapy experience if that is what you are looking for if mixed with masks.

To mention masks, I was given a list of things to use with their purported benefits by my family members:

- Tomatoes: to combat acne
- Yoghurt/curd: to even out complexion and brighten the skin
- Honey: to even out complexion

I was told lemon too, but I would never recommend using lemon on your skin unless you want to damage your skin barrier.

# Hairstyles

Hair had importance in Central Asia, and among the Turkic minorities it also denoted a woman's rank, age or marital status.

Babies and young girls were often shaved under the belief it would thicken and darken their hair. Historically, a young girl or virgin would braid her hair into four to forty braids. In some tribes, when a woman was married, she traditionally braided her hair into two. This was something my Uzbek grandmother did, and even now the elderly in my village all wear their hair in two pigtails :) To this day, qirq sach or four braids are considered traditional in Central Asia.

It may also surprise some of you that hair extensions were also traditional among the Turkic and Persian speaking ethnic groups in Central Asia- though Abassid women were famed for wearing them too. They were traditionally made from wool or yarn to circumvent rulings against wearing other people's hair. The beauty standard was to have hair that was as long as possible, and for women who weren't endowed with long, thick hair, extensions was how they met that criteria.

# Makeup

Makeup in South Central Asia was, for a period of time, influenced by the Haft Araysh of the Persians. The old beauty standard was: pale white skin, red cheeks, black hair and a unibrow. This was accomplished through a variety of tools in a Persian woman’s arsenal, though most were adapted or abandoned according to taste. The images above show medieval Turkic women in the aforementioned Haft Araysh.

Please note that the below are Persian names, I’m not sure if they had Turkic equivalents.

- Safidab: This was a toxic lead paste used to whiten skin, possibly imported from Ancient Greece. It was a key component of Iranian makeup but it never took hold in Central Asia except for a few accounts during Timur’s lifetime. He allegedly preferred his concubines to whiten their faces with Safidab. The trend was never mentioned again after Timur’s death- indicating that the succeeding Uzbek empires did not find it attractive as it was perceived in Safavid and Qajar Iran. Pale skin was instead preserved by staying indoors or shielding the face with religious garments.
- Sorkhab: This was a widely used rouge in paintings of medieval women from the Oxus. The rouge was made from cochineal or iron oxides to redden the cheeks.
- Sorma: Eyeliner, usually made of toxic antimony or soot. There are many surviving examples of Timurid and Mughal sorma vessels. They were also unisex.
- Henna: This was widely used by married women and concubines to stain the hands and feet
- Vesmeh: This was replaced with Osma in Central Asia. Vesmeh was a dark blue powder used to stain the brows, Osma is black but has a slight green undertone.
- Zarak: Iranians would have used gold glitter or sequins to ornament the hair. Timurid women accomplished this part of the Haft araysh instead by wearing diadems and strings of pearls around their faces. This way they could cover their hair and show off their wealth.

Perfume was also hugely important in the region. Islamic doctrine was all about hygiene and looking and smelling your best. Therefore it is no surprise that Timurid perfume bottles are constantly being unearthed in excavations across its former territory. Uzbekistan has been a producer of fragrances for a long time thanks to its climate, which is more conducive to growing damask roses and other fragrant flowers. Timurid courts distilled rose water as a show of hospitality and to perfume themselves. We also know that frankincense in particular was used as incense, often through trade with the Arabs. If you want to opt for similar fragrances to your ancestors then rose-based or jasmine based fragrances might be a strong choice. Both were grown for their scent in the region for millennia. Common fragrance profiles across Central Asia and Iran also included: rosewater, saffron, myrrh, musks, ambergris, camphor and a number of fresh-smelling flowers.

Of course, this makeup style is very outdated, dangerous and some may call it tacky. However, you can still derive certain elements from it to your routine.

For instance, most Central Asians have a pale to intermediate skin tone. It makes sense to enhance that with highlighter rather than paint on white like our mother's wedding videos to match the old beauty standard. However, rouge is timeless and even now Western blush is still made from iron oxides. Never buy Arabic sorma from retailers online- to this day, it is still made with lead or lead compounds, so you can replicate this effect using a safe black cosmetic pencil. Zarak is a style that briefly became popular again during the 80s with sparkly hairspray and again recently in the West with the obsession with hair and body glitter.

1. Turkish alınlık
2. Azerbaijani necklace
3. Turkmen jewellery
4. Uzbek jewellery
5. Kyrgyz jewellery
6. Karakalpak jewellery
7. Kazakh jewellery
8. Yakut jewellery

The reasons why Turkic women’s jewellery is usually silver toned is multifactorial and based in several historical factors.

Early in our history, silver mines were very commonplace across Central Asia and Siberia. The Samanid empire in particular mined so much silver that 80% of Islamic silver coins recovered from archeological excavations originate from Samanid minted and mined coins. Turkic ghullam or slave soldiers were often paid in silver coins, food and clothing.

Some were well paid enough to afford gold, but silver adornments were already a commonplace cultural offering to brides by the time of the Abbasid empire, who had extensive cultural intercourse with both the Samanids and the Turks.

In particular, diadems and necklaces were a very popular gift to newlywed brides as part of their mehr dowry and belonged exclusively to the bride’s coffers in the event of death of the husband or a Talaq divorce, where the woman was entitled to keep her mehr. It is possible, therefore, that silver was the more economical option to adorn their women with than gold thanks to the abundance of silver during this time period.

The medicinal qualities of silver was also well known from antiquity. It had anti bacterial and anti fungal properties, and though our ancestors could not explain why it protected them, it certainly had a cult following. In Yakutia for instance, it is said to encourage protection and fertility and somewhat resembled the moon. When polished it offered a beautiful lustre, and thanks to Islamic sumptuary laws, it was also perceived as a more humble option than gold. Silver was also machinable meaning it could easily be shaped, carved and have stones set into them.

Another thing to consider as to why we don’t have much surviving vintage Turkic gold jewellery in circulation is that gold jewellery was more likely to be sold or traded whenever the family fell on hard times, or to design something new. This is not a novel concept- even now many Turkish housewives trade in their wedding gold for something more fashionable or to put a down payment on a house. This therefore means that gold jewellery is less likely to survive unless it belonged to an important person and was interred in the soil with them.

What did this leave for the lower classes?

Alloys of nickel had already been in circulation in China and offered a more cost effective option for working class Turks who wanted to wear imitation silver. Smuggled across the Silk Road, this nickel did not contain an ounce of silver, but if polished well and protected from patina, it could resemble the real thing. It was also machinable, meaning it could be made into beautiful designs and set with stone. That said, though it was cheaper, the item was still a luxury and was not necessarily widely available for everybody across Central Asia.

However, during the 17-1800’s, everything changed. Europe cracked the recipe to making nickel silver, then called “German silver”, a copper-nickel polished alloy. While it originated as a luxury silver replacement for cautious travellers weary of highwaymen, it quickly fell in value as the fad spread and it become more widely available.

Suddenly, poor nomads could afford beautiful silver toned jewellery at low prices. They could imitate the upper classes, and this beautiful silver metal began to flood Central Asian markets as well.

To this day, cheap ethnic jewellery is still crafted in German silver across Central Asia. I have a pair of Uzbek earrings made from the same material, and 90% of Turkmen jewellery in Afghanistan is also made from German silver. I own a Turkish alınlık made with the same metal.

You can tell German silver apart from genuine silver easily from its scent- real silver does not have that heavy metallic smell. In addition, German silver patinas green or blue while genuine silver patinas black. Lastly, you can also tell easily from the price of your jewellery.

These braid covers likely originated as a kind of protective hairstyle against the harsh steppe climate in the North Eastern Steppe, where Turks and Mongols originated from, or as a cultural hangover from the Scythians. Often richly decorated with embroidery denoting tribal affiliation or made with luxurious atlas silk, these head dresses were often encrusted with coins, gems and beads and attached to a padded hat. They were sometimes worn under another headpiece or a crown, such as the saukele worn by the Kazakh ethnicity, or the gupba by the Turkmen ethnicity. For Turkic people who converted to Islam, they took on a second meaning as a hair cover which adhered to the teachings of the religion, sometimes worn in tandem with an ornamental breast cover. The Karakalpaks called it “halaqa”, deriving from the Arabic “circle”, Bashkirs called it “kashmau”, from Turkic, perhaps suggesting its proximity to the brow while Chuvash referred to it as “khushpu”- remarkably similar to the Bashkir name. Do you have this headpiece in your culture? What do you call it?

Perhaps you might be someone in diaspora who looks at the intricate Moroccan or Arab beauty rituals in wonder or envy. Well, you're in luck. Afghan women did once have a similar beauty ritual which dates back centuries, and though most were rooted in Iranian tradition, there are some you might also find surprising.

The Hammam

For lower class women who did not have a dedicated bathroom, a hammam was how one kept clean. These were once places of community, where women would gather with their friends- and the domed roofs of hammams litter the landscape, especially across Northern Afghanistan. However, the use of hammams gradually waned as sanitation improved in the country. If you are a woman in diaspora who is married to an Afghan man, you can tell him that going to the spa is traditional :)

https://preview.redd.it/h7m4ymhqkxkh1.png?width=516&format=png&auto=webp&s=65717161cbed8a9d283fad23cc659c6d7dfd3c85

There were two things an Afghan woman needed to clean her body- a qissa glove, traditionally made from crocheted material, and a slab of clay mixed with sheep fat to create a saponification agent.

What?

Yes, it's true! My grandmother used a rushur stone, a traditional soap used across Iran and Afghanistan, to clean herself- and folk soaps back in the day were made with sheep fat during the Medieval era. Afghan women swear it makes their skin lighter, but it only exfoliates the skin. It was used with the glove to cleanse themselves in the hammam.

https://preview.redd.it/8qm8jxsukxkh1.png?width=1288&format=png&auto=webp&s=4b9f5e6fffff28a5c8fb1cbfe41493da361daca5

However, if you aren't a huge fan of rubbing animal fat onto your body, there are plenty of independent soap makers which integrate clay into their recipes.

Before the age of shampoo, across the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, sidr powder was used to cleanse the hair. This is partly because the powder produces a lather that rids the hair from grease and dirt, but also due to its religious importance in the hadith. The prophet commanded it be used to wash the deceased, and the tree from which the powder was derived was forbidden to be cut down without good reason. Sidr is famously used in Somalia to promote healthy hair and skin as a mask, but if you choose not to use the powder as a hair mask, you can purchase shampoos imbued with the product instead.

https://preview.redd.it/2j3mqrf4lxkh1.png?width=570&format=png&auto=webp&s=96f235a4bdd887377c2e84efe46784b782baffba

Though reserved for the upper classes, pumices were also used to soften callouses in the feet. Afghanistan is littered with dormant volcanoes across the central and north eastern highlands, where pumice is sourced but not at the same rates as Afghanistan's neighbors. Clay pumices are another feasible option.

Skincare and Hair

To color the hair, henna was often used, but I would advise against it if you have anything other than black or very dark brown hair unless you want bright orange hair (was told so by my grandmother who said I will look like a villager). If the natural hair is black or dark brown, it will instead provide a glossy mahogany or burgundy tint in direct sunlight.

Afghanistan historically produced quantities of almond and walnut oils, traditionally used to soften the skin and moisturize the hair. You may also use these oils for your cuticles to take care of the skin. In addition, upper class women would historically use rosewater to wash the face and take care of the skin. While I cannot vouch for its benefits if kept on the skin, it does create a wonderful aromatherapy experience if that is what you are looking for if mixed with masks.

To mention masks, I was given a list of things to use with their purported benefits by my family members:

- Tomatoes: to combat acne
- Yoghurt/curd: to even out complexion and brighten the skin
- Honey: to even out complexion
- Local white mud clay: to whiten skin and provide glow

I was told lemon too, but I would never recommend using lemon on your skin unless you want to damage your skin barrier.

Hairstyles

Hair had importance in Afghanistan, and among the Turkic minorities it also denoted a woman's rank, age or marital status.

Babies and young girls were often shaved under the belief it would thicken and darken their hair. Historically, a young girl or virgin would braid her hair into four to forty braids. Once a woman was married, she traditionally braided her hair into two. This was something my grandmother did herself, and even now the elderly in my village all wear their hair in two pigtails :)

I'm not sure of how hair reflects rank in the rest of the country, but I do know that having multiple braids was a widespread thing a long time ago, and four was the happy medium.

It may also shock some of you that hair extensions were also traditional among the Turkic and Persian speaking ethnic groups in Afghanistan- though Abassid women were famed for wearing them too. They were traditionally made from wool or yarn to circumvent rulings against wearing other people's hair. The beauty standard was to have hair that was as long as possible, and for women who weren't endowed with long, thick hair, extensions was how they met that criteria.

Makeup

Makeup in Afghanistan and Central Asia was hugely influenced by the Haft Araysh of the Persians. The old beauty standard was: pale white skin, red cheeks, black hair and a unibrow. This was accomplished through:

- Safidab: a toxic lead paste used to whiten skin, possibly imported from Ancient Greece
- Sorkhab: a rouge made from cochineal or iron oxides to redden the cheeks
- Sorma: eyeliner
- Henna: to stain the hands and feet
- Vesmeh: a dark blue powder used to stain the brows
- Zarak: gold glitter or sequins to ornament the hair
- Khal: false beauty spot

Sometimes perfume was added to that list.

Example of a Herati Jewish bride in "Haft Araysh":

https://preview.redd.it/0o9ovhkgmxkh1.png?width=925&format=png&auto=webp&s=5300f6f586ed6dbf58aeb3995ea2caa3559ed004

Of course, this makeup style is very outdated, dangerous and some may call it tacky. However, you can still derive certain elements from it to your routine.

For instance, most Afghans have an intermediate skin tone, and in the West that is the beauty standard. It makes sense to enhance that with golden highlighter rather than paint on white like our mother's wedding videos to match the old beauty standard. However, rouge is timeless and even now Western blush is still made from iron oxides. Afghan sorma to this day is still made with lead or lead compounds, so you can replicate this effect using a safe black cosmetic pencil. Zarak is a style that briefly became popular again in Afghanistan during the 80s with sparkly hairspray and again recently in the West with the obsession with hair and body glitter. Khal is also something you can replicate with a black pencil too and is a safer substitute for the phased-out practice of tattooing tribal sheen khaal.

Nangarhar is a major producer of rose-based fragrances, and essential oils produced from the province were a lucrative alternative to poppy cultivation. Persian and Zoroastrian sources reflect an emphasis on perfume and incense. Common fragrances included: rosewater, saffron, myrrh, musks, ambergris, camphor and a number of fresh-smelling flowers.

https://preview.redd.it/ajwe27g0nxkh1.png?width=516&format=png&auto=webp&s=b3e2f10fe3f77a359b3b91ac0e202ca80f8b38c2

https://pajhwok.com/2026/05/15/turkey-issues-20000-work-visas-for-afghans-in-livestock-sector/

I want some sources on Samanid clothing, architecture, cuisine, culture, etc. In particular women and their past times. I don’t want propaganda, just hard facts.

I have some frescos and the Samanid Mausoleum from Uzbekistan to work with so far, as well as some works from Biruni and Khwarizmi to approximate from- though their culture was probably slightly different.

I want to make my descriptions as realistic and accurate as possible so no nationalism or anything of the sort. And please no Turkic content, there are extensive sources already.