I'm currently a cosmetology student and recently we learned how to use irons. Irons are still a thing, though they're heated by electric ovens. If you don't know, an iron is basically a rudimentary curling iron that is made out of cast iron and heated with an oven. I've been thinking a lot about cosmetology of "olden" times and how such could be applicable in Armageddon. Here are some videos and sources I've gathered. Obviously, no one has access to iron for their hair but some stones heat well.
Maybe this topic and these vides act as some kind of inspiration to you in your game/role play. Feel free to add your own.
Hair
The aforementioned irons:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgV7e-7sBlk
Late medieval hairdo - the braid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnBkY7www74
Medieval hair washing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYSF3lbwdXs
Make Up/Style
Short and to the point video on Egyptian cosmetics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRyqqdD7ZcI
Ancient Egypt Style Make up and Hair, long but lots of information
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VY7C_Wa6DI
Hygiene
Noble's Morning Routine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt9DZFXUEAA&t=212s
Thank you so much for this lovely post.
I think that one thing I like about the current available to ways to enact RP around ancient beauty and hygiene are really nice and varied. It's little touches like whether or not my character espouses using a strigil or having somehow access to ample water for proper baths or some kind of soap or a "sand bath" or other kinds of hygiene below that added a nice flair to my past roles when playing either the rich of Allanak or the desert-dwellers I dabbled with.
https://drylab2023.net/2017/05/22/notes-desert-hygiene-women/ -- water bathing with limited water, conservation of grey water in a bowl, etc
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/10/sand-hammams-getting-a-sand-bath-in-the-sahara-desert.html -- Sand Hammams, or hot sand baths, during which profuse sweating induced by heat is used with towels to "shed impurities and clean the body," though most of the time a quick water shower is included in modern use, I wonder if this was practical for hygiene if water was just unavailable for it