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   Not long ago the people that lived in the UAE had little or no contact with the outside world. Especially the womenfolk of the bedu tribes of the inland deserts lived an isolated existence. Along the coast things were a little different, for there the trading dhows would bring goods from places like Persia , India and even Africa . Among these goods would be jewelry, perfumes and cosmetics.

    The women of the nomadic tribes had to make use of the materials they could find in their environment - what little water there was, had to be used for drinking and cooking and for the five times daily ablutions of hand and feet. There was not water to bathe in. Fortunately the dry air of the desert made body sweat evaporate very quickly so that their wide dresses would not be soaked. If, however, it became necessary to clean the body, the sap of the Aloe plant, widely used all over the world to clean and soften skin, would be used as a cleansing agent. Also the powdered leaves of the Indian laurel tree (warq al ghar) were used as a soap substitute. In neighbouring countries the leaves of the saltbushes Haloxylon salicornicum and Seidlitzia rosmarinus were used to produce soap substitute

    A special problem was how to keep the hair clean. For this the dry powder of oily seeds (mahalleb) was applied to and worked through the hair to extract the dirt and condition the hair. An added benefit was that the oil kept the hair together so that it would not blow in the wind or fall down. In Oman the crushed leaves of the sidr tree (Zizyphus spinachristi) were used to clean the hair, which was said to become very lustrous and soft due to this treatment. Although the sidr tree grows in wadis and plantations in the UAE, this use does not seem to have been made of it here.

    Another way to ensure fresh smelling clothes was to fumigate them with the smoke of burning wood chips of fragrant woods such as sandalwood and other species. This "oudh was burned in an incense burner that was passed underneath the clothes as they were being worn. Sometimes a special stand, made of the midribs of a palm tree was used to hang up the clothes and the incense burner was placed beneath it.  Besides 'oudh, the women used to use bakhoor - small round cakes of pulverised 'oudh wood, musk and Arabic perfumes. Few people could afford the luxury of frankincense or laban, the dried resin of the Boswellia sacra tree that grows in the Dhofar region of southern Arabia.

    The desert bedu women did not use any perfumes other than the oil of 'oudh wood (dahan al 'oudh), but the coastal tribes imported perfumes from India and Persia.

    The teeth were cleaned by chewing on twigs of the shrub or tree Salvadore persica, locally called ra' or rak. The very common sedge Cyperus rotundus was used in a powder to whiten the teeth.

    People that grew the local variety of sweet basil in their plantations used to rub their hands with the crushed leaves to give them a pleasant smell,

    Make-up was also virtually unknown. The skin of the face was kept supple and pretty by the application of wars in the summer. This was a turmeric-coloured powder made from the seeds of a tree, reportedly from India. In winter the women protected their skin by applying a dye made from gentian violet crystals that also had an antiseptic action. The inside of the burqa or facemask was painted with this purple dye.

    Eye make-up consisted mainly of kohl, which came in two forms. One was a powder made of antimony sulphide called athmet, which was mainly used as a medical treatment to prevent or heal eye infections. The other was a sticky substance called serrai, which was a true cosmetic and was rolled onto the eyelid by means of a small ivory stick called merwad. The common plants Blepharis edule and Aerva javanica provided the women with a substitute for the antimony that had to be imported. For this they roasted and powdered roots of the plants and made a paste by mixing it with some water, ground for a second time and spread in the sun to dry. Sometimes some mother-of-pearl from ground shells was added to give additional sparkle to the powder. Kohl around the eyes helped to reduce sun glare and kept the eye moist in the dry desert air. In early times 'ilm al-koh meant the science of ophthalmology!

    Local women did not use rouge or lipstick, contrary to the bedu of Africa, who reportedly used the red dye contained in the roots and twigs of the Arabian primrose (Arnebia hispidissima) for this purpose. Those tribes also knew how to extract the indigo dye from the various species of Indigofera that abound in the desert. Although all these species of plant are present in our deserts, they do not seem to have been used locally. In Oman a purple dye extracted from the berries of Solanum nigrum (deadly nightshade) was used for similar purposes (dyeing clothes and skin) as the indigo dye elsewhere. More to the West the parasite Chrozophora tinctoria was used to produce an indigo dye, while the Red Thumb Cynomorion coccineum provided a red colour. In the mountains Dicoma schimperi was the source for a yellow dye.

    The use of the reddish dye from the Lawsonia inerme tree, henna, came to the UA E from India. Its use was restricted to brides and older women. The older women used to cover an area roughly the same as that covered by gloves or socks (ghimsah) with solid dye, claiming that it cooled the hands and feet in summer and protected the skin in winter. Brides had a small lump of henna paste placed into the palm of their hands. When they closed their fingers around this lump it would colour their palms in a striped pattern. None of the intricate flowery patterns were used by local women. At best some dotted lines were painted on top of the fingers and the fingertips might be covered with dye.

    Application of henna to the hair was only done as a medical treatment for headache and not as colouring agent. However, the seeds of the Desert squash (Citrullus colocynthis) were crushed and mixed with water to darken the hair.

    Mountain dwelling people had a few more plants to add to their beauty care range. The leaves of Indigofera oblongifolia were crushed in water and used as soap. The bark of the Moringa peregrina tree was used to remove freckles, while the sap of Ficus trees was effective in removing warts. The crushed leaves of Helichrysum and Cleome brachycarpa plants were used as a deodorant.