Beeswax

Beeswax is an animal-derived material. In the Wikipedia article on beauty and cosmetics in ancient Egypt it appears as one of the materials used in mummification, where ointments, resins, bitumen and beeswax were applied to the body to perfume it, soften the skin, seal it or reshape it at different stages of treatment. It also served in the care and making of hair pieces. A male wig in the British Museum, made of human hair, has a net base of plaited hair that was stiffened with a mixture of two-thirds beeswax and one-third imported conifer resin, and hundreds of individual locks were attached to it. Residues between the teeth of a comb belonging to a woman named Merit contained vegetable oil, plant gum, balm, beeswax and cholesterol. The same article describes wax cones worn on the head in banqueting and funerary scenes; analysis of the physical examples found at Amarna identified their main component as a biological wax, though their function cannot be determined from the finds.