How did the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) do personal care?

- Did he use kohl?

Dear Brother / Sister,

His Hair

According to the written documents, the Prophet (pbuh) did not shave his hair; he had long hair. The length of his hair varied among three forms. The shortest one was down to his ear lobe and the longest one was down to his shoulders; three different expressions were used for his hair. The expressions used in resources from the short to the long one are as follows in the resources: 

The hair that was down to his ear lobe was called "wafra", the one that was a bit below the ear lobe was called "limma" and the one that touched the shoulders was called "jumma". The differences among the narrations are normal. Each narrator mentioned the state of the hair when he saw; therefore, the differences among the narrations should not be regarded as contradictory.

As for the style of combing his hair, according to what is understood from the narration of Ibn Abbas, two styles of combing were common in the region of Hejaz during the period of the Prophet. The people of the Book combed their bangs straight on the forehead. The idolaters divided their forelocks into two in the middle.

He did not introduce a new model; in the first years, he combed his bangs straight like the People of the Book; when the idolaters were eliminated in the region of Hejaz, he started to divide his forelocks into two in the middle.

Hair Care

The Prophet gave general advice about hair care:

"He who lengthens his hair should take care of it."(Abu Dawud, Sunan, IV, 74, Hadith no: 4062) 

"He who has hair should treat it well." (Abu Dawud, Sunan, Tarajjul, 3)

Islamic resources also recorded some personal things that the Prophet always had with him. They are things like a comb, mirror, miswak, toothpick, scissors and kohl. 

The Prophet (pbuh) gave great importance to and was careful about his cleanliness, care and clothes.

The Prophet wanted people to have a neat appearance and asked them to be careful about it but he did not like it when people spend time adorning themselves out; he regarded being neat as different from being adorned and embellished.

As it is understood from the information that reached us, the blessed beard and hair of the Messenger of Allah did not turn grey so much as to be noticed. In fact, almost no change occurred in the body of the Prophet until he died. Signs of old age, losing his teeth, not being able to see well, hearing loss, hair loss, greying of the beard, etc. were not observed in him. 

According to the texts that are available, the places that turned grey were his sideburns, the region between the lower lip and the chin and some other places; the greying in his beard was more than the greying in his hair. It could not be noticed easily. He explained the reason for the greying of his hair as follows: 

"The verses in the chapter of Hud and similar chapters made my hair turn grey." (Tirmidhi, Shamail 23)  

The Prophet (pbuh) did not dye his hair but he sometimes spread olive oil on his hair. After he spread oil on his head, he placed a piece of muslin under his turban. This muslin absorbed the extra oil and prevented his turban from being oiled.

According to what is understood from a document recorded by Ibn Sa'd, the Prophet washed his hair with a mixture obtained from boiling the leaves of cedar tree. Many people from the Companions including Umm Salama, one of the wives of the Prophet, kept the blessed hair and beard of the Prophet. We know that they were transferred from generation to generation as sacred inheritance. 

Wearing Perfume

Hz. Aisha was among the wives of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) who took care of his clothes and way of dressing the most. She always made the Messenger of Allah wear "the most aromatic perfume that she could find".

The Prophet (pbuh) always had a small box of scent called "sukka" with him; he used that scent when it was necessary. When he went on a journey, he always had a perfume bottle among his possessions. One of the attitudes of the Prophet (pbuh) about scents was that he never rejected the scents that were offered to him.

"For, scent is an offer without cost." (Ahmad b. Hanbal, Musnad, II/320; Abu Dawud and Nasai)

"In this world, women and perfume have been made dear to me, and my comfort has been provided in prayer." (Nasai, VII/61,62; Ibn Sa'd, I/398; al-Hakim, al-Mustadrak)

When the Prophet (pbuh) went out, the beauty of his smell peculiar to him would immediately be noticed by the people around. Anas b. Malik expresses this issue as follows:

"When the Messenger of Allah walked through one of the streets of Madinah, his nice smell would be felt and people would say that the Prophet passed through that street. We understood the arrival of the Prophet (pbuh) from the beauty of his scent." (Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqat, 398-399; Majma'uz-Zawaid, VIII/282; al-Matalibul-Aliya, IV/25; Bahjatul-Mahafil, II/254).

His Applying Kohl in His Eyes

The Prophet (pbuh) gave great importance to "preventive medicine" we call "hygiene/sanitation": That he oiled his hair, brushed his teeth with miswak, applied kohl in his eyes, drank water slowly, did not drink hard water, brought water from the wells and springs outside Madinah, arranged the food he ate based on the needs of his body, etc. were the measures he took to keep healthy.

The Prophet (pbuh) applied kohl when he went to bed. He applied kohl three times in his right and three times in his left eye before he went to bed. We understand from the times he applied kohl and the information about the benefits of kohl that he applied kohl in order to keep his eyes healthy not to look nice. 

Ibn Abbas narrates:

The Prophet (pbuh) said,

"Apply ithmid in your eyes because it brightens the eyes and makes the eyelashes grow." (Tirmidhi, Tibb 9)

Ibn Abbas said,

"The Messenger of Allah had a had a small container for keeping kohl, from which he applied kohl in the right and left eye three times every night."

(Prof. Dr. Ali YARDIM)

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