July 13, 2026 • 7 mins
Long before modern salons, ancient Egyptians were coloring, caring for, and decorating nails as symbols of beauty and status. But that's just the beginning. From wrestling and cosmetics to paper, medicine, and calendars, in this episode of IDKMYDE, B Daht uncovers how an African civilization helped lay the foundation for practices we still use today. Some of these facts may surprise you—and they just might change the way you look at history.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I didn't welcome back, nor it ass to another episode
of the most anticipated podcast on the Black Effect Podcast
Network entitled.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
I didn't know. Maybe you didn't either.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
I'm your host, be Dotts and then some I've been
throwing yacht parties in North Carolina.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Them joints been turned.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Simultaneously, I've been building my relationship with Christ. You know,
they're trying to be more intentional about taking time out
to prey and worship music and at least spending time
with Him in some capacity every single day.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
And in one of my prayer slash quiet.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Moments, I felt like I heard God say, your yall experiences,
you should do a gospel version. You should worship on
the water. And I was like, Yo, God, that's a
dope name. Appreciate that. However, I only got two more dates,
like August twenty second is the water toys, jet skis,
jet cars inflatables, slides off the double decker pontoons. Now
(00:54):
you know how that go chicks is gonna be out
there and bathing suits throwing ass. I can't have him
throwing ass. The God, I tell her blessing, put your
name on it. And the last one is my birthday party.
On September thirteenth, Virgo Palooza fifty Shades of Blue.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
I want to turn up God.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
I want to be drunk out there for that one,
Like that's the finale. I don't want to end the
series with gospel music.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Come on, man.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
And then God spoke to my brother Willmo and he
invited me to an event in Charlotte where they let
us know that the Stellar Awards were coming to Charlotte
August fifteenth. I checked with the yacht. The fifteenth was
booked for a wedding, but the sixteenth aha worship on
the water August sixteenth. I have no clue how it's
(01:37):
supposed to go. Yet we just locked in gospel bingo.
I don't want to have somebody preach a sermon, but
I do want somebody to deliver some.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Sort of a word.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
And when we were turning back to the marina, I
know I want us to all stand up in prayer.
Definitely gonna have food. I'm thinking fish and loaves of
bread for the multitudes.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
And I'm gonna have a bar.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
I had went back and forth about this too, like
do you have a bar on their for the saints?
But just because you would believe it on me. You
can't drink. You're just not supposed to drink to drunkenness,
So saints know your threshold. Definitely gonna have top sheelf liquor.
We're gonna have wine because you know, Jesus was definitely
about turning water to that. We're gonna have mocktails, but
we also gonna have them mimosa flights. I just want
to present a space where us believers can still have
(02:19):
a good time. I don't want the only time we
get the fellowship is inside the church. Jesus himself didn't
even go to church. Only time Jesus went into church
is to flip them damn tables over look it up.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Jesus was outside, Huh.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Jesus was out there with the sunniles getting his feet
washed by stripples.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
That's a little distorted, but you know the stories.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Listen. Worship on the water ain't too August. So I'll
let you know all about that when it gets here.
If you are in North Carolina and you're trying to
get down though sunset on the Lake, dot com is
where you go get all the information about all the
stuff we got popping off on the yacht series. But
my nail tech Africa, she's real big in the church,
right sayings and all types of things. So I was
talking to her about worship on the water when I
(02:58):
was going to get my many pens. Yes, your boy
gonna stay groomed. And that's my mama. My mama was
a nail tech growing up. She had her own business
Fingertips and Toes nail salon, and she kept the boy's
hands manicured. You did. But when I was talking to
Africa and telling her some aspirations I had in the
nail tech space, she started talking to me about the
history of nails in Egypt, and I said, hold on, stop,
(03:21):
I gotta do an episode about this. But before we
get into the episode, it is customary that I give
you three of the most useless facts you'll never need,
never not a day in life about Egypt.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Up.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
First, ancient Egypt was in North Africa, right along the
Nile Valley. Understand that Egypt in Africa black people and
very ignorantly, like in school when people talk about Egypt,
I felt like that was its own continental country and Africa.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
I'm geographically ignorant.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
So when I'm learning some of this stuff, it's interesting
in like dang so that was right there all that time,
and I never really paid much attention. But when you
talk about Egypt and Egyptians and you watch them on
television and you seeing white men, it never made since
in real life because how's white men being portrayed as Egyptians?
Speaker 2 (04:08):
And Egypt is literally in Africa. But I digress.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Your second useless facts, Egyptians called the fertile now land
connect k E M e t and that meant black
land because it had very rich and dark soil.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
And your third and final useless facts.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
You probably know, of course that Egyptians had tombs that
they were buried in, but many of them showed detailed
scenes of everyday life, and hown't know what they were
doing back then. They were showing working, the sports, they played,
the beauty, the medicine, and the military training, which brings
us to this episode because I never knew that painting
your nails and wrestling started with black folks in Egypt,
(04:52):
did you.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
I didn't know. I didn't know. I didn't know.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
I didn't know.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
I didn't know.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
I didn't know. You know what's funny, like we call
everything modern, Like we invented it yesterday. You go to
the gym, or you turn on your television, you see wrestling.
You go to the nail salon, you see manicures. You're
write on paper, you check a calendar, you brush your teeth,
you put on eyeliner, and.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Ancient Egypt is just sitting over there like you. Welcome.
Now the wrestling starts in Egypt.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
We can't say they invented two people grabbing each other
and slamming them down. No, we cannot say that humans
been testling since Kane killed Abele. But Egypt gave us
one of the oldest detailed records of organized wrestling at
Bennie Hassan. It's tomb art that shows rows and rows
of wrestlers doing holes and counters and throws and takedowns,
(05:48):
the same stuff we see the rock and see them
punk du. The Smithsonian describes the tomb walls as filled
with pairs of men and intricate wrestling catches. That mean,
before Monday night row, before a limp wrestling, before your
uncle got drunk at the cookout and tried to prove
I still got it, Egypt had grappling on their walls. Beauty,
(06:08):
same thing ancient Egyptians used something called cold kohl. They
used that around their eyes, not just for style, but
for ritual protection and health beliefs. It's a Natural History
of museum in Utah and it says that the Egyptian
cosmetic tools included coal vessels, grinding stones, applicators, jars, and
(06:28):
makeup spoons. Sound like everything that girl got in that
little bag when she be beating your face in the mall.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
And nails.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Egyptian aristocrats used Hindle the tenth their fingernails. You can
go to Google Arts and culture notes right now and
it says the manicures can be traced back to the
era of the Pharaohs, and the nail color was connected
to status, like if you had that red on your
nail or you was big royalty, you are poppington. So no,
we don't need to say Egypt invented everything, but that's
how you lose people. But we can say this, a
(06:56):
North African civilization full of people of color helped shake wrestling, beauty, culture, writing, medicine, timekeeping, agriculture,
and hygiene. You smelly bastards. Paperers gave the ancient world
a paper like writing surface. Egyptians made black ink from
things like souit and gum, that developed irrigation systems, calendar,
(07:17):
surgical tools, toothpaste.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
I mean, the list goes on and on and on.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
For the next time somebody tried to act like history
started in Europe, please remind them before the salon, that
was Egypt, before the gym. There was Egypt before the notebook.
There was Egypt before the calendar invite. There was Egypt
and I didn't know. Maybe you didn't either,
I didn't welcome back, nor it ass to another episode
of the most anticipated podcast on the Black Effect Podcast
Network entitled.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
I didn't know. Maybe you didn't either.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
I'm your host, be Dotts and then some I've been
throwing yacht parties in North Carolina.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Them joints been turned.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Simultaneously, I've been building my relationship with Christ. You know,
they're trying to be more intentional about taking time out
to prey and worship music and at least spending time
with Him in some capacity every single day.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
And in one of my prayer slash quiet.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Moments, I felt like I heard God say, your yall experiences,
you should do a gospel version. You should worship on
the water. And I was like, Yo, God, that's a
dope name. Appreciate that. However, I only got two more dates,
like August twenty second is the water toys, jet skis,
jet cars inflatables, slides off the double decker pontoons. Now
(00:54):
you know how that go chicks is gonna be out
there and bathing suits throwing ass. I can't have him
throwing ass. The God, I tell her blessing, put your
name on it. And the last one is my birthday party.
On September thirteenth, Virgo Palooza fifty Shades of Blue.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
I want to turn up God.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
I want to be drunk out there for that one,
Like that's the finale. I don't want to end the
series with gospel music.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Come on, man.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
And then God spoke to my brother Willmo and he
invited me to an event in Charlotte where they let
us know that the Stellar Awards were coming to Charlotte
August fifteenth. I checked with the yacht. The fifteenth was
booked for a wedding, but the sixteenth aha worship on
the water August sixteenth. I have no clue how it's
(01:37):
supposed to go. Yet we just locked in gospel bingo.
I don't want to have somebody preach a sermon, but
I do want somebody to deliver some.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Sort of a word.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
And when we were turning back to the marina, I
know I want us to all stand up in prayer.
Definitely gonna have food. I'm thinking fish and loaves of
bread for the multitudes.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
And I'm gonna have a bar.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
I had went back and forth about this too, like
do you have a bar on their for the saints?
But just because you would believe it on me. You
can't drink. You're just not supposed to drink to drunkenness,
So saints know your threshold. Definitely gonna have top sheelf liquor.
We're gonna have wine because you know, Jesus was definitely
about turning water to that. We're gonna have mocktails, but
we also gonna have them mimosa flights. I just want
to present a space where us believers can still have
(02:19):
a good time. I don't want the only time we
get the fellowship is inside the church. Jesus himself didn't
even go to church. Only time Jesus went into church
is to flip them damn tables over look it up.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Jesus was outside, Huh.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Jesus was out there with the sunniles getting his feet
washed by stripples.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
That's a little distorted, but you know the stories.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Listen. Worship on the water ain't too August. So I'll
let you know all about that when it gets here.
If you are in North Carolina and you're trying to
get down though sunset on the Lake, dot com is
where you go get all the information about all the
stuff we got popping off on the yacht series. But
my nail tech Africa, she's real big in the church,
right sayings and all types of things. So I was
talking to her about worship on the water when I
(02:58):
was going to get my many pens. Yes, your boy
gonna stay groomed. And that's my mama. My mama was
a nail tech growing up. She had her own business
Fingertips and Toes nail salon, and she kept the boy's
hands manicured. You did. But when I was talking to
Africa and telling her some aspirations I had in the
nail tech space, she started talking to me about the
history of nails in Egypt, and I said, hold on, stop,
(03:21):
I gotta do an episode about this. But before we
get into the episode, it is customary that I give
you three of the most useless facts you'll never need,
never not a day in life about Egypt.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Up.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
First, ancient Egypt was in North Africa, right along the
Nile Valley. Understand that Egypt in Africa black people and
very ignorantly, like in school when people talk about Egypt,
I felt like that was its own continental country and Africa.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
I'm geographically ignorant.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
So when I'm learning some of this stuff, it's interesting
in like dang so that was right there all that time,
and I never really paid much attention. But when you
talk about Egypt and Egyptians and you watch them on
television and you seeing white men, it never made since
in real life because how's white men being portrayed as Egyptians?
Speaker 2 (04:08):
And Egypt is literally in Africa. But I digress.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Your second useless facts, Egyptians called the fertile now land
connect k E M e t and that meant black
land because it had very rich and dark soil.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
And your third and final useless facts.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
You probably know, of course that Egyptians had tombs that
they were buried in, but many of them showed detailed
scenes of everyday life, and hown't know what they were
doing back then. They were showing working, the sports, they played,
the beauty, the medicine, and the military training, which brings
us to this episode because I never knew that painting
your nails and wrestling started with black folks in Egypt,
(04:52):
did you.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
I didn't know. I didn't know. I didn't know.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
I didn't know.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
I didn't know.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
I didn't know. You know what's funny, like we call
everything modern, Like we invented it yesterday. You go to
the gym, or you turn on your television, you see wrestling.
You go to the nail salon, you see manicures. You're
write on paper, you check a calendar, you brush your teeth,
you put on eyeliner, and.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Ancient Egypt is just sitting over there like you. Welcome.
Now the wrestling starts in Egypt.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
We can't say they invented two people grabbing each other
and slamming them down. No, we cannot say that humans
been testling since Kane killed Abele. But Egypt gave us
one of the oldest detailed records of organized wrestling at
Bennie Hassan. It's tomb art that shows rows and rows
of wrestlers doing holes and counters and throws and takedowns,
(05:48):
the same stuff we see the rock and see them
punk du. The Smithsonian describes the tomb walls as filled
with pairs of men and intricate wrestling catches. That mean,
before Monday night row, before a limp wrestling, before your
uncle got drunk at the cookout and tried to prove
I still got it, Egypt had grappling on their walls. Beauty,
(06:08):
same thing ancient Egyptians used something called cold kohl. They
used that around their eyes, not just for style, but
for ritual protection and health beliefs. It's a Natural History
of museum in Utah and it says that the Egyptian
cosmetic tools included coal vessels, grinding stones, applicators, jars, and
(06:28):
makeup spoons. Sound like everything that girl got in that
little bag when she be beating your face in the mall.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
And nails.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Egyptian aristocrats used Hindle the tenth their fingernails. You can
go to Google Arts and culture notes right now and
it says the manicures can be traced back to the
era of the Pharaohs, and the nail color was connected
to status, like if you had that red on your
nail or you was big royalty, you are poppington. So no,
we don't need to say Egypt invented everything, but that's
how you lose people. But we can say this, a
(06:56):
North African civilization full of people of color helped shake wrestling, beauty, culture, writing, medicine, timekeeping, agriculture,
and hygiene. You smelly bastards. Paperers gave the ancient world
a paper like writing surface. Egyptians made black ink from
things like souit and gum, that developed irrigation systems, calendar,
(07:17):
surgical tools, toothpaste.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
I mean, the list goes on and on and on.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
For the next time somebody tried to act like history
started in Europe, please remind them before the salon, that
was Egypt, before the gym. There was Egypt before the notebook.
There was Egypt before the calendar invite. There was Egypt
and I didn't know. Maybe you didn't either,
Host
Brian "B Daht" McLaughlin
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