Throughout the Byzantine period, ecclesiastical writers have criticized the use of psimythia (materials for grooming), elaborate coiffures, jewelry and luxurious garments. This tenacious criticism, however, reveals the unbroken Byzantine love for grooming, inherited from the Roman era. The Church Fathers ’ main argument was that body care and adornment are altering the "image" of God, leading to provocation and indifference for the salvation of the soul. However, since health was akin to beauty during this period, the need for taking care of the external beauty could not be eliminated, although excesses were denounced. Surviving jewelry, cloths, make up brushes and perfume bottles, clearly reflect the interest of the Byzantine society for personal embellishment and adornment.

The hair or mallitzia, as the Byzantines called it, was an important feature of their appearance. A person with straight hair was called aplothrix, with naturally curly hair sgouros or katsaros, while someone with thick hair was called fountomallis. Depending on hair color, they were brunet or karamalloi and blond or golden or chrysokefaloi. Blond hair was considered attractive, so byzantine people invented several ways to lighten it. The basic tools for nice hair were scissors and combs: hair was mostly cut in the house by slaves, while only few indications exist about barbers and hairdressers (emplektries or Kourides) who mainly worked for the nobles and kings. People with long hair dressed them in various ways so as not to appear ungraceful: whether shoulder length or held on the top of the head, hair was braided or curled. For curling, hair was rubbed with oil or special ointments and was wrapped around a hot iron or reeds.

Men did not neglect to take care of their hair. Depending on their background, social status and means they wore their hair short if they were soldiers, for hygiene and safety reasons as it was customary in Roman tradition, or long if they were clergymen. The use of wigs and prokomia was not unknown. Monks originally cut their hair for hygienic reasons, but very soon it came to symbolize humility and penance. In the East, but mostly in the West, priests shaved the top of their head and the remaining hair was like a wreath symbolizing Christ’s crown of thorns. With regard to facial hair, the general trend was maintaining a beard. Army officers were all "Barbati" (barbatus is the Latin word for bearded man), while palace eunuchs were spanoi or shaved their beard and were therefore considered effeminate. Many church writers vehemently criticized shaving of beards and viewed it as a characteristic of disreputable professionals, such as mimes, magicians and charlatans of any kind, who needed disguise and hide their gender.

Indirect comments from sources about feminine beauty indicated that women cared for their appearance, especially their hair and hairdos. In general, the Byzantines had long hair, modestly worn and held at the back of the neck with a hairpin . Other times they braided it using colored or golden ribbons or let it fall freely on the shoulders, especially young girls. Curling the hair and tying it into a bun was not unknown, while rare sources mention extra braids, mainly blond. Coloring the hair was common practice: it seems that brides traditionally dyed their hair red the day before the wedding. Out of the house, women covered their head with a kerchief, a white cloth or net over which the maphorion was wrapped; this was worn by all women for modesty and decency. Lack of hair was generally considered a sign of shame. Women cut their hair while mourning or as punishment for moral misconducts. It is worth noting that in the Middle Ages the words sheared and dishonest woman were synonymous. The extravagant and often extreme Late Antiquity hairdos, influenced by the earlier Roman style, began to disappear during the middle Byzantine period, when even empresses were depicted in official portraits with simple braids. After 1204 and the forced cohabitation of the Franks and the Byzantines in the empire, many Western hairdressing habits passed to the Byzantine society, especially the upper classes.

Women especially liked to care and groom their face, using different materials for cleaning, nourishing and maintaining the good texture of the skin. Byzantine women shaved or plucked facial hair with small tongs and used three colors, white, black and red for makeup, which caused the reaction of the Church. The face and neck were painted white using lead carbonate powder. For the black eye and eyebrow makeup, stimmi (antimony sulphide) was used, as well as pine nuts or wet tar. Sources indicate that in some cases women dyed their blond eyebrows black. Finally, the red color which used on cheeks, lips and the tip of the chin was provided by seaweed. There is, however, evidence that some men also wore makeup because they were vain, effeminate or even to obtain a false appearance of asceticism and acquire expressions of holiness.

Perfumes were used by both men and women. Perfumers disappeared after the end of antiquity, as perfumes were luxury goods and as such they were produced by small family industries or, in a more advanced and experimental form, in the palace for the kings and courtiers. The aromatic essences derived from lily, myrtle, rose, cinnamon, balsam, etc., while many were imported from India, Persia, Arabia and Egypt. Myra were also used by men, who rubbed it on their hair, provoking the ire of some ecclesiastical writers.

Adornment was expressed with jewelry. Girls and women and often men wore jewelry, mainly rings and belts. Kings and the aristocracy wore gold and silver jewelry, often with gems and pearls, but jewels were often made from simpler materials, such as iron, copper and glass. There were all kinds of jewelry that we know today: earrings (enotia), chains, necklaces, bracelets (psellia), wristbands, belt buckles etc. The agkonovrachila or agonobtachila were jewelry for the elbow, while for the feet the periskelides or podopsella were used.

Rings, worn both by men and women, were the most loved jewelery. Their decoration depended on the occasion they were intended for, ie wedding bands. They often had gems or a simple glass, but also monograms and stamps, which were used as signatures to ensure the authenticity of messages or orders. Late Antiquity jewelry making is basically a continuation of the Roman tradition. During the Middle Byzantine period special techniques and specific motifs were developed, which mostly used enamel and Christian themes to protect against evil. During the Late Byzantine period, rich people’s jewelry was directly influenced by Western traditions, while cheap jewelry became even cheaper as they were thinner, with more sketchy adornment.

Despite the prohibitions of the Church Fathers and the ascetic standards of the saints, the material remains of the Byzantine culture indicate that both men and women used jewelry, clothing and make-up, not only as a means to improve appearance, but as indicators of social status.