The Price of Beauty
Mayans found many unusual and odd styles beautiful, and most of them involved distorting their bodies in one way or another. To make their heads longer, Mayan babies' heads were squeezed between two pieces of wood. Fortunately, this does not effect intelligence, as a baby's brain is quite elastic for a time after birth.
Another way of altering appearance was to break the nose and reshape it to make it look more hooked. Mayans also tied balls of wax or beads on a string to a child's head between their eyes so they would become cross-eyed after looking at it for a while.
Mayan body-decorating was not limited to children, however. Designs were cut into teeth, and jade was placed in the designs. Men burned bald spots into their hair, and also filed their teeth to sharp points. Complex tattooing designs were cut into the skin of both men and women, and the whole process is so painful that the Mayan people were often sick for days afterward.
In addition, Mayans also had large holes poked in the lips, ears, and nose so big, heavy ornaments could be laid in them. As if that wasn't enough; all of the processes were intensified by social status, especially if a Mayan was a noble.
Both men and women had long hair which was braided into two or four braids. The clothes themselves worn by the Maya were also very decorative, with the fanciest piece of clothing being headdresses worn by nobles, which were often taller than the wearer!
Also, Mayans painted their bodies in predetermined colors, decided by tradition. Priests wore blue, warriors wore red and black, teenagers wore black, and prisoners wore striped black and white.