![]() ![]() Women who have been married for a year wear another intricate headdress made from goatskin called the Erembe along with strands coated in the otjize paste, creating the famous and iconic dreadlocks seen in photographs of Himba women. Once a girl reaches marriageable age, a headdress called the Ekori made from tanned goatskin is worn. As they grow older, boys braid their hair into a single plait while girls braid it into two plaits that hang in front of their face. The heads of newborns are kept shaved, leaving only a small tuft of hair on the crown. Right from birth, hairstyles symbolise age, marital status, wealth and rank and the thickness of the hair can also indicate a woman’s fertility. Hair plays a vital role in Himba culture. Himba dreadlocks: an elegant display of age, status and courtship The history of cornrows serves as a testimony to the strength, ingenuity and resilience of Black people a reminder that hairstyles can often be much more than a fashion statement. This was especially prevalent in South America.Īccording to a piece by The Washington Post, “In the time of slavery in Colombia, hair braiding was used to relay messages.” Styles such as departes with thick, tight braids were used to signal the desire to escape and other styles like curved braids were used to represent escape routes and roads. Braiding escape maps into cornrows proved an effective method for enslaved people to avoid getting caught with their escape plans. Cornrows were also used as a clever method to communicate and create maps to escape from the homes of slave-owners. But this wasn’t adhered to by everyone. Many of those enslaved grew out their hair and braided it into cornrows as an act of resistance, rebellion and reclamation of cultural identity. ![]() They were made to shave their heads for the purpose of “sanitation” and as a way to strip them of their culture and identity. However, in more recent history, cornrows were used as a powerful tool of resistance against slavery and bondage.ĭuring the Middle Passage, millions of enslaved Africans were chained and transported across the Atlantic to the Americas. The earliest documentation has been in Stone Age paintings in the Tassili Plateau of the Sahara. They have been traced back to around 3,000 BCE where they were found in various cultures of West Africa and the Horn of Africa. While some view cornrows as a modern trend, their history actually dates back millennia. Take a walk through the strands of human history with these five distinct hairstyles from around the world.Ĭornrows are a type of braided hairstyle in which “the hair is braided very close to the scalp, using an underhand, upward motion to make a continuous, raised row.” Also known as canerows in the Caribbean, they can be styled in straight lines as well as in intricate geometric or curved patterns. In the age of social media, however, many of these traditional hairstyles have been adopted-or appropriated rather-by celebrities, social media influencers and festival-goers as mere fashion statements without any thought given to their deep cultural significance or painful history. Thus, learning about the history and significance of hair is vital to fostering a more mindful and respectful attitude towards Black, Indigenous and People of Colour. Many of these styles have stood the test of time and remain prominent today within and without the unique cultures in which they originated. Hairstyles have symbolised one’s age, tribal affiliations, ethnicity, religion, social status, marital status and more, and have allowed ethnic and cultural groups to define and even reclaim their identities. ![]() Throughout history and across various cultures, hair and hairstyles have had significance far beyond aesthetic beauty and protection from weather. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |