What is this? I am intrigued. What’s wrapped around her hair?
This looks more extreme than many of the women I’ve seen, but the Hamer of Ethiopia have a similar hairstyle to this, where they have braided strands that are coated in clay and ochre. Theirs are not nearly as thick, though.
I still think that it’s a red clay/ochre mix with some sort of butter lotion, though, since her skin is covered in ochre.
Amazing hair. Searched and found this post by TEMBO NZURI:
Me when I visited Namibia in 2008.
I got my hair done with extensions. The Himba women wear their hair in long braids and cover them with a mixture of butter fat and ochre called otijize which also gives their skin a red tint. Its a common trend and symbol of beauty a woman told me. The necklace was borrowed from one of the women that helped do my hair. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to keep it-it was really heavy and I had one around my ankle as well.
