History

Mbalatu Women of Southern Angola

The Mbalatu women of Southern Angola and Northern Namibia are renowned for their incredibly long, braided hair which reaches to the floor.
By Historyville

From the age of 12, the girls' hair undergoes a special treatment to drastically speed up hair growth.

First, they coat their hair in a thick paste made from the finely ground tree bark of the omutyuula tree mixed with fat. A few years later, this paste is loosened to make the hair visible. Fruit pips are then tied to the hair ends with sinew strings.

When girls reach the age of sixteen, long sinew strands that reach the ground are attached to the hair. In the same year, they undergo the Ohango Initiation ceremony, a living tradition with roots in the ancient past.

Before the ceremony begins, their hair is styled into four long, thick braids, known as eembuvi, for the rest of their lives. #HistoryVille