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Yoruba beauties please explain...dada

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OndoGirl

OndoGirl

Well-Known Member
This is not serious. In fact it is rather bush. My son (now 6). His hair was locking when he was born. I mean like straight from his skull-immediately. Is this dada? I no go be bush girl o! Please tell me the the true definition of Omo Dada, because I have been Americanized, but I remember a beautiful boy in Akiode, his eyes were blue and his hair was locked. He was only a baby but I felt the Dada presence. Please explain it to me. I will post pics of DS :grin:shortly...
 
Hmmmm.... :scratchch

I'm so, so curious to find out what this means. Please, somebody come answer her question and explain what we're talking about. :look:
 
From my experience growing up dada= hair that is locking up and twisting naturally.. or is hard to comb/ matted.

I am Igbo not Yoruba and my parents chopped off my baby sister's hair when she was about 3 yrs old because they said she had 'dada' hair. idk. The theory is that once you chop it off, when the new hair grows in, it will no longer be dada.

She is 17 now and newly natural (1 year post BC) and her hair is not matting/ tangling. I say type 4a.


Dada or dreds
noun;
A child born with naturally mattted or locked hair that cannot be combed. The natural hair texture is similar to dreadlocks and is not in that state by choice. The word "dada" a word of Yoruba origin, has entered the widely spoken Nigerian English and can be used both as an adjective and a noun. For example one can say, John’s friend is dada or John’s friend has dada hair. In Yoruba, the word is only used as an adjective. “Dada” is used the same way dreads are in American English. Only difference is that the word “dreads” is of Jamaican origin and was used to refer to the Rasta men who people feared and "dreaded." With time, since they had unusual matted or locked hair, their hair was referred to as dreadlocks or dreds and the people were also sometimes called dreds. Dada is almost the same thing as dreds. It looks exactly like dreadlocks. The only difference is that since dada is natural, meaning since the children are actually born with unusually curly, tangled or matted hair they are forced to grow the dreds. Since most children in Nigerian culture, wear their hair in its natural state, if it looks like dreds or dada it is assumed that the child is a naturally born “dada.” Adults are seldom referred to as dada because the dreds may be a style done by choice.
 
yaya24 said:

Dada or dreds
noun;
A child born with naturally mattted or locked hair that cannot be combed. The natural hair texture is similar to dreadlocks and is not in that state by choice. The word "dada" a word of Yoruba origin, has entered the widely spoken Nigerian English and can be used both as an adjective and a noun. For example one can say, John’s friend is dada or John’s friend has dada hair. In Yoruba, the word is only used as an adjective. “Dada” is used the same way dreads are in American English. Only difference is that the word “dreads” is of Jamaican origin and was used to refer to the Rasta men who people feared and "dreaded." With time, since they had unusual matted or locked hair, their hair was referred to as dreadlocks or dreds and the people were also sometimes called dreds. Dada is almost the same thing as dreds. It looks exactly like dreadlocks. The only difference is that since dada is natural, meaning since the children are actually born with unusually curly, tangled or matted hair they are forced to grow the dreds. Since most children in Nigerian culture, wear their hair in its natural state, if it looks like dreds or dada it is assumed that the child is a naturally born “dada.” Adults are seldom referred to as dada because the dreds may be a style done by choice.
Click to expand...

this thread cracked me up at first because "dada" also means "good" in Yoruba. I'm not sure what i was expecting to see when i clicked this thread but i digress :lol:

yaya24 is right. Just to add additional context, a lot of people in Nigeria hold superstitious beliefs regarding dada--sometimes refusing to cut the hair for several years. I don't know this for a fact, but i have heard that sometimes cutting dada hair doesn't stop the hair from growing back in the same way (which might explain some of the beliefs about this kind of hair)

In colloquial lingo, dada is also fondly used to describe any type of hair that looks tangled or matted

the only point of correction that I'll add is that the term dada isn't used only in reference to young children (at least not anymore) and it is actually quite unusual to see young "stylish" Nigerian girls wearing their natural hair.

the last time i was home, i asked a friend whether her hair was natural and i nearly got cussed out for it. Natural hair is referred to as "natchie", a term with a less than glamorous meaning (to put it lightly)
 
Last edited:
Hmm - this is news to me. I only knew of the term omo dada to mean good child - as opposed to omo buruku which means bad child or wicked child (I'm not fluent in Yoruba but I heard those two a lot growing up :lol:). Maybe it depends on the way you say it since Yoruba is a tonal language.
 
Chanteuse said:
Hmm - this is news to me. I only knew of the term omo dada to mean good child - as opposed to omo buruku which means bad child or wicked child (I'm not fluent in Yoruba but I heard those two a lot growing up :lol:). Maybe it depends on the way you say it since Yoruba is a tonal language.
Click to expand...

Chanteuse i know right? i posted the same thing when i read this thread. it's been ages since i've heard anyone refer to someone's hair as dada :lachen: brings back memories
 
i have heard the term "dada" hair in the West Indies and had no idea it had West African roots. Cool!
 
Kurlee said:
i have heard the term "dada" hair in the West Indies and had no idea it had West African roots. Cool!
Click to expand...

Wow, really. That is totally awesome. I wonder if there some of our tribe were shipped there back in the day.
 
Ok, ladies. I am trying to find a pic of my boy with his hair growing but hubby (African-American) always cuts it right away. I want to let it grow so bad!!
 
ezina said:
Is dada similar to uncombable hair syndrome?
Click to expand...

hi ezina :wave: thanks for posting that. i learned something new today just from reading a little bit about that. never heard of uncombable hair syndrome until your post.

to answer your question, no, dada is literally hair that is locked up from birth
 
yaya24 said:
From my experience growing up dada= hair that is locking up and twisting naturally.. or is hard to comb/ matted.

I am Igbo not Yoruba and my parents chopped off my baby sister's hair when she was about 3 yrs old because they said she had 'dada' hair. idk. The theory is that once you chop it off, when the new hair grows in, it will no longer be dada.

She is 17 now and newly natural (1 year post BC) and her hair is not matting/ tangling. I say type 4a.


Dada or dreds
noun;
A child born with naturally mattted or locked hair that cannot be combed. The natural hair texture is similar to dreadlocks and is not in that state by choice. The word "dada" a word of Yoruba origin, has entered the widely spoken Nigerian English and can be used both as an adjective and a noun. For example one can say, John’s friend is dada or John’s friend has dada hair. In Yoruba, the word is only used as an adjective. “Dada” is used the same way dreads are in American English. Only difference is that the word “dreads” is of Jamaican origin and was used to refer to the Rasta men who people feared and "dreaded." With time, since they had unusual matted or locked hair, their hair was referred to as dreadlocks or dreds and the people were also sometimes called dreds. Dada is almost the same thing as dreds. It looks exactly like dreadlocks. The only difference is that since dada is natural, meaning since the children are actually born with unusually curly, tangled or matted hair they are forced to grow the dreds. Since most children in Nigerian culture, wear their hair in its natural state, if it looks like dreds or dada it is assumed that the child is a naturally born “dada.” Adults are seldom referred to as dada because the dreds may be a style done by choice.
Click to expand...

This is so fascinating! I've been Nigerian all my life :grin:, and I leaned something new today.

Thanks yaya!
 
Yeah, dada hair was pretty much looked down on growing up in Nigeria. I remember a boy in my primary school had it and no one would play with him. :(
 
alive said:
hi ezina :wave: thanks for posting that. i learned something new today just from reading a little bit about that. never heard of uncombable hair syndrome until your post.

to answer your question, no, dada is literally hair that is locked up from birth
Click to expand...

You're right. Judging from the blond pics when I googled 'uncombable hair syndrome', sounds like oyinbo problems to me.
 
Yeah growing up in Nigeria I knew a lot of Dadas. I never gave thought to why they were dadas, just that their hair was locked.
 
luckygirlin said:
You're right. Judging from the blond pics when I googled 'uncombable hair syndrome', sounds like oyinbo problems to me.
Click to expand...

I couldn't help but snicker when I read that... we need to be using that word much more often. It sure beats "clear" and other terms! :lachen: :lachen:
 
From: http://www.destee.com/forums/showthread.php?t=65301

DADA:children born with naturally mattted or locked hair that cannot be combed. The natural hair texture is similar to 'dreadlocks' and is not in that state by choice.



Children's Hair

fig. 7

In the past, the parents of a new baby often consulted a diviner on the third day after its birth to find out, among other things, the nature of the baby's inner head and what should be done to preserve a good destiny or to rectify a bad one. This ceremony is called imori (know the head) or ikose waye (the first steps on earth) (Idowu 1995:192). To formally welcome the baby to the world of the living (Ilé Ayé), there is a naming ceremony on the seventh or ninth day after its birth during which its head is completely shaved. 7 Until the ceremony, the baby is often addressed as Omo titun, alejò ayé (New baby, a stranger to the physical world). Babies born with knotted or curly hair are considered sacred and are automatically given the name Dàda or Ekine. Partly because they are thought to be special gifts from the orisa and partly because their knots of hair are likened to cowrie shells (money), these children are thought to attract wealth to their parents, 8 as indicated in this Dàda's panegyric (oriki): 9



A Dàda's head is not shaved during the naming ceremonies because it is believed that the knotted hair has special powers. The hair may be washed but must not be combed. As Marilyn Houlberg has noted, the "heads of Dàda children are shaved only under special ritual conditions. The act of head-shaving may be said to mark the incorporation of the already sacred child into the world of the living" (Houlberg 1979:377).
 
The "dada" that this thread refers to is pronounced differently from "dada" that means good [almost like good has an extra "a" as in daada (of course it probably doesn't have an extra "a" when written, rather some kind of tone marks would help differentiate but I obviously slept through that class in secondary school)]

A lot of the ladies upthread have correctly pointed out what dada hair is. Although, in modern day Nigeria, anything from locs to loose natural hair can be referred to as dada. I've had people say to me "Ah ahn! You're still carrying this your dada hair". I'm a loose natural, btw.

OP, your usage of the term "bush" cracks me up for some reason.
 
ceecy29 said:
The "dada" that this thread refers to is pronounced differently from "dada" that means good [almost like good has an extra "a" as in daada (of course it probably doesn't have an extra "a" when written, rather some kind of tone marks would help differentiate but I obviously slept through that class in secondary school)]

A lot of the ladies upthread have correctly pointed out what dada hair is. Although, in modern day Nigeria, anything from locs to loose natural hair can be referred to as dada. I've had people say to me "Ah ahn! You're still carrying this your dada hair". I'm a loose natural, btw.

OP, your usage of the term "bush" cracks me up for some reason.
Click to expand...

^^^^ cosigning
Dh was born dada his parents had to wait till he was a year old to cut his hair
 
Some quoted that dada hair has special powers. Has anyone checked out if this goes back to the idea of SAMSON? His mother never combed his hair and was instructed to allow them to grow---hence the secret of his strength (special powers) Check it out...

Could there be history or relation to this??

Jdg 13:3 And a Messenger of יהוה appeared to the woman and said to her, “See now, you are barren and have not borne, but you shall conceive, and you shall bear a son.
Jdg 13:4 “And now, please guard, and do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat any unclean food.
Jdg 13:5 “For look, you are conceiving and bearing a son. And let no razor come upon his head, for the youth is a Nazirite to Elohim from the womb on. And he shall begin to save Yisra’ĕl out of the hand of the Philistines.”
 
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