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Ethiopian Ladies
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26INCHHAIR
New Member
I'm Nigerian and yea our hair grows pretty fast and my grandmother has really thick hair along with all of my family members. My dad have 3b hair and mom's are 4a and 3c but yea...I do think it is because of the diet. We eat alot of vegetables, fish, meat and fiber.....so I guess thats why our texture is like that.
26INCHHAIR
New Member
hi brandy
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soulchild said:
YUP. Most Eri's I know grow hair really fast. Also their hair tends to be stronger, able to withstand alot without much adverse effect. ... I can't say there's some special regimen or secrets, though. They do all the bad stuff most African Americans do. The young ones, anyway. It must be genes.
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Yup.
My best friend in secondary school came from Eritrea. My eyes nearly bugged out of my head when she told me that she washed her hair with ... clothing detergent!
(She quickly stopped after that revelation though
.) I know that no one in her family used conditioner, leave-ins, or anything like that - for example, her mom shampooed with Wella Balsam and that was it ... but she had long, thick hair (and her daughter, my best friend, did too).
All the Eritrean and Ethiopian girls at my school had such gorgeous, thick hair! They got a lot of hate from some of the Kenyan girls, but only the one's whose hair never made it past 1" or 2".
Premier Pearl ~ are you thinking of ghee? A lot of Indians I knew used that in their hair also. If I recall correctly, shea butter is a West African product (Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Kenya are in East Africa).
HTH!
soulchild said:
YUP. Most Eri's I know grow hair really fast. Also their hair tends to be stronger, able to withstand alot without much adverse effect. ... I can't say there's some special regimen or secrets, though. They do all the bad stuff most African Americans do. The young ones, anyway. It must be genes.
[/ QUOTE ]
Yup.
Premier Pearl ~ are you thinking of ghee? A lot of Indians I knew used that in their hair also. If I recall correctly, shea butter is a West African product (Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Kenya are in East Africa).
HTH!
i think the Ethiopian ladies hair texture and length is due to their genes.
I am from Tanzania and the ladies here generally have long hair. Many are natural and use henna and coconut oil. The weather is hot and humid here, so that encourages growth. Also we eat a lot of fresh fish, fresh vegetables and fruits.
I am from Tanzania and the ladies here generally have long hair. Many are natural and use henna and coconut oil. The weather is hot and humid here, so that encourages growth. Also we eat a lot of fresh fish, fresh vegetables and fruits.
I agree, my daughter's grandmother is Ethiopian and her hair is beautiful. She perms her own hair (Gentle Treatment) and trims only to even her hair. She's about 60 now and keeps her hair around mid back. She got me started on Shou Wu Chih a chinese tonic drink that aids in hair, nails and skin. I think it's the liquid form of shen min. She's also very health conscious and eat vegetables and fruits, little meat, every day.
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Nyambura said:
All the Eritrean and Ethiopian girls at my school had such gorgeous, thick hair! They got a lot of hate from some of the Kenyan girls, but only the one's whos hair never made it past 1" or 2".
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Interesting.... What high school were u at?? I'm ex-boma. We had students there from ALL provinces and I never noticed anyone hating on another's hair type. It was just accepted that the somali, ethiopians or "coasterians" sometimes (not always) had softer hair but they didn't get hated for it. The longest haired girls also happened to be straight up 4a/b type.
There was this maasai girl that joined the school in form 1. Her head had been shaved completely bald. (A symbol among the maasai that there had been a death in the family and she was in mourning.) She unfortunately had to deal with a lot of stares and odd comments before it grew out an inch or so. At the end of our fourth and final year of high school SHE had the longest healthiest hair in the class. All natural 4a/b and everyone was asking for hair care tips!
Honestly, I only came into contact with "hating on hair type issues" after I left home.
Nyambura said:
All the Eritrean and Ethiopian girls at my school had such gorgeous, thick hair! They got a lot of hate from some of the Kenyan girls, but only the one's whos hair never made it past 1" or 2".
[/ QUOTE ]
Interesting.... What high school were u at?? I'm ex-boma. We had students there from ALL provinces and I never noticed anyone hating on another's hair type. It was just accepted that the somali, ethiopians or "coasterians" sometimes (not always) had softer hair but they didn't get hated for it. The longest haired girls also happened to be straight up 4a/b type.
There was this maasai girl that joined the school in form 1. Her head had been shaved completely bald. (A symbol among the maasai that there had been a death in the family and she was in mourning.) She unfortunately had to deal with a lot of stares and odd comments before it grew out an inch or so. At the end of our fourth and final year of high school SHE had the longest healthiest hair in the class. All natural 4a/b and everyone was asking for hair care tips!
Honestly, I only came into contact with "hating on hair type issues" after I left home.
BronzeBrown
New Member
[ QUOTE ]
jd_bdfly said:
Or maybe it was that Italy attempted to colonize Ethopia and were not successful. In any case, there were Italians around for the intermixing to occur.
[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah Italy unsuccesfully attempted to colonize Ethiopia. But I don't think the extent to which Italians intermixed with Ethiopians is much more than in other African countries like Mozambique, Namibia, Botswana etc (I could be wrong though). However I know that Ethiopia does have a history with Arab migration and intermixing in their country, which may explain some characteristics of their languages and appearance. Parts of Nigeria (specifically the North) has a similar experience with Arab migration and with that the spread of Islam.
jd_bdfly said:
Or maybe it was that Italy attempted to colonize Ethopia and were not successful. In any case, there were Italians around for the intermixing to occur.
[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah Italy unsuccesfully attempted to colonize Ethiopia. But I don't think the extent to which Italians intermixed with Ethiopians is much more than in other African countries like Mozambique, Namibia, Botswana etc (I could be wrong though). However I know that Ethiopia does have a history with Arab migration and intermixing in their country, which may explain some characteristics of their languages and appearance. Parts of Nigeria (specifically the North) has a similar experience with Arab migration and with that the spread of Islam.
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kenyana said:
[ QUOTE ]
Nyambura said:
All the Eritrean and Ethiopian girls at my school had such gorgeous, thick hair! They got a lot of hate from some of the Kenyan girls, but only the one's whos hair never made it past 1" or 2".
[/ QUOTE ]
Interesting.... What high school were u at?? I'm ex-boma. We had students there from ALL provinces and I never noticed anyone hating on another's hair type. It was just accepted that the somali, ethiopians or "coasterians" sometimes (not always) had softer hair but they didn't get hated for it. The longest haired girls also happened to be straight up 4a/b type.
There was this maasai girl that joined the school in form 1. Her head had been shaved completely bald. (A symbol among the maasai that there had been a death in the family and she was in mourning.) She unfortunately had to deal with a lot of stares and odd comments before it grew out an inch or so. At the end of our fourth and final year of high school SHE had the longest healthiest hair in the class. All natural 4a/b and everyone was asking for hair care tips!
Honestly, I only came into contact with "hating on hair type issues" after I left home.
[/ QUOTE ]
Hi Kenyana ~
Nice to see fellow Kenyans on the board. I went to Msongari. We had students from all over Africa, Europe, and Asia. We had a lot of bi/multiracial students as well. It's entirely possible that you and I had completely different experiences. I didn't say all Kenyan girls at my school were haters, just some of them. And yes, some of my Kenyan classmates had (relatively) long hair ... long hair was considered hair that brushed your shoulders ... but the ones with relatively long hair didn't seem to have issues with the Eritrean or Ethiopian girls...just the ones, as I said before, whose hair never got past a few inches (if that).
But hate *definitely* existed, and not just at my school, either. My friend, who is Eritrean, went to a regular salon in downtown Nairobi to get her hair trimmed. At the time, her hair was just past shoulder length. Apparently the stylist took offense at this and made nasty comments like "Who are you to come in for a trim when the rest of us are trying to grow our hair?" ... and she cut my friend's hair off! My friend, who was 14 at the time, was too scared to say anything while this woman hacked her hair off from just past shoulder length to 4"! If that's not hate, I don't know what is.
I also ran into issues about hair texture. Again, this was with people in general, not just limited to my school. People would ooh and ahh over wavy textured hair that many Ethiopians and Eritreans had. Most Kenyans I saw, including my own relatives, had Type 4 hair (either small, spring-sized/coffee-stirrer-sized or smaller curls, or a zig-zag pattern). I just want to point out that softness and texture are two different things: my dad has very, very tightly curled hair but it is sooooo soft. Some of my Eritrean friends had wavy/straight hair that felt so hard and wirey! But I ran into that assumption a lot.
Unfortunately, some folks still suffer from colonial hangover.
kenyana said:
[ QUOTE ]
Nyambura said:
All the Eritrean and Ethiopian girls at my school had such gorgeous, thick hair! They got a lot of hate from some of the Kenyan girls, but only the one's whos hair never made it past 1" or 2".
[/ QUOTE ]
Interesting.... What high school were u at?? I'm ex-boma. We had students there from ALL provinces and I never noticed anyone hating on another's hair type. It was just accepted that the somali, ethiopians or "coasterians" sometimes (not always) had softer hair but they didn't get hated for it. The longest haired girls also happened to be straight up 4a/b type.
There was this maasai girl that joined the school in form 1. Her head had been shaved completely bald. (A symbol among the maasai that there had been a death in the family and she was in mourning.) She unfortunately had to deal with a lot of stares and odd comments before it grew out an inch or so. At the end of our fourth and final year of high school SHE had the longest healthiest hair in the class. All natural 4a/b and everyone was asking for hair care tips!
Honestly, I only came into contact with "hating on hair type issues" after I left home.
[/ QUOTE ]
Hi Kenyana ~
Nice to see fellow Kenyans on the board. I went to Msongari. We had students from all over Africa, Europe, and Asia. We had a lot of bi/multiracial students as well. It's entirely possible that you and I had completely different experiences. I didn't say all Kenyan girls at my school were haters, just some of them. And yes, some of my Kenyan classmates had (relatively) long hair ... long hair was considered hair that brushed your shoulders ... but the ones with relatively long hair didn't seem to have issues with the Eritrean or Ethiopian girls...just the ones, as I said before, whose hair never got past a few inches (if that).
But hate *definitely* existed, and not just at my school, either. My friend, who is Eritrean, went to a regular salon in downtown Nairobi to get her hair trimmed. At the time, her hair was just past shoulder length. Apparently the stylist took offense at this and made nasty comments like "Who are you to come in for a trim when the rest of us are trying to grow our hair?" ... and she cut my friend's hair off! My friend, who was 14 at the time, was too scared to say anything while this woman hacked her hair off from just past shoulder length to 4"! If that's not hate, I don't know what is.
I also ran into issues about hair texture. Again, this was with people in general, not just limited to my school. People would ooh and ahh over wavy textured hair that many Ethiopians and Eritreans had. Most Kenyans I saw, including my own relatives, had Type 4 hair (either small, spring-sized/coffee-stirrer-sized or smaller curls, or a zig-zag pattern). I just want to point out that softness and texture are two different things: my dad has very, very tightly curled hair but it is sooooo soft. Some of my Eritrean friends had wavy/straight hair that felt so hard and wirey! But I ran into that assumption a lot.
bAbyGirLbX
New Member
I haven't read every single post, so someone might have already mentioned this. Ethiopians are a mix of African and Indian/Arab/Middle Easterns. Ethiopia is located on the coast of East Africa and was a large trading post with many people from the Far East since the early days(like since 2 AD). Additionally, it has also have a long history with Italy. I hope this is an adequate answer to your inquiry.
velvethalo
New Member
I don't know how much mixture has to do with healthy hair. A lot of African-Americans are "mixed" and have hair that they just haven't figured out, (like me). I was inquiring more on haircare and diet, looking for some African secrets. Most of the non-Ethiopian/ Somali Africans that I've met either wore their hair relaxed or in braids. I notice that a lot of Ethiopian women wear their natural hair down and long, and it usually looks very healthy.
I moved to Denmark a few months ago, and their are a lot of Somali/Ethiopian women hear in my town. Most are muslim, so they wear their hair covered, but their daughter's have the same hair textures as black American children- and they wear the same styles. So it's got to be a styling issue.
As soon as I learn to speak some more Danish I'm definately going to ask these women what the deal is.
I moved to Denmark a few months ago, and their are a lot of Somali/Ethiopian women hear in my town. Most are muslim, so they wear their hair covered, but their daughter's have the same hair textures as black American children- and they wear the same styles. So it's got to be a styling issue.
As soon as I learn to speak some more Danish I'm definately going to ask these women what the deal is.
hunnybunny81
New Member
My best friend is Ethiopian, and she must be the exception. She doesn't have any of the hair qualities that most of them have,.. her hair is 4 a/b, not wavy in the least bit, not long, matter of fact, for the 7 years I've known her...its never been past her shoulders....but she has a sister whose hair is like,way different then hers...I guess there's exceptions to every thing
One of my good friends is Eritrean. Her hair is down to her butt, very full, thick, and healthy. She doesn't do anything with her hair at all. She puts in mousse, v05, leaves in it a bun, combs it all out in the morning, and washes once every one or two weeks. She really doesn't know any hair secrets. If she is going out, she washes it the night before and puts in gel or if it is a really special occassion, she gets it pressed like once a year. I think she gets it trimmed about once a year, and her mother won't allow her to cut it or relax it although she really envies relaxed hair.
Her mother knows special hair tips - like different oils, different hennas, recipes, and that kind of things. But her mother's hair isn't that long - a few inches longer than shoulder length I think. That's because her mother's hair was long in the past, then she relaxed it until a few years ago. She finally stopped because of the hair thinning that she had, and her hair is now natural although it has definitely not gotten back to the thickness that she had before and my friend has now and is more coarse to the touch. I don't know what hair type their hair would be. It's definitely thick, very very poofy if left alone (that's what the mousse is for), my friend can't even put her own hair in a ponytail - looks pretty curly if handled with gel, and looks pretty straight if mousse is put on it and the hair is in a bun all day.
Her mother knows special hair tips - like different oils, different hennas, recipes, and that kind of things. But her mother's hair isn't that long - a few inches longer than shoulder length I think. That's because her mother's hair was long in the past, then she relaxed it until a few years ago. She finally stopped because of the hair thinning that she had, and her hair is now natural although it has definitely not gotten back to the thickness that she had before and my friend has now and is more coarse to the touch. I don't know what hair type their hair would be. It's definitely thick, very very poofy if left alone (that's what the mousse is for), my friend can't even put her own hair in a ponytail - looks pretty curly if handled with gel, and looks pretty straight if mousse is put on it and the hair is in a bun all day.
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