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ANCIENT AFRICAN BEAUTY SECRETS – AN EAST AFRICAN SAFARI

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ANCIENT AFRICAN BEAUTY SECRETS – AN EAST AFRICAN SAFARI Posted by Afya (http://afyatherapy.com/author/neva/) / Beauty Secrets (http://afyatherapy.com/category/beauty-secrets/) / 1 comment (http://afyatherapy.com/ancientafrican-beauty-secrets-an-east-african-safari/#comments)

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/ African beauty secrets (http://afyatherapy.com/tag/african-beauty-secrets/), henna (http://afyatherapy.com/tag/henna/), Maasai (http://afyatherapy.com/tag/maasai/) Maasai beauty (http://afyatherapy.com/tag/maasai-beauty/), Swahili beauty (http://afyatherapy.com/tag/swahili-beauty/), Zanzibar (http://afyatherapy.com/tag/zanzibar/)

Africa’s ancient beauty secrets are nally coming into the fore. Even though the continent produces some of the world’s most bene cial & unrivalled organic and natural ingredients for

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natural skin and hair care, its own ancient tribal traditions have been largely ignored. Until now. Learn the secrets of Africa’s ancient beauty and look out for some of these ingredients and tribal stories in Afya’s collections. From our cosmetics to our skincare, Afya’s

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products are created to celebrate Africa’s tribal beauty traditions and customs, while ensuring that our consumers get the full bene t of this inherited wealth of knowledge. The Maasai The Maasai are a Nilotic ethnic group of semi-nomadic people inhabiting southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. They are among the best known local populations due to

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their residence near the many game parks of the African Great Lakes, and their distinctive customs and dress. The piercing and stretching of earlobes is common among the Maasai. Various materials have been used to both pierce and stretch the lobes, including thorns for piercing, twigs, bundles of twigs, stones, the cross section of elephant tusks and empty lm canisters. Fewer and fewer Maasai, particularly boys, follow this custom. Women wear various forms of beaded ornaments in both the ear lobe, and smaller piercings at the top of the ear.

(http://afyatherapy.com/wp-

content/s/2015/11/maasaigirl.jpg)Head shaving is common at many rites of age, representing the fresh start that will be made as one es from one to another of life’s chapters. The most celebrated aspect of the Maasai culture is the warrior class. Maasai men are rst and foremost warriors, they exist to protect their tribe, their cattle and their grazing lands. Warriors are the only of the Maasai community to wear long hair, which they weave in thinly braided strands. The hair and head/face is then carefully smeared in a mixture of ochre and fat, giving their heads and hair a red appearance – an elaborate fashion, which aims to look both erce and beautiful. The Swahili

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The Swahili people (or Waswahili) are an ethnic and cultural group inhabiting the African Great Lakes region. mainly reside on theSwahili Coast, in an area encoming the Zanzibar archipelago, coastal Kenya, the Tanzania seaboard, and northern Mozambique. The name Swahili is derived from the Arabic word ‘Sawahil’ 0 (http://afyatherapy.com/) meaning “coasts”. Mainly united under the mother tongue of Kiswahili, a Bantu language, the Swahili people originate from Bantu inhabitantsMENU of the coast of Southeast Africa, in Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique. The language of Kiswahili was derived when Arab, Persian, and other migrants who reached the coast as early as the 7th or 8th century AD mixed with the local Bantu people there, providing considerable cultural infusion and numerous loan words from Arabic and Persian. Bantu/Arab settlements along the Southeast African coast are noted as early as the beginning of the 1st millennium. They evolved gradually from the 6th century onward to accommodate for an increase in trade (mainly with Arab merchants), population growth, and further centralised urbanisation; developing into what would later become known as the Swahili City-States. Zanzibar and Pemba are one of those states, and their modern inhabitants have inherited a wealth of rich, traditional beauty rituals, using indigenous herbs, owers and spices. Singo, a natural scrub traditionally used when a Zanzibar girl is preparing for her marriage. Singo is prepared from fresh jasmine, ylang ylang owers, rose petals, mpatchori (not the famous patchouli but a sweet smelling herb growing mainly on Unguja), mpompia (geranium), mrehani (sweet basil) and liwa (sandalwood) ground together in a “Kinu” blender with a little rosewater. The bride to be undergoes a daily singo, the scrub exfoliating her skin, leaving her fragrant and glowing, with skin as soft as silk.

(http://afyatherapy.com/wp-content/s/2015/11/saltscrubfeet.jpg) On Pemba, couples scrub each other at the same time; men rub their beloved with singo, while women use the invigorating clove based scrub known as vidonge for their husband. Vidonge are made from the remains of clove stems and buds, after they have been distilling to make clove oil. The stems and buds are pressed into a small ball, with a little rose water. The result is a coarse, warming scrub, leaving skin energized and fresh. The vidonge is said to increase men’s libido and stamina and could be a perfect gift to take home. Swahili massage treatments include hot sand massage and kukandwa. In a hot sand massage, sand is heated and tied into a muslin parcel, then applied to the skin to alleviate pain or in ammation, opening the pores and bringing a medicinal heat to the muscles. Elderly Swahili people use the old, traditional massage kukandwa using mbarika leaves (castor seed). The leaves are soaked in hot water prior to applying them, which opens up the pores and relieves post natal fatigue, sport injuries and exhaustion. Henna is also an important beauty ritual on the archipelago of Unguja and Pemba and is made of the dried leaves of the henna tree. Nowadays many places unfortunately use the very aggressive piko which has absolutely nothing to do with natural henna and is actually nothing more than hair dye. Real henna painting takes time, with Zanzibari patterns combining elements from Arabic, Indian and African styles. The henna powder is mixed with black tea and lime juice to retrieve a darker colour and must be applied

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at least twice to get a good result.

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(http://afyatherapy.com/wp-content/s/2015/11/henna.jpg) In Zanzibar henna, locally known as ‘hina’ in Swahili symbolises the world of beauty, joy and happiness. It is an acknowledged local decoration said to change a woman to look more attractive. It is obtained after pounding the dried leaves of ‘mhina’ plant (LawsoniaInermis) which is then mixed with water to form a paste. Lemon juice, if wished can be an additional ingredient to make the dye more reddish and suitable for use. Today henna occupies a special place in marriages and festivals in both rural and urban Zanzibar and Pemba. It is decorated on the soles of the feet, ankles, palm and nails. Once the rst layer is applied, one has to wait for it to dry before a new layer is applied. The more complex the design is, the more attractive the woman becomes. After adornment, there follows a week in which a woman does what Zanzibari people call “giving henna its deserved rights”. A woman dresses in her nest. Khangas of the latest issue, jewels and gold ornaments are put on. A Zanzibari bride is sent to her “somo” (teacher) a week before the wedding. There she is adorned in elaborate designs of henna. During this period men are restricted in seeing her. Zanzibari women use henna to express their happiness and to mark religious or traditional occasions. They also adorn themselves with henna to gladden and welcome home their spouses who have been away for days. Men compliment their spouses by buying them new pairs of khangas ( piece of cloth worn by local women), shoes or jewellery. Henna is not without being associated with social taboo. According to Swahili customs, unmarried girls are forbidden to decorate themselves with henna as married women do. Odds are that younger woman can easily tempt man which is considered to be the domain of their elders and disapproved by society. Some men forbid their wives to

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apply henna as it is also a source of mischief. _______________________________________________________________________________________________ 0 (http://afyatherapy.com/) Do you want to know more about Africa’s beauty secrets? Read more here: Ancient African Beauty Secrets – a North African Safari (http://afyatherapy.com/ancient-african-beauty-secrets-a-north-african-safari/) Ancient African Beauty Secrets – an West African Safari (http://afyatherapy.com/ancient-african-beauty-secrets-a-west-african-safari/) Ancient African Beauty Secrets – an Ethiopian, Sudanese and Somali Safari    

About the Author: Afya (http://afyatherapy.com/author/neva/)

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We're a organic skincare brand inspired by the healing traditions of Africa's myriad tribes, whose stories are elegantly told through the ecofriendly packaging and design. Beauty from #skintosoul.

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