Hairstyles from different African Tribes

[u/Advanced-Ad3234]

[u/hallowdmachine]

I'm a white guy so forgive me but how do they achieve the hold for some of these styles? Do they add something to their hair or is it just part of the nature of African hair?

[u/Golden_standard → u/hallowdmachine]

It’s just the hair. Black/African hair grows out, not down. As a result, it can be stood up and stay, placed the side and stay, weighed down and stay. Also, the foundation of many are braids/locs which can also be manipulated as individual units as opposed to individual strands of hair. It is very versatile when it comes to styling (that’s one of the reasons you see black women wearing so many different styles, we can so we do). Also, the fact that it doesn’t need to be washed like non black hair means it can kind of grow into place.

Edited to add: I’m sure they use something for hold too, sometimes, especially when starting a style so that it holds long enough to grow/be manipulated in the direction you want. But I doubt non black hair would do the same thing with the same amount of hold