Hair

Most of the people of Tanzania are black Africans.  (No surprise, there.)  People whose ancestors are from India live in the larger cities and people of Arab descent live along the coast and the former trade routes, but in our area almost everyone is a black Tanzanian.  The result is that the local barbers and hairdressers have no experience cutting Caucasian hair, and are loathe to try, for fear of botching the job.

Mark was able to find an Indian barber in a large city who gives him a good, if short, haircut.  I had the same man cut my hair, to my regret.  He said he knows how to layer hair, but he does not, and he cut waaay too much off.  (I am so nearsighted that when I take my glasses off for hair styling, I don't know the result until it's too late.)  I am resigned to letting my hair just grow long for the next year and a half.

Almost all of the Tanzanian men that we have seen wear their hair very short, even shaved.  (I find it interesting that the "Afro" look that was popular in the States in the '60s and '70s isn't worn here in East Africa.)  Public school students, girls as well as boys, are also required to have their hair sheared very short.  This is a rule that is very practical--with a dusty environment and water in short supply, shaved hair is easier to keep clean.  A side consequence is that when the youngest students are seated at their desks, all in uniforms and with identical haircuts, I sometimes can't tell the girls from the boys without peeking to see if they are wearing skirts or trousers.  Of course, the Muslim girls are allowed to wear scarves if they so choose, and that helps with identification.

Tanzanian women also tend to have short hair, although there is a great deal of variation.  Traditional Maasai women shave their heads, and so do some others.  Many other women presumably cut their hair very short, but it's hard to be sure because their heads are wrapped in headscarves in public.  The most variation is found among middle-class women--those with enough disposable income to spend on style.  Some of the teachers at our school wear their hair short, but others let it grow longer and pull it back into a knot or ponytail.  Some have their hair permed or straightened.  Still others favor cornrows, hair extensions, and (gasp!) wigs.  The last two options only slowly came to my consciousness.  Early on in our homestay family I watched my "sister" braiding a little girl's hair--or so I thought.  She was actually weaving in braided hair extensions.  I also watched a neighbor here go from narrow to fat cornrows and then to straightened hair before realizing she was wearing a succession of wigs. 

Okay, so I'm dim.  But people's experience and expectations color their perceptions.  Just a couple of days ago I was walking with a group of my female students when one of them asked, "Madam, is that your hair or a wig?"  I said, "My hair, of course."  She then stepped forward and lifted my bangs to see if they were really attached to my scalp.  "It is your hair!" she exclaimed.