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.
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