Women kick the sand from their slippers, and ease into the cool consolation of a pure hair and skincare retailer in central Dakar. On the cabinets are jars crammed with handmade dietary supplements of natural shea butter, coconut, castor and olive oils, sourced from throughout west Africa.In floral silk hijabs and abaya clothes, the women sit on sofas close to the again of the retailer, discussing their hair beneath a mural of poised black women and males, carrying a combination of basic pure black hairstyles.Khadidiatou Ba’s Afro Feewi retailer, a “secure house” internet hosting neighborhood teams and free hair consultations, is the end result of a journey that started throughout her childhood. Painful struggles along with her hair texture and self-image as a dark-skinned black lady in Senegal led Ba, popularly known as Jatouna, to start out a weblog on black haircare and start experimenting with merchandise that catered for her wants.Alimatou Sadiya, supervisor of Afro Feewi in Dakar, Senegal, organises the retailer’s handmade and natural merchandise, April 2021. Photograph: Annika Hammerschlag/The Guardian“I grew up in a household that thought you wanted to have straight hair to be stunning, that’s how they used to suppose,” says Jatouna, now 22. “But I realized to just accept my hair after which to adore it. I realized to deal with it.“It’s arduous right here as a result of individuals are nonetheless assimilated to many issues associated to colonisation,” she says. “In Dakar, lots of people nonetheless suppose that beauty requirements are straight hair, gentle pores and skin. Though it’s altering, it’s nonetheless an actual problem.”In her salon, teams of primarily younger women talk about and share pure haircare, to not disparage artificial or human hair extensions, Jatouna says, however to discover the increasing hair decisions for black women, problem misconceptions that carrying pure hair shouldn’t be stunning, and to advise on remedies and haircare regimes.Khadidiatou Ba, referred to as Jatouna, proprietor of Afro Feewi in Dakar. Photograph: Annika Hammerschlag/The Guardian“When it involves hair, you possibly can have pure hair and do protecting types [such as wigs or woven extensions], and folks will suppose that you simply don’t like pure hair, which isn’t the case,” she says. “You can put on a number of wigs, have your pure hair and deal with it. It’s only a alternative. The important half is to make use of good merchandise.“We actually work on shallowness, self-love and self-acceptance, which is the hardest half. We’re sellers, psychologists, pals,” she says, of her retailer and social media posts about remedies and merchandise for various classes of black hair. “Loads of the content material tries to show and share what we all know about hair, what we all know about the risks of stress-free the hair.”In Senegal, women and males must take care of a colonial legacy of beauty requirements and an idealisation of Eurocentric and lighter-skinned options. Techniques comparable to stress-free – a typical means of chemically straightening hair – is prevalent, usually inflicting hair breakage and scalp injury. Notions that black hair shouldn’t be fascinating, and must be modified or coated are widespread. Skin bleaching can be prevalent, as in a lot of west Africa, amplified by ubiquitous promoting from main pores and skin manufacturers, and cultural imagery that depicts lighter pores and skin tones as extra stunning.“My mom used to straighten my hair with relaxers and it by no means labored,” Jatouna says. “I’d have a buddy with the similar relaxer as me, she would have straight hair, very straight, flying in the wind, and I’d have my kinky hair – ‘messy’ as individuals would say – and it was so painful. In hair salons in Dakar, hairdressers would inform me they wanted to place extra relaxers. I simply couldn’t do it any extra.”A mural at Afro Feewi celebrates pure African hair. Photograph: Annika Hammerschlag/The GuardianIn current years, there was a surge of women-led natural hair and skincare companies in black majority international locations and diasporas, constructed on their experiences navigating concepts of their very own beauty. Many, like Jatouna, have grown their following by way of social media, the place they promote a way of self-worth for women. In Senegal, it’s youthful women who’ve led a wave of profitable small to medium beauty companies, which incorporates Boudoir Ophelia, Mossane Beauty Concept and Nubian Cosmetics.There has additionally been an speedy development in selfmade hair and skincare merchandise, utilizing components comparable to shea butter, and castor and coconut oil, lengthy out there in Africa. The merchandise have steadily develop into extra commercialised, particularly throughout lockdowns when younger women have had extra time on their palms to make merchandise at house. Newer improvements, comparable to mixing shea butter with pure scents comparable to almond, have additionally pushed their reputation.After stress-free broken her hair and left her scalp sore, Jatouna spent months researching blogs and movies by black women on the way to deal with several types of hair, and the finest pure cures to make use of.“It’s each the merchandise we should always use, and the way to use them,” she says. Much of what she makes contains components sourced from Senegal and neighbouring west African international locations, by way of predominantly feminine market sellers and merchants.Colourful hair bonnets on the market at Afro Feewi. Photograph: Annika Hammerschlag/The GuardianIn the close by Grand Yoff market, Marianne – referred to as Madame Marianne by her prospects – scrapes chunks from a big mound of shea butter, on a stall she has had for 20 years. “I get it from Burkina Faso. They produce loads of it there,” she says. “It’s not all the time been so common. Now you see extra youthful individuals shopping for it. Younger women, particularly.”Shea butter works effectively for individuals’s pores and skin and hair, she says. “It’s not a brand new factor. I’ve used it, mixing it with olive oil – it’s good for the pores and skin. Some individuals prefer it however complain of the scent, so combine it at house with completely different liquids to present it a greater scent.”Despite the development in reputation of shea butter, the proceeds for merchants have improved solely marginally, Marianne says, whereas at the different finish of the chain, merchandise sourced from African international locations are rising in market share.Products at Afro Feewi use pure components, comparable to natural shea butter and olive oils, sourced from throughout west Africa. Photograph: Annika Hammerschlag/The GuardianAde Balogun was an architect, additionally working in e-commerce, in Lagos when her profession took an sudden flip. “I minimize my hair and began locking it. I didn’t suppose something of it, it was actually a call made to unlock time. It wasn’t political, it was handy,” she says.She shortly realised that misconceptions of locks have been widespread in Nigeria. “They assume you’re into marijuana, they affiliate [them] with some type of revolt,” she says.My friends have been carrying fancy weaves and to them my hair seemed boring. So I began to analysis locked hairAde Balogun“My friends have been carrying fancy weaves with bounce, and to them my hair seemed boring. So I began to analysis various things I may do to my locked hair and weblog about it. I realised there are such a lot of methods you possibly can put on and magnificence locks, curling it and so forth.”She opened Locitude, certainly one of the few shops devoted to pure types of locking and treating hair in Ikoyi, an prosperous space of Lagos. Six co-workers shock prospects with the vary of types, locking hair in bantu type, complicated plaits and wraps. A rising number of on-line movies and blogs train about locked pure hair and the way to look after it.Ade Balogun, proprietor of Locitude salon in Lagos, Nigeria Photograph: Courtesy of LocitudeBalogun started producing natural beauty merchandise made with important oils comparable to rosemary, hibiscus and coconut, largely produced in native women-owned factories and by merchants in Lagos and Badagry. “I take advantage of the palm rolling technique, which is a totally pure technique. It shocks individuals as a result of they don’t all the time realise how simple it’s for our hair to lock.“Not all chemical strategies are unhealthy, however generally you may have strategies the place individuals have locked their hair by way of a mix of soaking it in espresso and toothpaste,” she says. Other generally used merchandise, like wax, also can weigh hair down, and injury and break it.Balogun says she works arduous to interrupt down unfavourable stereotypes related to locked hair. “My consultations are free as a result of there are a number of misconceptions about our personal hair that we’ve grown up with.“Hair is so complicated and wealthy. You can have a look at somebody’s hair and see whether or not they’re ingesting sufficient water, in the event that they’ve been utilizing dangerous merchandise.“One of the issues I take pleasure in most about my work helps individuals perceive that a few of the methods they’ve approached their hair has been utterly mistaken.”
