Throughout history, there have been various reasons to use braiding, from defining tribes, social status, and other classifications to mapping the routes for enslaved people. This tradition of braiding is passed down through generations and has become an interim part of black and African cultures.
Nowadays, braids are used to celebrate and honor one’s ancestral roots, style, and personality. Over the last 5,000 years, the appearance of the braids being changed, but the techniques are the same as ancient drawings.
In this article, you will learn the history of Braided wigs, how they started and what’s cultural significance.
Cornrows
It can be traced back to 3000 B.C Africa. The pattern may typically belong to a particular tribe of a person and their structure and tribe. Warriors and kinds also used cornrows to show their status and significance.
Today, the style is seen everywhere and holds significance in west Africa, Sudan, and throughout the horn of Africa. In these locations, the braids can signify people’s age, status, wealth, religion, or personality. The tight and neat style is kept close to the scalp and can be worn alone with coral, twigs, glass, and shells.
Ghana Braids
Ghana braid wigs originated in Africa and were first reported in hieroglyphics and sculptures made in 500 B.C. Since then, appearance has played a large role in culture, social status, and religious traditions.
Ghana braids wigs are kept close to the scalp, similar to cornrow braid wigs, but the Ghanaian design starts from small and moves to a larger pattern until this ends. This is not styled or decorative but is a different way of wearing the birds. These types of braids are high ponytails or wrapped buns.
Fulani Braids
Fulani or feed-in braids originate from Fula or Fulani, the people in west Africa and Sahel region. The large community passed the tradition of hairstyle through generations of women, who are famous for long and unique patterns. Also, this style features braids that hang or loop on the sides of your head. Then the hair is decorated with beads, shells, and wooden or metal accents.
Goddess Braids
Goddess braids have the same history as cornrows and also belong to ancient Africa. The hairstyle was looked at as a work of art, precision, and creativity by the tribes. And they are adorned with metal accents. The look was created by braiding to give the scalp tightly closely. Furthermore, the goddess braids are thick and raised extremely to define.
Box Braids
Braid box originated in southern Africa and can be tracked back to 3500 B.C.This design takes approximately 7 hours to create. Many believe that if a woman can afford that much time and cost of braids, she is a rich woman. Women also showed their readiness for marriage with colorful beads, cowrie shells, economic status, and jewels.
Dreadlocs & Faux Locs
Contrary to popular belief, dreadloc originated in Africa, not in jamaica. Then the style was first seen in 2500 B.C in the Vedas, where the Hindu God Shiva was said it “jaTAA” (word in Sanskrit). Locs were also seen in Egyptian cravings, with their dreads. Later, the style was reported in the Himba Tribe in Namibia. There, the hair was used as identification of a person’s age or marital status; for instance, a young woman would wear dreads tied to her back to show her face ready for the marriage. Today the hairstyle is seen worldwide and represents various meanings for various cultures.
Conclusion
Suppose you are looking for aesthetically pleasing braid wigs. In that case, you should consider choosing various styles, such as Dreadlocs & Faux Locs, Box Braids, Goddess Braids, Fulani Braids, and Ghana Braids