by
Black Girl With Long Hair
I’m a bit of a braid (or plait, for some) fiend. Of course I rocked braids growing up, but I stopped mid-high school. I started up again in adulthood after going natural and was hesitant at first because my hair was just a few inches long and I didn’t want to look like Coolio.
Since then I’ve become sold on braids for their convenience, ease of installation and maintenance, and length retaining power. This is thanks to a consistent braid regimen.
The other thing I love about braids is the opportunity for creative expression. I recently tried Fulani-inspired braids and I have to say, I’m hooked.
A bit of background first. The Fula people are an ethnic group dispersed throughout West Africa, primarily in Nigeria, Guinea and Mali. About a third of them are nomadic. The Fula have a fascinating culture, and one vibrant feature of it is their intricate hairstyles.
Alicia Keys rocked Fulani-inspired braids back in the day, but they’ve had a recent resurgence. Three features of Fulani hairstyling that women in America have adopted is 1. the incorporation of beads, cowrie shells and other hair jewelry 2. placing a center braid or roll down the middle of the head and a wrap braid around the periphery of the hairline and 3. forward facing cornrows by the ears.
I wanted to give Fulani-inspired braids a try so I went to my trusted Crown Heights braider with a photo in hand. I wanted to try the center braid, forward facing cornrows and beads. The back of my hair would be in individual braids, and I wouldn’t be using any extensions.
I was a little nervous about incorporating beads. It’s been a good two decades — give our take a few years — since I rocked beads in my hair. I was nervous about looking childish, but I didn’t have to worry.
View from the chair…
And at home. (Please excuse my struggly hairline… post partum shedding.)
To say that I’m feeling myself with this hairstyle would be an understatement. My beads swing when I walk or bike around Brooklyn, the style has kept incredibly well (I’m 3 weeks in, done a couple moisturizing conditioning treatments, and it still looks great!) and I haven’t seen anyone with a similar style. (Well I did see a white girl with something similar… which was kind of depressing… but that’s not a conversation for right now.)
If I do try this again I think I will go bolder — do the wrap braid around my hairline, incorporate different bead colors and a few cowrie shells, and put a bead at the end of the individual braids in the back.
If you are thinking of trying Fulani-inspired styles I say YES GO FOR IT!
Have you tried Fulani-inspired braids? What was your experience and would you recommend them?
24 Responses
Long live the beads and cowries. Love the cornrows. It’s beautiful. Thanks for posting your lovely pics.
I’m getting some Fulani braids today. I’m so excited. I’ve been struggling to keep up with my hair. I hope this work. Your hair is beautiful. It does not look juvenile.
I Love how we are embracing our African culture through this awesome styles! Our black is beautiful and i think this is a perfect style for summer! I made it on my natural hair and i must say it came out perfect!! God tons of compliments and even asked to take pictures of my hair so they can go get it done!!
This was a interesting article and i love how they did your braids!
I would really like to know who your trusted crown heights braider is. I once had a trusted braider whom i followed all around downtown Brooklyn. She passed away in March and now for the summer i have no one to go to to get my summer hairstyle of box braids.PLEASE HELP. BTW, Fulani braids are AWEDOME
Here she is! https://www.styleseat.com/m/book/v/yeyebynature1
Sooooo….I have a question. Why do you feel that it’s “depressing” that you saw a white girl with similar braids? Isn’t that the same kind of racism that whites always get accused of? If a white girl said “oh, I would never rock those braids because they are too black”, wouldn’t you accuse her of racism and separatism? It’s also a paradox because black women have adopted “white” hairstyles for the longest time through the means of relaxing, coloring various shades (even blonde), and using fake hair. I can understand why you would feel THAT is depressing, since black women living in a white dominated culture have felt belittled for their natural appearance and pressured to conform to a false and culturally one-sided ideal of beauty. But my point is that white women are not running around saying “look at that black woman using weave to have long hair like us…that is so depressing!” Why isn’t it safe to assume that people wear the styles that they think are beautiful, regardless of race or origin? Why is it assumed that black culture is being stolen rather than admired and accepted? Why is black culture reduced to something as small as a braided hairstyle? Why isn’t it a good thing that not all white people are still segregating the world they see into what’s “for” black people and what’s “for” white people. I love your blog and articles because I love natural hair and the promotion and acceptance of natural hairstyles, but sometimes the tone is dangerously close to the racism that everyone claims to despise.
I don’t like cultural appropriation. Especially when it’s happening in a city that is being rapidly gentrified by non-blacks who really DGAF. But that’s just me.
You reminded me of something I’m still pretty angry about that happened some years ago here in my city, when people of color were forced out of their homes and relocated. The thing that gets me is they were relocated to the same suburbs that they were previously not allowed to enter. When the suburban white folks wanted to live closer to their jobs downtown, the housing projects were torn down to build condos and other luxury apartments for them while the housing project tenants all got displaced. Then they had nerves to wonder why the displaced tenants were not happy saying “you should be glad. You will get to live in a house now”. It took almost two years for the processing of getting these tenants into their new homes. Many of them stayed on top of relatives for so long, waiting for the house they were to relocate to to be ready that they just gave up and ended up moving elsewhere.
I am so sorry that happened in your city 🙁 The same thing is definitely happening here in Brooklyn. I moved here last year from Chicago and I LOVE it. The blackness here is — boy it’s out of this world. So pure and affirming. But the gentrification is disheartening. Triggering almost. It is hard to see neighborhoods like Brooklyn, Harlem and Flatbush — that so long have been pillars of blackness — being turned into the new ‘trendy’ area by non-black people who are bringing in wealth that isn’t really benefitting the community. Rent prices sky rocket and black people are being pushed out. And to address the original commenter, yes it’s disheartening because blackness in Brooklyn is very ‘on trend’ for non-black people. They will wear our styles, give shout outs to Biggie and walk our streets, but when it comes to advocating for fair housing, or improving the quality of public schools that service mostly black students, they are ghost AF.
Hey, Leila. So you used to live here. I’m actually talking about Chicago. Most of the tenants who lived in the housing project were our (where I worked) clients, so I know a lot about how they felt during this big change in their lives.
There are so many cultures that have been stolen and suppresses for centuries. White women are revered as trendy and black women are treated as ghetto for the same thing that has been going on for years .The problem that I have is people not knowing where it all comes from or worse knowing and assuming that makes it ok for them to borrow a part of a peoples existence. You’d never catch me wearing a lava lava sporting traditional Samoan tattoos out to the club. I’m sure you’d never wear a Native American headdress out to a concert. We are far from it being a melting pot yet. Its the same thing in the Deaf World. You can’t be in Deaf Culture unless you are Deaf. You can be in the Deaf Community, understand, praise, live. But you can never truly understand the culture. Admire Black Culture but know there is a fine line between appreciating and dishonoring where those values come from. Our hair is something that has been stolen, suppressed, revered, held sacred in our communities. Even head wraps for African-American’s are rooted in our history of slavery. In conclusion, we have not reached a point were we can borrow what we like from other cultures. We probably won’t be in our lifetimes but someday.
Because the so-called adherents of multiculturalism do not believe in it. At least to a degree that it goes both ways. This multiculturalism bullocks doesn’t allow free exchange of culture for everyone but creates exclusivity and segregation which is an irony in itself.
Take for example, the mother that scolded her daughter for coming home with henna was castigated by the media and called a “white supremacist.” But it’s the same people who would claim Cultural Appropriation if the mother and taken a selfie of her daughter proudly displaying her henna on social media. Who sets these rules for society to follow? They seem to be overly biased and betray the very principles of racial equality and uprightness they claim to uphold.
I don’t see the harm that white girl could have done with her hairstyle to the black race. You didn’t ask for permission from the Fulanis when you borrowed inspiration from their traditional hair do (Yes, I know history and I’m not blaming you for your detachment from African culture). But racial equality can only be achieved when we embrace a culture of inclusiveness and individual freedom to choose what is best for him-/herself.
You are commenting on a site called Black Girl with Long Hair. The very premise and purpose of this space is exclusivity for black women. Or in order to “embrace a culture of inclusiveness”, should I start targeting my content to white women?
Concerns about cultural appropriation don’t come out of nowhere. Yes some of them are petty and unnecessary, and I’m sure some would find my own comment petty and unnecessary. That’s their right. But as a beauty blogger for almost 10 years, I do have a longitudinal view of black beauty culture in America and here are the facts: theft of black women’s beauty culture is rampant in America. It is. I could link to a bunch of articles. But I’d recommend you Google these most recent examples: PopSugar just wrote an article about natural hair that included not one black woman. It was all white girls talking about embracing natural hair. Also, Khloe and Kylie Kardashian just willfully stole designs from two small black-woman-owned companies and are re-selling them to their much larger audiences. And that’s just the past week.
I would be comfortable with white girls doing whatever the heck they want with their hair and bodies if it wasn’t coming out of an American beauty culture that is rampantly disrespectful to black women. I understand that not everyone feels the way that I do, and that’s their right. But as long as the theft and re-branding of black women’s beauty ideas continues in American culture, yes I will feel uncomfortable with things like this.
Thank you Amber….agree totally….and yes racism is still alive and cultural appropriation does happen but I agree most of it is petty…..but what always astonishes me are the number of Black women always so outraged over petty stuff (I’ve even come across black women castigating whites for using shea butter or black soap which strikes me as mean spirited bullying and what powerless people do)…..writing essays but I have never seen them take on the rappers or the black males on youtube saying and upholding and perpetuating? the most vile racist and sexist things about Black women…Why is that?….
Beautiful braids! The last woman in your post actually appears to be Touareg 🙂 . She is dressed in traditional Touareg Indigo veil and dress, and wearing makeup typical of this particular ethnic group. Like the Fulani/Peul, they are (traditionally) pastoral nomads found in Sahelian West Africa, and have their own unique braiding styles, but they are separate ethnic groups with distinct culture and customs. Thank you for your post!
Thank you for the correction!!
You look very nice in those braids, Leila. Very nice.
How did your hair get this long. I’ve been natural for along time and my hair hasn’t gotten to shoulder level. I love your hair
Beautiful!
you look gorgeous!
It was really gorgeous on you, would love to see the second style!
I love it. So interesting the way the braids come foward instead of back
Love it. I think cowries are so pretty!
Wow so pretty and strong!!!!