Afro hairstyle for belly dance ?

Tarik Sultan

New member
Her hair reminds me of Nadia Hamdis. In Egypt dancers with kinky hair either wear wigs of straighten it with chemical relaxers. When Nadia was here she kept asking me wher to get the shampoo that makes your hair smooth. I later realized what she meant was she wanted a relaxer. She was very self concious about wearing her natural hair on stage. She said she could never do that in Egypt.

Her hair was very kinky, but looked like she had a blow out. Very thick and course in texture. Looked like some of those tomb paintings. It looked mid back length, but when you pulled it out, it was actually hip length. When I told her women were going to salons and wearing wigs to achieve that look, she felt better about it. She was actually surprised. So she was the first dancer I knew who wore her hair natural to perform.

I'm delighted that more women are putting down the relaxers. I remember back in the early 70's when people were wearing afros, but today we have so much more knowledge about our hair textures and how to care for it and so much creativity in how to style it. I had no idea how much diversity and versatility there is with afro textured hair.

Badawia was a native of Jordan and an iconic dancer of the '70s & '80s, especially here in the Pacific Northwest. She was on the cover of the old Habibi magazine and I believe she taught at Jamila Salimpour's studio in San Francisco for some of her week-long workshops. She was one of my early dance idols. Anyway, she wore an Afro-type hairdo and she rocked it.

If you own it and are fierce about it and express yourself through it, yes, why not wear your hair however you want for belly dancing.

Here is a clip of Badawai - you can see her work the hair around 1:47

[video=youtube_share;UH9_H0Rvghs]http://youtu.be/UH9_H0Rvghs[/video]
 

Makeda Maysa

New member
Amen at the excitement about more women wearing their natural hair. I put down the relaxer 10 years ago and haven't looked back since. I've never felt more beautiful than I have now that I've embraced my hair's natural texture. I'm so happy to see more and more women doing the same. Our hair is so versatile and so beautiful in all its kinky coily goodness.
 

Maysoon

New member
Agree, I finally tamed lol my afro hair so many spirals, and waves in my hair. LOL couldn't say that 4 years ago, What type of oils/products do you use? I use olive oil, shea butter, coconut oil, and essential oils such as lavender, geranium oil etc. Yes afro hair is a lot of work but the end results is goregeous!!! Ladies with straight hair you can make your hair big too lots of videos on youtube for that look it up.....:)
 

Tarik Sultan

New member
Been growing out my hair for 4yrs now. Castor oil is my best friend. It helps me prevent tangles, as well as single strand knots and it's a humectant. I don't need to use my glycerine mix as much since I found this out. I use tea tree oil, rosemary, lavender, neem oil as well. And of course i use shea butter, depending on what I do with my hair. Most important thing is to retain length, so keeping your ends moisturized is very important.

Agree, I finally tamed lol my afro hair so many spirals, and waves in my hair. LOL couldn't say that 4 years ago, What type of oils/products do you use? I use olive oil, shea butter, coconut oil, and essential oils such as lavender, geranium oil etc. Yes afro hair is a lot of work but the end results is goregeous!!! Ladies with straight hair you can make your hair big too lots of videos on youtube for that look it up.....:)
 

Greek Bonfire

Well-known member
Go with it! I knew of a dancer who danced with a short and then longer afro, and it did not detract from her dancing. Plus, she even used it to enhance her own image, emphasizing that she was a NORTH AFRICAN DANCER. The style, in fact, even enhanced her style!
 
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