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EveryHairstyle

Style capital, Nigeria

Lagos

Yoruba braids, threaded sculptures and the towering gele headwraps of Lagos weddings and parties.

Lagos, Nigeria's largest city, is a capital of braiding. In the Yoruba tradition of south-west Nigeria, hairstyles have names and meanings: shuku, a braided crest rising to the top of the head; koroba, braids shaped like an upturned basket; and irun kiko, hair wrapped tightly in thread. At weekend owambe parties, women crown their outfits with the gele, a stiff headwrap tied into tall folds.

Named styles

Yoruba braiding has dozens of named styles, many worn for centuries and still taught in salons and homes. Shuku draws all the braids up to a hump at the crown; koroba sends them down from a central point; patewo meets braids from front and back. Braids could mark a woman's age, marriage, mourning or a festival. The photographer J. D. 'Okhai Ojeikere documented nearly a thousand Nigerian hairstyles from 1968, a record now shown in museums worldwide.

The gele

The gele is a long piece of stiff fabric, often aso oke woven cloth or damask, tied around the head into fans, pleats and peaks. A good gele can take skill and time, and professional gele tiers are hired for weddings and parties, where friends and family often wear matching fabric, called aso ebi. The gele is worn by Yoruba women of all faiths and has spread across Nigeria and the diaspora.

Hairstyles of Lagos

KorobaKorobaYoruba braids shaped like an upturned basketHead tieThe gele of Yoruba parties and weddingsCornrowsBraided flat in rows, the base of many styles

Still to be written: Shuku, African hair threading.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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