Himba tribe: how some of the most beautiful girls on the African continent take care of themselves (19 photos)

The Himba tribe lives in northern Namibia. It is famous for the beauty of its women and the level of adaptability to difficult living conditions without water.





In the north of Namibia, near the border with Angola, in the Kunene region, live the Himba people, who migrated to Namibia from East Africa several hundred years ago.



The Himba people are prominent representatives of that small group of people living on our planet who deliberately abandoned all possible attributes of modern civilization - as unnecessary, so to speak.



They don’t use technology, don’t know how to read or write, and consider cows and...women to be their most important values. Yes, yes, and one is completely inseparable from the other, since you can buy a wife for a cow. In the Himba tribe, girls become brides very early - at 8 years old, and are valued at about 4-5 cows.



As a girl grows up, her price also increases. In addition, Himba men are allowed to have up to four wives, and elders can have all six – the main thing is that they have cows!



Curious, isn't it? However, if you paid attention to the title of today’s material, you probably guessed that this fact about cows and wives is rather a lead-in to the subsequent story. So, dear reader, I won’t waste any more of your time and get to the main point.



In principle, representatives of the Himba tribe could be considered just another African tribe living in a very arid region and leading a traditional way of life for nomadic tribes, if not for one “but”: the Himba consider their women so beautiful that they even hide them from prying eyes.



By the way, they are not the only ones who think so. The television crews of the Discovery channel added fuel to the fire by releasing a documentary about the Himba tribe several years ago, after which numerous Western magazines almost unanimously recognized local girls and women as almost the most beautiful in the world!



The statement, of course, is loud, but there is a grain of truth in it: the very unique wild beauty of Himba women really attracts attention and attracts glances. Probably, it's all about the non-standard African appearance: dark chocolate skin, almond-shaped eyes and fancy hairstyles. These are not Western models, which look like a carbon copy and look alike!



In addition, the women of the Himba tribe are real fashionistas: they wear stylish, original miniskirts made of calfskin, secured to the body with calfskin belts, and all kinds of accessories and jewelry - beads, necklaces and bracelets made of shells, beads, copper and eggshells. One of the most favorite jewelry among Himba women is the ankle bracelet, as it not only looks beautiful on the leg, but also protects against animal attacks.



Another distinctive feature of the women of this tribe is their hairstyle. Each age has its own number and arrangement of braids. Little girls have only two of them, teenagers have several, and older unmarried girls completely hide their faces behind their braids.



Those same representatives of the tribe who are preparing to get married, on the contrary, reveal their faces as much as possible. The heads of married ladies are also crowned with several braids.



At the same time, regardless of their number, all braids are covered with red clay, so the hairstyles of Himba girls partly resemble dreadlocks. By the hairstyle and number of jewelry a woman wears, her age and status can be determined.



But perhaps the most interesting thing is the life of the women of the Himba tribe, and in particular, personal hygiene. As I mentioned above, the tribe lives in one of the driest regions, which means that they regularly experience water shortages. And even the small amount that is available is barely enough for cooking, so Himba women simply cannot waste water on bathing - they do not have such an opportunity.



But, as they say, there is no need for invention, and beautiful African women at some point found a way out of the situation by replacing water baths with smoke ones. It sounds somewhat unusual, but the principle of operation of such a bath is somewhat reminiscent of a sauna.



The girls put aromatic herbs on the hot coals, and after steam appears, they stand over the coals and cover their heads with a blanket or any other dense material. During this procedure, profuse sweating begins, due to which the pores are cleansed and the skin absorbs the aromatics of the herbs.



Smoky bath

Then the Himba girls clean off the dirt from themselves with wooden sticks, and then apply a special cream consisting of volcanic ocher, milk fat and aromatic tree resin to their skin. It is this cream that gives the skin of Himba girls a slightly reddish tint. In addition, thanks to him, local women always have a pleasant aroma... and they don’t even really wash themselves! It also protects the skin from the scorching sun and insect bites.



Himba girls cream

Local men rarely leave the settlement area unless absolutely necessary: for example, to obtain red clay necessary for making ointments.



But even in this case, they always leave “guards” to protect the women whom, let me remind you, the locals, and not only others, consider the most beautiful.



The life expectancy of local women is 10 years less than that of men, and on average is 45 years.