A little bit on hair...

When I first landed in Salvador da Bahia two years ago there was much take in. Apart from the brilliant pastel colored buildings, the rapturous smell of the sea, or the intense and varied rhythm of life in Brazil’s original capital, what struck me most was just how African this new world colony was. From the blocos afros (African drum groups) of the historical center, the spicy palm tree oil cuisine, to the worship of various Yoruba and Nago deities, Salvador is a city mixed and proud—a heady cosmopolitan vortex of Portuguese and West African influences.

When you travel, great joy can be found in simple things, like the way a chilled coconut tastes by moonlight, or the sticky feeling of wet sand as it slips between your toes. In Bahia, when your eyes are new, unaccustomed to the shrill color of fresh experience, there are many things that stand out, including how people dress, dance, and fix their hair.

In terms of hairstyle, Salvador is a city where you can see just about everything, from braids, to curls, natural locks, updos, weaves, dreads, to the now popular cabelo black—where people let out their hair to its full voluminous potential. A current favorite in the city is where girls part their natural hair to one side, pin a flower on the part, and fro out the rest. Like the people in this city, hair in Salvador is at once beautiful, varied, and uncompromisingly creative.

Of the many hairstyles I have come to appreciate, nothing has mystified me more than my girlfriend’s hair. Left to its own devices, her hair is striking—short dark curls that stretch just below her chin. Generally she gravitates between keeping it natural in the hot summer months, to putting it in braids during the rainy winter season.

Recently, I got a chance to see how the braiding takes place, when two stylists dropped by to fix up her hair. From my perspective the process looks tortuous—a kind of hair lobotomy that can last from 6 to 8 hours.

It all begins with buying the synthetic hair at a local shop, which is imported from the US and can cost up to 50 dollars depending on the quality. This can be quite a lot of money considering that the minimum wage in Bahia is around 350 dollars a month. Colors range from black, brown, gold, to more extravagant blues, reds, and rainbow hues.

From the beginning the experience is tedious, generally demanding two braiders and a great deal of patience. The hairdressers begin by weaving the natural hair into fine braids, and then selectively attaching one section of fiber at a time.

The material of the braids ranges in size and thickness, and the style of braiding is equally diverse. Often, braids on the top of the head are shaped into intricate patterns, and the bottom half left to swing freely.

While the session is indeed long and grueling, it amazed me how fast these hairdressers could work, their hands whipping through the patterns in a concentrated blur.

By the end of the session, everyone is tired. My girlfriend downs a few pain meds to ease the dull throb of an oncoming headache, but smiles at the results of her new hair. It may not be completely natural, she notes, but is a welcome change to the chemical treatments that she used in the past. As for me, all I can do is smile, and think about how this place can, at best, award one for spontaneity, for creativity, and for embracing a beauty that is all your own. Whether synthetic or natural, frizzed, braided, or locked, the point is to be happy with who you are, and to find that inner confidence to shine – through your own sense of style – on the outside and beyond. Living in this city; watching the steady parade of styles, this is something that I continue to love and to learn.