Vintage Photos Show Coastal African Hair Styles in the Early 1900s

These images are from two series of postcards produced between 1900 and 1910 by the photographer F.W.H Arkhurst in Grand Bassam, Ivory Coast. Arkhurst, a member of the Nzima ethnic group born in the Gold Coast , was a timber exporter who lived in Assinie and later in Grand Bassam. His studio photographs capture perfectly the then fashionable style of women’s dress along the African coast from the Niger Delta to the Ivory Coast as families grew prosperous from trading opportunities in the expanding colonial economies. Hair was swept high and adorned with gold jewellery or wrapped in cloth, tailored dress was of imported cotton prints, often with a shawl or wrap of locally woven fabrics.

This is just a small selection of the photos. Click here and here for the full, amazing gallery. It’s so amazing to see how beautifully these women styled their natural hair. As a culture we need to get back to this! Ladies, what are your thoughts?

55 thoughts on “Vintage Photos Show Coastal African Hair Styles in the Early 1900s”

Wonder what they were using and their hair regiment?

their mane looks healthy and quite long.

Beautiful women.

i love these photos. now…would i personally wear my hair that way? no, simply because just thinking of the manipulation involved makes me shudder. but their hair is beautiful, beyond question! i’m a low maintenance, messy bun, butterfly clip kinda chick…anything more intricate than undoing a braid/twistout and i’m chucking the deuces. i do agree, though, that we should def see more of these styles from the not so faint of heart!

Jo Somebody says:

March 22, 2012 at 12:57 pm

They had time to sit together and do these styles. Wouldn’t it be wonderful… but who gon pay the bills??!

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Beautiful photos. The natural hair styles that are created today links back to Africa in so many ways.

So beautiful, I love it!

Excellent feature, and I am off to view the rest. I am curious to know if any braided styles were captured, versus “looser” ones which appear to emulate those of the colonists.

VERY BEAUTIFUL WOMEN.

THANKS.

Beautiful! I actually rock the third pic a lot. I found it easier than the bun which is sometimes is not kind to my edges.

I hope more people outside of the natural hair community see these pictures. For too long the history books have taught us that when the Europeans came to our beautiful continent that the ‘natives’ were barely clothed savages with no kind of civilized society. The clothing, hair styles, jewelry depicted in these photos show intricate designs in the cloth as well the affluence of the women.

To make a long story short, THESE ARE BEAUTIFUL!