Hair ornaments

Several different hair ornaments are worn in the WANA region. Some of them are tied onto hair tresses, others attached to a separate band or head cloth. Often these items serve a decorative purpose, but they also function as amulets or talismans.

A famous hair ornament is the tanfouk or talhakimt worn by villagers and nomads in the West-African region. This is the bluish triangle presented below left. They can be made of several different materials, such as glass, plastics (bnakelite), stone and metal.

The top and middle left image shows the silver (or made of other metal) temple ornaments worn mainly in villages in West-Africa. These ornaments are made of open worked metal and can be stuffed with perfumed or otherwise scented materials such as cloth, wool or cotton. At the tip, the ornaments were often decorated with enamel.

The bottom image shows false amber hair bead from Mali. The ornament was put in the hairstyle at the end of certain braids. The same is true for the silver metal bead on the right locally called aghrab. On the postcard image you see a Beja nomad from East-Africa wearing an elaborately braided hairstyle, decorated with beads and shells.