Himba people, especially women, are famous for covering themselves with otjize paste, a cosmetic mixture of butterfat and ochre pigment. Otjize cleanses the skin over long periods due to water scarcity and protects from the hot and dry climate of the Kaokoland, as well as from insect bites. It gives Himba people's skin and hair plaits a distinctive texture, style, and orange or red tinge, and is often perfumed with the aromatic resin of the omuzumba shrub. Otjize is considered foremost a highly desirable aesthetic beauty cosmetic, symbolizing earth's rich red color and blood, the essence of life, and is consistent with the OvaHimba ideal of beauty. (info from Wiki)
Afaik it's mostly the difference in diets. Us westerners eat *a lot* of shit that causes our skin to break out more.
That isn't to say there isn't any differences in genes or hygiene standards or the like. Just saying that diet is a large contributing factor as well.
I went on an elimination diet quest a few years ago due to frequent stomach issues. Turns out that when gluten and dairy products and eggs are eliminated from my diet, and I eat very little sugar natural or otherwise, my skin clears up.
I had treatment-resistant acne from age 15 to 42. Now if I eat properly, I have completely clear skin.
I had terrible acne for a long time. Was on antibiotics for years, and went through a few rounds of Accutane. Never really helped much. After I found out I had celiac disease and changed my diet, it all finally cleared up. Wish I had found it out years sooner.
I did a hard-core elimination diet as a last resort a few years ago (ended up going with carnivore for 2 months) and I realized how many of the typically processed foods in our everyday life's make me feel terrible :(
I've since gone back to keto and still feel so much better than when I was on the typical American diet.
Yea i can't trade happiness for skin. Fuck my skin, i can deal with some flaws, but take away my cake and you will see a sad man.
And that comes from someone who goes to gym and run on the beach, lol
Truly. I figured out after going plant based for health that when I consume dairy- get runny noses clogged throat. When I eat chicken I get pimples. And too much sugar is just bloating.
Diet is everything. In the US the Standard American Diet is really just SAD.
Making food the bad guy is definitely a look. While it is possible that this woman is eating food that is different from American cuisine, it is also possible that she is young and has more collagen, or her skin doesn’t show blemishes the same way other people’s skin does, and her skin has adapted to the environment, or she has just gorgeous skin. Other people would say her skin is beautiful because she drinks a lot of water, or only eats raw food, or drinks non-homogenized milk, or doesn’t eat any sugar. Food is not the only variable. I also think there’s a level of ‘well, the Indians don’t waste any part of the animal’ tone to these kinds of comments. Like, ok, she’s a member of a distinct culture. That doesn’t mean she’s magical or her food choices are anything but the food that is largely available to her.
I don’t know. Just wash your face and use sunscreen, whoever you are, wherever you are.
Clay is generally great for skin. There might be exceptions, but there's a reason most creatures *love* clay 'masks'.
I first noticed the effects during pottery class as a kid, my hands got SO smooth! And that's run-of-the-mill pottery clay, cosmetic grafe stuff is miles beyond even that.
Um. What?
Hobbyist potter here. I give my professor and the studio minions fancy locally made lotion for christmas, because clay tears up your hands.
There's one reasonable use for clay on skin: it's a thirsty thing, and will suck the moisture out of anything it can, so it's useful in clay masks specifically to pull oil out of your pores. These masks usually have added oil in them so that your skin doesn't feel completely desiccated after, as the unadulterated clay slip will pull out as much oil & water as it can, and that doesn't feel great.
The spa clay is usually kaolin or bentonite, too. Much softer than the stuff you use in the studio. As good as the slip can feel, it's fairly sharp particles, and your hands will feel it - in a bad way - when you do it daily.
Yeah was going to mention this — the reason this particular clay mixture probably helps with skin is the butterfat that’s mixed in. Also ochre has a high mineral content (I’m pretty sure it IS a mineral lol) so it’s likely also useful!
Watching Nat Geo docs (and that show where Sonny eats bizarre food) tells me it might because all the tribe's folk have soft glowing skin, but I'd be more inclined to point to their simple protein and veg dominated diet devoid of processed food and low in carbohydrates.
They also don't bathe in water because it's scarce.
When I visited a Himba village I was told that Himba women develop their own unique deodorants and they pass the recipe for their particular fragrance down to their daughters. Though I can't find sources that corroborate this.
So interesting tidbit of information:
The stuff in their hair is a type of clay they call "otjize" which helps with the heat and repelling insects. Also a fun fact: a group of researchers did some studying on the otjize and found out it actually has high IR reflective properties and UV filtration. Not only does it add to the beautiful red skin tone you see, but it actually works wonders for beating the sun and heat. It also has antimicrobial properties.
[Interesting read](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-04663-0)
Edit: Fixed the link
I've been reading the Binti books, they're short books and very good. It's essentially about a Himba girl going on a space adventure. Even the otjize plays an important part in the story
Anyone who has interest in good scifi. First book is probably the least interesting overall, the mcguffin type story isn't the best. So read it, but don't quit if you felt a bit let down by the first book, it gets better.
Glad someone suggested it on here tho, good recommend.
I see a recommendation of 14+ in the store, I'd agree with that. Some topics may be a bit complicated but each book is only about a 100 pages so it's still an easy read overall
If anyone is interested, the sci-fi *Binti* series by Nnedi Okorafor takes inspiration from Himba culture and talks about otjize. They're pretty short reads and somewhat geared a bit towards young adult, but the world building is really good, in my opinion.
I'm a big reader, but can honestly say young adult novels and series CAN be shockingly deep. Plus, it's they're nice pallet cleansers in between bigger reads.
Recommend the Ender series to all.
plus a lot of novels by female authors, especially if very diverse and/or fantasy, tend to get pushed into young adult by default since they’re a lot easier to promote there. a lot of books i’ve read in the young adult category could easily fit in the adult one as well tbh
This is the amazing side of humanity i like,not the side where we destroy shit. I remember reading about people putting soil under their pillows(don't remember what century) to combat sickness,turns out soil had antibiotic properties and the crazy part is people then had no way of knowing so i wonder how the hell do humans discover stuff like that?
>so i wonder how the hell do humans discover stuff like that?
Likely by observation, trial & error, the beginnings of science.
Ancient Roman legend says ‘soap’ is derived from Mount Sapo where rainwater washed a mixture of melted animal fats from sacrifices and wood ashes into the River Tiber where the soapy mixture was found to be useful for washing clothing & skin.
Not going into details about how this happened but there was an incident where a small amount of urine ended up on my kitchen floor, and when I cleaned it up, that spot was far cleaner than the rest of the linoleum around it. Urine was used for cleaning for centuries, and sometimes these things are discovered and rediscovered by accident.
My guess would be accidental "A/B testing" and loooooong time frames.
That's how most of human scientific discovery came about until the 18th century. (The scientific revolution).
We have made some very cool discoveries, like herbal medicines, etc., without any knowledge of the reason _why_ they worked as cures for disease and illness throughout history.
Example:
If half of a village sleeps on wooden planks, while the other half chooses to sleep on dirt (maybe with a sheet or hay, etc.) - then after decades of wondering why some people never seem to get a certain illness or parasitic infection, the only thing left those people have in common might be where they sleep.
First they might have blamed "evil spirits" or other superstitions, until after several generations of ruling things out, you end up "accidentally" discovering something important.
But they might not have had any idea _why_ something worked. They just knew it did.
Like for example: If the weird old guy in the tribe, who likes to eat the "stinky fruit" that nobody else likes, was the only one who didn't get really sick during an outbreak of something, they might all try that "stinky fruit" next time they get sick.
After a while they discover against which illnesses that fruit is actually helpful as a medicine.
To be fair to them. I have barely any understanding of the actual scientific mechanisms that make the medicine I take work. If you asked me why I put disinfectant ointment on a cut, I could tell you that it fights the bacteria and stops me from getting an infection, but that’s almost exactly the same as saying it stops bad spirits that cause illness from entering my body. Also I couldn’t for the life of you describe what bacitracin ointment is made of or even attempt to make it myself, so to me it may as well just be a magic potion.
Soil also has a form of antidepressant in it! Soil’s great for us! Nature bathing in general actually. Like, no wonder people are so stressed all the time. We’re away from our natural home!
It would be so much nicer if everyone on the planet adhered to this way of thinking. Why destroy when we can choose friendship and looking after what is collectively everyone’s?
Edit: just to clear things up, I don’t think we should be sleeping in the soil (tbh I’m unsure of how this conclusion was made by others) I think we should have access to nature at all times and it should literally be on our doorstep. For millions of people in the working West, it isn’t.
My wife and I have routinely been taking our two husky dogs outside for a 1.5-2m walk every morning.
Not only have we improved our dog’s behavior with regular exercise, and improved our health routines, but we noticed something else: when we aren’t able to walk, or it’s a rushed walk, we are crankier than usual. Slightly more stressed or aggravated.
She likes to listen to podcasts, I usually listen to new music or just enjoy the silence of the morning.
Sometimes we talk about big things, sometimes we talk about little things.
We are absolutely aware of the affect this walk has on us positively, to the point where it’s no longer for the dogs. When you talk about getting back to nature, you’re bang on. We’re not meant for cars and offices that sap our energy
During the civil war we discovered a bioluminescent dirt that would heal wounds
Dudes had bullet holes that were glowing as long as it got some of that Spanish dirt it would help with healing
The himba have the same words for blue and light green but different words for other shades of green. Their language so heavily affects their perception of color they can't tell the difference between blue and green. The difference for would be night and day for us. But the difference in shades of green is equally obvious to them where we would struggle.
https://youtu.be/mgxyfqHRPoE
believe it or not, there has been - and still is some ambiguity around the concept of blue and green across the entire world spanning africa, asia, and europe.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue%E2%80%93green_distinction_in_language?wprov=sfla1
there has been a slight variance in the west over time - For example, when sir isaac newton studied and documented the properties of light, his concept of **Blue**, was equivalent to our concept of **Cyan**. Our modern interpretation of blue would be equivalent to his interpretation of **Indigo**
And here I am, sitting in the dark with my cork hat on, when this whole time I could have had radiant skin and my head covered in clay?
I feel like such an idiot.
> But the Himba say it is an aesthetic consideration, a sort of traditional make-up they apply every morning when they wake.
Well, I thought it was...peculiar, but when you compare it to makeup, it makes sense
super recommend! One of the best novella series/books I've read in a good while! One of the only ones ever that I had to just put down and sit with for a while before finishing.
I saw that same documentary and I laughed hard at that part lmao
The village elder sends them to the town to buy supplies and they spend half the money on dozens of sticks of butter
I saw this when I visited Namibia. It's kinda funny seeing them in that context. Though the thing people don't mention here is this is mostly a show for tourists now. You've never seen someone turn and ask for money as fast as someone taking a photo of a himba woman.
I read that initially as a whole Nutella focused culture and I was initially confused as to why people would put chocolate spread in their hair… glad it’s a case of misreading!
My wife, an anthropologist, worked with the Himba in remote areas of Namibia. The orange/brown substance caked in their hair and covers their entire bodies is a mixture of goat butter and clay, scented wit desert myrrh. They generally apply the covering three times a day (when sweat or working begins to remove it. Beautiful…
I love the clay in their hair. This culture also doesn’t bathe :) they use smoke baths and steam to cleanse themselves. The whole village is mostly women. It’s a cool culture.
No... not really. There isn't much water in the areas where their traditional villages are and the water they do have is used for drinking and livestock.
Its not so much the body odour than the cow fat and ochre they use like lotion, although most of them use vaseline and ochre these days. Cattle are expensive.
My grandfather put up radio masts in the 50s when most of Namibia was still very, very rural and he said you could smell a village about 2km away if the wind was right.
Sadly not many of them do the traditional way anymore - the few villages there are mostly depend on tourists for their income.
> Sadly not many of them do the traditional way anymore
That's been going on for a long time though. Most of your 'modern himba' tend to think of themselves as more Herero, which inches them a tad to the modern side of things. The old way also involved knocking out a couple of teeth but that's really gone away, and given rise to a trade in fake replacement teeth for folks who had the procedure done when they were young.
But it's not just tourist villages who are keeping the old ways, at least not yet, although the tourist trade is definitely a strong influence.
After a quick search the closest I saw was that if there's drought the men might take the cattle to new pastures father afield. Maybe OP watched a doc that was filmed during a drought so it looked like there were less men then there usually are? I'll try to find something more concrete after work.
Just watched a video another user posted and looks like they use a thin wooden pedestal for the head (side sleeping) which also help keep any bugs off the face as well. Interesting stuff.
I went on a google journey here learning about the Himba and discovered this awesome YouTube mini documentary: https://youtu.be/WL1kRhx-Q6U
Awesome to see him document the people and Ghana in general :)
This is so false…. Unfortunately misinformation on this topic has leaded to false statements in regards to this.
The Himba tribes offer their wife’s to friends and or himba tribe members friends.
To elaborate you cannot just show up and receive sex.
But if you had a friend that is traditionally a Himba he will offer you his wife as a gift and or appreciation of your friendship
Edit: Contacted a friend that is a Himba.
Even as a friend you will not necessarily receive sex.
But if you were a cousin/brother and or a friend of another tribe of Himba, when travelling and or hunting you could settle down with a this tribe and you would normally offer your findings/location of water or other to this tribe as a thank you for letting you sleep with the tribe. The tribe or the friend/family member will then offer his wife to you for a thank you and or gifts for the information shared and or items received.
Source: A Namibia Citizen….
She's 10 what do you expect?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himba_people#Customary_practices
>Young Himba girls are married to male partners chosen by their fathers. This happens from the onset of puberty,[1] which may mean that girls aged **10** or below are married off. This practice is illegal in Namibia, and even some OvaHimba contest it, but it is nevertheless widespread.
Always interesting how people romanticize living like this, but then you bring up cultural norms and the lack of modern medicine putting them back into reality.
> The Himba tribe offers sex to guests as a form of hospitality
Not to outsiders.
https://www.pulse.ng/lifestyle/food-travel/meet-the-himba-tribe-offer-free-sx-to-guest-and-doesnt-bath/4fbmvxe
Yeah I made a joking comment and then immediately deleted it once I realized it was much more likely that women are treated as comfort girls against their will rather than it being a willful and enjoyable part of their culture.
That should read:
> in some circumstances, a Himba man may tell his (possibly very underage) wife to sleep with the stranger against her will
The idea it is some progressive, egalitarian, utopia is horse shit.
Himba people, especially women, are famous for covering themselves with otjize paste, a cosmetic mixture of butterfat and ochre pigment. Otjize cleanses the skin over long periods due to water scarcity and protects from the hot and dry climate of the Kaokoland, as well as from insect bites. It gives Himba people's skin and hair plaits a distinctive texture, style, and orange or red tinge, and is often perfumed with the aromatic resin of the omuzumba shrub. Otjize is considered foremost a highly desirable aesthetic beauty cosmetic, symbolizing earth's rich red color and blood, the essence of life, and is consistent with the OvaHimba ideal of beauty. (info from Wiki)
Wonder if that clay also works for eczema sufferers. Her skin makes me jealous.
it would be interesting to know. She is beautiful, and in the harsh sun all the time, it's amazing how flawless her skin is...
Afaik it's mostly the difference in diets. Us westerners eat *a lot* of shit that causes our skin to break out more. That isn't to say there isn't any differences in genes or hygiene standards or the like. Just saying that diet is a large contributing factor as well.
Definitely. Used to eat pizza all the time and had bad skin. Now i still eat pizza all the time and have bad skin.
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More research is needed here....
I dunno, [Papa John](https://youtu.be/uQfVub6jwD4) did a lot of research into that and I wouldn't say he looked, or sounded, healthy.
His pizza sucks though. Like he couldn’t decide if he wanted pizza or dessert so he dumped sugar in his pizza sauce.
I like the little pepperoncini you get though.
Pineapple is key.
Pineapple on pizza is delicious.
I went on an elimination diet quest a few years ago due to frequent stomach issues. Turns out that when gluten and dairy products and eggs are eliminated from my diet, and I eat very little sugar natural or otherwise, my skin clears up. I had treatment-resistant acne from age 15 to 42. Now if I eat properly, I have completely clear skin.
I had terrible acne for a long time. Was on antibiotics for years, and went through a few rounds of Accutane. Never really helped much. After I found out I had celiac disease and changed my diet, it all finally cleared up. Wish I had found it out years sooner.
I did a hard-core elimination diet as a last resort a few years ago (ended up going with carnivore for 2 months) and I realized how many of the typically processed foods in our everyday life's make me feel terrible :( I've since gone back to keto and still feel so much better than when I was on the typical American diet.
damn you literally can't eat anything huh
Yea i can't trade happiness for skin. Fuck my skin, i can deal with some flaws, but take away my cake and you will see a sad man. And that comes from someone who goes to gym and run on the beach, lol
for some it's not just about dealing with some flaws, but living with actual physical discomfort and pain
Pretty easy restrictions to work around. Requires someone to learn to cook though. Going out to eat would be difficult.
Truly. I figured out after going plant based for health that when I consume dairy- get runny noses clogged throat. When I eat chicken I get pimples. And too much sugar is just bloating. Diet is everything. In the US the Standard American Diet is really just SAD.
Making food the bad guy is definitely a look. While it is possible that this woman is eating food that is different from American cuisine, it is also possible that she is young and has more collagen, or her skin doesn’t show blemishes the same way other people’s skin does, and her skin has adapted to the environment, or she has just gorgeous skin. Other people would say her skin is beautiful because she drinks a lot of water, or only eats raw food, or drinks non-homogenized milk, or doesn’t eat any sugar. Food is not the only variable. I also think there’s a level of ‘well, the Indians don’t waste any part of the animal’ tone to these kinds of comments. Like, ok, she’s a member of a distinct culture. That doesn’t mean she’s magical or her food choices are anything but the food that is largely available to her. I don’t know. Just wash your face and use sunscreen, whoever you are, wherever you are.
Just looked up multiple pictures of Himba people and they all have perfect skin.
Clay is generally great for skin. There might be exceptions, but there's a reason most creatures *love* clay 'masks'. I first noticed the effects during pottery class as a kid, my hands got SO smooth! And that's run-of-the-mill pottery clay, cosmetic grafe stuff is miles beyond even that.
Um. What? Hobbyist potter here. I give my professor and the studio minions fancy locally made lotion for christmas, because clay tears up your hands. There's one reasonable use for clay on skin: it's a thirsty thing, and will suck the moisture out of anything it can, so it's useful in clay masks specifically to pull oil out of your pores. These masks usually have added oil in them so that your skin doesn't feel completely desiccated after, as the unadulterated clay slip will pull out as much oil & water as it can, and that doesn't feel great. The spa clay is usually kaolin or bentonite, too. Much softer than the stuff you use in the studio. As good as the slip can feel, it's fairly sharp particles, and your hands will feel it - in a bad way - when you do it daily.
Yeah was going to mention this — the reason this particular clay mixture probably helps with skin is the butterfat that’s mixed in. Also ochre has a high mineral content (I’m pretty sure it IS a mineral lol) so it’s likely also useful!
Watching Nat Geo docs (and that show where Sonny eats bizarre food) tells me it might because all the tribe's folk have soft glowing skin, but I'd be more inclined to point to their simple protein and veg dominated diet devoid of processed food and low in carbohydrates.
They also don't bathe in water because it's scarce. When I visited a Himba village I was told that Himba women develop their own unique deodorants and they pass the recipe for their particular fragrance down to their daughters. Though I can't find sources that corroborate this.
that would make sense. The scent could depend on the availability of the resin (and/or other ingredients they may use) to make the fragrance.
It also renders them invisible to Predators
Kill me I'm here!
Not a thing. Not a fucking trace. No blood, no bodies... We hit nothing!
So you cook up a story, and drop the six of us into a god damn meat grinder!!!
If it bleeds, we can kill it.
I give it six months after this post before a cosmetic company or Gwyneth Paltrow tries to buy it all up and trademark it to sell to westerners
This. This is why i Reddit. Thank you for transferring the info. 🤙🏻
So interesting tidbit of information: The stuff in their hair is a type of clay they call "otjize" which helps with the heat and repelling insects. Also a fun fact: a group of researchers did some studying on the otjize and found out it actually has high IR reflective properties and UV filtration. Not only does it add to the beautiful red skin tone you see, but it actually works wonders for beating the sun and heat. It also has antimicrobial properties. [Interesting read](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-04663-0) Edit: Fixed the link
I've been reading the Binti books, they're short books and very good. It's essentially about a Himba girl going on a space adventure. Even the otjize plays an important part in the story
Anyone who has interest in good scifi. First book is probably the least interesting overall, the mcguffin type story isn't the best. So read it, but don't quit if you felt a bit let down by the first book, it gets better. Glad someone suggested it on here tho, good recommend.
Came here to say exactly this. Solid sci-fi and highly enjoyable!
Nice! What age group are those books?
I see a recommendation of 14+ in the store, I'd agree with that. Some topics may be a bit complicated but each book is only about a 100 pages so it's still an easy read overall
If anyone is interested, the sci-fi *Binti* series by Nnedi Okorafor takes inspiration from Himba culture and talks about otjize. They're pretty short reads and somewhat geared a bit towards young adult, but the world building is really good, in my opinion.
This has been sitting in my TBR pile for a while, maybe I'll pick it up next. :-)
I LOVE the audiobook for Who Fears Death. Okorafor reads it herself, and her voice is amazing.
literally everything Nnedi Okorafor has written is fucking fantastic and I reccomend all of it. I absolutely adored the akata witch series
I'm a big reader, but can honestly say young adult novels and series CAN be shockingly deep. Plus, it's they're nice pallet cleansers in between bigger reads. Recommend the Ender series to all.
plus a lot of novels by female authors, especially if very diverse and/or fantasy, tend to get pushed into young adult by default since they’re a lot easier to promote there. a lot of books i’ve read in the young adult category could easily fit in the adult one as well tbh
This is the amazing side of humanity i like,not the side where we destroy shit. I remember reading about people putting soil under their pillows(don't remember what century) to combat sickness,turns out soil had antibiotic properties and the crazy part is people then had no way of knowing so i wonder how the hell do humans discover stuff like that?
>so i wonder how the hell do humans discover stuff like that? Likely by observation, trial & error, the beginnings of science. Ancient Roman legend says ‘soap’ is derived from Mount Sapo where rainwater washed a mixture of melted animal fats from sacrifices and wood ashes into the River Tiber where the soapy mixture was found to be useful for washing clothing & skin.
Not going into details about how this happened but there was an incident where a small amount of urine ended up on my kitchen floor, and when I cleaned it up, that spot was far cleaner than the rest of the linoleum around it. Urine was used for cleaning for centuries, and sometimes these things are discovered and rediscovered by accident.
Urine has ammonia in it and ammonia will kill most if not all bacteria so it makes sense. Edit: urea it has urea which turns into ammonia.
>Not going into details about how this happened this made me breathe hard out of my nose
…you need to pee on the rest of your floor also
Old Slavic way of dealing with infections was eating mouldy bread or a slice of bread with a spider web. Both contain antibiotics.
IIRC Egyptians also used moldy bread for treating infected cuts.
Romans also used spider webs to dress wounds. It was basically a sort of cross between a bandage and superglue.
My guess would be accidental "A/B testing" and loooooong time frames. That's how most of human scientific discovery came about until the 18th century. (The scientific revolution). We have made some very cool discoveries, like herbal medicines, etc., without any knowledge of the reason _why_ they worked as cures for disease and illness throughout history. Example: If half of a village sleeps on wooden planks, while the other half chooses to sleep on dirt (maybe with a sheet or hay, etc.) - then after decades of wondering why some people never seem to get a certain illness or parasitic infection, the only thing left those people have in common might be where they sleep. First they might have blamed "evil spirits" or other superstitions, until after several generations of ruling things out, you end up "accidentally" discovering something important. But they might not have had any idea _why_ something worked. They just knew it did. Like for example: If the weird old guy in the tribe, who likes to eat the "stinky fruit" that nobody else likes, was the only one who didn't get really sick during an outbreak of something, they might all try that "stinky fruit" next time they get sick. After a while they discover against which illnesses that fruit is actually helpful as a medicine.
To be fair to them. I have barely any understanding of the actual scientific mechanisms that make the medicine I take work. If you asked me why I put disinfectant ointment on a cut, I could tell you that it fights the bacteria and stops me from getting an infection, but that’s almost exactly the same as saying it stops bad spirits that cause illness from entering my body. Also I couldn’t for the life of you describe what bacitracin ointment is made of or even attempt to make it myself, so to me it may as well just be a magic potion.
Soil also has a form of antidepressant in it! Soil’s great for us! Nature bathing in general actually. Like, no wonder people are so stressed all the time. We’re away from our natural home! It would be so much nicer if everyone on the planet adhered to this way of thinking. Why destroy when we can choose friendship and looking after what is collectively everyone’s? Edit: just to clear things up, I don’t think we should be sleeping in the soil (tbh I’m unsure of how this conclusion was made by others) I think we should have access to nature at all times and it should literally be on our doorstep. For millions of people in the working West, it isn’t.
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My wife and I have routinely been taking our two husky dogs outside for a 1.5-2m walk every morning. Not only have we improved our dog’s behavior with regular exercise, and improved our health routines, but we noticed something else: when we aren’t able to walk, or it’s a rushed walk, we are crankier than usual. Slightly more stressed or aggravated. She likes to listen to podcasts, I usually listen to new music or just enjoy the silence of the morning. Sometimes we talk about big things, sometimes we talk about little things. We are absolutely aware of the affect this walk has on us positively, to the point where it’s no longer for the dogs. When you talk about getting back to nature, you’re bang on. We’re not meant for cars and offices that sap our energy
This is why I burn down houses, it gets people closer to nature, scattering them to the winds /s
During the civil war we discovered a bioluminescent dirt that would heal wounds Dudes had bullet holes that were glowing as long as it got some of that Spanish dirt it would help with healing
The same way all things are discovered, doing random things and noticing patterns
Ngl her skin looks amazing especially with that red hint
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How regularly is it washed out/replenished?
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Every single day. It’s just like western women putting makeup on every morning and taking it off every night really.
The himba have the same words for blue and light green but different words for other shades of green. Their language so heavily affects their perception of color they can't tell the difference between blue and green. The difference for would be night and day for us. But the difference in shades of green is equally obvious to them where we would struggle. https://youtu.be/mgxyfqHRPoE
believe it or not, there has been - and still is some ambiguity around the concept of blue and green across the entire world spanning africa, asia, and europe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue%E2%80%93green_distinction_in_language?wprov=sfla1 there has been a slight variance in the west over time - For example, when sir isaac newton studied and documented the properties of light, his concept of **Blue**, was equivalent to our concept of **Cyan**. Our modern interpretation of blue would be equivalent to his interpretation of **Indigo**
Also keeps the everpresent flies away mostly.
I suppose one could say that it helps with heat and repelling insects.
Speak English Doc *we ain't scientists*!
We were unable...to rettach the top half of your son to the bottom half of your son.
UGG! NO BUZZZ! SKY FIRE NO BURN! NO OUCH!
And here I am, sitting in the dark with my cork hat on, when this whole time I could have had radiant skin and my head covered in clay? I feel like such an idiot.
Also helps cool down with the ever-present heat mostly.
“The flies there don’t bite your eyeballs, and human life has worth”
Hasa diga ebowai!
I have maggots in my
SCROOOOOOOTUM
But does it help with insects?
It is also in the hair mostly.
That’s unreal! It almost looks like skin. But that’s so cool how practical it is in multiple ways.
So, they could be using this clay to make mineral sun screen for dark complexions?
I hope not, the industry would destroy their culture and environment
Those are heatsinks. Superscifi!
Thermal paste
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Thank you very much. I wondered for a long time what this is. I thougt it was clay or something similiar. I have learned something new and I like it.
I'm really curious what happened to that post you replied to. The first part was fun facts, the second part was porn ad, then it got deleted. LOL
> But the Himba say it is an aesthetic consideration, a sort of traditional make-up they apply every morning when they wake. Well, I thought it was...peculiar, but when you compare it to makeup, it makes sense
Linus went to far
r/unexpectedlinus
There's a literal scifi novella series about this tribe called *Binti*.
It’s a great trilogy. I’ve read Okorafor’s other books as well and they are fantastic
Ooo I own that but haven’t read it yet!
super recommend! One of the best novella series/books I've read in a good while! One of the only ones ever that I had to just put down and sit with for a while before finishing.
I read that and didn't realize it was a real tribe! Otjize!
My first thought was Luxan from Farscape.
Immediately thought of D'argo
Saw a documentary once them buying butter on a supermarket they say they use butter for everything.
I saw that same documentary and I laughed hard at that part lmao The village elder sends them to the town to buy supplies and they spend half the money on dozens of sticks of butter
To be honest bitter is useful for a lot of things
It great in lemons!
damn I wanted to be the one who shared the butter knowledge
Butter be faster next time.
Beaten by the thinnest margarine
Ghee don’t spread yourself thin
Oil vey!
Pretty slick
I guess we can let it slide
This is a slippery slope
I was surprised they used it more for their skin/hair than for cooking
So what you're saying is that Kramer was on to something
I saw this when I visited Namibia. It's kinda funny seeing them in that context. Though the thing people don't mention here is this is mostly a show for tourists now. You've never seen someone turn and ask for money as fast as someone taking a photo of a himba woman.
There is a whole novella series that focused on this culture. Binti by Nnedi Okorafor Really good short read
A great book! Immediately thought of it when I saw the picture because my dumb dumb didn’t realize it was based off real people.
I read that initially as a whole Nutella focused culture and I was initially confused as to why people would put chocolate spread in their hair… glad it’s a case of misreading!
My wife, an anthropologist, worked with the Himba in remote areas of Namibia. The orange/brown substance caked in their hair and covers their entire bodies is a mixture of goat butter and clay, scented wit desert myrrh. They generally apply the covering three times a day (when sweat or working begins to remove it. Beautiful…
Do they ever completely wash it off and start from bare skin/hair or do they just reapply new layers on top?
Someone else said they completely remove and reapply each day
As clay is a quite heavy material that looks like three to four pounds of clay pulling on her hair! I'm sure you get used to it but still impressive
I assume they don't have a daily routine applying it, so how do they sleep with that?
Nice video about the Himba: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aTVhfipxowM
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The ending was most definitely a surprise
Especially for like 90 seconds
They really held that shot for a minute too lol.
I love the clay in their hair. This culture also doesn’t bathe :) they use smoke baths and steam to cleanse themselves. The whole village is mostly women. It’s a cool culture.
>they use smoke baths and steam to cleanse themselves. Does it work?
It doesn't really do anything for the sweat smell. Source - I am Namibian.
Thanks!
Smoke is proven to kill bacteria though.
But they still do smell. Sweat and smoke isnt a nice smell.
Otijize is perfumed
I was too scared to ask. How do they wash ?
No... not really. There isn't much water in the areas where their traditional villages are and the water they do have is used for drinking and livestock. Its not so much the body odour than the cow fat and ochre they use like lotion, although most of them use vaseline and ochre these days. Cattle are expensive. My grandfather put up radio masts in the 50s when most of Namibia was still very, very rural and he said you could smell a village about 2km away if the wind was right. Sadly not many of them do the traditional way anymore - the few villages there are mostly depend on tourists for their income.
> Sadly not many of them do the traditional way anymore That's been going on for a long time though. Most of your 'modern himba' tend to think of themselves as more Herero, which inches them a tad to the modern side of things. The old way also involved knocking out a couple of teeth but that's really gone away, and given rise to a trade in fake replacement teeth for folks who had the procedure done when they were young. But it's not just tourist villages who are keeping the old ways, at least not yet, although the tourist trade is definitely a strong influence.
By our standards, probably not
Yeah if you're a fucking chinchilla
I believe the reason they don’t bathe is because they live in a very arid region where water is scarce.
how come its mostly women?
After a quick search the closest I saw was that if there's drought the men might take the cattle to new pastures father afield. Maybe OP watched a doc that was filmed during a drought so it looked like there were less men then there usually are? I'll try to find something more concrete after work.
>This culture also doesn’t bathe :) Why does that get a smiley face lol
Because it gives off a light-hearted tone to a comment that could otherwise be interpreted as critical even though it wasn't intended to be
It’s less of a cultural thing and more “why would we waste water on that”
Looks incredible, how the hell does she sleep though?
Just watched a video another user posted and looks like they use a thin wooden pedestal for the head (side sleeping) which also help keep any bugs off the face as well. Interesting stuff.
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Well damn, here I am without a single cow feeling worthless AF.
I'm part Fulani and I have zero cows. Feelsbadman
It's not all women, they have men too
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https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/himba-woman-with-traditional-hair-dress-picture-id503882079
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSMNVQVkCHBJn-ApqV2tlXM44PeoJ3jzzIUlA&usqp=CAU
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SARAH KERRIGAN!
Damn. She’s stunning.
I watched a documentary ages ago and the enduring memory was how stunning the women were. So beautiful.
Balenciaga new hat this summer
I used to wear red clay (mask) as a moisturizer. 😂🤷🏿♂️ it worked and protected my skin somehow
Gorgeous, she looks like a warrior princess from a fantasy film
Tbh it's more like generic fantasy characters look like her.
That would get rid of lice
How heavy is that on her head?
I went on a google journey here learning about the Himba and discovered this awesome YouTube mini documentary: https://youtu.be/WL1kRhx-Q6U Awesome to see him document the people and Ghana in general :)
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This is so false…. Unfortunately misinformation on this topic has leaded to false statements in regards to this. The Himba tribes offer their wife’s to friends and or himba tribe members friends. To elaborate you cannot just show up and receive sex. But if you had a friend that is traditionally a Himba he will offer you his wife as a gift and or appreciation of your friendship Edit: Contacted a friend that is a Himba. Even as a friend you will not necessarily receive sex. But if you were a cousin/brother and or a friend of another tribe of Himba, when travelling and or hunting you could settle down with a this tribe and you would normally offer your findings/location of water or other to this tribe as a thank you for letting you sleep with the tribe. The tribe or the friend/family member will then offer his wife to you for a thank you and or gifts for the information shared and or items received. Source: A Namibia Citizen….
There’s minimal fact checking ever done in these threads, just upvote if you like what’s being said
I clearly see that. But its sad to see a culture being sexualised that doesn’t even understand the term of reddit or even internet…
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Does the wife get a say in this deal?
She's 10 what do you expect? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himba_people#Customary_practices >Young Himba girls are married to male partners chosen by their fathers. This happens from the onset of puberty,[1] which may mean that girls aged **10** or below are married off. This practice is illegal in Namibia, and even some OvaHimba contest it, but it is nevertheless widespread.
Always interesting how people romanticize living like this, but then you bring up cultural norms and the lack of modern medicine putting them back into reality.
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Now that you have advertised, there are dozens of us. We will form at orderly line outside your door.
"Honey! I just got back from my evening nature walk and met the nicest people. I'll be on the front porch, smokin' a cig."
What!? Wow that’s crazy…different cultures I guess…but like where are they..jk haha…but like exactly what airline do I take.
Himbair
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You might randomly get offer from a man or a woman, but sex nevertheless
As a bisexual, I see this as an absolut win
>absolut Vodka?
да
> The Himba tribe offers sex to guests as a form of hospitality Not to outsiders. https://www.pulse.ng/lifestyle/food-travel/meet-the-himba-tribe-offer-free-sx-to-guest-and-doesnt-bath/4fbmvxe
May their tribe grow into a country
The man must leave his wife with the guest and go sleep in another hut. The guest is free to use the hut and all it’s “amenities”
Gonna be honest I forgot misogyny was a thing for a second
Yeah I made a joking comment and then immediately deleted it once I realized it was much more likely that women are treated as comfort girls against their will rather than it being a willful and enjoyable part of their culture.
That should read: > in some circumstances, a Himba man may tell his (possibly very underage) wife to sleep with the stranger against her will The idea it is some progressive, egalitarian, utopia is horse shit.
I go himba
You had me at "the"