Origin of Bantu Knots

Way, way, back in the 1400’s before Europeans invasion of Africa, black people adorned with elaborate natural hairstyles; these were locks, plaits, twists, Bantu knots, braids, natural cornrows and dreadlocks, amongst a plethora of others. Hair was highly symbolic and often carried cultural and spiritual meaning.

Bantu knots is one of the many beautiful Bantu hairstyles, it can be traced back to hundreds of years to the Zulu(Nguni) tribes of Southern Africa. The term ‘Bantu’ describes the over 400 ethnic groups found mainly in Subsaharan Africa sharing a common ancestry, Bantu or people of the book is also a term used to describe the lost tribes of Israel scattered to the four corners of the world through Arabs and Western slave trade.

During the horrifying Slave trade, Bantu that were captured and forced onto ships to be sold into bondage in the Caribbean, parts of Europe and the United States of America experienced some of the worst treatments in history. For one, captured people were not allowed to wear enough clothes on the ships so that space could be created to pack them in the dark small and poorly ventilated rooms, hunger and illnesses killing hundreds of thousands on the way. Many slaves who survived and landed on coffee, cotton or sugar plantations struggled for food because they were not allowed to eat much or gain access to foodstuffs.

According to several articles, including Professor Carney’s Black Rice, most black women braided their hair and hid rice seeds as well as other grains in cornrows. Mothers often braided the rice into their children’s hair to have something to survive on while on the slave trips or when trying to escaping the plantations. Also hidden in hair were beans, small cassava cuttings, maize and other grains depending on how thick the hair was.

During the years of several slavery rebellions in the Caribbean, the practice was taken up by the Maroons who escaped the plantations to start their own settlements where they grew food and lived independently.

Hair symbolises pride and royalty, the West is selling us a new standard of beauty in order to continue controlling us economically and continue having psychological power over us, and we can defeat them only by embracing who we truly are, our culture, our hair and identity(names). Below are some of the tips of how to Bantu knots for those looking to go natural, there’s currently countless YouTube tutorials to help you keep a healthy and natural hair growth.

Bantu knots Tips:
Tip 1: Use a big-toothed comb to detangle your hair prior to starting the styling.

Tip 2: Use a rattail comb to separate your sections. If you have short hair keep your sections small (about 1.5 inches) and if you have long hair opt for larger sections (about 3 inches).

Tip 3: Apply a medium hold curl cream before you start twisting your sections.

Tip 4: To seal in moisture, then apply your favorite hair oil. Coconut oil and castor oil are most favorites.

Tip 5: Twist your hair until it begins to twist onto itself. This one sounds weird but when you begin twisting you’ll know what we mean.