Traditional Hairstyles of Rwanda

Rwandans have a special relationship with caring for their hair. The techniques and various shapes of haircuts attest the distinctiveness of Rwandan culture. 

There is a range of hairstyles worn by men and children and even, for girls and women to signify their marital status.

From an early age, children wore ibisage, a kind of tuft made of small locks abundantly coated with rancid butter. This style was often trimmed with pearls, cowries, with small rings, and other types of pendants.

The double crescent shaped haircut, amasunzu, commonly worn by men and girls of any social category, it has more than 30 different styles. The shapes of the amasunzu tufts were common to Rwanda. In certain areas like the North and North–East of Rwanda the styles were specific.

Immediately after getting married, it was a tradition for the bride to shave her amasunzu. Women were required to shave regularly, and closely. Since the 1950s, women from wealthy circles styled their hair by combing, giving it an elongated shape, uruhanika