Since I arrived in Belize I had seen many people with beautifully braided hair, and often looked on enviously. Having been brought up in the Cotswold's in England, a pretty middle/ upper class white area, I had never really seen hair braided before and seeing the intricate colourful styles on a daily basis in Belize still remains a novelty. In August 2007 on a trip to Gales Point, Malantee I decided to finally get my hair plaited for the first time. Gales Point is the oldest Kriol village Belize with very ancient traditional practices and roots stretching back to Africa. If I was going to get my hair braided anywhere, then Gales Point was the place to do it. Knowing that in San Ignacio a plait could cost anywhere between 10 and 15 BZD I was rather shocked to hear them charge 40BZD. It was explained to me by a friend who lived in Gales Point for many years, that the income in this particular village was mainly from subsistence farming and tourism. The main draw for tourism in Gales point, apart from the beautiful scenery and nesting turtles, was Emmet Young's world famous drum school.


Unfortunately the bus service which provided the main transport link to the village from Belize city had recently been cut down to twice a week and as a result tourists had all but stopped visiting the village with a devastating effect on the local economy. It had such an pronounced effect that many of the young men in the village moved away to Belize City to find work (but that is another tale). So the village was left with a surplus of women, waiting and hoping for a few tourists to sell their hand made jewellery to and braid hair for, in an attempt to provide for their families. The lady that was to plait my hair was called Diane. She walked me over to her tiny wooden house and sat me down on a plastic chair before she started to comb out my hair. We agreed on a simple style on straight cornrows from the forehead to the crown of my head and she quickly sent her daughter to the 'chinee' store to buy some rubbers (small black elastic bands ) as my hair is so fine it tends not to stay in plaits of its own accord!


As Diana used her faithful black plastic comb to part my hair into neat rows, I realised that I had made a good decision in only getting half of my hair plaited, I can not describe the pain that I felt during the process. The pulling and twisting of my thin hair my toes curl, literally. It was excruciating, yet from as young as two years old Belizean girls have their hair pulled into the most intricate of styles. Maybe it is a type of pain the body grows immune to, or maybe it is a pain that you endure in order to comply with social norms within the family structure, if your grandma, mum, aunts and cousins can all cope with the pain, then you should be able to! I sat there, on my chair, trying not to flinch as Diana masterfully wove my hair into tiny plaits with such speed it was over in a matter of minutes, a fact I am eternally grateful to her for. I was so pleased with the finished result I was more happy to hand over the cash, knowing that not only had I bought myself a nice hairdo but I had a memory of Diana and Gales Point that would last long after my plaits had worked themselves loose.

Hair Braiding; It's not as easy as it looks!