African tribe where MEN spend hours doing their hair and makeup to impress the women: Annual festival sees males compete to steal each other's wives

Putting on makeup, dressing in your finest clothes and doing your hair will be familiar parts of any woman's beauty regime - but for the nomadic African Wodaabe tribe it is the men who put in all the effort to attract a partner.





Sometimes known as 'the world's vaniest tribe', Wodaabe men are known to carry mirror with them everywhere they go and to spend each morning fixing their appearance before even going to herd cattle.

And once a year they go all-out at the Gerewol fertility festival, often known as the wife-stealing festival, where men dress up and compete in a series of dances to win the admiration of female judges - and a lot more besides.





Wodaabe culture prizes white eyes, white teeth and height as the pinnacle of beauty, so the men don brightly-coloured makeup and eyeliner to accentuate these features





Wodaabe culture prizes white teeth and eyes as well as height, so the men paint their faces to accentuate these features as well as rolling their eyes and grimacing to accentuate those features. They often wear headdresses to make themselves taller

The week-long festival sees men spent hours each day doing their hair and makeup, which is made from saffron or ochre, giving it a yellow or red appearance. Battery acid is sometimes used to make the black lipstick lipsticks





Men typically shave the front part of their heads and braid the rest of their hair down their backs - adorned with beads - and then spend hours dancing in front of female judges





The Wodaabe are usually married off to each-other at a young age, meaning most of the participants in the festival are married, but they live in a polygamous society where taking other sexual partners is common

They will often put feathers in their hair or wear elaborate headdresses to accentuate their height. They also shave the hair off their foreheads and braid the remainder down their backs, often adoring it with beads.









Source: Daily Mail



