Where women get married, pull out their hair

Red Dao women in Lai Chau consider hair plucking a way to beautify themselves and also to affirm that they have settled down.

As one of the most remote mountainous communes of Phong Tho district, Lai Chau province, Si Lo Lau is always a mysterious land for those who set foot here for the first time.

The road to Si Lo Lau is surrounded by deep abysses on both sides. If you count from Lai Chau city, you will have to go through a total of 12 slopes equivalent to 12 mountain levels.

At the end of the year, while men chop wood to butcher pigs to prepare for the traditional New Year, Red Dao women gather around the fire to pluck each other's hair.

Mrs. Ly Ta May (Lao Chai village, Si Lo Lau commune) smiled and told us: The custom of plucking hair here has existed for many generations. Our generation was born and told by our mothers that when we grew up and got married, we had to pluck our hair. Even if it hurt, we had to pluck it, and usually once a month. On the eve of Tet, everyone had to pluck it to look beautiful, like wearing new clothes.

“The elders say that Red Dao women have to pluck their hair to avoid making a mess while cooking. According to word of mouth from the past, in a family, while eating, the father-in-law saw a long strand of the woman’s hair fall into the rice, so he scolded his daughter-in-law and wanted to kick her out of the house. Since then, any Red Dao woman who gets married has to pluck her hair and leave only a tuft of hair on the top of her head,” Ms. May explained.

After getting married, Red Dao women must pluck their hair, then use beeswax to shape the top of their hair into a peak, then plant a red flag and cover it with a red scarf. Photo: An Nhien — Red Dao women, after getting married, must pluck their hair, then use beeswax to style the top of their head into a peak. Photo: An Nhien

Ms. Tan U May (Gia Khau village, Si Lo Lau commune) said that while Red Dao women in other localities have the custom of painting their heads to show that a girl has reached adulthood, Red Dao women in Phong Tho have the custom of plucking their hair and going bald to show that they have settled down.

As a custom, after getting married, every woman must pluck her hair and then use beeswax to comb the hair on top of her head to form a pyramid, then plant a red flag and cover it with a red scarf. This is to distinguish the Red Dao from other ethnic groups.

According to the reporter's observation, the way women here pluck is also quite special. They use two threads to twist and turn the hair, then pull out the roots. They have to pluck the hair with their hands instead of shaving it because shaving the hair will be very ugly. Then they will boil beeswax and apply it to the top of the head to make a tip of the hair.

To do this job, Red Dao women must prepare a set of tools including boiled beeswax, specialized hair-removing thread, dry porcupine quills, a frame, a red scarf, and a red flag to put on their heads.

Next, they take a block of beeswax, put it in a bowl and bake it over a fire to melt the wax. Then, they dip a comb into the bowl of melted honey wax and brush it into the hair in small curls from the top of the head down. This part of the hair sticks to the wax and hardens, then is rolled into a circle around the head from top to bottom, evenly and neatly. It takes several hours to complete the hair painting job; the longer the painting, the more beautiful and shiny it becomes.

The lives of the Red Dao people in Si Lo Lau have changed a lot, but many customs are still preserved. Photo: An Nhien

After nearly two days, when the honey had dried and the hair was greasy, the hair painting job was considered complete. From then on, they rarely washed their hair. If they got their hair dirty, they would rub a juicy lemon or grapefruit on their hair to clean it. Only during Tet would they take their hair out and use a special fragrant leaf water to comb out the old wax and start over.

According to the leaders of Si Lo Lau commune, the whole commune has 629 households with more than 3,600 people, 100% of whom are Red Dao people. In the past, most women here plucked their hair and planted a red flag on top of their heads. However, today, only middle-aged women pluck their hair according to custom.

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