Image of African Women Do Not Look Good in Wigs: Gender, Beauty Rituals and Cultural Identity in Anglophone Cameroon, 1961-1972

Race, Culture, and Identity

African Women Do Not Look Good in Wigs: Gender, Beauty Rituals and Cultural Identity in Anglophone Cameroon, 1961-1972

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“Nebuchadnezzar lived in the bush and his nails became so long that
they looked like claws of cats, following a punishment from God for his
disobedience,” runs a May 1964 letter to ‘Women’s Special,’ a dedicated
women’s advice column for the English-language newspaper, the Cameroon
Times (Isuk, 1964:4). The letter writer, Augustine Isuk, denounces women’s
beauty habits by drawing on the biblical story of God’s punishment of King
Nebuchadnezzar for worshipping false gods. He connects long nails to poor
housekeeping, arguing that “women with long nails keep painting them thus
hiding the dirt underneath and in preparing food, the dirt is washed into the
food, and no wonder they complain of belly aches.” Isuk further associates
long, painted nails with British women, and insists that men in Cameroon
prefer “natural beauty.” He writes: “The nature of man is the work of God
and no excessive decorations will change you from what you are…You can
sandpaper the face, powder your nose, paint the lips, and look wonderful
under electric lights, yet you can’t beat natural beauty which is always there…
Women, cut short your nails please!” (Isuk, 1964:4).

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English
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African women
Cultural Identity
Anglophone
Look Good
Wigs
Powder
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