People often ask where do braids come from like there’s one single map coordinate or a specific "Eureka!" moment in a salon. Honestly? It doesn't work like that. Braiding is probably as old as humanity itself. We aren't talking about a couple of centuries here. We are talking about thirty thousand years.
Thirty thousand.
Think about the Venus of Willendorf. It’s this tiny, bulbous limestone figurine found in Austria, dated back to roughly 25,000 BCE. If you look at her head, she isn't just wearing a hat. Most anthropologists, including those at the Natural History Museum in Vienna, agree those horizontal bands carved into her scalp represent braided hair. It’s the earliest receipt we have. It proves that before we even had written language or wheels, we had style. Or at least, we had a way to keep hair out of our faces while gathering berries or dodging mammoths.
But while the Venus is a famous European example, the soul of braiding—the complexity, the language, the sheer cultural weight—finds its deepest roots in Africa.
The African Cradle of Braid Culture
If you want to get serious about where do braids come from, you have to look at the Himba people of Namibia or the Mende in Sierra Leone. In these cultures, a braid was never just a braid. It was a social security number, a wedding ring, and a GPS all rolled into one.
You could look at a woman’s head and know exactly who she was. Is she mourning? Is she looking for a husband? Does she have enough wealth to own cattle? The patterns told the story. In many West African societies, the act of braiding was a communal ritual. It took hours. You’d sit between someone’s knees, maybe on a porch or under a baobab tree, and you’d talk. This is where the oral tradition lived. It’s where secrets were swapped and history was passed down to the kids playing nearby.
It was intimate. Still is.
Take the Cornrow. The term comes from the literal fields of corn in the Americas, but the technique is ancient African. In Nigeria, they were called kolese. Archaeologists found cave paintings in the Tassili n'Ajjer plateau of the Sahara that show women with rowed braids dating back to 3500 BCE. That’s five and a half thousand years ago.
Survival and Resistance
There is a darker, more powerful side to this history that often gets skipped in lifestyle magazines. During the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, braids became a tool for survival. There’s a widely documented history in Colombia and Brazil—specifically involving Benkos Biohó, a leader of maroons—where braids were used to map out escape routes.
Imagine that.
The number of braids or the way they curved could signal a path to a river or a mountain hideout. Even more heartbreakingly, enslaved women would sometimes hide rice or seeds in their braids. If they were captured or moved, they had the means to plant food wherever they ended up. It was a quiet, genius form of rebellion.
Ancient Egypt and the Power of the Wig
While West Africa was mastering the social language of hair, Ancient Egyptians were taking it to a level of high-fashion engineering. If you go to the British Museum and look at the wigs from the New Kingdom (around 1550 BCE), they are breathtaking.
They used human hair. They used sheep’s wool. They used vegetable fibers.
Egyptians were obsessed with cleanliness, so many shaved their heads to avoid lice. But a bare head wasn't always the vibe for a feast or a ritual. So, they wore elaborate braided wigs. They’d secure them with beeswax and resin. They even used henna to dye the braids red or gold. For them, where do braids come from wasn't a question of origin, but of status. The more intricate the braid, the closer you were to the gods—or at least to the Pharaoh.
Even the men got in on it. High-ranking officials often wore braided beards as a sign of divinity.
Braids Across the Rest of the Map
It’s easy to get tunnel vision and think braiding is only an African or Egyptian story. It’s not. It’s a human story.
In Ancient Greece, women wore "halo" braids—long plaits wrapped around the crown of the head. You see this in the statues of the Caryatids at the Erechtheion in Athens. It was the "it girl" look of 400 BCE.
Then you have the Native American tribes. For the Plains tribes, like the Lakota or the Blackfoot, braids were deeply spiritual. Cutting one’s hair was often a sign of mourning or a deep personal loss because the hair was seen as an extension of the soul. Men and women both wore long, thick plaits, often adorned with fur or feathers to signify war honors or tribal lineage.
Over in Asia, the Queue became a symbol of political submission. When the Manchu-led Qing Dynasty took over China in the 17th century, they forced Han Chinese men to shave the front of their heads and wear the rest in a long braid down the back. If you didn't do it, you were executed. "Lose your hair or lose your head." That’s a heavy burden for a hairstyle to carry.
The 20th Century Renaissance and Modern Misunderstandings
In the 1960s and 70s, the Black Power movement in the U.S. sparked a massive return to natural styles. Braids became a symbol of "Black is Beautiful." It was a rejection of the chemicals and heat used to mimic European hair textures.
Cicely Tyson made waves when she wore cornrows on national television in the early 70s. It was a radical act. People hadn't seen that kind of unapologetic African heritage on screen before.
But then came the 80s and 90s, and suddenly everyone was doing it. Bo Derek in the movie 10 (1979) is a classic example of what we now call cultural appropriation. She was praised as a "trendsetter" for wearing braids that Black women had been wearing for millennia—and had often been fired from jobs for wearing.
That tension still exists.
Why Texture Matters
Not all hair is built for all braids. This is a technical reality. Afro-textured hair has a natural curl pattern that provides "grip," making it perfect for intricate, long-term styles like box braids or twists.
Straight hair? Not so much.
If you try to put heavy, tight braids in very fine, straight hair, you risk traction alopecia. This is real. It’s when the constant pulling actually rips the hair out at the follicle. This is why some styles look great on one person and cause literal bald spots on another. It's not just about culture; it's about the physics of the strand.
How to Respect the Roots
Understanding where do braids come from is the first step in wearing them—or talking about them—with some level of respect. You can’t separate the style from the struggle or the history.
If you are looking to get braids today, here is how you do it right:
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- Research the stylist. Don't just go to anyone. Find someone who understands your specific hair type and knows how to tension the hair without causing damage.
- Invest in scalp care. Braids aren't a "set it and forget it" thing. You need witch hazel or specialized scalp oils to keep the skin healthy.
- Know the name. Don't call them "Bo Derek braids" or "Kardashian braids." They are cornrows. They are box braids. They are Fulani braids. Use the real names.
- Give your hair a break. Never leave braids in for more than 6-8 weeks. Your hair needs to breathe, and your follicles need to rest.
Braiding is a technology of the hands. It’s a way we have kept ourselves tidy, safe, and connected for thirty thousand years. Whether it’s a simple three-strand plait for a gym session or a three-day session for intricate lemonade braids, you are participating in a lineage that predates almost everything else in your closet. Respect the craft.
The next time you see someone with a perfectly executed set of plaits, remember you aren't just looking at a hairstyle. You are looking at a map, a history book, and a piece of living art that survived the Middle Passage, the fall of empires, and the rise of the internet.
To keep your hair healthy while exploring these styles, start by identifying your hair porosity. This determines how well your hair absorbs moisture, which is the most critical factor in preventing breakage during the braiding process. Use a simple "float test" with a strand of clean hair in a glass of water; if it sinks quickly, you have high porosity and need heavier creams to seal the cuticle before braiding.