Africa is a massive continent, and it is filled with different countries, religions, languages, cultures, ethnic groups, and philosophies. So, this is like asking “How did Europeans do their hair before Roman enslavement?” It really depends on the country.
Often men shaved their heads bald or in a specific fashion as a symbol of masculinity and their caste or class. In Kemet (ancient Egypt), many men would butter their hair down with goat butter or oil until it hung down in a bob.
Notice how the boy on the left is a spitting twin image of Tutankhaman’s sarcophagus? Same skin color on the walls too?
In Mauretania, before the Arabs and Latin Romans influxed in, it was a predominately West African country, with my East Africans called The Berbers (yes, I’m sorry. The Berbers were originally a dominantly East African negroid group. But the Berbers did not see race, and welcomed ANYONE into their fold, as long as the person converted to their faith, learned the language, and intermarried with a native-born Berber, then you were a Berber. End of discussion.)
On the Ivory Coast, there were Medieval kingdoms filled with Game of Thrones type politics, and luxuries, knights, princes, princesses, bards, and such in Niger, Nigeria, Benin, Mali, Togo, and Burkina Faso. Men wore their hair short, or shaved bald. They usually wore luxurious turbans or hats, that were for fashion and class showing off. Much more than hair.
The ladies and baronesses on the other hand…
Don’t forget, many wives in the West African empires were “white” or European women, sometimes bought as slaves from Slavic or viking lands. Many white men were also slaves, or personal elite guards to the emperor or a high class knight.
^ High class African knight and below is a concept of how a European sofa (slave warrior) or a trusted high class guardian might look.
When people show you THIS ^, this is not a hairstyle nor how people walked around. This man is a traditionalist dancer, who wears primitive and natural elements to accentuate the play/dance/message. It’s like when modern Irish wear ivy or leaves on themselves. It’s not that they’re primtive, but they are reverting back to a older time to accentuate the dance for the more modern people who want to experience “olden days” or “my heritage.”
In Central Africa, around Uganda, the Kongo, and Western Sudan (Nubia), hair played a bigger role, even beyond any headware.
In further East Africa, the culture of Ethiopia and Kemet (Ancient Egypt before the Greeks conquered it under Ptolemy), thin braids and corn rows seemed to be the higher class of fashion.
Queen Cleopatra below
^ Drawn by DaVinci, before all this Egypt-isn’t-African /Mark of Cain hang-up nonsense began.
The triple high cornrow of high class ladies of Kemet down to Nubia and into Ethiopia, and even into Libya (when you see “Middle Eastern race Egyptians”, they are not Kemet or Egyptians, but actually the proud and powerful Libyans, who were kinder and more tolerant!)
Here is your pale Egyptian, basically.
In Southern African, where the Mnguni ethnic groups are, they were much more primitive, and the people usually used to describe “Africa”, completely ignoring the amazing medieval knights, crusaders, noble house politics, and the fun stuff on the Ivory Coast. Here, hats were a much bigger deal than hair. Often, women had shorter hair, but were more extravagant in their clothing, while men simply relied upon semi-nude physical bulk, and carrying a item of class (like a cane, or a swagger stick, which was equal to a fan in China and a cane in Europe).
(They look half Asian!) Of course they do. They’ve intermixed with the Khoisan people, who are among the oldest group of Modern Man on the planet. Only the Andaman Islanders may be older and the most pure subspecies of Modern Man still existing, with no Denisovan or Neanderthal mix in them. Some scholars consider the Khoisan Asians totally, and they spread into Asia, took it from the Denisovan Aborigines and as they spread, they’re hair simply just straightened and that was it. Some believe this, some don’t. Point is, it needs more study from more groups and points of view. People forget, charts can be skewered or one-sided.
