OCHRE pigment activated with our Wise Ways tallow balm. My dear friend, Alicia spent time in Northern Namibia, Africa and shared with me her vessel of 20 year old dry pigment. β¨Upon blending, I was immediately taken to a place in my heart that took me back to the land, back to the soil, Sun and Earth where my indigenous ancestors farmed and dwelled in the mountains of Vietnam and the countryside of the Philippines and to Alaska where I am from. β¨ What a special treat to have tried this primitive skin protective clay activated with our modern tallow fat. β¨βοΈπ βHimba women especially, as well as Himba men, are remarkably famous for covering themselves with otjize paste, a cosmetic mixture of animal fat and ochre pigment, to cleanse the skin over long periods due to water scarcity and protect themselves from the extremely hot and dry climate of the Kaokoland as well as against mosquito insect bites. The cosmetic mixture, often perfumed with the aromatic resin of the omuzumba shrub, gives their skin and hair plaits a distinctive orange or red-tinge characteristic, as well as texture and style. Otjize is considered foremost a highly desirable aesthetic beauty cosmetic, symbolizing earth's rich red color and blood the essence of life, and is consistent with the OvaHimba ideal of beauty.β #ochre #himba #himbatribe #namibia #slowbodycaremovement https://www.instagram.com/p/BrxgZj0hn5w/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=l145w9jmwyk
