Traditional Dhofari / Salalah Make-up

Traditional makeup of brides of Dhofar/Salalah
Photo ripped off from anonymous

The Arabic caption says: Do you know that the first people who started applying Contour in make-up in order to conceal flaws were Dhofari women? Lol.

Yep, the lines you see on the nose and chin serve the purpose of contouring. The lines on the cheeks are not usually straight like the ones on the mannequin. They are meant to define the cheekbones. As for the lines on the chin, they are supposed to make you look like you have a chin dimple (talk about beauty standards in Dhofar) and make your face look smaller. I'm not sure about the forehead lines XD Gotta ask my mom.

I can say that Dhofari culture (southern Omani sub-culture) is really obsessed with beauty. Nowadays that traditional make-up is extremely uncommon in Dhofar. Modern Dhofari make-up is similar to modern Arabic make-up but I believe it still has a unique tint about it.

For your information, the cheek and chin lines used to be tattooed! I am not sure when Dhofari women stopped tattooing and used modern cosmetic tools to draw the lines. One of my older sisters who go married when I was 10 years old had that kind of make-up but without face tattoos. My sisters who got married after her wore modern bride Dhofari make-up.

Talking about tattoos, tattooing is actually forbidden in Islam. Religion is the most important thing in Muslims' lives, but you can see that 'tradition' dominates sometimes. Obviously Dhofaris weren't a real islamized people until they managed to go to schools and get Islamic lessons. I guess face tattooing tradition started to vanish with the opening of schools where Dhofaris found out that it is forbidden in Islam.

My next post will be titled "Dhofari/Salalah women in 5 shades of black ^^ Stay tuned.