Why ladies really wear waist beads and what their colour signifies – Be scared! It’s deeper than you thought

The primary four uses of the waist beads are:

1. Maturity and growth
2. Intimate appeal
3. Body shaping
4. Symbol of chastity

1. Maturity and Growth

In Africa, waist beads were usually used to signify the changes a female body goes through over the years. Young female, as soon as they hit puberty, were made to wear these waist beads to ensure people, specifically men that they have reached just the right age of marriage or mating. They also symbolized female features that made them a whole lot different from men and their masculine features.

2. Intimate Appeal

Women usually wear waist beads around the waists for seduction. Females would try to give off a sense of sexuality to their husbands and lovers. Wives used to communicate their intimate appeal silently via these exquisite beads ending up provoking sexual desires in men. Sometimes women from Yoruba would scent their beads and rattle them swiftly in front of their partners and drive them crazy.

3. Body Shaping

In western Africa, people use it as an instrument than as a jewel. Ladies would try to fathom their body shape according to it. It also used to give them an insight upon weight loss or weight gain. People also use it as an indicator of pregnancy since it shows the baby bump. When the waist beads start getting tight, that means you are gaining weight so watch out. On the contrary to it, when the waist beads start getting loose, it’s a green signal about losing weight.

4. Symbol of Chastity

In western Africa, a virgin will wear waist beads, and during the wedding night, the only person allowed to remove them is her husband, which makes the wedding even more symbolic.

How to Fit the Waist Beads to Your Body?

You don’t have to be slim and trim to carry any jewel, but when it comes to waist beads, you’d want yourself to be smart as to carry them with just the right amount of grace. To fit them around, you will have to measure yourself up, and there is a whole protocol for it.

1. How to Measure Yourself

It greatly depends on where you want to tie them, around the hips or the waist. Usually, they are tied just below the naval and above the hips. Now you have to measure the correct part of your waist. You can easily do it yourself or else may ask for an expert help for accuracy.

Following steps should be taken into consideration to make the correct measurements:

• Remove any layers of clothing that may be blocking your waist.
• Take your measurement and then stand up straight, hold the measuring tape right behind you, and bring it around your waist so that it overlaps at your navel. The tape should be parallel to the floor and fit snugly around your torso. Avoid digging it into your skin.
• Read the tape and then look at the place on the tape where zero end overlaps with the other end of the measuring tape. The overlapping point is your right waist measurement.
• Have it checked by any other friend as well or double check it yourself to avoid any possible human error.

2. Precautions While Taking Measurements

• Don’t hold your breath since it would affect the measurement.
• Don’t dig the tape into your skin.
• You should stand straight.
• Raise or better yet, remove any clothing before taking the measurement.

What the Colour Signifies

• Red waist beads: For sexual signals, energy, self-confidence, vitality, passion, power, love, and desire.
• Blue waist beads: For knowledge, wisdom, trust, loyalty, devotion, faith, peace, and healing.
• Green waist beads: For prosperity, harmony, encouraging, fertility, growth, abundance and hope.
• Yellow waist beads: For calming nerves, happiness, joy, and clarity.
• Gold waist beads: For wealth, power, preciousness, and high quality.
• Pink waist beads: For romance, love, friendship, appreciation, femininity, sweet, kindness and tenderness.
• Orange waist beads: For warmth, enthusiasm, success, attraction, and creativity.
• Purple waist beads: For mysterious, luxury, ambition, independence, magic, and spirituality.
• Black waist beads: For protection, elegance, authority, depth, and formality.
• White waist beads: For innocence, purity, humility, youth, cleanliness, light, virginity, and goodness.
• Brown waist beads: For earth, stability, honesty, strength, natural, reliability, and comfort.
• Silver waist beads: For serenity, dreams, grace, glamour, insight, and female energy.