Wearing waist beads and chain can be seen as cultural appreciation because of its use in weight loss and body awareness. There are many reasons why people may choose to wear beads today an this article will be focusing on how to use waist beads for weight loss and body awareness. if your want to know if wearing waist chains or beads is cultural appropriation or appreciation, then you can read our article before this.

Can you use waist beads for weight loss?

In many African society, waist beads are worn for centuries especially by women and it is part of their culture. Wearing of waist beads is part of their culture especially in west African countries.

Waist beads can be worn to help lose weight or maintain a size and shape. But this is not magic as to help you loss weight immediately you put them on your waist. you can say that waist beads helps in the processes of watching your weight and tracking your weight loss.

How To Use Waist Beads To Lose Weight

Why do people wear waist beads?

There are different reasons why people wear waist beads. In African society, waist beads is mainly for cultural awareness and usually hidden under clothes or outward in case of festivals or dancing competitions. Below are different reasons why people wear beads.

Beads for Weight awareness

People who are not aware of the use of waist beads for weight loose usually use scale to check their weight loss or gain. But rather than use scale, you can use waist beads to check your weight. Since Waist beads don’t stretch, it will be easier to be aware of the changes you are making. If you were to gain weight, the beads will move higher on your waist and also get tight more than before. Also, if you were to lose weight, the beads will move downward near your hips and feel very loose.

There are even adjustable waist beads available if you don’t want the beads to fit differently based on your weight or changes like bloating.

Waist Beads for Maturity

Beads wearing are often associated with womanhood, maturity, and growth in most of African countries that its their tradition and culture.

In most of African countries, new born babies are adorned with different colors of beads. In Ghana for example, children wearing beads are their culture and they continue to wear them until they grow up, only the boys will stop wearing them.

As a sign of maturity, young ladies’ who are having their first menstrual cycle are given beads to wear by their mothers especially in villages in most west African countries. This beads will serve as a sign of turning into womanhood.

Intimacy and fertility

Many women around the world use waist beads in intimate settings to enhance their sensuality. Waist beads may also be closely associated with fertility. Some women wear specific beads during sex when they’re trying to conceive.

Among the Ashante and Krobo cultures in Ghana, larger beads or bells are added to a woman’s waist beads once she’s fertile so she makes noise when she walks to alert potential suitors nearby.

In other cultures, waist beads are worn under clothing for only the wearer and her chosen partners to see, similarly to a special set of lingerie.

Special waist beads are also available for pregnant women. They’re thought to provide protection for the mother and growing baby.

Heritage and pride

While women of all races and ethnicities wear waist beads, this accessory has unmistakably African origins. Waist beads are a popular way for Black women in the diaspora to connect to their ancestors and celebrate their heritage and cultural practices.

Today, the usage of waist beads by Black and Brown women in the West has evolved into a cultural tradition of its very own, one that reflects the diasporic experience.

Many women in the diaspora don’t have direct knowledge of their West African lineage due to the transatlantic slave trade. Reclaiming waist beads also means Black women can reclaim the opportunity to walk in their ancestors’ footsteps. The beads are a constant physical reminder that heritage is never as far away as you may think, and it’s up for personal interpretation.

Posture

Waist beads can help a person become more aware of their stomach and posture. The beads fit quite differently depending on how one is sitting and breathing. They can serve as a reminder to sit up straight, engage your stomach muscles, relax your back, and breathe properly.

In Summary, waist beads has the following uses;

• Varied colored beads to track menstruation and fertility
• As an anchor for a menstruation cloth
• As a sign of maturation for girls entering womanhood and reaching a marriageable age
• Simply for fashion
• Used during spiritual rituals and prayer
• As a sign of sensuality only shared with an intimate partner
• To entice men
• To accentuate the feminine body shape
• Aid in weight management and weight loss