Amid Chad’s rugged landscape, Croton gratissimus, or Chébé, is a local plant that thrives among Chad’s rough terrain, especially in the Guéra region. Chébé is highly important in ancient hair care rites among Chadian women, particularly the Gorane (Dazagarè) tribe, known by its reddish flower buds. Its seeds are picked between February and April, dried in the sun, winnowed, and ground into a fine dust. Then combined with water and a combination of oils—usually shea butter and sesame oil—this powder is liberally applied to hair in a complex, time-consuming ritual that includes braiding and moisturization.
Chébé is both a beauty treatment and a cultural experience, according Salwa Petersen, a Chadian woman from the Gorane tribe and a Harvard-educated lawyer who turned beauty entrepreneur. The Chébé ritual is Often done by older women for younger girls, the ritual is also a social event full of laughter, gossip, and mint green tea shared. It can mean life changes including puberty or motherhood and strengthens generational social ties.
As seen by petroglyphs and rock paintings on the Ennedi Plateau, Chébé’s usage dates back over a millennium. For many, long, lustrous hair is associated with vitality and femininity; the Chébé custom is a representation of this belief. Emphasizing the cultural significance of such beauty rituals, Nsibentum, a Congolese hairologist, refers to them as holy moments of sharing, teaching, and connection with nature. Though still largely used inside Chad, Petersen has helped Chébé start to get worldwide attention.
Startled by globalization’s fast fading of oral customs and collapsing tribal structures, she has dedicated herself to saving this legacy. Having worked for prominent beauty businesses including L’Oréal, she started her own brand and YouTube channel devoted to ancestral Chadian beauty practices.
Visitors can explore regional markets such as Marche Central and Marche de Chagoua in Chad’s capital, N’Djamena, capturing the spirit of Chad’s cultural riches and artistic legacy by offering vivid textiles, jewelry, handwoven baskets, and other conventional crafts.
