Meet Briana Holland, owner of Creative Sunshine Boutique, she's an evangelist of a certain kind of jewelry with a long cultural history: waist beads.
The delicate strands of beads hail from Africa, where they can be used as a right of passage for adolescent girls, a tool to track weight gain, or a way to promote spiritual well-being and sensuality. And, they’re meant to be permanent.
For Holland, they can be used as all of the above. She teaches classes now to teach other people how to create their own waist beads and joined The Show to discuss how she discovered them.
Full conversation
BRIANA HOLLAND: So I went to a women's retreat back in I want to say, 2018, and I met incredible ladies there. They were showcasing all kinds of things there, but specifically, a lady was teaching me about waist beads. And I thought it was very unique, very, you know, amazing to understand, like, different types of culture within Africa, because there's so many countries. So she gave me a little education about it, you know. And, yeah, I was like, you know, “I think I can do this myself.”
GILGER: Okay, so describe these for us. You have some here that you've brought. This is permanent, right? Like, this is something you make, and it's something that you fit to the person, and it doesn't come off?
HOLLAND: Correct.
GILGER: OK, so you've got a ton here. Describe some of your favorites for us.
HOLLAND: Okay, so actually, I thought about this earlier, and I was like, which ones are my favorite? So I was gonna keep some for myself, because I never make myself waist beads. I usually just make them for my market. So, as I’m untying them, I usually do like a bundle.
GILGER: Yeah.
HOLLAND: And so some have, like, larger crystals in the middle, and then intricate little designs. Some of them have glow in the dark beads, clay beads, glass beads. So this is probably, like, one of my favorites. It has Amethyst on it. It's really, like, dainty, but it's not gonna poke you in your sleep.
GILGER: What makes it permanent?
HOLLAND: So there's the end. So you just tie it and tie it and burn it.
GILGER: And burn it, OK. So there is a specific way to get them off at some point, but the idea is, right, that you wear them until they kind of fall off.
HOLLAND: Yes.
GILGER: Why?
HOLLAND: So there's specific ways or reasons why you wear waist beads, culturally, spiritually, aesthetic wise, or weight loss-wise or weight gain. So when you put it on, you're beginning a journey, and that journey, however long that is, that's when your waist beads break, when your journey is done.
GILGER: So you put them on sort of with it sounds like maybe like an intention.
HOLLAND: Yep. So all kinds of intentions can go into your waist beads. I personally only provide, like, a positive intention, and I allow people to impart whatever type of intentions they want for their beads. Some people have asked me to bless them before they put them on, and I was very taken aback and very like, “Thank you for asking me.” You know, it was really beautiful. There's so many aspects to waist beads, but you know, they started 3,000 years ago.
GILGER: Yeah. So let's talk about the history a little bit, because you really found out about this and teach about it now, as you teach your classes for people to make them themselves. You discovered these it sounds like when you were discovering your own heritage.
HOLLAND: I was discovering them just coming into my more feminine side. And, you know, learning through that, obviously, I know, like, some of my heritage, but I don't think we all know exactly, like, what makes us. So I did a genealogy years later and found out, OK, I have like, 26% Nigerian heritage. I'm like, “Oh, that's amazing.” So I'm looking and researching. These are the beads that are in Nigeria, and the history is, you know, women would put their beads on their children when they're reaching fertility. Before that, they would make sure their children are growing, so they put waste beads on them then, and boys and girls get them.
GILGER: Because it measures … So there's, like, a practical aspect, but also almost like a spiritual aspect sometimes.
HOLLAND: Absolutely.
GILGER: Is it spiritual for you?
HOLLAND: I think it is. I feel like it should be. But I also, you know, have people do whatever they want to do with their beads, so if they want to wear esthetically, then absolutely, you know, that's that's fine. But for me, spiritually, yes, I'm starting a journey. Or I want to have, like, something come about. You know, I'm imparting my intentions, and I want to see some fruit from my efforts.
GILGER: Yeah? And it kind of gives you a way to, I guess, measure that right
HOLLAND: Yeah.
GILGER: Talk a little bit about the impact that these have had on you. It sounds like this was about acceptance of your body for you, but also about, like you said, like discovering your own sort of femininity.
HOLLAND: Yeah. So, it was, you know, something that was in the culture to make sure that you understand your body and that you know you're, I guess, respecting yourself, providing that spiritual aspect to it. For me, I have worked really hard to accept myself no matter what I look like, and this also helped to, like, confirm it for me. So no matter what, you know, it's like a little lingerie, you know, you go home, you're like, Oh, this is so pretty. Like, oh, I have to love my curves. I have to love this. Because if I don't love it, then how can I expect someone else to love it? You know.
GILGER: So when women come to the class and they want to learn how to do this, do they have any idea what it is?
HOLLAND: Some of them do, but most of them, I would say, half don't. It's OK. I teach them.
GILGER: OK. What kinds of reactions do you get from folks?
HOLLAND: There's a range. I feel that you can see the people who are interested in waist beads, or who know about them, or wore them, they're just super excited to figure out what kind of creation they're going to make. And then the other people, they're like, “I don't know if I have creativity,” and need to pull it out to figure out what design. So you get the range of, you know, super excited to kind of timid, and it's really encouraging to see, like, how the waist bead class does help them to build up their confidence, to build up the creativity and pull it out of them.
GILGER: OK, so they're permanent. As we said, you wear them all the time. How long did they tend to last? How long did these kinds of journeys, as you describe it, last?
HOLLAND: I would say the journeys last anywhere from you know, I've had a waist bead put on one day and the next day it broke. I was, I was very shocked. But, you know, they can last for up to years. I've had some on for like, four years now.
GILGER: Do you wear more than one at once?
HOLLAND: Yeah.
GILGER: Interesting.
HOLLAND: Some people don't, but I do.
GILGER: And under your clothes, over them, et cetera?
HOLLAND: Yeah, it just depends on, like, the feeling I'm having. So there are some waist beads that are specifically made just for your partner to see and no one else. And so I will be getting married pretty soon, so I'm gonna create, like, my own personal set for my husband. And those are not going to be seen anywhere, like, throughout my clothes or anything. It's gonna be underneath, you know, something very private. But the ones that I have currently, they are like, you know, on top of my clothes, sometimes, depending on the outfit, or under, you know, if I want to just keep it modest.
GILGER: That's really interesting. Congratulations by the way.
HOLLAND: Thanks.
GILGER: So can anyone wear them? Is this something specific to a culture, a place, a type of person?
HOLLAND: I think, how I answer this usually to other people who are like, not black or African, is that everyone can wear them, everyone can share a part of this culture. I feel like African culture is very open, sharing and giving, and that's the type of mentality that I want to create with everyone. Like, “Hey, you're welcome to be a part of this. And I hope that you love yourself, you know throughout this process too.”
