At the market in the Chadian capital, N'Djamena, customers flock to Aceh Moussa's stall to smear their long hair with a special paste in an old tribal ritual.
Each strand of hair, from root to tip, is coated with the traditional mixture of cherry pits, cloves and the most important ingredient of all, fennel seeds.
Customers say the recipe makes their hair longer and shinier.
Local and natural hair products are gaining popularity across Africa as people move away from chemical cosmetics that are feared to cause cancer.
Musa applies the mixture and styles the client's hair into a huron, a traditional hairstyle consisting of several large thick braids and other thinner braids.
The ritual has been passed down from generation to generation for centuries.
"We inherited this skill from our mothers, who also learned it from our grandmothers," Musa said at his stall in Al-Hafiya market, AFP reported.
"In the village, our mothers only braid our hair with chebe powder," she added.
Moussa's recipe is simple: she roasts and crushes the seeds of the chebe tree, a shrub found in abundance in the mountainous region of Guerra in central Chad.
She adds cherry pits and cloves, also ground into powder, for an aroma that's heady and spicy.
Moussa earns 2,000 Central African francs ($3.20) for each hair treatment.
Few people can afford the service in the impoverished country, which is ranked by the United Nations as the second least developed in the world. | BGNES
