Decorated skin—ouch!

It hurts to cut the skin or stick a pin in it. But some people don’t
care how much it hurts, if they think it makes them look beautiful!

In Mozambique, on the eastern coast of Africa, there are people who
think that no woman is beautiful unless she has scars on her skin. So
women here get artists to make cuts on their faces and backs. Then earth
and herbs are rubbed into the cuts. The cuts heal slowly and leave a
pattern of raised scars. This can hurt, but the women do it because they
want to be beautiful.

The Berbers of North Africa think that decorated faces are prettier than
plain faces. So a Berber woman makes a design on her face. To do this,
she pokes tiny holes in her skin. Then she fills the holes with coloring
matter.

In other places, men and children decorate their skins. We all have our
own ideas about what is beautiful.

Mozambique

This woman has had her skin decorated with raised scars. Without these
scars, she would not be considered beautiful.