For Oribe, nothing rings in the holidays more than a hair care collaboration. For the past six seasons, the hair care brand has partnered with an artist—from calligraphists to ceramicists, textile designers to illustrators—on their holiday gift collections. And this year? Photographer Thandiwe Muriu is welcomed into their home.
Shot in the Kenyan artist’s homeland, the collaboration is deeply rooted in the culture and community Muriu was born into. “I come from such a communal culture, and hair in my culture is such a community event,” Muriu tells ESSENCE. “When we go to the hair salon, you go into these tiny little salons, sit down with a woman and begin to get your hair done.”
She then explains how, while choosing a hair color for your braids, it is common for other customers in the salon to give their opinion. “It becomes this moment where a group of strangers are coming together to beautify the individual,” she says. Sharing the beauty of timeless traditions, an age-old African proverb is behind Oribe’s new holiday collaboration: “When your sister does your hair, you do not need a mirror.”
Each gift set is a coveted selection from Oribe’s mainline collections—from Gold Lust to Moisture & Control and Côte d’Azur Body & Fragrance—wrapped in one of two limited edition textiles patterns. While the oval pattern represents the relationship with her community, O-shaped hair textures, and founder Oribe Canales’s vintage hair brushes and mirrors, the triangular pattern speaks to the neck of the brand’s Curl Gloss Hydration & Hold bottle.
Presented on an archive of upcycled gift boxes, “prints have recorded history and they have a language,” she says. “I really wanted to preserve the memories and the history of the brand and my own memories and history with my own hair.”
At the foundation of her work, her most fond memory is the time her father gifted her an old camera at the age of 14. “I wanted to create and tell my own stories,” she says. Unknown to her at the time, she would soon become one of the first female advertising photographers in her country, and consequently, often found herself as the only woman in the room.
“I began to create pictures to kind of process and see value in myself as a woman,” Muriu says. “And, part of that is hair.”Although women in Kenya are often taught to hide their hair, Muriu’s work represents the revision of African beauty standards. “I began this series where I documented different hairstyles and looked at all hairstyles and reimagined them,” she says.
Now, in her collaboration with Oribe, she partners with hair artists like Stacey Ciceron to marry the story of textiles and hair. “I’m kind of stuck with my hair for the rest of my life,” Muriu says. “I need to learn to love it for what it is and not try to make it what I wish it was.”
The 2024 Oribe Holiday Collection is available now on Oribe.com and at Oribe salons.