This is V. with whom I lived. She has an important feature in terms of Maasai beauty. Her top teeth have a wide gap at the front. She was very proud of it and was quite proud of the fact that it occurred naturally, this is the way she was born.
Even without it she is really quite a beautiful woman.
Another thing to notice about her teeth are the two missing front bottom teeth. These were removed. I asked her about it- she spoke excellent english and as two "mature" women we had quite a few "very open" conversation about all kind of things.
Removing the two front bottom teeth is a maasai tradition it is also viewed as a beautiful improvement on the natural beauty of both men and women but she explained to me that originally it was done so that if somebody got very sick and passed out with locked jaws his family would still be able to pour water in their mouth so they wouldn't die.
I did have quite a few interesting conversation with her some of it I will not pass on since she was quite clear that she was only telling me because I was a "mature" woman and she trusted me not to tell.
She opened an email account when I was there and she can access it in the same village where I went to check my email when I was living with her. She just sent me a moving email mentioning how her house has changed and will never be the same since I was there....I can't help but wonder if it is really good.
