For those of you that don’t know who Nefertiti is, she was a powerful Queen of Egypt well renowned for her immense beauty. The Bust of Nefertiti, discovered in 1912 is an iconic image that showcases the beauty of this ancient sister. Archaeologists have found many images that depict her, pointing to the fact that she must have been influential and a celebrated beauty.

Because so few other cultures in Africa are well documented or preserved, when I think of African Beauty and of an African Queen, Nefertiti and specifically, the image of the bust of Nefertiti comes to mind.

As a result, whenever I wear a duku (or headwrap), I feel like an African Queen of old. My signature duku is this green, white, orange and black striped chitenge. I call this my killer chitenge and when I wear it in this particular style, it is The Nefertiti. I have had it for about 7 years. I bought it and several other chitenges back in 2004 when I first grew dreadlocks. That was the scaling-up of my so-called afro-centric look. So, for me, the duku does not come out on a bad hair day, it can even happen on a good hair day, it just depends on how I am feeling or want to feel that day or what I would like to project.

To achieve this style, you basically fold the chitenge (what east Africans call a kanga) length-ways. Depending on the size of your head and hair (extensions or medium to long dreadlocks mean you need more cloth to cover the head), you should fold the cloth once or twice.

Take one end and place it at the back of your head, then pull it round to the front of your head and round again and again, until you remain with the other end in your hand. Tuck it in to one of the folds. A striped chitenge like this looks nice when you try to make the stripes overlap in a nice pattern. It is best to start with the first wrap-around as close to you hairline/forehead as possible. This will ensure it holds tighter. Then, subsequent wrap-arounds should be an inch higher. This gives the duku height and enables the pattern of the fabric to be seen more clearly.

If ZedHair were to do a YouTube video, it would be on this, but I do not want to reinvent the wheel just for the sake of it, so unless I don’t find one posted somewhere online, I will be sharing it with you shortly.