While the Dogon tribe practices the tradition of lip piercing for women, with large plates being eventually placed in the lower lip, as we covered previously in Historic Piercing, the Makololo Tribe of Malawi prefers an ancient practice of piercing the upper lip as a custom for women.

The somewhat surprising reason for this, according to a Makololo chief, is that beards are considered a thing of great beauty for men, and unfortunately for women, they can't grow one! And so, the lip plate is inserted, gradually increasing in size to give women something of beauty of their own.