Your partner will spend a whole tanda with their cheek next to your hair. Let’s make it a pleasant place to be.
Accessories, hair and make-up are where personal style shines in tango, and also where small choices can turn into a scratch, a snag or a mouthful of hair. Here’s how to have both style and comfort.
Hair: away from their face
TangoLife London’s dress code guide notes that many followers style their hair so it doesn’t fall into the leader’s face in close embrace. Updos and pulled-back styles are practical and elegant. The same topic comes up in r/tango threads such as “Hair style and clothing at milongas”, where secured styles are the common recommendation.
Practical ideas:
- A low bun or chignon on the side away from your partner’s face
- A sleek ponytail, but beware of whipping your partner in fast giros
- Flowers or a single ornament. Dimitris Bronowski’s Tango Festival Checklist for Women lists flowers for the hair among its festival items
- Skip heavy hair products and perfume in hair, which sit right at your partner’s nose
Jewellery: think snag, scratch and clink
BE-TANGO advises avoiding jewellery that might catch on your partner’s clothing (BE-TANGO’s guide to what to wear to tango class). TangoLife lists large rings, long necklaces and bracelets that could interfere with the embrace. Tangonaut agrees that long earrings or thin bracelets can add elegance, but says to avoid heavy or snagging accessories (women’s outfit guide).
A simple rule by body zone:
- Ear on the embrace side: studs or small hoops
- Neck: fine chains under the dress, or none
- Left hand and wrist (on your partner’s back or shoulder): no chunky rings or bangles
- Ankles: an anklet can be lovely, as long as it can’t hook your partner’s trouser hem
Make-up: it touches someone else
This is the point few people think about. In Dimitris’s checklist, followers note that your make-up will touch another person’s skin, so it suggests considering make-up from natural ingredients so you don’t expose partners to potentially harmful chemicals. Leaders’ white shirts also tell stories about foundation by midnight. In a r/tango thread on suits for leaders, one leader explains that his suit will eventually be destroyed by sweat and followers’ make-up.
Tips:
- Long-wear, transfer-resistant foundation and powder
- Light on the cheek you share in the embrace
- Blotting papers in your tango bag
And glasses?
If you wear glasses, contact lenses can make close embrace more comfortable for both of you. An old Dance Forums etiquette list mentions getting whacked by someone’s glasses as they turn their head.
The essential is invisible
Dimitris’s checklist puts it best: “The only thing you really need for a good tanda is a nice embrace.” Accessories should frame that, not compete with it.
“The only thing you really need for a good tanda is a nice embrace.”
From the Tango Festival Checklist for Women by The Curious Tanguero
Read more in dressing the back for close embrace and our complete guide to tango shoes and clothes for women.
Find a store: see our guides to tango clothing stores, tango stores by country & city.
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