Suri lip plate traditions involve a gradual and often painful stretching process
The Painful Process Behind Making a Suri Lip Plate
Learn how the Suri lip plate is made possible through gradual stretching, when each step happens, and what the practice means.
Published:
July 10, 2026 at 11:05:08 AM
Modified:
July 11, 2026 at 1:16:26 PM
The Suri lip plate is one of the most recognized forms of body adornment in southwestern Ethiopia. But the plate does not appear all at once. It is made possible through a slow process: the lower lip is cut, held open, healed, and then stretched gradually with larger plugs until it can hold a clay or wooden plate.
The most precise academic language sources identify Suri as the Chai and Tirmaga dialects of the Chai-Tirmaga-Mursi cluster. Meaghan E. Smith’s Dallas International University thesis on Suri notes that Chai and Tirmaga share the ISO code [suq], while Mursi is closely related but usually treated separately in current language use (Smith, 2018, pp. 2–4 pdf). This distinction matters because many public sources group Suri, Surma, Chai, Tirma, and Mursi together.
For the actual lip-plate process, the strongest available evidence comes from sources that name Mursi, Chai, and Tirma together, especially Mursi Online’s Durham University-hosted page on lip plates, and from Shauna LaTosky’s academic essay, “Reflections on the lip-plates of Mursi women”. These sources should be used carefully: Mursi evidence is closely related and useful, but it should not be carelessly presented as if every Suri community follows the process in exactly the same way.
Quick Facts
The lip plate is worn in the lower lip.
The process usually begins around puberty.
The first cut is commonly reported at about age 15 or 16.
A small wooden stick or plug is inserted first.
The lip is stretched slowly with larger plugs.
The stretching process can take several months to about one year.
Clay and wooden plates are both documented.
The final size depends on the wearer, healing, preference, and how far the lip can stretch.
The exact age for lower-incisor removal is not clearly documented in the reviewed sources. Insufficient evidence found.
Who Are the Suri?
In public writing, “Suri” and “Surma” are often used loosely. More precise linguistic research is narrower. Smith explains that Suri, in her thesis, refers to the Chai and Tirmaga dialects of the Chai-Tirmaga-Mursi cluster. She writes that “Suri is a member of the Surmic group” (Smith, 2018, p. 2).
This means that when an article discusses Suri lip plates, it should be clear about source evidence. Some evidence directly names Chai and Tirma. Some comes from Mursi ethnography. Some public sources use broader terms such as Surma or Suri. A careful article should not flatten these communities into one single group.
Jon Abbink’s research on Dizi, Suri, and Me’en plant use describes the Suri as agropastoralists in southwestern Ethiopia. In that study, Abbink writes that “The Suri (about 28,000) are agropastoralists” (Abbink, 1995, p. 2). That wider agropastoral setting helps explain why body adornment, cattle, marriage, and social adulthood are often discussed together in research on these communities.
When the Process Begins
The most specific age evidence comes from Mursi Online’s lip-plate page, which states that among the Mursi, Chai, and Tirma, a girl’s lower lip is cut “when she reaches the age of 15 or 16.” This is the clearest age marker available in the reviewed sources.
LaTosky gives a broader life-stage marker. She writes that when a Mursi girl reaches puberty, “she will have her lip cut and a small wooden stick inserted” (LaTosky, 2006, p. 384). She describes this as a “passage from girlhood to womanhood” (LaTosky, 2006, p. 384).
Together, these sources support a careful statement: the process is associated with puberty and is commonly reported around age 15 or 16. It should not be described as something done in early childhood. LaTosky does mention a young child playing with a branch as if wearing a lip plate, but that is imitation in play, not the actual piercing process.
Step One: The Lower Lip Is Cut
The first physical step is the cutting of the lower lip. Mursi Online states that the cut is made by a girl’s mother or by another woman from her settlement. LaTosky also records the beginning of the process after puberty, when the lip is cut and a small wooden stick is inserted.
This first cut is not the same as wearing a full plate. It is only the opening stage. The lip has to heal before it can be stretched further. The early wound is delicate, and the sources make clear that gradual change is essential.
Abbink’s Suri plant-use research gives one important piece of local context. He records that Ximenia americana oil is used after “ear- and lip-piercing” (Abbink, 1995, p. 7). This does not explain the full lip-plate process, but it does show that Suri communities have documented plant-based aftercare associated with piercing wounds.
Step Two: A Wooden Plug Holds the Cut Open
After the lower lip is cut, a small wooden stick or plug is inserted. The goal is not yet to create a large opening. It is to keep the cut from closing while the wound heals.
Mursi Online says the cut is held open by a wooden plug until the wound heals, which can take around three months. This healing stage is important because stretching too quickly could tear the lip.
LaTosky’s account gives the same basic sequence. First comes the cut. Then comes the small wooden stick. Then the lip is slowly stretched over time. The process is not instant decoration. It is a controlled transformation of the lower lip.
Step Three: The Lip Heals
The healing period is a major part of the process. Mursi Online gives the clearest timeframe, saying healing can take around three months. During this period, the wooden plug keeps the opening in place.
This stage is also where local aftercare matters. Abbink’s note about oil used after lip-piercing is useful because it connects the practice to broader Suri knowledge of wounds and healing plants. However, the reviewed evidence does not give a complete medical description of how every wound is treated. Any article should avoid making strong claims about medicine beyond what the sources say.
Step Four: Larger Plugs Stretch the Lip
Once the first wound has healed enough, the stretching begins. This is the key to how the lip plate becomes possible.
Mursi Online describes the process with the phrase “progressively larger plugs.” LaTosky gives a more detailed timeline, saying the lip is cut and stretched “over a one year period by inserting bigger and bigger wooden plugs” before larger lip plates made of clay or wood are worn (LaTosky, 2006, p. 384).
This means the plate is not forced into a newly cut lip. The opening is expanded little by little. Each larger plug increases the size of the opening. Over months, the lower lip becomes elastic enough to hold a plate.
The final size is not fixed. Mursi Online notes that it appears to be up to the individual girl to decide how far to stretch the lip. Some continue until the lip can hold plates of 12 centimeters or more. Others stop earlier. LaTosky adds that some girls’ lips cannot withstand long stretching, and a girl may choose not to cut her lip or may stretch only enough for a smaller clay plate (LaTosky, 2006, p. 384).
Step Five: Clay or Wooden Plates Are Worn
After enough stretching, the lip can hold a plate. LaTosky records both clay and wooden plates. She identifies clay plates as dhebinya and wooden plates as kiyo in her Mursi-focused discussion (LaTosky, 2006, p. 384).
While wooden plates are lighter and often carved from local hardwoods, clay plates allow for decorative incised patterns and are among the most recognizable forms of Suri body adornment
The material and style can vary. LaTosky describes red, reddish-brown, black, and natural clay-colored plates. She also notes that wooden plates are often described as large and beautiful, especially among unmarried girls and women in southern Mursi areas (LaTosky, 2006, pp. 384–385).
Suri woman ready to fit her first Lip plate
A brief attached profile on Surma/Suri describes women as “known for their large clay lip plates,” worn in the lower lip as signs of beauty and prestige. Because that source is short and less academic, it is best used only as supporting context, not as the main authority.
What Ages Are Linked to Each Step?
The strongest evidence supports this careful timeline:
Around puberty, usually about 15 or 16: the lower lip is cut.
Immediately after cutting: a small wooden stick or plug is inserted.
First healing period, around three months: the wooden plug holds the cut open while the wound heals.
Following months: larger wooden plugs are inserted gradually.
Over several months to about one year: the lip is stretched enough to hold a plate.
Late teenage years and around marriage: unmarried and newly married women are especially associated with wearing lip plates.
The exact age at which lower incisors are removed is not clearly given in the reviewed sources. Moges Yigezu’s Cambridge Core article on Chai lip-plate speech confirms that the practice affects “the lower lip and the lower incisors” (Yigezu, 2001, pp. 203–221), but the reviewed abstract does not give the age or sequence of tooth removal.
What the Lip Plate Means
LaTosky argues that the lip plate is tied to social adulthood, maturity, fertility, and marriage. She writes that once the lip is cut, stretched, and fitted with larger plates, the girl is defined as “sexually mature” (LaTosky, 2006, p. 384).
The lip plate is known as an expression of social adulthood and reproductive potential. This is important because the practice should not be reduced to shock, beauty, or tourism. It is part of a wider social language of adulthood, identity, and presentation.
LaTosky also shows that women’s views matter. She frames the lip plate within “female strength and self-esteem” (LaTosky, 2006, p. 382). That does not mean every girl has the same experience or motivation. Mursi Online notes that girls may choose whether to pierce and how far to stretch, while also acknowledging peer pressure. The evidence points to a complex practice shaped by personal choice, social expectation, beauty, identity, and adulthood.
Misconceptions About Bridewealth and Origins
One common claim says the larger the plate, the higher the bridewealth. The reviewed evidence does not support that as a simple fact.
Mursi Online states that many marriages and bridewealth arrangements are already settled before a girl’s lip is cut. LaTosky also notes that David Turton rejected a direct link between plate size and bridewealth, although she leaves room for the possibility that a beautifully stretched lip could influence marriage negotiations indirectly in some cases (LaTosky, 2006, pp. 385–386).
Another common claim says lip plates began as deliberate disfigurement to make women unattractive to slave raiders. Mursi Online rejects this explanation, noting that Mursi themselves do not give this origin story and that lip plates are not unique to Africa or to women.
The safest wording is this: the reviewed sources do not support the slave-raider origin story, and they do not support a simple bridewealth-size formula.
Modern Pressures and Tourism
Lip plates are now part of a wider conversation about tourism, identity, and outside judgment. Mursi Online notes that the lip plate has become a visible marker attracting tourists. A 2024 review of intentional dental modifications in African populations also summarizes Turton’s point that lip plates are now used in tourism contexts by Mursi and Surma women (Kgabi, Manica & Pandey, 2024).
This modern context matters. The lip plate is not only a tradition preserved unchanged outside history. It is also shaped by photography, tourism, government pressure, local choice, and changing ideas of respectability and identity.
Conclusion
The Suri lip plate is made possible by time. The process begins around puberty, most clearly documented around age 15 or 16, when the lower lip is cut and held open with a wooden plug. After healing, larger plugs are inserted little by little. Over months, and sometimes about a year, the lip stretches enough to hold a clay or wooden plate.
The practice is not just a physical alteration. In the strongest available research, it is linked to womanhood, maturity, beauty, public presentation, and identity. But it should be described with care. Suri, Chai, Tirma, and Mursi evidence overlaps, but they are not always the same. Some details, especially the exact age of lower-incisor removal, remain unsupported by the reviewed sources.
Reference:
Mursi Online: Lip-plates
LaTosky’s academic essay on Mursi lip plates
Smith, Meaghan E. Noun Modification in Suri Narrative Texts. MA thesis, Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics, 2018 pdf.
Abbink (1995, pp. 2, 7pdf) informed Suri agropastoral context and plant-based aftercare for lip-piercing wounds
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