Looking Good while Picking Tea

Anyone that is treated well will do the same in return. This is an attitude that tea pickers maintain rigorously. They wear full make-up while working on the plantation as a sign of respect for the tea plants.

KOMPAS/Lasti Kurnia

Tea plants are seen at state plantation PTPN IV in Pematang Sidamanik, Simalungun, North Sumatra, on July 8, 2017 (8/7/2019). People use the young leaves and leaf buds to make drinks.

Several tea pickers sat in a circle amid the shady tea plants in the Sukararu section of the Malabar plantation in Bandung regency, West Java. They had lunch at noon after picking tea leaves all morning at the 1-hectare plantation.

As usual, they shared the meals they had brought from home, like a potluck in an urban setting.

After lunch, Ros, 45, pulled out a tube of lipstick from her pocket and reapplied it to her lips, restoring the bright color they had when she left for work earlier in the morning. Urbanites call this a “touch-up”. She pressed her lips together to make sure the color was evenly spread. She then put the Revlon lipstick away.

“We should maintain our appearance. We should always look attractive at the plantation,” said Lilis, 54, who oversees her group of 16 tea pickers.

As she spoke Lilis showed a lipen (lip gloss) from Maybelline, as well as the face powder and an eyebrow pencil she carried. These are essential tools, in addition to the notebook she carries to record the amount of tea leaves each member of her group picks.

For the workers in Lilis’ group, face powder, lipstick and eyebrow pencil are no less important than shears and tea harvesters. In other words, they would rather be late for work rather than forego their makeup. Some even say they would quit if they were forbidden from wearing makeup. Fortunately, their superiors – including their overseers – allow them to wear makeup. This is unsurprising, as their overseer always wears full makeup herself.

KOMPAS/LASTI KURNIA

A tea picker collects tea leaves at state plantation PTPN IV in Pematang Sidamanik, Simalungun, North Sumatra, on July 7, 2019 (8/7/2019). The tea leaves are scaled and recorded by the supervisor before being brought to the factory for further processing.

Generally, the tea pickers wake up at dawn to pray and prepare breakfast for their spouses and children. Then they dress in long-sleeved blouses and pants. They put on socks, sometimes double, and then put on their shoes. They also put on outwear like hats and head covers made from squares of tarpaulin or plastic, and raincoats so they don’t get wet. This is practical, as the tea leaves are covered in morning dew.

A plastic sheet that leaks can mean trouble, because the dew will fall from the leaves onto their skin and give them a chill. Mornings at the plantation can sometimes reach 8 degrees Celsius during the dry season, like it was at the end of June, which makes the cold dew sting like needles. It is painful.

After making sure that everything is in place, the tea pickers apply foundation or base makeup before applying powder, lipstick and maybe lip balm for moisture. They finish by shaping their eyebrows. The entire process can take 15-30 minutes. This is a morning ritual that requires patience and discipline, in addition to their determination to fulfill the day’s harvest target.

So don’t be surprised if you see a row of beautifully made-up, sweetly perfumed women amid the lush, cool tea plantation. The fragrance pf powder wafts among the young tea plants, sometimes mixed with the scent of sweat. These competing fragrances represent the battle between the hard work they do and their principle to maintain a presentable appearance.

KOMPAS/LASTI KURNIA

A tea picker with face powder is seen at state plantation PTPN VI Danau Kembar, Gunung Talang, West Sumatra, on July 10, 2019 (10/7/2019). Tea pickers apply face powder to protect their face from sunlight.

Spiritual Makeup

For the tea pickers, maintaining an attractive appearance while they work the plantation is not about being sexy or about materialism. It is beyond these. The tea pickers consider tea leaves as their partners in life, God’s creation that is a source of their livelihood.

When she withdrew from elementary school when she was about 8 years old, Lilis started working alongside her mother at a tea plantation. She watched how her mother’s life depended on tea. When the price of tea was favorable, their living condition was better, and vice-versa.

Lilis recalled that the price of tea was high in 1997-1998, when 1 kilogram of black tea was equal to 5-6 kilograms of rice. Today, Lilis feels the pain of being a tea picker when 1 kilogram of tea only equals 1.5 kilograms of rice.

Lilis’s life has followed the ups and downs of tea, growing up and building a family of her own thanks to none other than tea. Her life revolves around tea. She always makes sure to mention tea at the end of her prayers so that God will continue to preserve its abundance and freshness. “Ya Allah, hejo lemukeun teh abdi sadayana,” Lilis prays in Sundanese.

Iyos, 63, a retired tea picker who is now an informal wage laborer at the PTPN VIII state plantation company, had a rather different experience. The resident of Cipuspa Plot V in Sukaresmi village in Rancabali district, Bandung regency, said that she plucked tea at a strategic location, near the highway that tourists used to enjoy the natural environment of South Bandung. Tourists often stopped by, asking to take pictures with the tea pickers as they harvested the leaves.

So Iyos makes an effort to look her best, especially since she would feel unconfident if she looked ashen or unkempt. “I always carry my lipen and powder,” said Iyos, who has seven grandchildren.

KOMPAS/RIZA FATHONI

A tea picker puts on lipstick at the Malabar tea plantation belonging to state plantation PTPN VIII Malabar, Pangalengan, Bandung regency, West Java, on June 22, 2019 (22/6/2019).

On the other hand, Iyos shares Lilis’s beliefs that maintaining an attractive appearance is necessary to “communicate intimately” with the tea leaves; that it is a form of respect and exaltation. For her, being at the tea plantation is like being a guest at the home of a close friend.

She has worn makeup while picking tea since she was a teenager. The practice gradually became mandatory. She doesn’t feel confident if she doesn’t wear makeup. “Geus tuman (I’ve gotten used to it), and I feel odd without lipstick and powder,” she said, stressing that makeup is indispensable.

The West Java tea pickers are not the only ones who wear makeup while they work the plantation, and the practice is also common among tea pickers in North Sumatra, Solok and as far as Bengkulu. Although their motives may vary, one of the primary reasons for maintaining their appearance is the belief that it will bring fortune.

“Ben ora pucet (It’s to avoid looking wan). Without lipstick and powder, people will think we’re sick,” said Sukini, 43, who picks tea at the PTPN VI plantation in Pagar Alam, South Sumatra.

Without lipstick and powder, people will think we’re sick.

Sukini said that aside from esthetic benefits, these cosmetics can protect their skin against the sunlight and cold air. The powder protects facial skin from harmful ultraviolet radiation, while the lipstick maintain moisture in the lips and prevent chapping in the cold air.

Researcher Kuswandi, who has studied the culture of tea pickers, said that the practice of wearing full makeup dated back to the Dutch colonial era. The reasons for the practice were diverse, and included the effort to attract members of the opposite sex, including the attention of foremen. He did not deny that it also had a spiritual aspect, as Lilis, Sukini and their peers claimed.

The heat of the noon sun shone on the young tea leaves at the Malabar plantation. After lunch, the pickers hurried back to work, smiling with their freshly touched up lips and faces.