Friday, September 08, 2006

Hair today, more tomorrow


So yesterday I had the day off work. The rain was really heavy all night and all morning. Genesis told us not to go out in the rain and stay in until it stops. I had already planned with Marceline to have my hair done today. When in Rome and all that! So about 12:00 we ventured out. The woman was out where we had planned to go. Two young men said they would find her but could not. So they said they would take us up to another salon. So we walked up the hill in the rain and they guided us to said salon.

These boys then hung around. They turned to Amelia and said 'we want to go now'. They were waiting to be paid for their favor. We did not ask them to show us up the hill, we said we would go home. They insisted. This is very Cameroonian you think someone just helping you, then they demand money. You did not ask them to help you, they just do. This happened to us at the airport with our bags. You either have to carry a lot of loose change or always say no!! We had not change on us so refused. They then turned to the girls in the salon 'we brought you a customer, give us money'. These girls just told them how foolish they were and sould leave. They hung around for about 45 mins before getting the message we were not going to give them anything.

Anyway back to the story of my hair. Over the last few weeks Marceline, Sheila and Amelia have all had their hair done. They kept suggesting I too should have mine done. At first I said no, then I decided why not, I can always remove it if I don't like. Absorb myself in the culture and all that.

So they took to work. I settled on a red rather than black. There was a mousy brown but Amelia said that was too boring. It took about 5 1/2 hours, which I am told is quick. By the end I was really hungery and had a numb bum! I had a total of 6 different people working on my hair. With 4 at one time. My head being pushed up, down, left, right to keep each one happy. I have a lot of hair so they ran out of mesh (that's the name of the fake hair). They had none the same colour so a different shade of red was used, although you can hardly tell. I had to pass them chunks of mesh to speed things up. I soon got the hang of it after being told too much or not enough.

Still undecided on the end result. It can last about 3 months. Although my roots will be much worse than the others as my hair will grow straight so I may only leave it one month. I cannot wash it and must not get it wet in the rain! The curls on the end were accidental. She asked if I wanted the ends curled, I thought she said cut, so I said yes as they were all different lengths and a bit of a mess! Oh well I quite like them.

5 comments:

Ann said...

Let me be the first to comment:
WOW! I think it's great-- what a wonderful way to embrace your new culture. By the way, what does Joe say?

Hev said...

Joe said yesterday I looked like a school girl! I did have a white shirt on which did not help.

He is just getting used to it. Was not convinced at first!!

kT LindSAy said...

I think it's fab!!!! You look fab! Word of warning though - when you take it out all of that dead hair that falls off your head everyday won't have fallen off (it'll be caught in your braids). You will end up with a massive ball of hair - ick! You aren't going bald, it's normal (but a bit scary). I've had my hair braided twice - once with extensions (and it did last 3 months and I didn't have to wash it which was great) and once without (lasted 10 days and was a bit pap). It costs about £100 to get it dine properly here so I'm dead jealous! What does it look like down? Another piccy please! XX

Anonymous said...

nice style - now all you need is a dress with big puffed out shoulders.

Hev said...

I need to buy a hair band before I take it down. It is currently tied up with string. Will get one at the market tomorrow, then I can have a play