THE HAIR STRUGGLE SO FAR......

Wow! It’s a couple of days to Christmas. This year really had some wings yo!..When was it January and now Christmas is around the corner? Well God has been faithful, can’t thank him enough. I guess I’ll do a separate thanks giving post soon but in the mean time, thank you guys for the comments and contributions you made concerning my dreams. I am happy to announce that I haven’t had any creepy ones since the last episode. All thanks to God and my mama’s bed. Lol.

So on Sunday after church, I ran into some old friends I hadn’t seen in ages. One of them paused for a minute and gave me this surprised look saying ‘Omg!! I love your hair, is that all yours?’ And the other asked if I’d been growing my hair from my mother’s womb (lol jokes!) I found that really funny and shook my head (only if they knew the realness of the struggles my dear hair has been through).

I was only about 6 years old when I became tired of my hair as my mum would either comb the scalp out of my head or stretch the life out of my hair in attempts to style it, braid it, or pack it into something we called 'shuku' (could be one, two, three or four shuku depending on how she felt on that day lol). The worst was threading (my Nigerian sisters can relate). After threading, I always turned red with my eyebrows almost at my hair line and my brain almost protruding out of my skull due to the level of stretching involved in the threading process (even to sleep was a battle).

My mum really took care of my hair though (love her to bits)! She had a certain love for it (as her only princess). She would wash it on weekends, grease it and do the plaits depending on the styles given to us by the school. My hair was natural btw, it was a diehard hair, really thick and full. Hence, it cost extra to make at the saloon. My mum wanted me to stay natural till I was about 15 but she was faced with two choices: either to cut the hair or to relax it as it was obvious that I was tired and couldn’t handle my though natural hair. My hair was finally relaxed and then, I became in control lol. For the first time I ever saw my hair so black, long and silky. I became Raponzel overnight and as time went on, my new look brought out the shakara side of me that I began spending so much time with the mirror, styling my hair, painting my lips and nails, drawing my eyebrows and basically obsessing about my new look. My mum became scared that my hair was going to be a major distraction from my books and so, the worst thing happened; SHE CUT MY HAIR!! (Where’s my mother? What did you do with her?) I couldn’t believe it. I was so heartbroken but she carried me on her lap and said ‘it will grow again; I just need you to focus on your books for now’. I understood with her and I guess it was all for the best.

THE STRUGGLES

I have never really been a fan of hair products but I had managed to grow my hair just by continuous braiding and relaxing, to a decent length (somewhere between neck & shoulder length) by JS 3. I was hopeful it was going to get to armpit length and then bra strap length which was my ideal length. On getting to SS1, I had to change schools from the outskirt of town into the heart of town. I was really happy about the idea of being closer to home and having a better boarding life experience. On receiving the school’s prospectus, the broken pieces of my heart that was in the mending process shattered again. I realized that one of the requirements of the students was to have a low cut (God why me?). I refused to accept that and I told God I must be an exception he must favor me in the sight of man. So, I came up with a plan and told my mum I wasn’t going to cut my hair but I was going to wear my beret, walk into the school with courage and faith that I would be allowed to kip my hair. The next thing I know, my hair’s all over the floor in front of the matron’s house with the snip-snip sound of the scissors behind my ears. So much for being hopeful. May be having hair wasn’t meant for me. Alright, I decided to accept my fate.  

Spot me if you can.

After school, I relaxed my hair and began growing again. I still had to do a bit of threading just so my hair could stretch and grow faster. I was able to grow it to just below shoulder length (my hair grows fast btw) and just before I traveled to the Uk, it had an encounter with a chewing gum I had mistakenly taken a nap with in my mouth and had ended up getting tangled in my hair (luckily for me, it was at the back). That resulted in me cutting it down to about neck length (bad luck yeah?) well, I thought so too. As if that wasn’t enough, I got to the Uk in hopes that the weather was going to help in the growth but baby, I was wrong. 

One cold evening I had returned from lectures with my roommate Suzzy (my ride or die) and we decided to put on the heating which was directly behind my bed. After about 5 minutes of laying in my bed, It was as if our neighbors were cooking goat meat. The aroma increased gradually and I asked my rommie if she could perceive it as well, she said yeah but that it seemed to have been coming from my bed side....Say what?!!! I jumped up quickly but it was too late. My back hair had already burnt and this brought it down to about ear length. At this point, I had given up the hopes of having my hair down to bra strap length. I stopped all efforts and decided to wait for God’s time. 

My front hair kept growing but the back remained the same. It was as if it was growing fuller but remained stagnant in length. Some people actually taught it was nice and long but Oh well! (I dint really care lol). 

Anyways, towards the end of uni, the back began to grow but my hair was still unequal and I refused to trim it any further cause I had lost interest.

When I returned to Nigeria, I was advised to trim it since it was quite long but unequal and so I reluctantly did. After few months, it began to grow longer and this time, equally. I was happy but I dint want to revive my hopes just yet. I kept braiding and fixing my hair, and to my surprise, it got to collarbone length 

and right now, it is on the armpit length.

So guys, after all the struggles, I am happy to say I am one step away from bra strap length..whoop! whoop! My mum was right! I guess there is hope after all. At last, Good luck has decided to smile at me lol. I just hope it's for real this time though. 

Have you guys had any hair struggles? Care to share?