Looking through our old pictures, I often wondered why we did not have pretty braids like the children of our age grade. I felt my mom did not have the time to take us to a salon, or she could not do it herself and decided to go with the easiest option.
I summoned the courage to ask her why, as at some point it had limited our self-confidence to see other kids with neat braids and beads while we had a different story.
That was when she began telling us history. She complained about how much I used to scream during the process of getting my hair done; and when I fell severely ill after a particular braiding session, she decided to cut the hair. As for my sister, she was influenced by my actions and convictions and joined me in making that hilarious decision.
Source; Unsplash
Fast forward to the present, as I grow my hair, I get to see the reason I screamed so much: I have 4C hair. It feels light but tangles all the time, making it very difficult to comb. Even after being combed, it still looks like no work was done. Wash days are the worst as I have to go through so much detangling and oiling so as to to dry out. Partitioning it during braiding still hurts so much, as most hairdressers do not have the patience to detangle it properly before combing.
I took out my braids and decided to rock the natural hair I had nurtured for months during our trip to the beach, as it would go perfectly with my outfit. I was quite aware of the shrinkage that accompanies wearing my hair out, but I decided to try anyway. I did not have my mum's support, as she has always hated the texture of my hair and hoped I would relax it one day.
The sun smiled on us politely, and I felt it agreed to let us go on the trip; but into the trip, our story changed as the sun shone aggressively on us. There were people at the corners selling different kinds of things, and among them were new hats. I had to purchase one to reduce the sunburn on my face, but my properly styled hair was ruined.
