Hairy Situation

‘Sup everyone! Turn to your neighbor and tell them “it’s the season to be jolly!” LOL, how are you doing though? I am awesome, just getting in the Christmas mood! I hope you are too. Plus, I will be expecting some gifts from you faithful readers, ahem…ahem!

This week I finally realized one of this year’s resolutions. I had talked about it here. Because it was taking me so long to get it, everyone around had lost hope hehe. But finally, three months later, I have it! I got me a phone, my Galaxy baby. I am super excited about it and I just can’t wait to get to know it more :)

My bff’s parents were renewing their wedding nuptials this past weekend and a bunch of us were going to turn up! As usual, when it comes to matters wedding, it’s usually a thing nowadays to show up looking your best.

I have never been the type to put on a dress and strut in high heels, but being a wedding I had to! Boy oh boy, the things I do for free cake! (My friend still thinks I went there for love and support! Haha, she’s funny!)

The cake

Two days before the wedding, I went to get my hair done. I wanted to braid it. That was one of my toughest days this month! Over the past years, I have done a lot to my hair. Almost like Alicia Keys. I have had it shaved down, coloured, texturized, chemically treated, braided, natural, I cut some bangs last year, a bob early this year… you name it. The only thing I have never done is put a weave.

 

So from all those experiments I was doing to my hair, it became pretty tired, unhealthy and damaged. However, towards mid this year, I decided to be nice to it. I started my ‘hair journey’ with the aim of restoring some body and length to it. Because in all honesty, I was getting bored with how it looked and I felt like just walking to a barber shop and having it all chopped off.

My hair journey included:

• Washing my every week with a nice shampoo and conditioner and treating it with things like avocado, eggs and honey.
• I switched to natural oils and moisturizers like coconut, olive, castor and amla oils.

• I trimmed all my split ends which were a lot /o\
• No more heat. I stopped using the blow dryer, flat iron and tongs. I only use the hood dryer if necessary.
• Drinking a lot of water, I don’t like water at all!! But I tried; I am now up to 2.5 glasses a day hehe. Before I could go without any so…baby steps.
• Eating right. I try as much as possible to incorporate fresh veggies and fruits in my diet. And I also take some occasional vitamin and omega 3 supplements.
• Wearing protective hairstyles. Before, I was a fan of letting my hair go and having the wind blow through it but this, I came to realize, dries out the hair. So instead, I have employed the good old bun or braided pony tail.
• I have also stretched the period between relaxers to almost 6 months at a time.

The above has really helped me because by the time I was going to get my hair braided at the salon for the wedding, my hair had already improved. Everyone around me had noticed this, so those who were asking me how I did it…there you go! My length, body, thickness and color had already improved. My sisters and I even joked about how it looked like Fellaini’s hair. So bushy and everywhere haha.

And this was part of why, that salon day was one hell of a day. I had washed my hair at home. I do those things by myself nowadays. And because of my no heat policy, I just air dried my hair and combed it. My hair had a lot of growth, so you can just imagine how tangled it was! But still, I refused to blow dry it. Heat damages hair and so is combing the hair while it is wet. My detangling solution did nothing to make my work easier. Anyway, when the hair was dry and I thought I had sufficiently combed it, I went to my hairdresser.

All was well at first. But it got too real too quickly when she continued to part and braid my hair. The comb couldn’t go through and with every tug and nudge I felt like a little piece of my brain was being yanked out. I never wanted to shed a tear, but I found one or two stray drops just making their way down my cheeks so slowly. It was almost the same feeling as when I tweeze my eyebrows. But this was on a larger scale.

Beauty is pain, they said. But this…was too much. I wanted to walk out and go to the barber next door. But I liked how my hair had transformed over the past couple of months, so I decided to just bear it!!

When I was done, I went straight home and downed some painkillers. My head was heavy! Even washing the face was a task. It seemed as if they had yanked even the hair next to my eyebrows. Another ‘task’ that I had to do that left everyone in the house in stiches except me was when I had to sneeze. OMG! And let us not even get started on picking a comfortable sleeping position for those initial nights when the braids are still tighter than Samantha J’s skirt! *Oh, the pain*

Every time I go through the braiding ordeal, I always say to myself that it would be the last one. This is because even undoing them is another task and in my famous words, “Ain’t nobady got the tahhhm!” but I always find myself doing it so that I rest from all the combing and styling I do daily.

The next day, I had it up and styled and wore my dress ready for the big day. When I got complimented along the way, the pain I had felt the previous day fizzled out hehe. It all seemed worth it. The wedding was beautiful. Thanks to +wanjiru wainaina, my bff who planed it all. And her parents are still so in love, almost 30 years later. That's the kind of relationship I want to have! Love that never dies. Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Wainaina. Wishing you peace, love and light for the coming years. And thank you for my bff :)

Me, Keziah, Gerty, Naina and Janice

Thanks for taking your time to read through this. I always appreciate your audience.

Have a wonderful Friday evening and stay safe.

Don’t drink and drive!

#happydays