And the hair is braided...only in Africa

Today I got my hair braided. I have always hated the way it looks on white people and have always said I would never get it done. Well...I am in Africa one time, so why not right? Because I look like a naked mole rat, that’s why not! Too bad it’s already done...

It took a very long time. We walked to town at 9am to buy the extensions for my hair (which cost 3 Ghana cedis...super cheap!) The lightest blonde they had was this brownish blonde which makes my hair look a lot darker...kind of a yucky colour to be honest...

I sat down in the hairdressers chair at 10:45. And by chair, I mean a little wooden stool on the front porch of her little shop. And there I sat until...wait for it...5 o’clock. Yup, I sat there for 6 hours. I was hurting. Everywhere.

The pain that I experienced getting my hair braided cannot be explained in words. You will have to ask Petra what my face looked like as I got it done, because it scared her out of doing it today. My head was tilted in extremely uncomfortable positions for long periods of time, and on top of that, my natural hair felt like it was being ripped out of my scalp. Yup. Felt nice.

The ladies were making fun of me as I grimaced, closed my eyes, complained to Petra...anything to distract myself.

A lot of things happened in those 5 hours while I was sitting there:

-a woman walked by with a whole sewing machine on her head

-whole crowds of people would stop to talk while I sat there which was nice and entertaining

-a man tried to propose to me from his car on the street...he was too lazy to get out though so what that says about me, I don’t know...

-OH! I got to hold babies, TWIN babies while I got my hair braided. Yes, I got to hold two adorable black babies, one girl, one boy, to distract myself from the pain. They were adorable and I was loving life for about an hour! I was holding the girl, and didn’t realize the lady had twins. All of a sudden she popped another baby out from behind her back and I was PRETTY excited. She let me hold them both at once for a long time.

-the little kids from across the street came over to chat with me

-countless people laughed AND complimented me from the street; walking, from taxis, and from trotros

-I had boafruit. Yum.

-I wanted to fall asleep, but couldn’t because my head was pulsing

-there was a funeral procession of people dressed in the cultural red and black. Trotro after trotro blaring music

-I watched Auntie Jo take 5 minutes to cross the street

-my hair is now 2 lbs heavier

-our friend Jaclyn came up and said I looked “fresh” haha...She has the same braids, only thicker and red...

So after she pulled and twisted and braided every last strand of those extensions into my hair, she cut the frizzes off and set them with hot water. I now do not have to deal with my frizzy, impossible hair until I choose to take them out.

The pressure that I feel on my head is unbearable, but Auntie Jo said it would only feel like that for 3 days, so that’s not too bad. Here’s hoping I can sleep tonight? Haha.

And without further ado, I give you ugly, braided, African Carolyn:

This is the lovely lady who did my hair