Ever since I came to Uganda, I have wondered what it would be like to have my hair braided African-style. Ugandan women like to get their hair plaited (braided). There is an almost endless variety of ways to do this: three strand braids, twists, different sizes of braids, different colors of extra hair added, different lengths, different designs, etc.
At school, children are required to have short hair, so you can always tell when holidays have begun because all the girls will arrive with new hairstyles. Then, as soon as students graduate from high school, nearly all of them keep their hair continually plaited.
When asking them about their hair, I have heard stories of having to sit for hours for the process to be completed. They also told of having their hair pulled so tightly that they would be unable to smile or laugh for a few days without having to grab their head in pain. Even so, I remained curious.
Then, in October, I gained a new roommate, Kacie. She had had her hair braided before, during her travels to Mexico and Haiti, and she definitely wanted to try it here as well. Her enthusiasm spread to me and our other roommate Sarah and propelled us into making plans.
Friday, November 6th was the day. Our friend Georgina helped find us a salon that had experience plaiting Mzungu hair, since our hair is much more slippery than Ugandan hair. We were also warned that it would take longer because our hair is so different.
After riding in a taxi that wove its way through downtown, morning traffic, we arrived at the salon. It was 9:30, and the day was bright and sunny, full of possibility. Our salon had the perfect name: Patience.
It took a few minutes to get everything set up, but soon I was introduced to my stylist. Her name was Hadijah. There were only 2 chairs available for the braiding, so I sat on the floor. Hadijah was an expert braider. Her fingers flew!
I found that the process is a bit more complicated than I had imagined it would be. In order for the hair to stay braided longer, fake hair is added to the real hair. This is done by grabbing a small section of real hair and wrapping the fake hair around it at the roots (a rather painful process). Then the hair is braided. Since the fake hair was longer than my own hair, I ended up adding length to my hair as well.
Sarah and I were having small braids done. Kacie, however decided on a twist.
Hadijah steadily worked on my hair from 10am-2:30pm, when we took a lunch break. The process seemed to be going well. During that time, my friend Shammah stopped by to keep me company. She joined me on the floor and distracted me from the endless tugging.
Here's Sarah at lunchtime :)
My favorite part of the day was when I had to go use the bathroom. The salon didn’t have a bathroom in it, but its customers are free to use a bathroom nearby. Unfortunately this meant that I got to walk outside the salon, past many small stores and customers, up a flight of stairs, and into the restaurant where the toilet was located. It was the entertainment of many ☺. As I passed a couple of people on the stairs, they both burst into laughter at the strange looking mzungu going by. It was awesome!
My hair reminded me of an 80s punk rocker.
Sarah and I
At this point, I was pretty convinced that we only had about 2 hours to go. I thought that we'd be done by 4 or 5pm at the latest, and I started making plans in my head for what I would do that evening. Oh, how wrong I was!
The braiding continued...and continued...and continued...it seemed like the process was never-ending. My scalp was hurting, my back was sore, my legs kept falling asleep, and still the braiding continued...
Finally, 9 hours after beginning, Kacie's hair was finished! The final step was to dip the ends in boiling hot water. That would help them not come undone.
Here is Kacie with Georgina. They both have the twists in their hair and now call themselves twins!
Once Kacie's hair was done, all the ladies that were working on her came to help me. This is me with Hadijah. Ruth is in the background, finishing up some ends...
It took another hour, but then I was finished as well! It felt soooo good to stand up and stretch! One crazy thing that happened: as they were finishing trimming up some things, the lady accidentally cut my ear! It bled and bled and bled! They were all worried. Luckily, I didn't even feel it.
Kacie and I
So, after I was finished, everyone moved to help Sarah...it was quite a crowd!
11 hours after we began, we were all finished...phew! What a day. We came in sunshine, missed a huge rainstorm, left in the dark.
I don't know that I want to sit that long again, but it's been fun having my hair this way. I'm a week into it and still enjoying it.
