#HAIR-SEGMENT Guest Blogpost Straighteningni pesa ngapi?

Sasha is our first guest blogger for Hair segment and I must say if you grew up in East Africa you will surely relate.

I stepped in to the UK and I gained mad respect for my hairdresser, honestly I miss her even though we fought from time to time but hey ‘wagombanao ndio wapatanao’. Making your hair in the UK is bloody expensive; you can easily fuel a range rover as opposed to doing your hair. A simple blow dry (and you have already washed your hair) so ni ku straighteniwa tu (local salon language) comes to a whooping 3000 bob (£20) which is a lot of money. With (£20), you can buy groceries for a week and that’s inclusive of treats (ice cream, cheese cake or even a bottle of wine). A new blow dry at argos is ksh 3,750 and you can get cheaper ones for almost (£20)

If you are feeling generous you can get one for KSH 6,000 (£40) and its colored and am sure if you call the supplier they could engrave your name on it , okay maybe I'm pushing it a bit.

So better to buy the blow dry and straighten your hair from your house. Sounds very practical, right? Well it is until you get mid hair section and your arms are so tired you feel like you have been lifting weights. To top things up, you finish the whole straightening process and it doesn’t look the way mama Sue does it. One side is shinier and straighter than the other. Also there is no one to hold for you a back mirror to check out how it looks from behind. To finish the whole experience you have now smoked your room because ventilation is limited; the windows don’t open fully but that’s another story altogether. So now you have semi good hair, body aches of a weight lifter and have to stay in a room that smells of mixture of oils and burntness (the state of being burnt). I laugh when I remember how when I was charged KSH 50 to straighten my hair I would think I am being ripped off. Me bargaining mad, ‘huwezi fanya na 30 bob?’, hahahahha. I had not realized how even being held for a back mirror felt till I wrote this. Next time you are in the salon and your mama Sue holds up a mirror for you, enjoy the moment and say thank you.