“WEAVE RIGHT NOW IS AN EPIDEMIC”

“African women can easily get away with murder because every hair recovered from the crime scene by the forensics team will be traced back to someone in Brazil or India.”

This joke was doing rounds a couple of months ago on social networks and was largely shared by men to have a laugh at African women and their obsession of weaves and wigs.

A few days ago I was watching a programme about black women and their obsession for weaves. One gentleman was asked for his opinion on black women and how they spend a lot of time and money on weave instead of their natural hair and his reply was a curt “Weave right now is an epidemic”.

That reply set my mind in motion because I have never really thought about it like that. Weave is definitely not a wide spread outbreak of an infectious disease infecting many people at the same time but it has surely reached an alarming proportion in terms of popularity with black women.

We all know that women love their hair and that is why they spend a lot of their time and money on it. Every woman wants her hair to look better than the next woman’s hair.  If her hair is kinky or dried out, they call it “a bad hair day” and it is a disaster of a kind which only a woman can understand. A bad hair day can have its own implications and these may include the woman staying indoors the whole day because she does not want anyone to see her bad hair.

There are times when I am watching the news on TV with my wife and while I am concentrating on getting the details, she suddenly says, “The hair is not well done,” referring to the female newscaster’s hair style. Such is the mind of the woman on hair.

Sometimes saying “all women love their hair” can be an overstatement because many women nowadays use wigs or weaves on their heads. These women clearly do not love their own hair because if they did, they wouldn’t be wearing wigs and weaves,  putting other people’s hair or synthetic fiber on their head.

Wigs are made from different types of materials. Some are made from human hair, animal hair or synthetic fiber and they have been worn for various reasons.  Nowadays, wigs are mainly worn by women for fashion.

Wigs have been around for so many years. The ancient Egyptians wore wigs to shield their shaved heads from the sun and they were worn by both men and women. Other cultures that wore wigs were the Assyrians, Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans who wore wigs as an everyday fashion. It is said that the Romans used to make their wigs from the hair of their slaves.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, the usage of wigs fell into disuse in the West for a thousand years until they were revived in the 16^th century as a means for compensating for hair loss or improving ones appearance. 

One interesting reason was that wigs also served a practical purpose. At that time the conditions were unhygienic and it was common for hair to attract head lice. This meant that people had to shave their own natural hair and replace it with a wig, which was much easier to de-louse.

In our modern society, women are known to wear wigs more than men and it has been seen as a product for women alone. A lot of men used to wear wigs at one time. Perukes or periwigs for men were introduced in England in 1660. These wigs were shoulder length, imitating the long hair that had become fashionable among men since the 1620s.

These wigs were extremely heavy and uncomfortable to wear but people wore them as a symbol for prestige (like buying an expensive i-phone) because they were expensive to produce and were made from natural human hair. The cheap alternatives were made from the hair of horses and goats.

Women’s wigs were worn from the 18^th century on-wards and were not fashionable. They were often worn by old ladies who had lost their hair.

In Britain and most Commonwealth nations, special wigs are still worn by barristers, judges and certain parliamentary and civic officials as a symbol of the office.

The advancement of technology has made stylish synthetic wigs within reach of everyone.  There are so many styles and colours to pick from.  Women claim that synthetic wigs are easier to maintain and are less expensive to take care of than natural human hair. They also say that wigs are convenient especially for the busy modern woman. Some women own hundreds of wigs and it is convenient for them to just pick one and put it on their head instead of sitting down to style their hair.   

Some people wear wigs not for convenience but because of medical reasons.  There are wigs which are made available for people suffering from hair loss which could be due to medical conditions or treatments such as radiation and chemotherapy.

Hair extensions are methods of lengthening hair by incorporating artificial hair or natural hair collected from other individuals. This is a favoured technique by many modern black women because it is an advanced technique and it is used to change hair drastically without looking unrealistic.

The selling of human hair for weaves and wigs is an industry that generates hundreds of millions of dollars annually and is growing as a large export economy in some Asian regions, such as India.  In India, a large portion of this hair is sourced from Hindu temples where it is donated for religious practices.

A woman’s hair is often seen as a symbol of her beauty and her personality. So why would the gentleman at the beginning of this article think that “Weave right now is an epidemic?”

One thing about women who are addicted to weave and wigs is that they forget to take good care of their own natural hair. Some of these women do not even take time to choose what would look nice but instead opt to go for anything that is wearable on the head.

Have you ever witnessed a fight involving two women? The first casualty is always the wig or the weave.  Every woman knows that by pulling out the other woman’s wig, the fight is almost won. I have seen such fights and when that happens, you will notice how ugly the scalp on many of these women is without the wig.

In most cases when that happens it also signals the end of the fight because the woman who has lost her wig feels exposed. It is like being stripped of her clothes.

Many women do not know that hair extensions can cause hair and scalp damage. The length of the extensions puts additional pressure on the scalp and can pull hair out. This causes long term damage in form of thinning or premature balding.  It is important that every woman understands the different effects that certain hairstyles can have on natural hair.

Some women also forget that the weave must be taken care of like it was a part of their own body.  A dirty weave will attract bacteria. A weave is not supposed to stay on the head for two months or more but must be removed after about 6 to 8 weeks. One reason for doing this is that your natural hair has also grown a bit during that time.

One expert advises that when you remove your weave, check if there is any damage to your natural hair. If this has remained healthy, you will just need your old extensions removed and new ones added. If the natural hair is in need of repair, give your hair at least a 6 month rest from the weaves.

I have seen women slapping or patting their heads, a sure sign that there is something itching inside the wig or under the weave. That is what makes weave seem like an epidemic.

I have also seen women who have literally “sunk” inside a wig. The wig looks bigger than their head. What about the bright red, green or orange wigs? I know that if any of these women who put on brightly coloured wigs or weaves gave birth to a baby with neon hair, they would freak out and that is how we also feel when we see them like that.

Image courtesy of imagerymajestic freedigitalphotos.net

BEWITCHED

In a space of two days alone, I have read stories that have made me realize that many people nowadays are practicing witchcraft without their knowledge. The first case I read was that of a woman who has been going out with a married man who is currently on separation with his wife.

This woman had been going out with this married man for some time and their affair was blossoming. Sadly, the woman did not feel secured in this relationship because the man was not officially divorced with his wife. Her fears were that the man could leave her and go back to his wife. She confided these fears to a friend.

The friend gave her some charms and instructed her to put them under the bed and in the toilet. The instructions were very simple. Let the man sleep in the bed all night and let him be the first one to use the toilet in the morning before anyone else. Fortunately for her, the man had moved in with her and this meant that the task wasn't going to be a very difficult one. She did what she was told to do and everything seemed to be going on as planned. The man slept on the bed all night and she made sure that he was the first person to use the toilet in the morning.

But what she thought was a mission accomplished turned out into something she did not expect. The man became "sarcastic" and rude. He started calling her names and even moved out of the house. This surprised the woman because her friend assured her that the charms will not fail. But now the situation was worse. The man was supposed to be submissive and to even propose for marriage. What could have gone wrong? Was she cheated by the friend?

The other case is of  a woman who has been dating a man  for some time and they were planning to get married soon. However, their sexual life has not been great. Without elaborating, the woman mentioned that her boyfriend told her that he was scared of going into marriage with her because he has been poor in bed and this could affect their marriage.

The woman admitted that his man has really failed to make her reach the peek of sexual pleasure. The man told her that he was not happy that he could not satisfy her and he promised her that before they get married, he was going to sort out this problem. He went to see "an old" man and explained his situation to him.

The old man told him that he had "African medicine" which will make him satisfy his girlfriend but first, he had to do something. The conditions were that the man must look for a woman who he does not know or has never met before and have sex with her 3 times before having sex with his current girlfriend.

There are prostitutes who are willing to have sex with anyone even if they have just met that man as long some form of payment is made. However, this is not an easy task for someone who has not done this before. There are a lot of risks involved including moral issues. 

In the first case, the woman actually used the charms she was given because she wanted very much to have that man as her own and in the end she lost him. In the second case, the man has not yet had sex 3 times with a total stranger. He told his girlfriend what the old man had told him to do and the two are still not sure if he must go ahead or not.

What is so strange about the second case is that the woman has not yet bolted from this man. I am sure if it was the other way round and the woman was the one who went to her boyfriend and told him that she was asked to have sex with a stranger 3 times to enhance her prowess in bed, that man would have left her by now. 

One thing that I noticed  about this couple is that they have very good communication than many couples. You might be interested to know that it was the woman who brought the issue on social network to find out what other people's views are.

But do these charms really work? Was it coincidence that the man who slept on a bed with charms under it reacted the way he did? Was it the charms that triggered his "other side", the bad side when he was a good person all along? Africa is a land full of mysterious beliefs which to some cultures seem like things made up by suspicious minds who can not accept certain things to be naturally induced.

There are stories of people who have charms on their bodies or in their bodies which repel any magic that you try to use on them and many people may conclude that is what happened with that man.

Almost all cultures believe that witchcraft exists. This kind of juju can be just another type of witchcraft and people who use these charms rarely know that they are practicing witchcraft. How else can one explain how having sex 3 times with a total stranger can boost your sex life with your wife or girlfriend? There is definitely no scientific explanation for that and we can only conclude that it is witchcraft and these people are witches even if they don't know that yet.

Image courtesy of africa freedigitalphotos.net