“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 16th 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 18th 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
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