African... Western...

I got to the saloon, my hair loosed, uncombed and standing up straight. I greeted my hairdresser, he took a look at me and my hair and a frown crossed he face. To say that he was pissed would be an understatement. I did not need anyone to tell me that he was tired of my natural (virgin) hair. He always ‘begged’ me to relax it but I disagreed.

All the hair stylists were praying to God not to be assigned the task of weaving my hair. Number 1, it is too full, Number 2, it is unrelaxed. They say that it takes about three times the time you would take to weave a relaxed hair to weave a virgin hair because of its elastic texture.

Ever since I started keeping natural have, I have hardly received words of encouragement from people, especially haridressers, but truthfully, I have never been tempted to go back on my decision. It all started when I decided to cut off my dreadlocks (that my irresponsible hair) of two years. I just could not imagine myself going back to the whole relaxing thing. And since then, I haven’t had rest from hair stylists.

I just want to know, why are we so eager to fix the hair that the Asians and Brazilians cut off and can't wait to crucify those that have chosen to go the African way? Why are we so eager to pour relaxer on our kids’ hair, such that they do not really know what a true African hair looks like? If we would really take time to consider, we will realize that the Black African hair is really unique. When unrelaxed, it has lovely spring like curls that no other race can boast of. Many white people wished they could weave their hair, some even weave it and tie the ends so it won’t loose.

What about in physique, they want to be so curvy like Africans that they do breast and butt enlargement, some of them even wear padded pants. Yet we so badly want to be like them that we starve ourselves just to become that desired 'lepa' that the new age society has termed beautiful. What an irony? They try so hard to look like us and we try so hard to look like them

For the next few years at least, I have chosen to go the natural way. So please, From henceforth, let no man trouble me for I bear in my body the marks of a true African.

Gone... Gone... Gone!!!

Image from the-malaysian.blogspot.com

You have your dreams, you will impact the world in a great way. Generations yet unborn will hear about you long after you are gone. He has his dreams, he will impact the world in a great way. Generations yet unborn will hear about him long after he is gone.

Your paths cross, the attraction is there, you tell each other about your dreams and aspirations. Ooooh, this must be a match made in heaven, you are actually going to help birth each others dreams. You decide to take the next step and you become one with him.

You find out that everything is going against you and your aspirations. You both decide to enter the labour market and work. ‘Just for a while’, you tell yourself. ‘I will raise capital and go and achieve my dreams’. You go out there, you get lost in the rat race, you cannot think anymore because of the deadlines and time constraint. You loose the ability to see. Dreams... Gone! Vision... Gone!

You realize it but it’s too late. You find out that you and your spouse are just like every other person out there. There is really nothing special about you people. You also find out that everyone in the labour market had dreams, just like you. In fact, some had the exact dreams you had but they all fell for the same trick you fell for. How disappointing to find out that you and your spouse are not that different after all. Your great ambition to impact the world is gone.

Now you are almost close to retirement. Nobody knows you, nobody has heard about you. Even your dream does not know your name. You have your spouse, you have your children, you have your success, the one that the rat race got you, but what of your youthful dream? It is gone, gone, gone… Never to return to you again.

Selah

Naija Hostesses

I have to complain and rant about this o, I will talk even if no one else will. Somebody please tell me, why do Airlines now go out of their way to use ‘not so good looking’ girls as Air Hostesses? I happened to be at the local airport for a while and all through my stay there, I did not come across one smashingly beautiful Air Hostess like we used to have before. It is either they are too short or too fat or one other unusual characteristic. When I say short, I don’t mean my own kind of 5’ 5 short, I mean really shooorrrt!

Recently, I saw one that had the ‘lion claw’ kind of tribal marks, you know the kind that Ibadan and Ogbomoso people used to have in those days, I was really dumbfounded. The really short one I talked about in the aforementioned paragraph wore a very short and tight skirt which was bad because she had thin legs which were a bit bow shaped. I thought to myself, if the airline wanted her to look good, they shouldn’t have allowed her wear that skirt, which is what made me to start suspecting something. To cap it all up, they will colour their face with paint, calling it makeup. This now spoils the already bad package and makes them look like masquerades.

After considering all the Air Hostesses I had been seeing, I was tempted to wonder whether the airlines were not doing it on purpose. Is it because they want to reduce the rate at which male flyers patronize Air Hostesses for affairs? Or maybe they don’t want the men to get serious with them and give them better jobs, which will result in high staff turnover? Or maybe the smashingly beautiful air hostesses are just too ‘high maintenance’ for them and they will not be able to pay them what will keep up their dazzling beauty. I have thought of this very well but I still cannot fathom the reason but what I know is this, I spent about two months at the local airport and the air hostesses I sore were an eyesore, not an eyesight!

Image courtsey of Time out Dubai