Beauty to me once looked like the strikingly gorgeous girls on the magazine covers. Teeth so white, skin so flawless, bodies exquisitely sculptured and my all-time envy-inducing favorite- rich, bouncy healthy looking hair. Ogling at all this perfection made it difficult to embrace the beauty that looked right back at me in the mirror. I wanted long, black, glossy hair that I could swipe off my face as and when the need arose but all I had was short, kinky imperfect hair; it did not fall neatly against my nape, neither did it catch beautifully against the wind. What a waste of headspace!
With growing frustration I resorted to braiding my hair as often as I could, at least then I could have it as long as I wanted it to be; I soon grew out of this. Then I embraced the hair straightening craze and this worked for a while especially as it made my hair manageable and glossy. However, the frequent hair salon visits soon wore me out and I was back again to hating this nappy head! I needed a makeover! I needed to look like the girls in the magazines; how on earth was it possible to have such perfection packaged in one girl so effortlessly like that? I often wondered
Commercials on super hair growth oils caught my attention and I thought to myself that must be the holy grail. With these oils, my hair would grow wildly glossy; all I had to do apply these magical oils twice a day for three months and behold I would have hair so rich I would not know what to do with it! I bought into this and spent an arm and a leg on hair growth oils that seemed to work slower than a walking snail. My impatient and broke self could spend no more on these oils which, although seemed to promise me hair paradise they only led me to hair utopia.
My desire to give up on my journey to rich, bouncy healthy looking hair quickly waned every time I saw the girl on the magazine cover. Sooner than expected my turning point came; I met a girl who had just the type of hair I had fantasized about for the last decade of my life. She was kind enough to indulge me in a cordial conversation allowing me to stealthily veer the conversation to hair. At a risk of sounding cheesy, I paid her a true and generous compliment stating that for a melanin girl she had the most beautiful hair I had ever seen. With a little smile, she politely responded that hair extensions and weaves are her trick in the bag. I have never been so excited in my short life! This was it; my hair was in for the makeover of a lifetime!
I hurriedly made an appointment with my hairdresser who recommended a couple of weaves suitable for my face shape and I have never looked back since then. Right there, in the hair salon, I had my own magazine girl moment. The girl in the mirror looking right back at me did look like the girl on the magazine cover. With these hair extensions, I may not be as stunningly beautiful as she is but I do have her hair- the type of hair I had always dreamed of. Hair weaves are my best-kept beauty secret, I love that I can wear them long or short, straight or curly, side-parted or middle-parted, ponytailed or in a bun, black or brown, thin or heavy. They are easy to switch up or switch down and they come in whatever forms you choose to wear them. “I am not my hair” like India Arie sings but every time I wear a new weave I feel like I just had myself a beauty makeover and nothing beats that ever.
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