Kenyan hair has seen its fair share of triumph & tragedy. I won’t go into the textures and make myself sound like a hair specialist. I am just a keen observer and adherent to the changes …well up until recently!
Kenyan hairstyles have evolved over the years! From the all well groomed Afros to the greasy jerry curl of the 80’s to the mullet today.
When I was a child the word cornrows where unheard of, we called them ‘lines’ or ‘mlaso’. And for the guys there was the ‘box, ‘punk’ and other variations of haircuts. The hairstyles had funny names pretty much going hand in hand with what your hair would look like when the hairdresser was done; like banana and pineapple (shown above left). The most common place where most girls got their hair done in Nairobi was Kenyatta Market. This was the era where salons were called saloons. If you ever went to Kenyatta market to get your hair done, you’d always be ushered in by women saying, ‘Aunty Karibu saloon’ (Madam Welcome to the salon).
The salons always had funny black and white pictures and the images of West African hairstyles. All you needed to do was point at the style and the lady would take it up from there. What I never used to understand as a child, was why the lady, who was going to plait my hair, had the most untidy hair but would still do a really grand job on my hair.
Then there was the hot comb, this was every girl’s nightmare. The salons didn’t own the electric hot combs or blow dryers. The hairdresser would put the hot comb directly over an open flame (usually a stove) then cool it slightly with a wet cloth to produce a hissing sound that then lead to a tug and pull at your hair; the good old early nineties beauty regimen.
Then came the perm craze in the late 90s! Styling was quite a bit of a challenge, so we had the 50’s finger wave thing going on. Believe me it never looked as grand as it looks on red carpet celebrities! You get pulled out of the drier, the rollers removed, your scalp oiled then the finger and comb technique. I really hated that look. The fancier hair dressers introduced bobs and bouncy hair.
Then came some colour the haircuts got shorter and more glitzy, and colour was introduced to the beauty regimen. Then came the new found tongs and flat irons to work their magic. I loved my styled perm then I got bored and chose to go Au natural; I flaunt my thicket of jet black hair. I love it, because shaving off hair is very cheap!
The year 2000 brought a mix and match feel in women; the dreadlocks, the funky coloured hair cuts and the weave divas! Good and horrendous weaves! But Braids and cornrows never die, young or old; they are the way to go. Durable and cost effective!
Enough about the women, men on the other hand have tried it all. The 80’s had relatively long crops pat down then in the early nineties the crops turned into hats; the Boys II Men / MC Hammer look. Then R.Kelly came along and made bald cool! I think that was my father’s happiest day; seeing my brothers with a neat short look!
And now… look at our fine Kenyan men! Well groomed crops, some have texturised hair, cornrows and Afros. But I’ll be honest I prefer my Kenyan brothers with nicely trimmed crops or bald! My Kenyan brothers have evolved; they put some women to shame.
Why is hair part of patriot’s diary, well purely to show that Kenyans evolve and we are never afraid to try anything new, even if it’ll give us a queer appearance! That’s what being Kenyan is all about!
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