After six years of cutting our hair to our scalp level with no means of differentiating if you were a boy or a girl, except for the skirt girls wore during school hours, the school authorities finally allowed us to keep our hair.
It was a thing of joy to hear this news. Of course we deserved it, we were the students of the graduating set. Other students were given a beautiful pathway in the middle of their hair if they were caught keeping hair. At this point, we felt so superior, just the way it should be.
Our graduation was fast approaching and we–the girls–were looking for means to grow our hair faster in the shortest possible time. The boys on the other hand were unperturbed. They didn't even stress themselves as their hair was growing so fast.
Since we were all boarding students, a set of girls sent their juniors(day students) to buy them rice and they extracted the starch from the rice with cold water. In my mind, I was like,* is that how the rice rice water thing works? I thought it was supposed to be hot water?* Well, you can't exactly advise desperate people.
Another set of girls took to making their hair with thread. They would make it and cover their hairs with a beret from morning to night.
PS: all these things were against school rules. The rice smuggling and even the making of hair.
Then there was the set of girls who didn't give a damn😅. This set just wanted to graduate and be freed from bondage. I was in this set for a while before I decided to give "making my hair" a trial. I have soft and elastic hair, type 4C. My hair was long but it looked really small. A friend offered to make my hair and I accepted.
That night, she had my hair done and it wasn't so bad after all. In my mind I was like "these girls that can make hair are so talented. I doubt I can even divide my hair properly." I admired myself for the rest of the night till I fell asleep.
The next morning, I was tempted to cover a beret like the rest of the girls and head to class but my instinct was so strong. I had to loosen the threads and comb my hair out. Little did I know that the school authorities had noticed that SS3 girls were unusually wearing berets. Berets that they used to beg them to wear before now. And they were covering the berets from ear to ear. Totally strange.
That morning in school, the school principal summoned all SS3 girls and ordered them to take off their berets. It was rush hour. Girls tried to loosen their threads but it's like all the teachers were on the lookout. Heeew.
The principal got really annoyed when she saw what the girls did with their hairs, of course, and ordered that the school barber should take off all the hairs from all the girls' heads…. Hold up ma'am, say what?! Tears began rolling. The SS3 boys were laughing and sympathising at the same time.
We had to send the senior prefects to beg this woman. The woman finally said that the barber should cut the hairs of all the girls that were caught with their hairs made only. That was a relief because I had loosened my hair that morning.
It was really a sad moment as the girls watched all their weeks of rice water and constant plaiting fall to the ground😅. I felt so lucky that day. The girls were given the name "shoven ladies" and guess what? Even with their hairs cut off two weeks to their graduation, they still found ways to braid their hairs with attachments for graduation.
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Fast forward to two years after our graduation, about sixty percent of the shoven ladies decided to go on a low cut claiming that they want fresh air to enter their head. And I'm like.. why did they make a fuss in the first place when they would still take off their hair in the future?..tch😂
On a lighter note, it's always advisable to listen to your instincts and trust your guts. I was so close to being a shoven lady with my stunted hair growth 😂🤦
Thank you for reading
With love, wongi ✨