My hair salon experience

(Finally, got my memory card back so here goes)


All I have to say is that it was the most painful experience of my life.

How does it work?

You choose the style you want. In my case, I had 'twists' done.

You also have to choose the colour and length of the extensions. These are primarily used to keep your hair in place, especially for us westerners, since our hair is much more slippery. Initially, I did not want long hair, but it was too hard explaining it to them so I went with it.

After your selection, they prop you in a plastic chair outside their shop (it's more like an alley way) and three women start pulling and prodding at your hair. They start at the bottom and make their way up, so all of us had a 'high bun'. At first, it was  quite amusing. Waltraud and I could not stop laughing and kept taking photos of each other, but not for long...

The beginning....

It's so hard to describe the sensation of the pain. You really just have to experience it for yourself. You have three women pulling and twisting your hair in different directions. They fold the extensions in the root of your hair and start twisting as much as they can. Obviously, you canot

Once they are twisted, another woman comes up with a chair, rolls up her skirt and puts her thigh up against your chair. She rubs vaseline on her thigh, picks up each 'twist' and starts to roll it on her thigh. Meanwhile, you still have the other women pulling and twisting your hair. There is nowhere for you to move and it was so painful!!!

Waltraud's hair being twisted

Twisties

The lack of personal space was the worst bit. You couldn't breathe since you had all this extra hair everywhere and all the women would be standing around, blocking out any air. As the twisting got higher, the worst the pain. There was about 2 hours straight where I was in constant pain. I nearly cried.

To top it all off, since I had so much hair, I had to get more twists done. I went through six packets of extensions and the other girls finished about 45 minutes earlier than I did. Even though I didn't really know what they were saying, I could tell that the hair dressers were laughing at us and also very annoyed as I kept moving all the time.

Me in pain & very over it.

After about five hours, they dip all the hair in boiling hot water to soften it (also very painful), since most of the hair is plastic, it's quite course.

By the time we left the salon, it was too late to head back to Nakuru.

So that was my Kenyan hair experience! Apparently if I look after it properly it should stay in for 6 weeks, so i am trying my best so I can wear it home to show you guys!

End result