It is a bit long, so relax and follow me.

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I attended a government secondary school. In our school, girls don't plait their hair. We all barbed our hair low and neat. That was the rule.

But there was a tradition.

Once you enter SS3, especially during WAEC period, girls would stop barbing their hair. It was like preparation for freedom. You know that feeling when something has been restricted for years and suddenly you can almost touch it? That was how plaiting our hair felt. It was not just hair. It felt like maturity. It felt like we had finally arrived. Making our hairs then seemed like the greatest achievement ever 😀

So when it was time for WAEC, many of us, including me, quickly plaited our hair. The way we carried that hair, you would think it was a crown. You can imagine; plaiting your hair for the first time in your entire life 🙈

The pain alone should have been enough sacrifice. You know fresh braids pain? That tight, scalp-stretching pain that makes you unable to sleep well? That was us. But we endured it with pride because at least we looked fine.

Then something happened.

Two days after plaiting the hair, during one of our exam, we were ordered to loosen the hair.

Just like that 😔

We were angry. We murmured. We called the teachers wịcked in our hearts. How can you ask us to lose this beautiful, painful hair we just made yesterday or two days ago?

Some students refused. They stood their ground. One female teacher got really angry. She brought out scissors and started cutting the hair herself.

It was not funny at all 🥺

Then she said something that stayed with me.

She said, “Why not wait a little? Finish your exams first. Forever is yours to do whatever you want with your hair. A time will come when you will even get tired of plaiting it and you will cut it yourself.”

At that time, it sounded like one of those adult statements that make no sense.

How can someone get tired of plaiting hair? Is it not what we have been waiting for?

I did not understand.

Until about three years later.

The same me that was angry because I was forced to loosen my hair got tired of plaiting it. Not only did I get tired, I decided to barb everything.

Everything 🤦‍♀️.

A day before my birthday in 2021, I woke up and felt this strong urge. No long thinking. No planning. I just went straight to the barbing salon.

Even the barber was scared. He kept asking me, “Are you sure? I do not want problem ooo.” He thought maybe I would cry later and come back to blame him 😀.

But I was sure.

When he finished, I looked like a primary school student. I have always been small in stature, so the low cut made it even more obvious 😫.

Some of my friends were upset. People who used to admire my full, thick hair could not understand why I would cut it.

But my mum? Ah.

My mum was heartbroken.

Prior to that, I had jokingly told her many times that I wanted to barb my hair. She would always respond, “If it is money to make your hair that is the problem, tell me. Do not try it ooo.”

When she saw me with my almost bare head, she was deeply disappointed. She barely spoke to me for some days. That was how serious it was 🥲

Barbing my hair a day to my birthday was crazy 🤣 🤣. While other ladies would be busy making new hair and all of that, I went to barb mine 🤐.

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This picture was taken in May 2021, two months before I barbed it. It was the first hair I ever intentionally grew and kept.

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To be continued.