Pedicures and Weaves

Today was so much fun! We had the opportunity to take a little girl's day since Mary is leaving for the States on Thursday. She needed to get her hair done anyway so the three girls (Leann, Tahia, and I) tagged along and got manicures and pedicures. The salons here in Africa are similar to the ones in the States but they do not have the primo chairs that massage you while your feet enjoy a small jacuzzi fantasy.

We knew that Mary would probably take all morning to have her hair done, but we never figured to be there all day! There were so many women there all getting their hair done and it was seriously fascinating. Until I got here to Africa I never understood weaves or the whole process in which a black woman has to go through to do her hair. It is so cool though how they can completely change their hairstyle every six weeks. One time it will be really long braids and the next it will be a cute bob.

At one point, all three of us were getting our pedicures and of course Tahia is Chilean so she is olive toned, and Leann is tan, but when I pulled up my jeans, Milkah the girl doing my toenails, exclaimed, "Oh, an original muzungu! You are sooo white!" Haha! Thank you Milkah. Another funny thing happened too. We were waiting for Mary to get back from some errands so she could finish her hair and somehow all three of us found ourselves sitting at the shampoo stations with our heads back asleep! I totally woke up with my mouth open and I am sure I snored at least once! Mary said we were quite a sight when she walked in :)

Towards the end of the afternoon we were seriously rushing to get out of the salon since a team was coming to the house to have dinner. So Mary had three women braiding her hair at one point! Here is a picture of it. What they do it tightly braid the real hair close to the scalp and then use a needle and black thread to weave in whatever hairstyle the woman wants. Like I said, it's fascinating!

Well other than a relaxing girl's day, I mainly just drove through traffic. It was nice to spend time chatting with everyone and experiencing some new cultural insights as well. Tomorrow is another day of adventure!

Thank you so much for your continual prayers! I am so blessed to have you supporting me and encouraging me through your comments and e-mails. Keep them coming :) Blessings on your day!