By Kelechi Ihunanya Amadi
About ten years ago, I cut my chemically-ravaged hair and began growing it anew but decided not to apply relaxer to it.
As time went on, people automatically assumed I was a Deeper Life (or that kind of) church member, coupled with the fact that I didn’t wear makeup and I always assumed a modest appearance.
I remember the day I went to take a passport photograph along Douglas Road. I applied the photographer’s powder on my face before the snapshot. Immediately, a Heavenly Sister sitting nearby called me and said that as ‘believers’, it was wrong for us to use such public powders because they were usually demonic.
“Sister, biko who is ‘us’?” I asked her.
But it’s funny how one’s moral gauge is measured by her decision to keep her hair in a certain form. Really? Does that even make sense? I was a fair-weather Catholic. Not a member of any pious society in church or school. I lived a pretty normal life in my evaluation.
Now, Afro-textured hair has become a fashion trend; it is no longer tied to a woman’s chastity as much as it used to be. And I’m now on low-cut. Time really changes yesterday.
Back then, people were always curious to know when I would ‘break’ my ‘virgin’ hair. I always told them I would do that whenever I got married. At least my husband would have something to ‘dis-virgin’ on our wedding night.
Vanguard News Nigeria