How does my hair look?

I've told you before that Nigerians are fashion conscious. And I mean very, very fashion conscious. But something they also really care about is their hair. Especially the ladies. Let me explain.

How often does one get a haircut in Australia? I would say maybe once a month. And what are you options when you get your hair done. For girls I guess you can get it coloured, or perhaps curls or straightened. But really I don't think there is that much variety, at least not compared to here.

Girls here are known to visit the hairdresser once a week or fortnight. In between they can get their sister/aunt/cousin/mother to make changes. Even poorer people still make time to get their hair done. Plus there seems to be a competition to come up with ever more new and often ridiculous styles. I think yesterday I saw something that one might name "the electrified Einstein look".

For those of you in Australia who've ever visited a Chinese cafeteria style eatery you know that you can look at photos of hundreds of dishes and as for a "number 54". That's what it's like with hairdoes here. You can pick a photo of what you want your head to look like from a signboard.

Favourites include your basic weaving which I've tried to have done to my hair but it just doesn't have the same texture as african hair. Now that its longer it kind of stays. A favourite with high school girls is the "pineapple" style. I wish I could show you photos. Oh how you'd laugh.

The other day one girl told me that at her school on Friday afternoons they used to tell the girls which hairstyle to come with next week and they ALL had to comply.

I could go on.