 |
| Brazilian Hair |
FASHIONABLE Brazilian and Peruvian hair outfits which rank among the shopping sheets of the Zimbabwean A-list women, could affect children of those that wear such weaves, a leading medical doctor has warned.
The medical specialist, who preferred to remain anonymous, said attaching foreign hair — sometimes of dead people — to their own hair or the scalp are infusing foreign genetic material into their own body constitution.
He said the hazardous effects of human hair or weaves from India, Brazil and China being used mainly by black women will show up in their children and future generations through mysterious diseases and cancers.
“The skin and the scalp need to breathe, hence by putting on foreign hair on top of their own hair black women are interfering with the breathing of the scalp.
“In our hot weather, the scalp sweats profusely. The new sweat and the old sweat mix to form a perfect environment (culture medium) for the growth of bacteria and fungi.
“As these germs feed on the scalp, the head becomes very itchy, and women are often seen slapping or scratching their heads. The bacteria and the fungi emit a very unpleasant odour, which unfortunately the individual often cannot smell, but is smelt by those around,” said the medical specialist.
According to CNN, Africa spent six billion dollars purchasing foreign hair, in 2014 while minister of Finance Patrick Chinamasa reported that Zimbabweans spent 13 million dollars purchasing foreign hair.
In 2013, this newspaper reported that one in four women in Harare alone wear a weave — this was after shocking details emerged that some of the weaves were found with maggots or worms.
Some Zimbabweans were suspicious that the said human hair was being shaved off dead people who had contagious diseases which would eventually be passed on.
Kenya’s Standard newspaper recently reported that a Kenyan woman suffering from severe headaches learned that her pain was caused by flesh-eating worms living in her weave that was burrowing into her skull.
Most black women either plait the human hair onto their scalp or bond it with chemicals that let the foreign hair stick.
They also often take time before shampooing the hair with some taking as long as four to six weeks.
A hairdresser in Harare only identified as Lucy said she witnessed horror as one of her clients complained of something moving in her head only to discover that she had worms.
“A client of mine visited the salon and she complained of movement in her hair. I removed the 100 percent Brazilian hair that she had and we discovered three worms in her hair. These were similar to those worms found on a dead animal. It was scary. That was one incident I witnessed and I have heard other stories of fungi and bacteria in hair,” said Lucy.
Another hairdresser professed ignorance of the deadly effects attached to human hair. She said this hair makes women beautiful and can be a gauge of a woman’s wealth.
“I have never come across a situation where a woman developed side effects because of human hair. I think these are dangerous rumours,” said the hairdresser.
But the medical specialist insists that African women should be proud of their natural hair and desist from wearing other people’s.
He said buying somebody’s hair is a manifestation of self-hate and lack of self-respect as sometimes the hair is obtained from dead bodies.
“There cannot be greater manifestation of self-hate and lack of self-respect than buying somebody’s body part (hair) to enhance one’s beauty.
“It is an expression of one’s unhappiness with one’s parents for giving birth to someone with African hair instead of Indian, Chinese, Brazilian or Peruvian hair.
“For the religious, it is an expression of anger at God for creating one with African hair instead of the other races’ hair.
He added that black women have options with their hair which no other race has.
“Black women can plait their hair in a thousand different ways. They can make their natural hair look Indian or Caucasian, but the other races cannot make their hair look African.
“With relaxed hair, the black woman’s hair looks Asian or Caucasian. There is mystique about plaited hair. With dreadlocks, the black woman looks incredibly sexy.”
The medical specialist said from his investigations there are some black men who love to see their women wearing weaves, the majority are against the idea.
“We take a different view. A lot of black men, in private, have expressed consternation and disbelief in this growing trend. It is our view that black women are endowed with incredible hair. A black woman whose head is clean-shaven looks like a ‘Goddess’, with short hair she looks ‘Cute’, with an ‘Afro’, she looks regal like a ‘Queen.’”
The medical specialist said he asked a question to a group of middle class Zimbabwean women what they would think if they saw a white woman wearing a mop of African hair, walking on the streets.
“The answer was; ‘she would be mad, crazy, lost her marbles.’ But black women are doing exactly that. Other races have not told us in public that we are ‘mad, crazy, lost our marbles’ because the Koreans, Indians and Chinese are making billions out of us.”
Source:Weekend Post
No comments:
Post a Comment