An afternoon at the beauty shop

An afternoon at the Beauty Shop
Saturday 1/22/11
Today I went downtown to meet Thandie my friend from our previous trip to Malawi. We were delighted to see each other again and we hugged like old friends long parted. We then walked over the high priced European frequented mall (Old Town Mall) so I could buy coffee that was recommended to me by another American coffee lover. Everyone here seems to drink tea – gallons of it with milk and sometimes sugar. (Unfortunately tea tastes like stagnant water to me and the addition of milk makes it even more unpleasant but coffee I cannot live without.) We had lunch at an Italian deli. I ordered a pizza but the power went out so I was left with choosing a sandwich. I said I did not care what I ate as long as there was no chicken in it. So I got a ham and cheese on rustica bread and it was heavenly. Thandie got the same thing. During the course of our lunch I learned from the restaurant owner that Thandie was a professional pool player. He had seen her picture in the newspaper. She then told me that she had to leave soon to go to a pool game at three. I asked her if she knew a place where I might get a pedicure so she took me around the corner to the KINGS and QUEENS salon where she introduced me to Mike who was in the midst of doing a pedicure on another woman.
I walked Thandie to the minibus and came back to salon to wait my turn. I learned quite a lot about beauty and hair care in Africa. First I must say that the women here really take care of their own hair and seem to take time and effort with their daughter’s hair as well. There was a two-year old named Lily who was very cute and had just had all her hair braided into cornrows. The beautician – a young man – was trying to get her to stand or sit still while he used a blow drier on it. Lily, who was quite a character and not at all frightened of me was more interested in doing anything but sitting still. She also seemed quite pleased with herself and her appearance and was showing off.
Another woman was having an entire head of light and dark brown curly hair attached to her own very short hair by the process of weaving. I knew that women wove braids into their own hair but I had no idea that some of the beautiful full heads of curly hair I had seen were extensions. The entire process took about an hour while the customer sat and read a Linda Fairstein mystery. In the next chair a woman was getting her mid length hair – relaxed. A nasty smelling chemical was applied and left on for about 15 minutes then washed out. Following that her hair was put in big rollers and she went to an old fashioned dryer. When her hair was dry they combed out all the curls and her hair was straight – so I didn’t understand why they used the curlers in the first place. Next a woman came for a “treatment” and an oily cream was applied to her hair and left there for some minutes then washed out and her hair was styled. Another woman came in with hair that had been rolled into tiny strings that the beautician then braided together into loose but tiny braids that stuck out.
Unlike American beauty shops this one had no real beautician chairs with foot rests and levers to bring them up and down. Customers were seated in straight chairs. They did have beautician style wash basins and rolling carts for rollers and etc. However if a comb fell on the floor they just picked it up and used it. They did clean combs in a solution between customers.
The pedicure was interesting – he had no fancy pedicure set up. I sat in a hard chair and soaked my feet in a foot basin much like the ones you can buy for at home use. This one vibrated and had a heater in it as well as rollers for your insteps. Mike was at pains to show me that it and the instruments he used were clean which I appreciated. His equipment like everything in Africa was well used. The emery boards were nearly worn out and he used a new razor blade to cut the calluses off my feet. I got pretty nervous about that but he really knew what he was doing and never got anywhere near cutting me – for which I was grateful. His foot and leg massage was heavenly and made my feet feel fabulous. The whole process including a short wait before he began and another in the middle while he styled the hair of a woman he had under the dryer took 1.5 hours.
Mike is from the Congo and speaks English, French, Swahili, and Chichewa! He owns the shop and assured me he could cut my hair if I needed it. I’ll have to think about that.
In addition to watching the hair care process I also watched “Africa T.V.”, a station from Zambia, that seems to show African made films and music videos. I enjoyed the music and even though I couldn’t hear it – got very interested in a Nigerian movie called “Who will tell the President?” I may have to rent that one sometime.
My pedicure cost me the princely sum of about $15.50! The experience was priceless! I wish I could have taken pictures but I didn’t dare even ask. I have gotten quite shy about picture taking since many people don’t like it and the others all want money.
Tomorrow (Monday) I am going to try attending a lecture on “Wild Dogs” sponsored by the Wildlife and Environmental Society of Malawi at 7PM at the Sanctuary. I know I can get there from the college on a minibus and Thandie gave me the name of a taxi driver who can take me home if the minibuses have stopped running. I will let you know how that goes. I have decided I really must expand my acquaintance circle so I can get out and see and do more.