African Braids

I have always admired the long African braids I have seen so many girls with. It wasn't until this year that I realised that they are actually fake extensions that are plaited in.
Right from early on the kids have loved playing with my hair and are always asking me if they can plait it- I have spent the majority of the year with my hair in plaits of some description.

Quite frequently I am asked why I don't plait extensions in and so finally I succumbed to it and commissioned one of my students mothers to plait in some 'real' african braids. A number of hours later it was finally done...however my lack of appropriate care (swimming down at the coast, getting sprayed with mud and filling my hair with ceiling dust putting up mosquito nets) necessitated removal after less than a month.

I headed over to a group of girls on the weekend and asked if they wanted to help remove them. They were quick to oblige and started working straight away. Once one had finished removing a piece of the fake hair she asked me what I wanted to do with it. I didn't care about it in the slightest and said 'if you want to keep it you can keep any that you remove'.... next minute, my hair is being pulled from every direction as the girls scramble to remove it all, folding it carefully and packing it away to save for Dec 24th so they can re-use it to plait into their hair and be 'very beautiful' for Christmas.
Brand new a entire head piece costs a total of 90 cents but for a student that is pretty unachievable so they jump at the chance to take, wash and re-use my second hand ones.