Braids!

It finally happened: the long awaited hair-braiding!  In the early days of joining our family, Hibiscus shyly told me that she wanted her hair braided with beads in it.  First we had to wait for her hair to actually grow, which took a good diet and time.  Then there was a time a couple months ago that I had set aside a Saturday to go do it, but the Saturday started with a big sulky fit, and Hibiscus announced that she didn't want her hair done after all.  So we didn't, and life got busy.  During our Christmas-break errands, we made an appointment for last Monday, but then the car got towed and we never got out of the house.  So finally -- FINALLY -- the braiding happened.

Great excitement.  Great pain.  To braid the new hair in, the hair gets pulled very tight, and remains taught for a day or two.  The crying has been increasing all day, to an angry crescendo at bedtime.  I left her with books and music, and her plan was to stay up and never lay her head against anything all night.  I am hoping that is working out very badly for her, and she actually fell asleep, but I'm kind of afraid to go check.

Here are some observations.

#1.  Women all over the world make sacrifices for beauty, but I think African women manage to outdo themselves in this regard.

#2.  I do think she looks really cute.  I guess we are culturally used to girls having hair around their faces, and she looks softer, sweeter, and more feminine.  The colored beads also help her look more little-girl-ish, and less like an avenging warrior princess or something.  And the short, jaunty braids and crazy-colored beads suit her personality so well!

#3.  Buttercup is not getting her hair braided any time soon, even if she manages to get it to grow and doesn't keep cutting off random bits with scissors.  I think she'll look cute with hair around her face, too, but maybe we can wait until it actually grows out.  I don't think three years old is old enough to understand making sacrifices for beauty.

#4.  Maybe all this sacrifice builds stoicism, something I know is valued in many local cultures.  Well, my girls has plenty of fighting spirit, but not one single drop of stoicism.  Uff, not one single drop!  ("Mama, mama mamamamamama, it's pai-AAAAIII-ning me!")

#5.  Maybe we are building some.  Short term sacrifice for long term gain is something I would like to see more of around here, although I usually approach it more along the lines of "if you carry fruit home from the market, then you get to eat fruit."

#6.  The other beauty advantage that Hibiscus told me she was craving?  Getting her ears pierced.

#7.  Sooooooo not happening!!!