The adage, ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’, has come to play in the lives of many Nigerians who have created one innovation or the other to save or change a lifestyle.
The old tradition of visiting the salon, washing, drying and styling of hair is fading gradually as the cost of living keeps skyrocketing and purchasing power reducing.
Economy&Lifestyle has discovered that apart from cutting hair, maintaining natural hair to save cost, many with relaxed hair have improvised various low cost means to maintain their hair styles. Some women now use detergents, liquid soap for dishes to replace hair shampoo, kerosene and canfur mixtures as relaxers among other things.Explaining the reason for such action, Mrs Theresa Kingsley, a small business owner said: “Do you know the latest price of shampoo and conditioner?
“Even the price of a relaxer is high. Before, with N150 or N200, you can get a good relaxer. The opposite is the case now. A small bottle of good shampoo goes for N3,000 to N20,000.If you buy one of N500 it will turn to water within two days.
“I decided to use detergent or liquid wash for myself and my daughter. Sometimes I use soda bar soap which cleanses my hair better compared to liquid wash.
“My daughter doesn’t visit the salon anymore because I created time to plait her hair to cut costs.I have decided to go on a low hair cut next year to save myself from all this hair drama.”
Mrs. Anita Eruwa, a tailor, mentioned a hairdresser who usually uses detergents to wash her customers hair especially when her shampoo finishes and she can’t afford another one.
“It is not the fault of the hairdresser because many people want cheap services and as such must pay dearly for any default found in such salon.
“This hairdresser charges less for retouching, washing and setting.The money she charges doesn’t add up to the increased cost of shampoo and other hair maintenance kits talk of rent.Why won’t she use detergents?”, she added.
Mr. James Dike, a hairstylist, noted that even those revamping wigs use detergents which damage expensive human hairs worth millions of Naira.“A client of mine gave a lady two human hairs to revamp. This lady used detergent to wash the wigs which cost N1.8 million.She ended up destroying the strands.
“My client arrested her but she was told to let it go because seeing the lady, she cannot pay the money.
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