'Broken Hair-ted'

I’m growing bald. My mum nearly wept when she noticed it for the first time. The countenance she wore that late afternoon when I visited her was one of a fallen crest. “Oh! Abranti3 f3f3w ‘na w’apempem ‘repa yi aa” she asked rhetorically in Fante, in a tone signifying shock. To wit, “a handsome young man like you is growing bald?” I expertly brushed that conversation aside with hard laughter, asking for something to eat instead - but that was a façade. Behind the laughter was a really sad young man who contemplated wearing a ‘sakora’ (completely bald) hairstyle as a result of the hair loss, but the shape of my head ruled that out. An Indian hemp-induced ‘afro’ hairstyle was also out of the question for a young man cutting his teeth in the corporate world. I cried within me on my way home that day.   

I first realized when I visited the barber shop (not the one I visit regularly) sometime in 2014, and my mouth gaped. Initially, I thought it was a barbering mishap. The barber, noticing my reaction from the mirror, started mumbling something to the effect that the hair on that side of my head was very soft, hence the turn of events, before I could even voice out my frustration. I touched that part of my hair and realized the truism in his riposte. Two weeks later, my regular barber confirmed it when I visited him, and I lost hope. I used to wear what the initiated call the ‘3-step fade’ hair style every fortnight. Now I wear a quasi-punk with a’1-step fade’. Between these two hair styles, I have worn 2 other hairstyles as the hair loss became more evident.

I have tried different hair treatment therapies on the advice of friends, all in a bid to recover the lost hair. For about two months, I dipped my head in a bucket containing very hot water, with steam emanating from the receptacle. The steam ostensibly was to open up the hair pores after using ‘Chapter 2000’ hair pomade, mixed with ‘Rasta Cool’. Nothing happened. I have also religiously used castor oil and still saw no improvement. Late last year, my bald young cousin recommended the ‘guava leaf hair treatment therapy’. I mentioned it to my mum in the same month when she reiterated her call for me to ‘do something’ about my hair loss, and lamented about my failure in trying to get the leaves. I had forgotten about it until she handed me a black polythene bag towards the end of January this year. I enquired about the contents and she responded with a smile that they were the ‘magic leaves’. I laughed. I have been on that treatment ever since, and I remain hopeful.      

As I applied the potion on my hair and massaged the affected parts one evening before retiring to bed, images of bygone days when I used to wear an ‘afro’ kept flashing in my mind’s eye. I smirked when took an album I keep in my room and relived those days. And as I lay on my bed thinking of my 'predicament' that evening, the reminiscence of my hair loss to life came to mind.

Dear reader, be reminded that nothing in this life - both the good and bad situations - lasts forever.

You enjoy good health now? Thank God, but know that it will deteriorate one day when the grinders cease. The eyes fail some people, others, their limbs. Some other people lose their senility and some others lose their ability to control the rectum. See, we are on a journey on foot here on earth so it is only natural that after the long walk, sojourners will be tired. And whilst it is true that how we conduct our lives here on earth affect how these things unfold, these only hasten or delay their occurrence, I humbly submit. So by all means, let us live right, exercise and keep fit, for they will certainly delay the effects of the 'tiredness' you read in the preceding paragraph.

Are you successfully building a conglomerate? Thank God, but know that sometime in the future, long after your great-grandchildren have left the face of this earth, it might collapse through its unfortunate mismanagement by its handlers at the time. Am I suggesting that because this will happen in the future, one should not build a business empire? Certainly not! If we do establish the companies, how will others find rewarding employments? How will we live the comfortable lives we desire here on earth? How do we abide by the biblical advice of "leaving an inheritance for our children's children"?

So inasmuch as we strive to succeed in life, let us be reminded that the above-mentioned are 'sure-bankers' in life. Bearing these in mind, should we not stop along the busy journey and enjoy life? Should we not enjoy people? Should we not have fun? Should we not laugh at some of our mistakes? Do not take life too serious, dear reader. Stop along the way and have a hot cup of coffee. You too have worked so hard and deserve it.

I'm growing bald by the day, I know it. Do not remind me when you see me because I own a mirror, thank you very much. And when I take a look at myself in this same mirror each morning before I go to work, the foregoing is what my hair loss tells me.

PS: I hope the guava leaves does the trick, though!

Enjoy the love-filled fruitfulness this week promises.

More Vim... Let's Go…