‘Hey baby let me fix my weave’

This is a line that the men of Sierra Leone hear a lot, given their lady folk’s devotion to hair extensions, weaves and wigs. In fact it’s become a national obsession. If you ask a Sierra Leonian woman how she spent last Saturday morning, there’s an 80 percent chance she will tell you she was sitting at the salon getting a new weave. My office is quite frankly confusing; one day you will be talking to a colleague with a cropped pixie do and the next day that same colleague has mysteriously disappeared and at her desk is a familiar face that you can’t quite place sporting a Macy Gray Afro circa 1998.


Bobby's shop in downtown Freetown is choccas full of every type of weave you can imagine. 



I was unable to find one in blonde though.



So after you purchase your weave the next step is to head to the salon. Josilia was probably going to be in that chair for another two hours so I didn't have time to hang around and see the result. But I think she was aiming for something like this...



Thank you Naomi. She said it took her hairdresser almost three hours to achieve this. Just your classic braids adorned elegantly with a blue flower.



Now take it away Missy Elliot...