Kenyan wig chop

There are many volunteers from different organisations and countries here in Kenya, and there is a saying that there is one thing that unites us all; a bad haircut.

Many acquainted with my locks will no doubt think I have been sporting the Kenyan volunteer style since childhood.

It is true that experienced, mid-priced wig-choppers in the UK find my awkward, wavey curls difficult to manage, so I was a little concerned at entrusting such a key part of the 'first impression' I make to a barber who for 364 days a year doesn't need to pick up a pair of scissors. 

I was left with three options. First, and ruled out by Joanne straight away, was to play to the Kenyan barbers' strengths and have the ubiquitous extremely close or total shave.

Second, quickly ruled out by me, was allowing Jo to cut it with nail scissors.

The only remaining option was to go to a barbers/salon which looked respectable and ask if they do 'mzungo' (a white person) hair. These are the results. I had a closer crop than I would like, but other than a couple of stray longer locks I am relatively happy with the wig.

The point of this blog certainly isn't vanity, and I'm not daft enough to think this will prompt compliments about or fan mail to my hair. It's to make sure that next time a volunteer or other mzungo in Nairobi, like me, enters 'western/mzungo/european men's haircuts, Nairobi'  into a search engine, they get pictoral evidence of what they can expect for ksh 700 from Toby, who works in Queen’s salon on the second floor of T-Mall on Langata Road.