Hair is a touchy subject. Some hairstyles don’t work on certain hair types, and that’s just the way it is.
It has nothing to do with discrimination but everything to do with the texture and the volume the hair.
For example, braids work better on thick, coily hair. Meanwhile, blunt and pixie cut well well on thin, fine hair.
TikToker Elle Batchelor (33), almost damaged her hair when she went for a swim in the ocean and then did an 8km run, all this with her hair tied into a plait. When she got home and tried to remove the plait later that evening, she couldn’t.
Her hair was badly tangled and had a mat that wouldn’t even allow a brush to go through.
She reached out to her friend Sarah, who tried to help by combing the hair, but she, too, couldn’t get much done. They then decided to turn to Tiktok users, who told them to try olive oil and a hair mask. And when that didn’t help, they resorted to a fabric softener, which made things worse.
@elle.blah @bradmondonyc ♬ Monkeys Spinning Monkeys - Kevin MacLeod & Kevin The Monkey
The following day, Batchelor decided to go to a professional to get her hair fixed, and boy, a hairstylist named Chad, managed to save the day. But it came at a high price.
The process of detangling Batchelor’s hair, which involved a hair mask that costs $24.99 (R457,38) , ten bottles of Evo conditioner that cost $100 (R1 829,51) , $150 (R2 745,17) for Sarah's dinner as a form of payment and $390 for Chad’s labour, took over 3 hours.
@elle.blah Replying to @katrinarutledge80 ♬ original sound - Elle Blah
By the the end of the process, Chad had cramps on his fingers, but he ended up not charging Batchelor for his services (bless his kind heart, it’s so beautiful to see people practising Ubuntu).
So, this is a lesson learnt not only to Batchelor but to everyone to always do research about the types of hairstyles you can/cannot do on your hair. And once you get that hairstyle, be mindful of the activities you do because certain hairstyles can easily be ruined by water.
We are glad that Batcheler got the help she needed, because we didn’t want another Gorilla Glue incident.