Itโs well after midnight, and Iโm trying to figure out how to even start this article. I truly donโt know where to begin with this one. Itโs not out of disrespect โ I just truly donโt know how to start off an article about a woman who left a weave in her hair for nearly two years.
No typos there โ her weave was installed in September 2013 and removed in June 2015.
I was scrolling on Facebook one night, and came across this post shared by Ty Alexander (Gorgeous in Grey):
Elite Strands, a private salon in Brooklyn shared photos and video across Facebook and Instagram of their client who received a total transformation after her nearly two year old weave was successfully removed. According to the post, the braided portion was once her weave foundation. As it grew out, new tracks were glued on to close up the top. After three hours of attempted detangling, the client agreed to get rid of the dead weight and negativity, and allowed the stylist to โbig chopโ her hair.
Immediately following, another weave was installed into the clientโs hair, completing her transformation.
Many of us probably want to write this off as gross, negligent, and down right nasty, but something about this doesnโt strike me as merely being too lazy to do a proper takedown in a timely fashion. This is way more than protective styling gone wrong. Thatโs nearly two years of matted, tangled, dirty, glued up hair masked by quick fix tracks.
Something in me believes this extreme case leans more closely to being that of a mental health issue. A chronic neglect of personal hygiene is often considered a sign of depression. Far be it from me to diagnose someone through social media, but I cannot with a clear conscience believe this woman is just dirty or nasty.
Whatever her specific case may be/have been, I am just glad that Elite Strands was able to meet her needs, and set her on the path to feeling good about herself.
Had to be a mental health issue.
Or self hateโฆunless you call that mental health issues.
I vote for self hate.
Self hate is a mental health issue really..
Probably a mixture of depression and serious self loathing. Iโve been there.
Wow! Iโm speechless. There are just no words to describe this.
I just canโt believe what Iโm seeing. Two years ???????? girl why? Just why???
Mental health issue or not, who was gluing in the tracks and sewing in the wefts? Who would do that to a person? At the end of the day, do we really hate ourselves that much? Unbelievable.
My thoughts exactly. I donโt know this woman, but Iโm assuming she didnโt glue in the coverup tracks herself. If another โstylistโ did it for her, then someone needs to find a new career and stop messing up peopleโs heads.
Thatโs Depression.
what am I looking at.
Wait what?
โฆI canโt even leave twists in my hair for more than a weekโฆ
The longest I can leave my hair in one style is 3 weeks. 4 week tops depending on the style. But by the 3rd week, Iโm ready to get it out of my head and I mean if I had to get up at 2 am in the morning to take it out, Iโm gonna (I actually did). But how is it possible for her to keep in her sew in for almost two years!
Unbeweavable! Seriously. Iโd definitely believe that this is not about hygiene and Iโm glad she went for help with her hair but now sheโs going to need more help
If I was the stylist I wouldnโt have even posted this. Itโs like sheโs trying not to make the lady look bad but she makes her look worse by trying to tip toe around and be all pc. Telling us she had to wear gloves, saying โit was upsetting to make the difficult decision to cut her hair.โ Iโm sorry but if she hasnโt detangled your hair in two years then WTF did the woman expect. So imo opinion sheโs saying the woman isnโt too bright. And if she had a โpositive mindsetโ she wouldnโt have left weave in her… Read more »
Wait, whaaat???!!! Honey, do you hate your own God given hair so much that you are willing to look absolutely crazy for almost two years? Wow, self hate is so real. I think the stylist should have refused another sew in because its obvious she has a problem. Maybe a wig or just cut it all off and come back for some conditioning treatments and healthy hair care lessons, but definitely not another sew in or any other type of weave. Thatโs just a recipe for disaster. I hope she learned from this. Smh
What I donโt really understand is why keep in the SAME WEAVE in for almost two years, why not take it out and get new weave to reinstall. Ugg, and I mean she hadnโt wash her hair for almost two years? And she is getting another sew-in so soon? She obviously doesnโt want any hair or any edges.
I know this girl who had in braids for over three years now, and is still going, Iโm so serious. It had started to look like locs, the last time I saw her which was two days ago she had in the same braids. She told me she had decided to locs (but she wasnโt three years ago).
This is so wild. I canโt imagine leaving a weave in for even a month let alone two years. I feel bad for her to be honest.
LMAOO my girl turned into some kinda bobo dread by trying to hold on to her weaveโฆ All she needed was some fabric softner, tail comb and patience.
Thatโs ratchet and lazy and even though the stylist felt like she was doing something good she should have been told her about herself.
I did something similar but purposefully and successfully to start my locs. I left my kinky twists in for 1 year and yes, it took around 5 hours to remove them but afterwards I had my hair dreadlocked like I wanted without the transition stage and with almost no hair damage. Iโm now 7 years into having my hair loced, with no added hair after the first year and they are thick healthy and lower back length now. Granted I was diligent in washing, rolling and making sure they stayed clean and relatively manicured during the year and afterwards.
Putain de bordel!!!
So gross!!
It may be depression but itโs too easy to blame the mental disease. When you see how chemical and hair killer some of our practice can be, this woman is just an exemple of the longing for straight hair in our community.
Trust me, the non natural hair donโt get the importance of detangle the hair as we do. Thatโs why some of us in BGWLH, claim itโs a disease. But itโs just a black girl wanting straight hair. That case doesnโt surprise me.
Part of this tragedy might have to do with our old fashioned unhealthy fixation on the appearance of length and straightness by any means necessary. Perhaps the client thought her real hair could actually be saved when the weave was finally removed. Who knows? But whenever I see a long straight weave on a naturally curly girl, I think there are self esteem issues involved. Just like I would if a straight haired girl tried to pass off an afro weave as her own (are you listening Rachel Dolezal?). Relaxers also need to go. Sadly, this barbaric practice itโs still… Read more »
I hope sheโs doing better because she might keep her new weave in for much longer than needed againโฆ
I would have refused to install a new weave you just nev er know the new one may be in for 2 years
Ewwwwwww!!!
Truth be told she had to be in a coma.
It had to smell
Now my questions is
The second picture to the right above the new weave she put in after the big chop? Cause it donโt look like a 2 year old weave job.
Next How was she able to keep putting in track after track after track.? Did they remove them and lay new ones over them. ? And what about the original tracks
internalised misogynoir and or depression and or self hate = stuff like this
A black women wearing a weave that donโt match their own hair texture for 2 years straight? I think this is self hate and i feel sorry for her and other black women who do this to themselves.
Thatโs messed upโฆI once knew a girl who kept her same tracks in for nearly as long. I really donโt get it.
What a disgusting story.
Awww! So sad.โฆI have seen similar with braids too. Leaving them in for close to a year, way too long. Sad.
Whoaโฆ this isโฆ Iโve heard of Black women leaving in weaves for long periods of time but Iโve never heard of one being left in for two years. This, to me, does sound like a very extreme case and I donโt believe it can be summed up by her simply being negligent.
Regardless of her feelings itโs so irresponsible of the stylists who kept glueing more weave on top. If they had any kind of ethical standards they wouldnโt have done it. I guess greed always wins in the end.
atleast what she still has an amazing amount of length left from looking at the pictures, and after two years, im pretty sure the ends probably could of used a cut anywayโฆ i dont understand how you can wear one style for two years, thatโs impossible for meโฆand the color in the photo at that
Two years how? Why? Huh?