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Hair is gold, if you think otherwise, ask a man with a gleaming bald head. But there’s a solution this now, and it does not involve surgical transplant. Believe it or not, it is weaves for men.
This may come as an affront for the Men Against Weaves (MAWE) group that has for years been pillorying women for being ‘fake’ because of the weaves they wear, besides ridiculing them that their ‘hair’ stink due to prolonged period that the weaves stay on their heads.
Diana Akech Dee’s Hair and Beauty Salon on the first floor of China Centre along Ngong’ Road now gives men the opportunity to pat and scratch their weave-covered bald heads. She has been doing roaring business covering the ‘naked’ pates of balding heads with man weaves, also known as man tracks.
Diana told CityBiz that though initially received with scepticism, the tide is slowly turning as men shuffle in with thinning bald heads or no hair and swagger out later with a luscious crop of new hair styled to an individual’s taste. “I got the idea from the US, where it is a b big trend,” she reveals. She adds that, “It’s a temporary fix, you want to walk to a wedding or maybe you have been bald for years and want to have a photoshoot, and see how you would look with hair.”
The weaves are different from women’s ‘Brazilian Hair’ in that they are attached to the head using special glue through a procedure that takes an hour and a half. The man tracks lasts for as long as they are not exposed to water. “We charge Sh4,000 for this,” explains Diana. “It doesn’t last for so long because you cannot wash your head. It is really ideal for special occasions or events. Once you wash your hair, it will come off,” she warns.
In Europe and the US, weaves for men are common fashion accessory, particularly loved by celebrities like actor and director Mel Gibson. Gibson, who directed movies like The Passion of the Christ began losing his hair in his late 30s, but recent photos suggest that he’s found solace in man tracks in his 50s.
The products used by salonists to dress up a man’s head in weaves include shampoo, conditioner, goo glue and sometimes dye to match the beards with the man tracks.
“There is no age limit and the product is safe,” says Diana.
