Life as an apprentice

Hello readers! So I have decided to share my experience of working in a saloon with you.

Against my wish, I had to come back to Nigeria early (2 days after my exams) cos of my sister's wedding. I was a bit annoyed but that annoyance melted away when I got home and saw so many lovely faces. Most of whom I had not seen in years. I did not even remember I complained about coming home early on my sister's wedding day! Wow! The wedding dress though. Hall decoration. I was like "wow" when I saw my sister. She made such a beautiful bride..... The wedding was definitely one of a kind and I was mesmerized. Now "Iyawo" ( as my younger sister and I now refer to my sister) is settled with our adopted brother, LK. It's still hard atimes to accept the fact that our little darling is no longer a 'Depo-Oyedokun' but now an 'Adekoya'..Anyway, I'm supposed to be talking about my time as a "hair stylist".

I decided to get something doing since the summer would be painfully long. Hence, the idea of working in a saloon. Okay, I didn't think they were going to pay me but I was shocked to discover I had to pay them.... Fine! It will be worth it and it was definitely worth it. I wanted to work in a church member's saloon so I would get preferential treatment ( well I didn't really get it). Okay, the first day I arrived, I was like "Mayowa it's not too late to change your mind o". I ignored that devil and decided to stay. "I mean it will be fun." I assured myself.

I will save you the stress of reading an overly long stuff and try to be succinct. I already knew some of the other apprentices at the saloon but not too personally. The first day they saw me, they were like " Hello mayowa." Really smiling and I guess excited to see me. Then they asked me for the style I wanted to make. You should have seen the expression on their faces when I was like, "I'm here to learn." It was as if I was speaking a foreign language. They thought I was too spoilt and comfortable to want to learn how to make hair (how insulting) but it was cool. I was, determined to change their perception of me. Okay that took some time cos I always came late and was always the first to leave. The boss didn't exactly help matters as well cos she excluded me from some chores they do like, mop the floor, clean the shop. So, they treated me a bit differently and I didn't like that. I thought of quitting but I wasn't there for them 'jo'.

I came to the shop early one day to their surprise and actually mine. I started gisting with them and helped in cleaning the shop. I guess that's when they decided to stop seeing me as "spoilt" although I still had more convincing to do. My Yoruba is not as fluent as I would like it to be so it also posed as a slight problem. Reason being that: gist is always more interesting in Yoruba so it was Yoruba most times when they wanted to gist, gossip or whatever. So, I couldn't join in the gist without mistakenly speaking english instead of Yoruba. God bless them for understanding. Yayy, my acceptance meant an official initiation into the "De venus saloon". I started looking forward to going to the shop everyday cos it was amazing. I felt like I was opened to an entirely new world and I was loving it. I mean, I got to try new things. Got accepted by the community in which the saloon is placed and got to laugh everyday from the inside out.

I met new and interesting people. Some customers were just too lovable while some were just too annoying and you wish they just wouldn't come back. It was also kind of annoying when we are really into the gist and an annoying customer comes in. So there is this little boy who just provides highlife entertainment everytime. I mean Basket mouth and Akpororo better watch out cos the 7 year old boy can definitely top them when it comes to comedy. I have learnt new slangs o even my mother can't help but admit the saloon has definitely had an impact on her child. To be honest, I would have learnt how to make hair more if I didn't have so much fun but I still learnt well. Its kind of sad now that I will be leaving them. Sometimes the end is better than the beginning. This end definitely tops the beginning times over. I got to see the world through a different set of eyes and it was great. My orientation about some things changed.Nifemi and co waiting for me to be making their hair you are jonzing :P I had such an excellent time and the experience was so worth it. Hopefully I will be able to do this again. My saloon experience can now be added to the list of one the excellent experiences ever :D