Photos by Mark Wijsman
I know I usually end off my year with a sort of review and new year prospective blog post, but truth be told, I’ve been putting off this post for weeks. 2016 felt like several years in one – but beyond that, it was a year of extremes for me. The highs went to the heavens and in turn, the lows went the depths of the hell. Am I being dramatic? Maybe. But I doubt it.
It’s been just over a year since I last relaxed my hair and about four months since I chopped off my ends and though I still find natural hair quite laborious, I thought I’d diversify my use of protective styles. Lately I’ve been wearing weaves and braiding my hair, but when I wear weaves, I always find either the cornrows or the thread so itchy that I nearly want to pull my hair out – so I wanted to find a decent alternative that is also summer friendly. My solution? Wigs.
I won’t even lie, my first winter in Cape Town last year caught me off guard. I was heavily underprepared – you see, in Joburg, when it’s cold, it’s just cold. But in Cape Town, when it’s cold, it’s cold and wet and miserable. I guess that’s why UCT has that (un)official rule that if the mist is so bad that you can’t see the campus on the mountain, it’s no longer there and school is cancelled.
During the past few days, I’ve found myself – for lack of better words – going through the absolute most. But the one thing that I have to keep reminding myself is that the prioritisation of self is paramount, so even when I feel like the world is crumbling around me, I still need to take care of myself. And don’t get me wrong – this post is not coming with all of the answers (because I’m still gowishing as I type), it’s just coming with suggestions from me and the good people of Twitter for those of you who are going through some things too.
In this month’s instalment of Solo’s Corner, I managed to steal a few minutes from one of South Africa’s OG fashion bloggers-come-make up artist and entrepreneur, Aqeelah Harron Ally, from the Fashion Breed blog.