Ghanaian Book Author, Dr. Abena Karikari Shares On Her Natural Hair Journey.
Blog Owner Note: Welcome back to #MyKpenkpeshie , an insightful curation of natural hair stories of Ghanaian women. I started collecting these stories a few years back when natural hair was a growing lifestyle in the early 2010’s. It was a source of inspiration for women who wanted to quit the use of perming creams and revert to their natural coils from birth. I am happy to announce that these stories are back and better than ever before!
Today’s feature is Dr. Abena Karikari, a Ghanaian book author and PhD holder with two children . She’s also an online bookshop owner at Akenkan Books. She shares her story on her sister loc journey and how it’s impacted her personal and professional life.
AccraMommy: Tell us a few things about yourself.
Abena: I am Abena Karikari, Ph.D, wife and mother of two little blessings. I love reading and spreading the love of books. To that end I run a bookshop called Akenkan Bookstore (akenkanbooks.com) Also my favourite food is plantain - in all the various forms: ampesi , red red, plantain chips, Kelewele (I co-authored The Kelewele Connection 😁) etc
AM: what inspired your first natural hair journey ?
Abena: Was it a big chop ? Yes it was a big chop, lol! It was more for convenience and to save money; I was doing my Masters in Edinburgh at the time and visiting an African salon was quite expensive since there weren’t many around to my knowledge at least.
AM: why did you choose sister locs ?
Abena: I loved the size of it, they are about the smallest size of locs you can get.
AM: How long have you had sister locs for?
Abena: 9 amazing years!!! I can’t believe it’s been that long!
AM: What was your family's initial reaction to your locs?
Abena: I didn’t tell anyone when I was going to get it done to avoid anyone changing my mind, lol! It took a while for my mum to adjust to it but she grew to love it. My dad loved it though.
AM: What are your go to products for maintaining your locs?
Abena: I’m so low maintenance I only just recently started using tea tree oil because I had been experiencing some dryness. Most of the time I just let it do its thing.
AM: What is the public reaction to your beautiful long locs?
Abena: Admiration on its length? People really love it! To the point that I’ve inspired quite a few women to also get their hair loc’d!
AM: Professionally, did you get any negative feedback from your workplace?
Abena: As an academic, it’s almost become the norm to have locs! Just look at our current Vice Chancellor, she has locs as well. So it’s been only positive feedback.
AM: As a Mom, how has the locs impacted your motherhood journey ?
Abena: I always had it in mind to give my daughter the freedom to choose what to do with her hair. Not knowing she was watching and admiring my locs. A few months ago she started prodding me to loc her hair, I wasn’t taking her too seriously and she eventually got upset with me. So I booked the appointment and she has been loving her locs ever since!
AM: Share any advice for anyone thinking of embarking on the sister locs journey.
Abena: If you really want to do it, go ahead and do it, you will not regret it. But make sure if it’s sisterlocs you want to do. Do your research and go to the right person to get it done. Don’t try to be cheap. Most of the so-called cheap ones don’t do actual sisterlocs and - you could end up disappointed and spending even more trying to fix what they did.
Follow Dr. KariKari bookshop on Instagram and buy her book The Kelewele Connection .
Throwback to past posts on #MyKpenkpeshie using that hashtag on Instagram and Twitter (It will always be Twitter
