Beyond YouTube

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If there is one skill I know that I can learn and perfect within a month, with all resources provided for, it is hairstyling. Basically as a girl's mom, I already have prior knowledge from styling my daughter's hair. I only need a little coaching, which I didn't even know that I would be needing.

Before now, I had always thought that I could do anything with the aid of YouTube until my daughter's graduation. I needed to do her hair, and I had downloaded the video tutorial on YouTube. I had hoped to watch it as a guide in preparation for and during the making of the hair.

I was confident, as I thought that I had everything under control. I had an existing hair extension at home, so I just got the beads for decoration of the hair.
After watching the video repeatedly, it was time for me to braid the hair. My cousin was around, so she was assisting me with the extensions by giving them to me when I requested.

I had proceeded to cut out the first piece from my daughter's hair and held the extension to braid it, but then things got really ugly as I saw myself struggling with the hair and the extensions.

The style was a knotless braid, and I hadn't made it before, hence the struggle. As I tried to navigate my way around the entire braiding process, my hands shook, and this made me panic because it was already late. The time was 6pm, and no hairstylist would want to be saddled with such a task as making a child's hair.

The situation got really frustrating with the awareness that the following day was my daughter's graduation. Bearing the thought in mind, I knew that if a miracle didn't happen for her hair to be done, then I'm doomed.
Luckily, like God does answer prayers, my cousin, who has been watching me struggle, informed me that I'm attaching the hair extensions wrongly; that's why I'm having challenges braiding the hair.

I looked at her in confusion, wondering how she knew. Then it hit me that at one point in time, her mother took her to learn hair braiding and other hairstyles.
Now here's why I was confused: my aunt has been complaining bitterly that since my cousin graduated from her hairstyling skill acquisition program, she's been having difficulties replicating all that she has learned.

There was a day my aunt came to visit, and she saw me making my daughter's hair. She was surprised because I had no formal training in hairstyling, but her daughter, who does, was struggling with basic styles, according to her.

After remembering all this, it occurred to me that my cousin just might have been pretending all along to not know how to style hair even after her training.
I was lost in thoughts but was pulled out when my cousin asked me if I was making a knotless braid. I responded yes, and then she said, If you keep trying to attach the extensions like that, it won't fix.

I looked at her and asked how she knew; she smiled and responded that what I was doing is a common mistake with hair novices. At that moment I had her right where I wanted as I evacuated my chair and asked her to prove that what she was saying was the right thing.

Without hesitation, she got on the chair and did a perfect job with the first braiding. I heaved a sigh of relief as I told her to continue while I gave her the extensions.

We progressed to the front as we had started from the back. Soon, the hairstyle switched to cornrows, and she wanted me to continue, claiming she didn't know how to portion the hair in a straight line. I urged her to continue, as she was faster, and went on to portion the hair while she made them.

You see, this experience opened my eyes to a lot of things about learning. I have always heard people say that despite YouTube, some people still need in-person tutoring to learn the intrinsic detail of whatever skills or craft that they might be interested in. I had doubted it, but given my experience, it's relatively true.

Moving on, while I advised my cousin to take her skill seriously, as she could earn a living from it, I resolved on visiting a salon for one-on-one tutoring. This is so I could become an expert and not struggle with any hair styles again, as it becomes easy to navigate any new style, having learned the basics in person.