19/03/2026
“Dad, I want to make my hair.”
“Go and make it now.”
I paused.
“Money?”
“How much?”
“3,500,” I said — mentally calculating everything in my head. Attachment, stylist, transport… and maybe, just maybe, something small for myself.
He looked at me and sighed.
“Ha! Isn’t it better if you barb it? My barber takes 100 naira. If I’m feeling generous, I give him 200.”
I didn’t argue. I just quietly went back to my room.
Thirty minutes later, he called out again.
“Aren’t you making your hair again?”
I reminded him, “But you said I should go and cut it.”
He waved it off immediately.
“You better do quick. I’m going to town now. I will not wait for you o.”
That was all the motivation I needed.
I rushed to the bathroom, bathed like my life depended on it, and got ready in record time.
He dropped me at the salon and handed me the 3,500 without another complaint.
Two hours later, my phone rang.
“Are you done? I’m going home o.”
“We’re not even halfway,” I told him. “I’ll just meet you at home.”
Then he asked, almost casually, “Aren’t you hungry?”
I was. Very hungry.
But I said, “I’ll just buy mineral and biscuits.”
“Okay. Don’t stay out too late.”
“Okay, sir.”
A few minutes later, he called again.
“How many of you are in the salon?”
I told him we were three.
Not long after, my dad showed up… with food.
Food for all three of us.
The woman making my hair looked surprised and asked, “Is he your boyfriend?”
I laughed. “No, that’s my dad.”
Another woman said, “Ah, you must be his only child.”
I smiled.
If only they knew.
This man has nine children.
Nine.
And somehow, he loves each of us like we’re the only one.
He didn’t stop there. He waited.
Not 10 minutes. Not 30 minutes.
Two extra hours.
Just so I wouldn’t have to go home alone at night.
And when I finally finished, despite all his earlier complaints…
He was the first to say, “Your hair is fine.”
Even though he had already said it was “too much” and “too long.”
That’s my dad.
He complains.
He questions.
He calculates.
But he shows up
He provides.
He protects.
He stays.
That man has loved me my entire life — loudly, consistently, and in ways that matter.
And honestly?
If I could, I would give him the entire universe.
Lady shares her experience of a father who loved her loudly, even in the smallest moments.
