Do Africans really consider how hairdressers and barbers sterilize their machines? Many people who visit barbering and hair salons care less about whether the tools have been sterilized or not.

A good number of Africans, Ghanaians in particular visit barbering and hair salons to have their hairs done or for pedicure or manicure yet many do not care about the safety of tools used on them.

Too soon, Africans have become complacent about HIV/AIDS to the extent that they come to care little about things that go around them that could possibly be sources of HIV/AIDS infection.

In this modern day and age, many people still ascribe the deadly disease to myths and misconceptions about the condition and still believe that juju and mosquitoes can cause HIV/AIDS.

Awareness creation in the Continent over the years focused on transmission of the virus through sex (which many think it’s the only way one might contract the disease) with little or no attention to other sources of infection.

However, while many African youth citizens are very certain about sex being a veritable source of contracting the HIV/AIDS, they remain ignorant of or careless about other behaviours such as going to the barbering shops where most tools are not sterilized as possible sources of picking up the condition. It will also interest you to know that even though some barbering shops have the sterilizers but they are either not working or ineffective.

At times it’s very difficult to believe why many Africans (mostly Ghanaians) cannot trim their own nails but rather patronize people who move about trimming nails with unsterilized equipments(outmoded scissors and soapy water in a little unhygienic bottle) which could endanger their lives.

A popular barber in Tema, Ghana (name withheld) once told me that though he sterilizes his tools but most of his customers don’t really care that much whether the tools are sterilized or not and that the customers are only interested in having their hair cuts. Should that be the case? I believe if most of his customers are very health conscious they should always find out whether the sterilizers are working before they have their hair cut.

Curiously, a random visit to some other barbering and hair salons in the Tema communities reveals that sterilizers of some of the salons have outlived their usefulness and could only pass for a container with lights. Surprisingly, some of the sterilizers have cracks all over with others broken and one wonders their efficacy. The visit also reveals that some barbers and hair dressers knew very well that their autoclaves are not actively working but occasionally put their clippers, pedicures and manicures sets in them to deceive the public.

Another issue is the use of the hair brushes, rollers and hair pins. It has become a norm for barbers to occasionally brush the hair whiles they cut it and interestingly these barbers use a common brush for every customer. Only God knows how many people might be infected when an HIV positive person got cut during the barbering and got brushed and the same brush were used on the next customer who might be HIV negative.

My fellow Africans please be very health conscious and extra vigilant with any barbering and hair salons you visit. Never hesitate to examine the sterilizers and machines or even interrogate the attendants about the machines and the sterilizers because your health is your wealth