The Economics of Beauty & Women in Law Enforcement

No one could stop staring at a female police officer who showed up at a boutique in downtown Monrovia last Saturday to shop for a pair of shoes.

She was wearing a three-pack curly X-pression weave, two packs of eye lashes, (one pack for each eye) maroon-penciled eyebrows, a lousy red lipstick and smoky eyes. She had bleached her skin so much that one could identify the blood vessels running through her body.

Let’s do the math here: it probably took this officer of the Liberia National Police at least US$70 to pull off that outrageous look. A pack of curly X-pression weave costs around LRD$700 (roughly US$10). So our lady spent US$30 on those three packs and considering that most salons in Monrovia nowadays charge US$5 per pack of hair in their weaving category, this officer must have spent US$15 to rock that Lady Gaga look. A pack of lashes costs $5 and she had two packs on. It also costs $5 to have the lashes placed. Bleaching cream, found in most Fula and Nigerian stores down Waterside, costs around LRD$150 or more. To be able to maintain that look, this officer needs at least an extra US$70 in addition to her monthly salary of US$162.

So why don’t our women in law enforcement just keep it simple? Should women in law enforcement not keep their hair cut low (no matter their gender) or kept below their collar and out of their face? That way, it gets perfectly covered up (under a hat).

Wearing the hair in the manner I've described provides a neat, clean, and orderly appearance, all attributes a police officer is expected to have and express. But most Liberian female security officers are fond of fixing wild hair-dos that cover their faces and fall to shoulder-length.

Honestly, it has to be professional and neatly groomed and it has to look right for you.  And come to think of it, it has to be safe; obviously you don't want your hair being something a criminal could grab hold of. Think of that.

But being so worked up over how flamboyant you would like to look as a female security officer, you would be tempted to go the extra mile to make that extra cash that would take care of your flamboyant look.

Take the case of this female officer for instance: to maintain her Lady Gaga look, she might be moved to go on collecting LRD$5 or LRD$10 from cab drivers around town all day; harassing commercial motorbike drivers all the while, simply because she likes to dress flamboyantly.

Let’s just try to keep it as simple as we can.