‘A me first braid hair a Jamaica’ - Woman who says she invented trend now facing hard times

Claiming to be the inventor of the braided hairstyles in Jamaica, Marlene Atkinson said she is now forced to seek help after falling on hard times.

"Mi a the first somebody who braid hair inna Jamaica. When I first braid hair, I take the customer to Princess Street (downtown Kingston) and show the Chiney people what I am doing and told them to send back and carry more braids here, because wig used to deh here a lot more than braids," she told THE STAR.

The 53-year-old said she got her start as a hairstylist from watching her mom sell wigs. She said she would cut the hair from the wigs and plait them in people's hair.

In 1979, at age 13, she came up with the name for her creations, braids.

Atkinson said she did other jobs, but now she claims that her age is deterring her from finding lawful employment, even in braiding.

"Nobody nah look pan mi because mi old. Mi used to work on site and try catch all the likkle work dem weh mi can catch. Mi do a likkle sewing, and mi use to comb hair as well. But if mi go pan a site, dem a seh mi have grey hair and mi too old, so mi caa work," she said.

Facing the pressure of unemployment in the Corporate Area, Atkinson said she wants to retreat to the country, where would be able to make a living for herself.

She said that her mother died leaving land and an unfinished house in Manchester; however, she is unable to occupy the property because the family owes tax on the said land.

"My great-grandmother died and leave it for my grandmother, and my grandmother left it for my mom and now my mom leave it for her children. Mi hear dem seh it's about three acre of land. There was no physical title, so now wi need fi get the proper title. So now that we a try get the title, the tax office seh wi owe over $150,000 on the land," she said.

The Regent Street, Kingston native said she is tired of the inner city and laments that her inability to secure a job hampers her efforts to pay off the taxes or even finish the house.

"If mi go country now, mi can plant likkle yam, pak choi, callaloo and all those tings. Mi nah do nothing right now. Every day mi in a bed a bawl. Mi can go country to plant some food and come a town come sell and mek a money. Mi wouldn't go country go siddung," she said.

The mother of two said her children are in no position to help and that is why she is appealing to the public to give a helping hand.

Anyone who is willing to help Atkinson is asked to call her at 876-413-7055