Jamaican Man Turned his Hair into a Hat

This is amazing. Are any of you addicted to wearing baseball caps, skull caps, whatever - anything to cover your heads? Well I assure you that no one is as dedicated as Darain Housen, a native Jamaican that has been eating, sleeping, bathing, and all-around living in his hat for the last twenty years. The beauty (or maybe the scary) part of it is that this hat isn't made out of cloth... it's actually a "natural hat" haircut.

Mr. Housen came up with the idea after he and some friends decided to wear hats to a party and he couldn't find one to wear. "Mi an dem fi go a di party but di three of them had caps an' mi had none so mi get two mirror one behind mi and di other in front of mi an' mi trim mi hair like a cap an' go a di dance," said Housen. Translation: Instead of finding a reasonable replacements like a bandana, do-rag, towel, or Chiquita banana head-dress, Housen cut his fro into a hat and went out to shake his ass with the ladies.

Housen said his hairstyle created such a stir that he got a crate of Guinness to share between he and his friends: "Dem did love it," he said smiling. "Mi friends an' some of the girls said I win di hairstyle contest and buy mi a box a Guinness," he said. After a night of Guinness and lovin, Housen decided to keep the style and he's had it ever since.

Predictably, Housen's not always had good luck with the hat. He was once stopped by a policeman while coming from a dance [this guy really likes to shake it!] early one morning who insisted that he removed it. "Him shine di light pon mi an' look. When him see it seh a mi real hair him frighten an' seh mi mus come check him a di station di following morning. When mi go him shake mi han' an' seh mi have talent an' mi fi keep it up," he said. On another occasion Housen said he was ordered by a judge to take off his 'hat' while on jury duty. "A di policeman have to tell him seh is mi hair. Him congratulate mi an' tell mi seh mi have talent," he said smiling.

If at some stage he loses his hat Housen says he would be quite uncomfortable. "I would a feel light without it because a long time mi have it so mi would a feel a way without it," he said. But would he really be missing? It's just a baseball cap... cut down some of that flat top and he can have a visor. What I'd really like to see is a before picture. Housen's afro must have been ridiculously serious to be able to fashion a visor out of it... or maybe it didn't always look like this. Maybe he was sporting a fedora or one of those rasta hats or even the Urban Sombrero.