Still Black - by Nimmat

My previous jersey veil had started turning white.Not grey. Not faded black. White. I had bought it black, so watching the colour change with every wash was not exactly the kind of character development I wanted from my wardrobe. By the time I was ready to replace it, I had my reservations about jersey veils. They could look so good when you first bought them, only to start acting like you'd had them since secondary school.Then I met this one.It cost ₦4,500, and I wasn't entirely sure the material would last. But I had an outfit planned for the next day, and the black veil would bring everything together. I could already picture how it would look with my lip combo. I had made up my mind.Getting it was another matter.Jamila, my friend's roommate, had to bring it from Old Girls' Hostel to New Girls' Hostel. It was raining, but somehow, she still made the trip. By the time she got to my room, she was soaking wet.For a veil.I was grateful, of course. But the whole thing was funny to me. I had an outfit to wear the next day and had decided that this particular veil was important enough to the vision that nothing else would do.And honestly, it was exactly what I wanted.<img src="/media/inline_insight_image/IMG_8376.jpeg"/> The black framed my face, brought out my eyes and went with practically everything I owned. The pictures came out nicely, too. I was satisfied with my purchase. I just wasn't sure how long that satisfaction would last.My previous veil had taught me not to get too comfortable.So I wore this one, washed it, and waited. I wore it again, washed it again, and kept waiting for the material to start misbehaving. Five months later, it is still soft. It hasn't stretched out, and the black hasn't started turning white. Sometimes, I even catch the scent of my perfume on it after washing.I have questions about that last part, but I have decided not to disturb what is working. At some point, the veil became the one I reached for without thinking. When I'm getting dressed, I don't have to spend time wondering whether it will match. I already know it will. The veil and my lip combo have an arrangement, and I don't see any reason to interfere.It's funny how quickly I had prepared myself to be disappointed.As a student, ₦4,500 is not the kind of money I can spend today and casually replace tomorrow. If a purchase turns out badly, you have to find the money to buy another one, even when you had other plans for it. So my doubts weren't entirely unreasonable. I'd seen what happened to my last veil, and I didn't want to repeat the experience.But this one has given me five months of almost daily wear without the problems I expected. I don't inspect it after every wash anymore. I don't wonder how much longer it has left. I just put it on and go about my day.That is probably my favourite thing about it. I bought it because I wanted to complete one outfit. I didn't expect it to become something I would keep wearing long after that outfit had served its purpose.Jamila crossed from one hostel to another in the rain to get it to me for a look I wore the very next day. Five months later, that outfit is somewhere in my camera roll, but the veil is still here.And unlike my previous one, this black veil has shown no interest in becoming white.

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