Happy Holidays, Y’all!
Champagne, Cupcakes and Curltalk – “Birthday Edition”
Goodness, been gone for a minute. Sorry, been busy then sick. But great news: The Kinky Apothecary & Leave In The Kinks meet-up is tomorrow!
Mmmm…cupcakes….Sorry, zoned out for a minute. These ladies have outdone themselves. They’ve gotten a lovely venue, Colours in Africa on Musa Yar’Adua Street (off Idowu Martins Street, off Adeola Odeku Street), Victoria Island. Screwy Hair Butter will be there, as will Natural Nigerian hair products. Do come out; it promises to be loads of natural fun. From Leave In The Kinks:
It is a lovely furniture store filled with beatiful pieces made here in Nigeria. Just stunning stuff. You might want to bring your chequebook to pick up something unique for your home. We’ve also got vendors selling everything from clothes to accessories and there will be hard to find hair products for sale as well as food and drink. We will also be giving away samples of my new body butter and of course goodie bags!
We’ve got so much planned for the day so come along and have a good time.
Tickets are N1,000 and can be purchased from Colours in Africa, Bogobiri House Ikoyi or by calling 07082315325 or 017654546.
To reserve tickets before this, either call one of the numbers on the flyers, or drop me or Miss Fizz (copied above) a line. A limited number will be available on the day.
Don’t forget to send the flyer out to all your friends.
See you there, y’all!
Get Your Souk On at Zebra Living’s Food and Lifestyle Boutique Market this Saturday!
Zebra Living’s bringing us yet another fabulous event tomorrow and I’ll be there with Screwy Hair Butter for sale!
Don’t miss it!
Here’s the info:
HO-HO-HO!!!!!!
We are happy to announce the Christmas Edition of our Food and Lifestyle Souk at The Life House which will hold from 1pm-6pm this Saturday 10th December 2011.
Flyer is attached – feel free to print and share
It is that time to indulge yourselves and your senses to the most precious, gourmet products in the Lagos food, art and lifestyle marketplace…and we permit you to go WILD cuz it is CHRISTMAS!!!
Shoppers will have the unique opportunity of browsing indoors and then relaxing outdoors on the patio to enjoy the ambience and flavour of wonderful fresh juices, coffees, cocktails and music
The market is FREE to attend and shoppers are encouraged to make a jolly day’s outing of it.
Our Christmas Souk will feature a glorious medley of assorted wines, hand-dyed fabrics, home decor and accessories, gorgeous pastries, gourmet breads, home-made chocolate treats, locally sourced produce and beautiful jewellery and accessories. Souk vendors will be bringing you their best and in the Christmas spirit will have special little bargains for us all.. so tell a friend or ten and make it a date this Saturday at The Life House.
Love, Light and Laughter
The Life House
+234 703 403 0683
My Very First Interview!
The lovely Omozo of O’Naturals just posted my interview on natural hair! I’m so excited!
“I love the texture of my hair, how it feels. I love how I look with natural hair” – Interview with Screwy Haired Girl
O’Naturals was at the Lagos Natural Hair Meet-up that took place last Saturday and got to meet the organizers. We asked for interviews and they agreed. Such gracious ladies! We will also be featuring natural hair bloggers who blog from Nigeria. Today, we feature Screwy Haired Girl: soft spoken, professional and funny. Enjoy!
Soft-spoken? Hunh :-) Before you go ahead and read the interview, be forewarned that there’s a lot more of my mug in it than you’re used to! Read the whole interview here.
Meet-Up Verdict: Spectacular!
– Scroll down to download our Naturals In The City presentation as a pdf –
I know, I know, I’m late, I’M SO LATE. Recovering from the meet-up is taking longer than expected and all I’ve been able to do for most of the last few days is tweet from bed. Anyhoodle, here it is:
- during my first presentation
- The meet-up on Saturday was the best and greatly exceeded our expectations!
I’d like to say one big, fat THANK YOU!!! to every single woman and man who made the time to attend. Each one of you has kept me glowing–yes, glowing–for the last few days :-)
We did have a late start–so sorry about that, y’all!–but we had a full-to-bursting house of naturals, non-naturals, and transitioners of all ages, from all professions, from all lifestyles. The corporate world and the entertainment world never looked so good together. We had well over 100 attend–we stopped counting once we got really busy–and you could feel the place bursting with all the positive energy and eagerness. I looked up at one point during my presentation and was bowled over by how full the room had gotten and by how many people were listening from the hallway. Tres cool to meet so many naturalistas in Lagos! We even had a few male guests in the house. Who says men don’t care about hair?
I’ll have photos for you tomorrow and as they come in. (Sorry, y’all; struggling here.) Natural Nigerian and our newfound naturalista BFF Omozo of O’Naturals already posted their meet-up coverage with photos. For now, I’ll give you a quick rundown.
presentations
Blogger Natural Nigerian, nutrition consultant Sherese Ijewere, blogger NatMane, and I each gave presentations on various topics–from hair science to hair health to natural products to hair demos–and we got a lot of questions during each. (Image consultant Ifeoma Williams had an event conflict, so she wasn’t able to participate.) We didn’t get to cover all the topics we’d planned because there were so many questions and discussions (and because of the late start), but we covered most of the day’s agenda, which was great.
Natural Nigerian gave us the hair science lowdown with “My Hair: Getting To Know It,” while Sherese fed our minds with “Fabulous Hair–From the Inside Out.” I tackled products you find in nature and your kitchen with ”The Kitchen Beautician,” then I let “Finding Stuff in Lagos” open up the floor for everyone to talk about finding the aforementioned products in Lagos. NatMane was one hot tamale with “Battling The Salon Forces Of Evil” and showed us her skills with “Heart Your Hair (Demo).” We didn’t get to my other topics “Help: My Boss Doesn’t Like My Kinks!” and “Let’s Talk Regimens,” or to all of NN’s “Bad Hair Practices,” but we will at the next meet-up.
Download the presentation below for the full agenda.
not just for naturals
Though the overwhelming majority of attendees were naturalistas, it’s so encouraging that we had so many non-naturals interested in healthy hair and healthy hair. We even had a few non-natural mothers who asked for tips on caring for their natural daughters’ hair. We may be natural, but we don’t practice hair discrimination :-)
naturalistas helping one another
The most significant aspect of the meet-up for me was all the love going around; in a rat-race city like Lagos, women who were clearly different from each other were sharing their experiences freely and helping each other and laughing and honestly enjoying each other’s company without any pretense–this truly is a beautiful sight. I’m also happy that we all learned from each other; presenters weren’t the only ones answering the many questions and I can tell you that I picked up some useful shopping tips. Thank you, ladies! After the presentations, we all got to talk to each other and share our hair journeys, so most people lingered for a while and some didn’t leave until past 8:00pm!
giveaway & vendors
Lovely all-natural hair and body products were out for sale during the meet-up by vendors, including this Screwy Haired Girl. I sold my hair butter for the first time! More on that (and on acquiring a tub of my hair magic) in another post. A raffle draw picked the winner of our basket of goodies that comprised products from each of our vendors. The good response means that product sales will be part of the next meet-up.
the team
Our Core Dream Team
Natural Nigerian
Sherese Ijewere
NatMane
Screwy Haired Girl
I was fortunate to be part of a team that worked so well together. There was so much to get done, but I haven’t often worked in a group like ours: no one lost their heads, no one was competing with anyone else, we genuinely like each other as individuals, and (most importantly) we all shared the same vision and goals for the meet-up. You ladies are fabulous!
Outstanding Contributors
We also had the invaluable assistance of a few fantastic women without whom our event couldn’t have been such a success. I obviously can’t put all their names on the interwebs, but I do want to show my personal gratitude for their immense help: Sherese’s friend who introduced her to us (and the best chance meeting ever), NN’s friend who lent a hand whenever we needed it, Ugoma Adegoke, owner of The Life House and Zebra Living, who was brilliant at every stage, and the BGLH ladies and everyone who helped publicize this event on their blogs. Thank you, ladies, for everything!
a word on THE KID
Now for some intense bragging: my son was STUNNINGLY AWESOME. I didn’t realize how much he was doing until I started getting so many compliments about how he was just so helpful, articulate, such a salesman/marketing exec, so polite, such a leader, so suave–yes o, someone said suave!–mature, such a gentleman, so well-behaved…the list goes on, yo. Whoa. I was seriously floored by all the comments. Yeah, he’s 12, never EVER been shy, and loves being around people, but I was totally not expecting all the praise. Thank Jah I can’t blush :-) But all of that left me with one question:
Why can’t he behave like that at home? After getting more praise on his behalf over the phone tonight, I said to him, “You behave so well when we’re out, but you don’t behave yourself at home.” His response: “I know, right?” Wha? Kid needs a spanking.
what’s next?
The meet-up was a resounding success. We achieved our primary goal of getting naturalistas (and non-naturalistas) to start thinking more about knowledge–about hair, hair care, and technique–rather than focusing on products and the salon, as well as to provide a space for naturals to gather and support one another. We now have firm plans to hold one meet-up every quarter. We’ve already had a post-event meeting to see what our strengths and weaknesses were and we’re still getting really useful feedback from attendees. Now that we’ve gotten the basics out of the way, we’d like to tackle more and really open it up to be more interactive.
If you registered at the meet-up, you’ll get a quick survey via email. We hope you’ll fill it out, so that we can improve future meet-ups.
download the presentation
Wanna see our slides? Download the presentation here (via MediaFire): Naturals in the City 11.19.11 (pdf)
That’s it for now. Hope to see you at the next Naturals In The City!
Meet-Up & Zebra Living Sale Today
It’s D-Day! Meet-Up starts at 1:30pm at The Life House.
Zebra Living’s sale is on today too, so meet-up participants get great prices on clothes, accessories, and fabulous items!
See y’all soon!
Let’s Meet-Up this Saturday!
The meet-up’s just 2 days away–can you believe it?–and it’s never to late to ask:
What would you like to talk about or learn at this meet-up? Why would you like to attend?
Please share your thoughts!
“We will not lose our love, our marriage, OVER HAIR”
Been meaning to re-post this from CurlyNikki via StrawberriCurls. Hmmm…is all I want to say here. But what do you think?
via StrawberriCurls via CurlyNikki:
Autumn writes:
I don’t even know what to call this. But it happened – FOR REAL.
Background:
I’m married – 5+ years – to a wonderful husband and father. I’m pregnant – 5 months now – with my second child and I’m an emotional rollercoaster. I’ve been natural – almost 1 year – and, although it took some time for me to feel this way, I LOVE my curls.
The Drama:
My husband works from home and has watched our 2-yr old daughter from birth (SN: She has curls too and he washes and styles her hair very well during the week). About a month ago, he sent me a text at work saying we needed to talk when I got home. So, I come from work on my lunch break like I normally do. We decided to leave the house to run some errands. In the car, I asked him what he wanted to talk about. Then he said the six words that literally threw me into an immediate emotional breakdown: “WE NEED TO SPLIT UP.” Huh? What? Where is this coming from? Instant flood of tears and hyperventilating.
He never wanted me to go natural. He doesn’t like “nappy” hair. He likes straight hair. He felt that I had totally ignored his feelings by going natural in the first place, but the fact that I’ve stayed natural, despite his disdain, is even worse. It doesn’t matter that everyone else around us likes my hair. He is my husband and his opinion should matter most. When he married me I had long, straight hair. He’s not attracted to me anymore because of my hair, and therefore he felt that the best solution was to split up, instead of being disgusted with the sight of me daily. But if I straighten my hair (it doesn’t have to be a relaxer), then everything will be ok and go back to normal. Blah, blah, blah. SN: Just the week before, his close friend’s wife chemically relaxed her hair after a year of being natural because she couldn’t stand the negative feedback from her husband.
Ok, ok, ok. He probably didn’t use those exact words. But I’m pregnant, so that’s what it sounded like. I emailed my boss from my phone and said I couldn’t come back to work for personal reasons. After running our errands, I dropped him and our daughter back off at the house and drove off to clear my mind. I won’t go into all the thoughts that led me to my next actions, but I will tell you what happened.
I LOVE THIS MAN. I CANNOT IMAGINE MY LIFE WITHOUT THIS MAN. I WILL NOT LOSE MY HUSBAND OVER HAIR. But I felt this was a deeper issue than hair, and I also felt that some information was missing from his little rant. So I went back home. I grabbed a pen and paper and went straight to our bedroom. I got in the bed under the covers and started writing. Right after I jotted down my last thought, he came in to check on me. He gave me a big hug, and waited for me to speak. Here’s what I wrote/said, and his answers.
-I have more going for me than the hair on my head. YES YOU DO.
-I’m beautiful, intelligent, stylish, in shape, a good mother, I bring home bacon just like you, and I cook it too. YES I AGREE.
-I’m pregnant with your child, how dare you bring this to me right now. I FELT LIKE YOU WERE IGNORING HOW I FELT ABOUT YOUR HAIR.
-My hair is beautiful and *I* LOVE it, no matter what anyone else says. I KNOW.
-Our daughter’s hair is beautiful, are you going to request that she straighten her hair? NO, HER HAIR IS BEAUTIFUL.
-Is your friend’s wife a better woman than I am because she relaxed her hair for her husband to make HIM happy, even though she will be unhappy? YES, I FEEL THAT WAY. BUT SHE IS NOT MY WIFE AND I DO NOT WANT ANOTHER WOMAN.
-Are you willing to give up our love, sex, family, home, future plans… all because of my hair?! NO, NEVER.
My response was: Then I cannot, WILL NOT get a chemical relaxer. So what is your REAL problem?
His response was: Well, it’s just that all the “different” styles you have been doing have been “nappy” styles. Can you please do some straight styles, and do them more often?
Of course! Why didn’t you say that in the first place boy?!
Ever since then, we’ve been back in love like usual. He touches my “nappy” hair and tells me I’m beautiful. And I still haven’t done a straight style yet, although I do plan to keep my promise – to prevent another childish rant.
Conclusion:
Turns out, he just did a really horrible job of expressing his feelings. And I did a really horrible job of acknowledging his feelings. We will not lose our love, our marriage, our life together… OVER HAIR.
So what say you? Tell me what you think!
Meet-Up Flyer
Nat Mane did a lovely post on The Life House, the venue we’re using. She also talks about some of what you can expect at the meet-up.
Please click here for updates and any information related to this event. Natural Nigerian and Nat Mane also have info on the meet-up.
So spread the word and see you there!
Natural Hair Meet-Up in Lagos – Update
Been trying to do this for a few days now–thanks, WordPress–then got swept up with work.
A quick update on the meet-up via Natural Nigerian’s blog:
All the pieces are coming together nicely. Screwyhair and I have been working hard behind the scenes (actually she has been working harder than me, lol!). I am pleased to say that we have received a lot of positive feedback regarding the event. It would appear that this is long awaited. I am super excited and I hope you are too.
Screwyhair (who is also an incredible graphics designer) will have posters ready next week. They will contain information concerning the meet up. I am considering creating another page on this blog specially dedicated to meet-up information so that it is all in one place rather than being interspersed with other posts.
To give you a sneak preview into what is coming, we have secured a lovely venue which has the right sort of ambiance for a cozy, relaxed meet up. Several topics regarding hair – its science, care, product use and more will be discussed. There will be a nutritionist on hand to explain how what we eat affects the quality of our skin, hair and health. There will be a demonstration on how to handle hair properly and a giveaway (a.k.a A-W-O-O-F, lol!). I get tons of questions about where to source certain tools, ingredients and products – there will be quite a few at the meet up.
We also want to hear from YOU, so please bring all your stories, tips and tricks so that we may learn from each other.
Just to clarify, this meet up is not by any chance restricted to those who have natural hair alone. My friend is currently rocking a Brazilian/Peruvian weave atop her relaxed hair and she is going to be there to learn what she can about handling her hair in its current state as well as other things concerning her skin and health. The meet up is not just about hair, but promoting a natural way of living as it is all connected.
Regarding a date, it will definitely hold in November. Please check back here and on Screwy’s blog for more information.
