When to visit a stylist and when to DIY

Hello Naturlistas, 

How are you all doing? Kinks and all?

There are DIY Queens and others. I fall into the "other" category, although there are a few times I've dabbled into doing things myself with sone success and failures. And I guess that is why we have stylists for those of us in the other category. 

I know there are some people who can practically do everything themselves and a huge kudos to you'll out there. Living the DIY lifestyle involves a lot of research, hard work, trial and error and loads of patience and frankly not everyone has time for that. Which is why we are grateful for natural hair salons and stylists.

Here are times to know when to go to the stylist and when to do it yourself.

Chemical Application: This is adding any form of chemical to your hair Dye, texturizer etc.  it can be easy to say you would do this yourself since its just to follow instructions and you get your result. When you do go to a stylist to get it done they are armed with information and experience to help you make an informed decision about what you want to do.

Hair Regimen & Maintenance: This is forming a routine for your natural hair and you don't have to visit a stylist for this. However, you should be ready to do the necessary research, trial and error to see what works best for your hair and stick to it or you can  visit a stylist for a hair consultation and get advice on what you can do with your hair and do it yourself henceforth.

Hair treatments: This can be done yourself when you have the right products.

Anything that requires a Scissors: my first ever big chop, I did it poorly by myself, the 3rd time I also tried to cut my hair, I also cut a portion lower than it was supposed to be so I had to even It out. Imagine the horror. Which is why I would advice that whatever requires a scissors should be done by a stylist to save you the stress or mistake that could have been avoided. 

P.S: This is all on the premise that your stylist knows how to care for natural hair.

When do you know it's time to go to a stylist? and when do you know you need to do it yourself?

5 Latest Natural Hair Salons On The Block

Hello, everyone!

In recent times, there has been an uprise of natural hair salons and frankly, I'm here for it. Before now, there had only four major salons: O'Naturals, KLS Beauty Bar, Apples and Oranges and Tunmise Salon. But now, we have a few more which means we have more options.


In no particular order, here are some of the latest natural hair salons on the block:

• YellowSisi

YellowSisi is a relatively new salon which just opened a few months ago. It is run by the very lovely Kelechi aka as YellowSisi. The salon is located in Lekki Phrase 1. YellowSisi and her daughter constantly give us hair goals in person and on social media. There's no doubt that your hair will be treated accordingly.

• Sisi Jacobs

Sisi Jacobs Natural Hair Salon is run by our very own Tomi Ajayi Ismalia. They officially opened their doors to the public about three weeks ago. So, if you happen to be in Kaduna or its environs, pop in and you might just get a freebie. Plus their ambience looks lush!

• Game of Fros

The uber-talented Esther Tom runs the Game of Fros Natural Hair Hub in Calabar. Esther is a self-taught stylist who pretty much has magic hands. No jokes! I want her to make my hair too!

• Lumo Naturals

Lumo Naturals is the possibly the very first natural hair salon in Abuja so they are not exactly new.  Regardless, they need to be known. They have a regular hair club which also incorporates fun activities like aerobics and painting. You should give it a try if you live in Abuja.

• TasalaHQ

TasalaHQ is easily my favorite salon so far. They do a mean silk press (a non-chemical way of straightening your natural hair) that would give relaxed heads a run for their money. They are obviously particular about their craft and their skills speak for themselves. A quick scroll down their Instagram page shows what they do and how they do it best. Of course, I'm going to pay them a visit soonish. Christmas maybe? Thankfully, they are located in Ikoyi, Lagos.

Which other one are we missing? 

Have you visited any of them? 

Share your experiences.

Love,curls and coils

Ebun Oluwole

There's A New Salon In Yaba That Caters To Natural Hair.

Hello, everyone!

Nothing gives me more joy than emerging natural hair stylists doing things. Which is why, when I met Moyo Salau, the head stylist at The Hair Center at MBS, I was interested in what she was doing.

The Hair Center is a new salon located at the heart of Jibowu,Yaba that offers all services including natural hair. From styling to treatment and maintenance, they promise to cater to your needs. For those of you, that don't like to wear your hair out, they also provide custom made wigs.

So, if you're looking for a salon on the mainland, give them a try. I hear they are quite affordable too.

Love, curls and coils.
eBunitehair

Easy Way to Detangle your Natural Hair

One of the most common issues naturalistas have is dealing with tangles. In fact, if you ask a lot of people who have thought about "going natural" why they haven't yet, most of them would say that natural hair is hard to comb. Even seasoned naturalistas like myself get caught up in tangles and need to find an easy way to detangle our natural hair.

While in Nigeria, I would visit the natural hair salon, KL's Naturals. We have featured her and some of the natural hairstyles she has done on the blog. Whenever I visited, I always felt like her hands were magic! Before she combed my natural hair, she would use some solution in a spray bottle. It was almost as if the solution was a magic natural hair detangler! There was no pulling, no pain as she gently used a wide tooth comb to go through my natural hair - starting from tip to root.

On one of these visits, I just had to ask what magic potion she had in that spray bottle. Guess what it was. Water and...















yes, our very own African Naturalistas Moisturizing and Detangling Conditioner!

Anybody who goes to Kemi's salon knows that she's extremely gentle with natural hair, and if they ever wondered why the detangling session was so smooth... it's thanks to the African Naturalistas Moisturising and Detangling Conditioner.

I've only ever used it as a conditioner AFTER my shampoo, but at KL's Naturals, they use it mixed with water to detangle natural hair BEFORE the deep conditioner and washing.

You can order it and other products in the African Naturalistas store.

This salon is changing the conversation around Natural Hair in the workplace with the #NaturalisProfessional campaign

Hello everyone!

We all know how a lot of our workplaces are still trying to come to terms with accepting natural hair as the status quo. Well, this natural hair salon in the Bahamas is changing the conversation with a campaign they have declared #NaturalisProfessional.

According to Carol-Lynn Taylor, the owner of Happy Hair Boutique, “the goal is to illustrate to our public that natural hair is accepted in the workplace and more notably in the professional environment.”  We couldn't agree more.

The whole idea of the campaign is to encourage women who wear their hair natural but do not feel comfortable or supported in the work place by showing examples of women who do. Taylor further added that, “It is an important part of educating and changing the mindset to where natural hair is not viewed as inferior to any other hair type. Most of all it is important to demonstrate that how one wears their hair does not influence ability or competence, as professionals in all fields rock their natural and rock their careers.”

See some of the campaign photos below.

 

 

 

 

Can I just say that I absolutely love the idea behind this campaign. I wish it was something we could do here. A collaboration here and there. A lot of employers need the paradigm shift. We've done enough talking. Now, we need to show them. Maybe, just maybe things would change.

Although, the campaign originated from the Bahamas, Taylor is inviting everyone around the world to take part with the hashtag #NaturalisProfessional on Instagram and Facebook.

Will you be sharing?

For more on this, visit here

Photo credits

Love, coils and curls.

eBunite

Hairstyle Lounge on African Naturalistas - Are you courageous enough to wear this style

Hello ladies. How's everything going on? Mehn, I wish I was as uppity in this edition of Hairstyle Lounge, like I was in the last edition. I have an event coming up soon, and I have been so tied down with its organistion and all.

The good news is that this month, I was still able to cook up one style for you guys to view, and it is quite unusual.

After taking down the second hairstyle of my back to back hit last edition, I decided that you know what, I really miss twists. It has been ages since I twisted my hair, and I wanted to do it, especially because I wanted something that would allow me reach every hair strand when moisturising.

So I went to O'Naturals, communicated my desires, and the twists were done. This was after we washed with my medicated shampoo, and a regular moisturising shampoo. We steamed my hair with African Naturalistas Deep Conditioning Mayonnaise, which they sell at the salon, and they applied another treatment for my scalp, which made it tingly and soothing. We then steamed the hair for 30 minutes.

I was supposed to trim my hair before twisting because my ends were weak and scraggly. I have never seen them that way before. But we decided to wait till my next salon visit before trimming.

TERRIBLE MISTAKE! Although the twists came out well, the ends just looked dull. The hair was tucked away most time, and what was supposed to be my breather hairstyle became my Alhaja hairstyle, lol.

Two weeks later, I was back at O'Naturals. The twists were taken down there. They used African Naturalistas Moisturising and Detangling Conditioner to thoroughly detangle the hair. And then, like last time, we proceeded to wash, deep condition, treat my scalp, and steam.

I had learnt from the previous time. This time, there was no taking chances. We trimmed the hair. In fact, we trimmed a lot of the hair. Far more than 1 inch, I don't know if it was up to 2 inches. Even though I have lost hair again, at least, my hair is healthier.

Omozo decided that we should go for another threading style. This was supposed to be a modified traditional threading, in that attachment was added to the body, to make the threading look fact. Since I don't like foreign objects on my head most times, we discarded the idea of attachment, plus I don't like lengthy salon visits, even though I still sat in the salon for HOURS to get this done. And then we went way way back...

Remember this thread of our childhood days?

Source

That was what we used. I can't remember when last I saw the thread, lol. Anyway, by the time we were done, I looked like a proper school girl of the oldies. But you know I know how to add swags with earrings and heels, so I wasn't scared of looking overtly religious. In fact, it was the reason I didn't take facial pictures that day cos I had left my earrings at home, and face was extraordinarily oily, without any iota of makeup.

This was all we had

Imagine what the front view would have looked like.

Anyway, 8 days later, which was 2 days ago, this was what it looked like.

As you can see, the front had a large brush backwards. This was to make it look more mordern.

I still have this style on, and don't intend to take it down anytime soon, especially considering that I had to sit for so long to get it done. It fits my face well, and my giant loop earrings complement it well, Moreso, it protects my hair, stretches it, and fetches me a lot of compliments. So who am I to complain?

What of you? Do you like it? If yes, what about it do you like? Do you think you are courageous enough to carry this style that was previously considered to be just for school children and some religious folks? Lemme have your thought in the comment section.

Hairstyle Lounge was brought to you by O'Naturals Salon. No money exchanged hands in making this lounge a reality. To make your hair at O'Naturals, visit the salon at 54 Ogudu road, Ogudu-Ojota Lagos or book an appointment by calling 0818-802-4444 / 0815-802-4444.

Hairstyle Lounge on African Naturalistas - Back to Back Hits

Hello ladiesssssssssssssssssssssssssssss. What's gwaaaannn with y'aaalllll? Can you tell that I'm excited already? Yeah? Well, that's because on this edition of Hairstyle Lounge, we had two hits. Well, you know how they say... "At O'Naturals, every hairstyle was a hit back to back, from African Threading to Updos to..." Lol. I can't believe I just said that. Maybe I'm becoming indoctrinated to the street culture. Oh well.

 So why do we have two hairstyles when they were both hits? Well, you would find out as you read. Grab your chairs and popcorn, I promise you would love this edition. I made it very explantory.

So I went to O'Naturals about 5 weeks ago, when I decided it was time to make my hair, after that very beautiful hairstyle in the last edition that got frizzy too fast.

So we proceeded to wash with my medicated shampoo, and a regular moisturising shampoo. We steamed my hair with African Naturalistas Deep Conditioning Mayonnaise, which they sell at the salon, another treatment for my scalp.

I then explained to Omozo that I really wanted to do a particular threading style we had been discussing for months, which ordinarily should last about 4 weeks, but I would be doing something in 2 weeks, which would require a new hairstyle. We agreed that I should do the thread, and if I am asked to take down, I would just come and do a simple updo. Even though I didn't like the idea of returning to the salon after just 2 weeks, I really wanted to do the thread.

And so we started with this

And we ended up with this

By this time, Omozo had left the salon for some hustling business, so we couldn't take pictures. I had to be patient till the next day,  which was good Friday, when I was about to leave my house to attend the Don Moen and Ron Kenoly Worship event, which happened at Covenant Christian Centre.

See how steep the updward slopes were

I got more compliments than expected for this hair. Many people didn't know it was thread at first, cos it looked very mordern and diiferent from other kinds of thread. It was on the second or third look that people said "Is this thread on your hair?" I received loads and loads of compliments. Another addition to this style was the O'Naturals didn't use wool, yarn or local thread. They used a thread called Brazillian thread, supposedly from Brazil. It was very silky and shiny.

A week later, I business meeting with Omozo, so off I went to the meeting venue. By this time, the very lengthy threaded ends of the hair had begun to make me uncomfortable because they were tucked in, and I used to rest on them while working in my room. The friction was hurting my scalp, so I untucked it, and laid it over the threaded front. You can see the pattern below.

If you look at the picture below, you would realise that the upward slopes were not as steepy as that of the previous week.

After taking the above pictures, we decided to tuck the threaded ends back in. See the difference below.

I prefer them tucked in. What of you? And the slopes, the even fell further down. It didn't change the beauty of the hairstyle in anyway though.

And then the sad part. I had to take the hair down the next week. I wasn't 'allowed' to take the hair to where I was going, lol. It was so painful to take down a hairstyle that was still neat and could still go on slaying for the next 2 weeks, but I had no choice.

SO off to O'Naturals salon, I went again to do a simple updo. We didn't wash, condition or do any of those sorts. In fact, I told Omozo I planned to spend just 10 minutes, 5 minutes to lose the hair, and 5 minutes for a simple updo I had seen one of stylists cook up on a client's hair.

Let's just say I ended up spending 45 mins to 1 hour, because Omozo decided that instead of the simple updo I asked for, she decided to take her time to design my hair.

This was what we ended with

I really liked the hairstyle. Everything looked like extensions were added to enhance it. I fell in love immediately, but I had to ask her to redo the front. It was too elegant, and looked very bridal. You guys know how I like simple things. I didn't want people to think I was getting married or going for a dinner event or something.

She redid the front, and we ended up this.

You can see how simplicity is good? I asked for the three-layered pompadour.

The two sets of hairstyle in a collage.

 The next day, I had to travel out of Lagos for my meeting (the one I couldn't carry thread to). By this time, I had slept with scarf, which I had taken care not to allow compress the hair, but still scarfing had its way. Everything was more compressed. I liked the new fromt, but I didn't like the compressed version of the back. I kept moisturising and moisturing with water and oil, so the back could swell back up. It puffed up a bit, but never as much as the previous day. Maybe I should have added glycerine to the spritz.

See the compressed version, on my way out of Lagos.

See the difference in the back? Which one do you prefer? The compressed version or the puffy version?

And the next day, I still had the hair in tact. This was me ready to start coming back to Lagos.

The smile tells you how
fruitful my trip was *wink*

And that's it for this edition of the Hairstyle Lounge. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. More importantly, I hope you learnt from it. Congrats if you made it to this point.

So which of the styles and versions was your fave? And why? Let us know in the comment section?

Hairstyle Lounge was brought to you by O'Naturals Salon. No money exchanged hands in making this lounge a reality. To make your hair at O'Naturals, visit the salon at 54 Ogudu road, Ogudu-Ojota Lagos or book an appointment by calling 0818-802-4444 / 0815-802-4444.