Guest Post – Event | Gidore Multi-Textures Hair Workshop with Felicia Leatherwood – The Inside Story by Fiona Onanuga of Love Your Tresses

Posted: April 3, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Black Women, Blogging, Hair | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

I really love London!  There is SO much to do and see in this fabulous city.

An event that I reall wanted to atted was the Gidore Multi-Texture Hair Workshop that took place last Saturday, however I was unable to attend.  I didn’t want my lovely subbies and followers to miss out on what I knew was going to be an awesomeevent, so I asked Fiona of the brilliant blog, Love Your Tresses to write a guest post for me!

Here it is!

Enjoy!

The Saturday ‘Multi-Textures Hair Workshop’ hosted by Gidore was superb to say the least. It was my first large-scale UK hair event, and I definitely left feeling even more inspired and encouraged to strive on with my healthy hair journey and transition.
Highlights of course were many! For one, I got to meet the effortlessy beautiful Lukwesa Burak, founder of Gidore and our favourite face of Sky news, as well as finally meeting Pelumi of Care For Your Hair, Akua of SheaButterCottage, Miss Laila J of Fusion of Cultures, Crystal of United KinKdom and Joycelyn of Afrocenchix – a fantastic group of women who have and continue to make progressive steps in encouraging healthy haircare practices in the UK. It was also lovely meeting some LYT Blog readers [whoop whoop]! My younger sister trodded along and it made my day knowing that she genuinely enjoyed it!
The main part of the workshop was taken and led remarkably by natural hair specialist & celeb stylist Felicia Leatherwood, who despite having spent most of the past few weeks on planes, still shared her chunk of hair knowledge with smiles. She discussed hair topics spanning from how to wash hair, right down to the pros and cons of weave wearing and child haircare. What I enjoyed most was the fact that we were reminded over and over again of how much versatility there is with natural hair care and that most importantly, however you chose to wear your hair, you should do so with ‘loving yourself’ as the focal point. The second half of the event was taken by Jane Carter and KeraCare who gave demos on how to use their products- the queues to buy some of the demoed products were ridiculous!
As for note taking, here are some of the interesting points I picked up…
* Good way to trial which conditioner works best for you is to part hair in 4 sections and try
4 different conditioners per section, and see how your hair feels afterwards
* Soap residue from facial washes can cause issues with your hairline. Check that your
face has been rinsed thoroughly after washing
* Avoid any products containing Phylates  whoopsie I mean Phytates, they manipulate hormone levels in females
As for my hair, you will see in the pictures below that I wore an oddly messy bun! My curly bantu knot up do completely backfired on me so this was the last minute fix I decided to sport.
All in all the event was fantastic and definitely needs to take place again. There is so much to learn and unlearn with regards to everyday hair practices, and this truly was a learning experience. Thank you Gidore for your hard work and efforts in making this possible! Oh and of course for our yummy goody bags from your sponsors too!
Miss Leatherwood in action and the buzz in the hall!
Jane Carter and KeraCare product and styling demos
Moi and the beautiful Laila & Joycelyn
After many months of talking I finally got to meet Pelumi!
Crystal [such a sweetheart] & Fiona
Isn’t her fro so spicy! Wunmi of Woman in the Jungle
Any thoughts Nubians? Laila & Kaila – stunning as ever
Kulchicbeauty – a friend of a friend newly discovered!
Made my day finally meeting Akua from SheaButterCottage
Joycelyn, Ayo & I
Photo owned by naturalselectionblog
Photo owned by naturalselectionblog
Goodies!
For future hair events check out Gidore and Loving Your Hair With Natural Care 
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Afro’s & headline fashion shows AW12

Posted: March 14, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Beauty, Black Women, Fashion | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Afro’s & headline fashion shows AW12.

 

A great follow up to my post Afro-tising! If you are not following Afroblush, you should be!

 

Enjoy!

Afro-tising

Posted: March 5, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Black Women, Hair, Marketing | Tags: , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

I was browsing through the current issue of Marie Claire magazine and I came across the latest Marc Cain  SS12 campaign ad.

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The model’s afro-esque hair style really caught my attention.

The next day I travelled to central London and as I was exiting Oxford Circus tube station, the new Benetton SS12 ads also caught my eye – again beautiful models – black and white – sporting afro-inspired hair!!!

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Here are some more images from the lighthearted, playful campaign, that has the signature Benetton look and feel – young, fun and fresh!Image

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Natural, afro hair is on the up and up and is being fully embraced by women of colour in droves  Recent research conducted by the market research agency Mintel, showed that the natural resurgence in the US has resulted in sales of relaxer kits dropping by 17% over the last 5 years (Black Hair Care US- August 2011, Mintel).

Many African – American celebrities are staunch advocates of wearing their natural hair and Oscar nominated actress Viola Davis’ natural style garnered numerous column inches and commentary as she steeped out onto the red carpet at the recent awards ceremony.  My Twitter timeline went CRAZY!!  Tweets and retweets flew across cyberspace as natural hair bloggers and vloggers, beauty critics and others commented and congratulated the actress’ stylish mane.

Viola Davis wearing Vera Wang...and her natural hair! Stunning!

One thing I love about being a black women, is the many choices we have in how we can wear our hair – be it chemically relaxed, in its natural form or accentuated with weaves and extensions.  For me, what is more important is the fact that we have the CHOICE to express our individuality, personality and sense of style in the way that feels right to us.

For the month of February, another poster child for the Naturalista’s,  Solange Knowles, was British Vogue’s ‘Today I’m Wearing…’  Photo Blogger of the month.

Two of my favourite looks of the month are shown below – her unique, individual style is the epitome of today’s empowered black woman.

I love!!

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