Fun! Fun! Fun at The Naija Hair Can Grow Salon Day Out 2015.

Kudos to Daboju of Naijahaircangrow.com and her team - it was an absolutely brilliant, fun and successful Salon day out yesterday! Girl if you're reading this, you definitely need a bigger space next time around - the turnout was quite large and I think this is a testament to Dab's positive influence and contribution to the 'Hair Community'

I was having a very 'bleh' morning yesterday and ended up leaving the house later than I had planned but the event got off to a late start anyway and when I got there, they'd pretty much just started the first session which had a panel of natural, relaxed and transitioning ladies talking about their hair journeys, what worked for them and didn't work for them, the mistakes they made along the line and how they've had to learn about their hair.

Lade's absolutely gorgeous bow and side swept fringe was an eye catcher!

Dupe Talabi (Tasala HQ) and I - she was supposed to be in the pro series but had lost her voice as she'd been ill. Get well soon dear!

I love Namaste Organics products! Soon, we shall be carrying their stuff in the salon. 

Sandra talking about her hair journey

  There was Dabs (of course) Sandra of naijagirlnextdoor.blogspot.com, Koyinsola Vera Cruz (a trichologist and founder of the company 'Tresses') Atilola (African Naturalistas) and Lade (of 'Hair by type 4 and rehairducation.com  ) 

Now while I missed Lade's and Dab's story, Atilola had us all in stitches as she recounted how her Father refused to let the girls in the house grow their hair till they had finished Secondary School; how she used to 'confuse' her co workers with her different outlook to wearing her hair and how she went from thinking the burning pain from a relaxer and the attendant tears were a normal rite of passage every female went through, to growing locs, cutting them off and finally growing her natural hair to waist length.

Inner Beautee! I love their range of butters and oils - we carry a few of them in store

Savvy and Chic's Shea Butter Cups in different 'flavours'

Wigs by 'Hair by Type 4'

Koyinsola Vera Cruz

Truly, listening to them talk, you were reminded of the saying 'what works for one person may not work for you'. 5 different ladies with beautiful healthy hair in different textures and different experiences as to what works for them in keeping their hair healthy.

Then came the 'Pro Series' where I was taking part in - I was the first up and my lovely model (Eneni) and I went up on stage where I tried to finish detangling her hair (she'd literally just taken out a weave lol) and start styling.

Working on Eneni

See how those edges are laid in the flat twist? Edge control first before weaving/flat twisting will smooth it all  out!

Pinning it all in place

Adding the final touches

I decided to do something I had created on my head a few months ago and which everyone really liked. So using my fingers and a bit of the Daily Moisturizing Lotion from Design Essentials, I detangled her hair as much as I could and proceeded to part it and style it. I think I need to practice talking and working at the same time as I felt a little disconnected from the crowd moreso as the cordless mic had developed a fault and I had to rely on the crazy MC to put a mic to my mouth lol. 

Anyways, thankfully that went well and I got good feedback from the session! Next up was Patrick from Patrick's beauty zone, demonstrating a cut and blow out on a Weave. Honestly Patrick and his guys looked like they all worked at a gym and not a salon with their sleeveless tops as uniforms showing some biceps lollllll.

Patrick and his boyz showing off their arms 

Finished product - full, bouncy head which girl was swanging!

Then came Dabs and her girls with one of my favourite people Berry Dakara as her model - they were showcasing Dab's innovative faux locs application where the locs are prepared before hand and then attached to the clients hair. It cuts down the time of installation by about 50%!! That is absolutely amazing because I know the one thing that has prevented me from getting faux locs is the thought of sitting down for hours on end. I might just change my mind with this :)

Berry Dakara having her faux locs finished

Final look

Next up was what most of us had been waiting for - The Battle Of The Hairlistas!! Ghen Ghen!!

Interestingly, all but 1 of those participating were all naturalistas! The only one who wasn't a naturalista is transitioning. So I liked the fact that they'd been separated into 2 groups - 'Team On Fleek' and 'Glamly Nappy' and so it would be  a team effort. The first part of the competition saw a member from each team showing their morning routine,  using products from the Design Essentials range (the sponsor for the segment), then came round 1 of the battle proper where an image was put up on the screen and each team had to recreate it as best as they could on one of their respective team members

The image put up was one which I've always admired but have yet had the opportunity to recreate - it's called the 'Sim Simma' and I love the work of the lady who created the style. Watching each team, you could tell Team On Fleek were more prepared for this - they were even calmer as they went about creating the style within the 15 minutes alloted.

I also loved the fact that they used colored extensions so the style really 'popped'. For me, Team On Fleek won this round

Team Glamly Nappy

Team on Fleek

.

I thought this was a great recreation effort!

Final look from Team Glamly Nappy

Next was a quick round of 2 hairlistas showing how they 'refreshed' their hair and following that was round 2 of the battle and this time, each group was to create an 'Avant Garde' look.

Glamly Nappy adding the finishing touches to their 'Avant Garde' look

Kudos to Team on Fleek - they managed to thread their models hair, tie it up and put their accessories on

This time around, Team Glamly Nappy definitely had their A game on! While Team on Fleek had to cut into a significant portion of their alloted time by threading their model's hair; Team Glamly Nappy had prepared their 'props' and simply put the model's hair in a bun and went about 'accessorising' it. 

Both Models in all their Avant Garde hotness!

It was definitely a lot of fun and the crowd was loving the battle and shouting out encouragement to their team of choice.

Sadly I had to go at this point - it was almost 7, and I needed to get to the Salon to round up the day's work. As I left, a quick question and answer session with gifts for the ladies with the correct answers was in progress and you could tell how people were really into this part! loll

I shall bring to you in a subsequent post, the winner of the battle,  what was won.

Till then, be good!

xoxoxo