Our Ikeja Branch and Online Styling Course!!

Whoppee!! It's been a long minute and so much has been happening that I must fill you in on!

First of, we opened our GRA Ikeja branch in October!! Yes! Finally we listened to the requests of people that wanted us to come to the mainland and we made it happen!

We are located in B Natural Spa which is 11 Odudwa Way off Isaac John Street so make sure you come by to visit soon!!!

My biggest cheerleader - my mum with Tokunbo Chiedu of Compass Consulting

Protein - Why Our Hair Needs It, And The Right Way to use it.

Hello Everyone!!!

No excuses for my loooong absence yet again so I shall just go straight to the point of today's post!

I will be switching things up a little bit in my posts from now on - using incidents from the salon as a backdrop for addressing what I see as issues people still struggle with, don't understand and are doing wrongly.

SCENRARIO
A lady came into the salon and was being attended to by one of the stylists. I was in the back doing other things and the stylists came to up to me visibly confused and wanted to clarify somethings with me. She said her client had asked for a 'dry protein treatment' and when she tried to explain to her that she had no idea what a 'dry protein treatment' was but what we have are different strengths of protein:
Light
Medium
Heavy/Reconstructors

the client was adamant and said she had done it in the salon before and that was what she wanted. I went over to the client to speak with her and try and explain things. I explained that I have never heard of a dry protein but there are different strengths of protein to which she said she had one she used but couldn't find it to buy so we should use ours.

So I asked the stylist to wash her hair so we can determine what exactly the hair needs. Client shakes her head emphatically - nope she doesn't wash her hair before using the protein treatment. She will apply the treatment to unwashed hair, then shampoo the hair, then do a moisturising deep conditioning treatment.

I'm like - so how will we know exactly what the hair needs if we don't assess it free of product? She goes 'okay my hair is breaking so I need a treatment'

I could see I was getting no where so I asked the stylist to do what she requested to satisfy her.

My Ayurvedic Strengthening Regimen - My Favorite Herbs And How I Use Them.

If you've followed me for some time, you will know how much I love Ayurveda and how much I sing its praises. This is because it is the one thing that when I use consistently, my hair thanks me for and I see a HUGE difference in my hair's health.

My strands are quite fragile and prone to breakage which means that apart from manipulating my hair less, I also need products that strengthen my strands, making them less prone to breakage, so I can retain length better.

So sometime in July last year, I decided I was going to go back to incorporating Ayurveda in my regimen and was also going to stick with it long term.

As great as Ayurveda is, the downside to it is that it is quite messy and also time consuming so it's easy to stray from. However, I decided I would make time specially for my hair treatments so that I would have no excuses.

Caring For Your Hair, Skin And Nails From The Inside Out: Focus - MSM and Vitamin C

Sometimes we're so focused on using products topically to enhance the health and promote the growth of our hair; or products to get rid of acne on our skin or nail hardeners to give strength to brittle nails. However, what most people don't realise is that applying products topically is never nearly enough, taking other things like our eating habits and lifestyle into consideration.

So did you know that your hair, skin and nails are the very last parts of our bodies to get nutrients from the food we eat? What this means is that if you eat a lot of junk or your diet doesn't have as many nutrients as it ought to; the body will distribute what little nutrients it can get from the food to the other more important organs and parts of your body. By the time it gets to your hair and nails - oops! Nothing left to give nourishment!

This is why it is very important to ensure that we eat healthy meals, drink lots of water for hydration and if you are deficient in any kind of mineral (like some people are iron deficient) then a supplement will be really good.

Apart from being deficient in certain minerals, it is possible to support your diet with a few supplements to ensure that you are getting the best that certain minerals have to offer in the maintenance of healthy hair, skin and nails.

New Year, New Goals, New Me, New Everything!!!

Happy New Year Everyone!! I CANNOT believe it has been 8 MONTHS since I last blogged!!! Oh my my my! 2017 was truly interesting, eventful, amazing, intense and challenging; but through the tears, struggle, triumphs, learning curves, hair pulling and trials, I got stretched so much and I am truly thankful for where KL's as a business is and also where I am as a woman and a Beauty - Preneur!

UPDATES

HAIRSTYLIST COURSE 

So! At the time I posted last in May, I was in the middle of a 6 month hair stylist course run by the L'Oreal Hair Institute. That in and of itself was a huge sacrifice and struggle! It was 8.30 am - 1pm  every Monday to Wednesday  - Combine that with trying to oversee 2 salons (one of which was just 3 months when I started the course) and you can imagine how many panic attacks I got in that period loll!

My Ongoing Hair Stylist Course At The L'oreal Institute!!

I'm a firm believer in self improvement - regardless of what profession, business or level you find yourself in. So when I heard that L'Oreal had partnered with Make Me Salon to bring The L'Oreal institute to Lagos, there was no way I was going to miss that opportunity!!!

With Omozo and Eva - Out of 7 ladies, 6 of us are natural lollll

It meant I would have to sacrifice A LOT  as it requires attending classes 3 days  a week (8.30 am - 1pm) Seeing as I now have 2 salons, have to continue with business development, staff training, personal appointments etc; I was understandably a little worried but I had a little pep talk with myself - better bite the bullet now, 6 months will pass quickly before you know it (yes it's a 6 month course!!) and you can use this as an opportunity to start separating yourself from the business :)

Some Natural Hair Styles To Beautify Your Week Ahead

Good morning beautiful people! I trust you've all had an amazing weekend so far and are looking forward to the new week ahead.

Just thought I'd bring you a few of the gorgeous hair styles we've created on some of our lovely clients, just to encourage someone out there that natural hair is beautifully versatile and you can achieve soooo much!!!

Happy viewing

luscious thick hair styled into this simple yet gorgeous roll effect

This next one we named the 'Glowreeyah" (Go figure loll). Some intricate weaving and crochet on top with some colored extensions; styled into this gorgeousness.

KL's Naturals Will Be At The Mercedes Benz World PR Beauty Business Week!

So!! Mercedes Benz and World PR Media have partnered to bring us the first edition of The Mercedes Benz World PR Beauty BusinessWeek, here in Lagos for the next couple of days! So if you can, make some time available on your calendar for Wednesday the 17th of May to Friday the 19th of May 2017.

There will be 3 days of exhibitions, seminars/workshops; all being held at the Mercedes Benz Showroom at Ikate, Lekki Expressway.

When asked why Mercedes Benz as a partner; Chief Executive of World Pr Media and Founder of Beauty Business Week Mrs. Tayo Afolabi is quoted as saying:

"The Beauty Business Week was created as an avenue to profile the trends and stakeholders in the Beauty Industry and partnering with Mercedes Benz to execute same was perfect due to one of the luxury car giant's CSR aim to promote indigenous products/services in countries it has presence in"

Pictures From Our Recently Concluded Natural Hair Workshop

Hello beautiful people! It's been tooooo long!!! My goodness. I have so much to fill you up on as so much has been happening, but today we will start with our recently concluded Natural Hair Workshop,which held on the 20th and 21st of April.

Part of our mission at KL's Natural Beauty Bar is to equip stylists and hands on Naturalistas with knowledge and techniques, and in fulfilling this mission, we try to organize regular workshops to educate and train people in the science of hair, proper ways of handling hair and styling tips/ techniques.

Our recently concluded workshop focused on maintaining, nurturing and growing natural hair; and building regimens for different hair types.

Design Essentials Quinoa And Bamboo Hair Repair Collection Review.

I had been rocking these absolutely gorgeous kinky twists (if I may say so myself) for a little over 3 weeks and I was in love and not having my usual withdrawal symptoms of missing my own hair. Then of course something had to come in between me and my beloved twists -breakouts on my face!!! Anytime the extensions I have on begin to get old AND touch my face, it's a wrap.

Happens EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. I had to take them out. I would rather deal with bad hair than bad facial skin - FACT lolll. I can't shout.

Anyway, I took them out Sunday morning and I had no time to detangle much less wash the hair - I had a full salon work day ahead of me! So I applied Natmaine's Pre Poo butter which leaves my hair soooo soft and shiny; and then put it into bun and went to work.

 I was mentally contemplating what I would do with the hair and knew I would have to wash it  - but the thought of detangling, washing, doing a henna treatment for strength and then a moisturizing deep conditioner was exhausting in and of itself! I knew my hair needed some strength and nourishing particularly as I'd just taken out synthetic extensions which weaken and dry out hair.

I then remembered we had these Design Essentials Quinoa and Bamboo Hair Repair collection kits which offer a simple 3 step routine to stronger hair, more body and shine. I was definitely digging that. Best of all, it says on the box ' No heat required. 30 minutes or less' I was definitely sold at this point!

I used it last night and have come to share my experience, my thoughts and most importantly how my hair felt then and feels now. So here goes!

Social Media Week 2017 - I'll Be On a Panel Discussing Technology And The Natural Hair Movement!!

Social Media Week is Upon us!!!!

Yup, so it started yesterday February 27th and shall run till Friday March 3rd. As we all know, we live in a digitalized age and things keep moving pretty fast - so it's a great way to find out how you can utilize technology in the different areas of your life, new opportunities you could explore and new ways of doing business.

The line up of for this week include interesting topics such as 'Become a Kick Ass Tech Mum' 'Gender Equality In The Digital Age' 'Building the Next Billion Naira Business: 4 Things You Should Know' etc.

I have the honor of speaking this year and I will be on a panel discussing 'Technology and The Natural Hair Movement' Click here for more details

My Weird Online Bullying Experience.

It's funny how some things happen and you literally laugh it off but later you realise that it actually was not cool in anyway and even though you let it slide, how about people who are more vulnerable to such negative behaviour?

Such was my experience over a 3 week period last month - I had posted a video on Instagram showing me with Henna in my hair and initially the comments were questions about henna and its benefits etc. The video then got featured on the Naturalista Channel and thus got more views from men and women alike the world over and that's when the nastiness started.

I had people saying I looked 'nasty' or 'ewwwww' 'yuck' or  I should go take a bath; or I had poop in my hair, or my favourite 'wash your nappy hair, thanks' lolllllll Like seriously!!!

It now got to the point where I had other people championing my cause so for instance in response to
the 'wash your nappy hair thanks' message, someone said 'kill yourself. thanks. To which he replied 'at least my hair will be clean when I die'

Our Beautiful Brides (and bridesmaids) Slaying Their Natural Tresses!

It's been too long since I did a bridal post so I have decided to do a long overdue one - bringing us up to speed on all our gorgeous brides (and bridesmaids in some instances)

Meet Jennifer - gorgeous bride with simple tastes. She had a train of 5 and we helped style them all!

Pictures From Our Lekki Launch!

With Design Essentials Representatives

I can't believe it's been 2 weeks already! As always, the year is racing by like no man's business! Anyway, thank God for a successful opening and Beard Line Launch! We are so grateful to all those who took time out to honour our invitation and came to spend some time with us as we formally opened our Lekki branch and launched our Beard Line.

With my Mama :)

Love this couple! Pastor Yemi and Sister Amanda Amusan

Beard Oil

Beard Batter

Beard and Face Wash

My 'Her Given Hair' U Part Wig.

If you've read a couple of my posts you would have noticed there are 2 things I absolutely love - Crotchet braids and wigs!! I also like big hair so I'm very partial to afro or curly textured extensions. When it comes to 'Human Hair' extensions for natural hair, the ones I've worked with and love are Heat Free and Her Given Hair so when I got the chance to get my very own Her Given Hair  U Part wig, I was over the moon!!

Just like most other makers of natural human hair extensions, there are 3 types of textures - Kinky, Coily and Curly. In my experience, the Kinkiest textures are typically very hard to maintain and I really wasn't in the mood to handle 2 heads of kinky hair (counting mine of course) So I opted for the Coily texture which is somewhere in between Kinky and curly.

KLS Lekki Branch is Now Open!!

Praise God!!!

Goodness me! It's been such a whirlwind of activity in the last month! We had originally planned to open late December but trust artisans in Nigeria - that was not to be!!! "We will finish today", "no it's tomorrow", "no the wood is not ready", "the sand was not received". Honestly, exasperation doesn't even begin to explain how I felt (and still feel actually) with these workers!

Anyway, we have been able to overcome most of the delays and opened up shop! We're at Flat 1, 11A, Kayode Otitoju Street, Lekki Phase 1. On Admiralty way, turn at Tantalizers unto Admiralty Road and take the 2nd right. That's it!! We're on the ground floor in the building adjacent to Edgewood College (right under Just Gerry's)

I decided that we'll start now and overcome our teething problems before the place gets really busy and thank God we've been good!

Loving My Inverted Braids Plus Cornrow Combination

Hi everyone and Merry Christmas!!! Trust we've all been eating and having a merry time this holiday season! I'm sure I've gained a few pounds already but I shall not think too much of it - I shall go into operation melt the pounds off in the days to come :)

It's been such an incredibly busy time what with the season, trying to get the new place ready and a million other things happening at the same time! I knew I wouldn't have time to worry about my hair so decided to put it away in a protective style - but this time I wanted something a little different from what I would usually do.

KL's Natural Beauty Bar Is Coming To Lekki!!!

I am beyond excited to share this news!!! Our expansion plans for the year have finally taken root! It has been such an interesting journey - one which I will share soon.

3 Day Intensive Natural Hair Training!

To round up the year, we will be doing one last 3 day natural hair training workshop showcasing how to get some gorgeous, eye turning red carpet updos, how to get amazing silk presses on natural hair and also utilizing amino acid treatments; and finally how to help your client (or yourself) transition with as little trouble as possible.

Having Fun At The Genevieve Beauty Awards

Firstly I want to say a big big thank you to everyone who took time out to vote for me! Though we didn't win (this time) it meant so much to me that:
1. My work was recognised
2. So many people were full of encouragement and went out of their way to vote and also got others to vote.

I am truly thankful!

Okay so having said that, the awards show (this was their first) was billed to start at 5pm on Sunday the 13th of Novemer -  I had planned on getting there for 6/6.30 thinking that they wouldn't start on time (hides face).

I had deliberated on what I would wear - it's an award show, I was a nominee so I had to look great right? :) My really good friend Kix suggested I go to Moofa Designs and seeing as they're also in Dolphin, that made it easier for me. I browsed their instagram page and saw this pretty blue dress that looked like it would be perfect.


Went in the next day and there the dress was just waiting for me to pick it up lollll. Seriously though, I tried it on and it was a near perfect fit. They just needed to take a few inches in on the sides and take the hem up a little as it was too long and that was it!

Natural Nigerian, Moi, Dabs of Naijahaircangrow and YellowSisi

So Sunday dawns bright and early and I have all sorts of things lined up on my schedule including styling hair for a couple of models on a shoot for Stella's Addiction and Eleanor Goody. Of course I got caught up at work and ended up leaving the salon at almost 4pm. Still had to go get make up done, clean up and dress up!

I hate rushing through stuff so I was already getting a little panicky when my makeup didn't start till 5pm - finished just before 6 and rushed home to get dressed. At this point I still wasn't sure what I was doing with my hair so I knew I would have to create something fast!