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!

Some Of My Favourite Hairstyles From December And January!

I can't believe how quickly January has gone by!! Goodness me! Next thing you know, we'll be saying Happy Easter then it will be Merry Christmas again!! I'm more motivated than ever to pursue my goals with greater intensity!! Truly, time will pass regardless of whether you're utilizing it or not.

So! January went off to a great start and I just wanted to share a few of my favourite hair styles crafted in the salon , with you!

So first up is this lovely young lady I like to call my 'muse' loll. My hands and her hair get along so well. From time to time, she'll come to me and ask for 'one of my styles' and once my hand gets in her hair, it's so easy creating something we both love.

Her inspiration for this was this updo I'd done on Osemhena a while back.

So I modified it a little and these are the results!

Second up is this yummy mummy who came on the recommendation of her cousin. She doesn't live in Nigeria and she says she always has to sort her hair out herself as she can't seem to find natural hair salons where she resides. When her cousin spoke to her about KL's she decided she'd try it out.

Now her hair is long and thick and fluffy (that's the best word to describe how her hair felt honestly) I thoroughly enjoyed playing in her hair. Decided to give her a Jumbo Flat Twist updo so she could get both eye catching style and longevity. She left with happy smiles!

Working With Dionne Smith - International Hair Stylist extraordinaire!

Phew!!!! The last 4 days have been something else. I am so knackered but so excited and happy at the same time! So the 2015 Beauty Africa Expo came by and it was definitely bigger than it was last year - a lot more stalls and products on display; more workshops with professionals giving invaluable advice and in some cases hands on practical tips; more topics were also included in this year's edition.

I got invited by Design Essentials to work at their stand and of course I jumped at the opportunity. International Hair Stylist and Educator for Design Essentials Dionne Smith was going to be showcasing 3 hairstyles for Naturalistas and how could I miss the opportunity to learn! So I happily got myself ready and went off to Eko Hotel. When I got in, 2 of the models had already been prepped so I got started on the third model and did a basic cornrow updo leaving the top undone for the live demo.

Flat Twists - Oh How I Love Thee!

So this customer came in yesterday for a flat twist updo I'd created on someone she saw. Was going for about 8 flat twists initially but her edges wouldn't allow it and the style would have come undone much quicker so I added 3 more flat twists for this do.

To add to the beauty of the style, her growing out color made the style pop that much more.  Loves it!

My Lovely Brides!

I absolutely love being a part of the 'Big Day' for ladies. It is such a special day - when you make one of the biggest decisions of your life and begin a new phase in the attainment of your destiny. It's truly honoring when I get chosen to be a part of that day and I don't take it lightly.

I've had a number of gorgeous brides over the last couple of months actually - unfortunately for me, quite a number were those where you have the traditional engagement and wedding  on the same day and you know what that usually means: manic rush at the end. That usually means I barely have enough time to finish the hair let alone take my time in getting some decent pictures.


Having said that, I present to you pictures of my gorgeous brides from May, June and July!

First up is the lovely, sweet, Fola - her style was very simple with minimal fuss particularly as she had a statement headpiece so we didn't want too  many things going on. As with a lot of weddings these days, traditional and church were on the same day (so you know exactly what that means lol)

A Season of Proms and Updos!

I love me my flat twists!

It's been a little while!There's so much going on and so little time it seems to get everything done in the alloted time we have daily!!!! Something's cooking in the KL's kitchen and I can't wait for that time when I can let it all out!! 

Anyways, so last Sunday I had the pleasure of styling 2 young ladies for their proms! I know right?!

 I remember my own prom like it was yesterday - my date was supposed to come pick me for about 4pm I think (I lived in Festac and he lived in Ikeja and we were going to Queens College in Yaba lol). By 5pm I was anxiously looking out the window thinking what in the world had gone wrong while trying not to believe I had been stood up (there were no mobile phones in those days so my mind had a field day conjuring up every imaginable scenario) by the time it was 6pm; my family quietly left me in the living room downstairs and went upstairs - it was as if they wanted to leave me alone with the shame of being stood up because at this time, we'd run out of excuses as to what could have gone wrong.

He eventually turned up at almost 7pm (he'd apparently got lost or something trying to get into Festac) and my joy at not being stood up knew no bounds. We finally made it to prom even though I missed most of everything that had happened!

Enough about me - my beautiful princesses from last weekend wanted a nice formal 'do for their event and I hooked them right up!

Playing around with my Hair

I decided that this week I would not put my hair up in a puff - it's so common for me these days that it's made me creatively lazy. So on Tuesday I wore my hair out in an afro after taking down the braids I'd put my hair in the day before to allow to air dry after washing.

Wednesday, I took out a banana clip and created a u part in front of my hair, made 2 chunky twists and pinned them down. Then I put the rest of the hair in the banana clip and created 2 flat twists with the hair that was in the clip.

My August Brides!

So in August, I had 2 gorgeous but absolutely different brides to style. Mosun -  Viviacious, Ebony -skinned, care free, straight talker who wanted to add volume to her hair (she has a TWA) using the awesome Heat Free Hair. She'd originally wanted to get a full weave but on seeing the style that she had picked I knew a weave would not work and it would be better to use clips so the hair could be put into the sections needed for the style she wanted.

Bundle of Heat Free Hair Clip in's as advertised

Now, seeing as we were going to be using extensions, it was important that we at least had one trial run so we could see what could and could not be done or what modifications we would need to make to the style to suit her face. Challenge was she's based in Kwara and somehow we weren't able to find a day to sit down and do anything!

By the Friday evening before her wedding when she was back in Lagos, I was hyperventilating as not only had I not picked up the hair, but we hadn't even sat down to figure out how we were going to style the hair! Mosun was as calm as you can imagine lol you'd have thought it was my wedding the way i was fretting. She just said to me ' you know what? We'll just have to go with the flow' and I was like '*gulp* okay'.