My First Natural Hair Meet-up

The event: Kurls & Kocktails

Venue: Sierra Lounge, Yaya Center-Nairobi.

Hosts:Kurly Kichana

Theme: Retro Glam

Wow! I can't believe that in a few days it'll be one year since I attended my first natural hair meet-up as I started my natural hair journey! Here's a recap of the event.

When I first found out about this meet-up, I was beyond excited to know that such an event could be held right here in my home city. Having been away from Nairobi for a while, the amount of natural-haired ladies that I bumped into while walking downtown Nairobi, reassured me that I was not the only one going through a 'natural hair phase'. My sister and I made arrangements to attend the event as it also coincided with another important one that was taking place in Nairobi, and a chance to see friends and family once again. Although I missed one of my favorite musician-Erika Badu's concert in Nairobi which was a day or two before this event, I finally found contentment in being able to attend this meet-up. It was a great opportunity to get to meet other natural hair lovers as well as those in the process of transitioning back to natural hair. We also exchanged tips and advice on styling and maintaining natural hair, observed hair and make-up demonstrations , swapped products, forged friendships and most importantly encouraged one other on this hair journey. All this while we sipped on our drinks and nibbled on carefully selected, well prepared and authentically served bitings.

The lovely ladies of Kurly Kichana- Mary doing a hair demonstration on Nyachomba's hair.

Makeup artist Wacuka Thimba illustrating a make-up tutorial

 The beautiful friends we made...............

 
 Ess Kay was dashing in red and black and Dorothy had a beautiful pin-up.

  the glamorous ladies Wachu and Marion

 exchanging contacts with Kung'ara

 Carefully listening



 
 Met a childhood friend- Wonderful Wanja ever smiling

 Natural Sisters



It was an enchanting experience.



Keep smiling :)

My first Wash n go using a Bra strap & a Stocking

This was very accidental since I was heading out of the house in a hurry and did not even have time to think about how I was going to wear my hair. So, I first washed my hair using Creme of Nature Sulfate free shampoo and then Deep Conditioned using Organics Olive Oil Deep Conditioner. My hair felt very soft and clean and it gave me such a lovely curl definition. Since I didn't have an Eco Styler gel, I used a Nice & Lovely Firm Hold Gel (in a pink tub).  

I had to improvise a head band, so I took one stretchy elastic strap from one of my bras and pulled it up my hair in an upward motion (pineapple?) then to hide the bra strap I cut one leg piece from a used stocking and Viola!  

I finger coiled a small portion of the front fringe

and was ready to go!

even had a few minutes left for a few selfies :)

I love my natural hair!

Keep smiling :)

                                                                                                                     

Flat-twistout using my homemade butter -Pictorial

So after wearing my box braids for about 5 weeks(that's too long for me), I decided it was time to get them out of my head. Once they were out, I wasn't too sure how I was going to wear my hair, but I definitely knew that I didn't want to subject my hair and scalp to any more stress. So I finally pulled myself together and made a mixture of hair butters and oils that I've been meaning to do for ages.

 So I put everything out on my kitchen counter after trying to get the original recipe from a post I saw on Tricia's Naturals. Since I failed to find the post again, I turned to YouTube and Google as usual, but ended up doing my own version.
 
 

Procedure:

Since this was an experiment, I was using little portions. Using a double boiler method, I poured hot water in a medium glass bowl, and placed a small plastic bowl on top of the water.

 I kept adding the butters and oils as I went on, not knowing what to expect and when I got impatient, I used my hand mixer to finish the job.

 When I was satisfied with the consistency, I poured the mixture into a small plastic container.

Since I did not want to waste any of my precious butter, I scraped the warm leftover mixture from the bowl and electric mixer and applied it directly on my freshly washed hair.


 
 I washed my hair using Dudu Osun Black African Soap, which I recently discovered...............

 .........and then Deep Conditioned the hair for 5 mins with Herbal Essences Hello Hydration Deep Conditioner.

  

Hair was really smooth but I also lost quite a lot of it-due to my carelessness(I kept the braids in my hair for much too long which really irritated my scalp). So I made four matutas/two-strand twists, tucked in the ends and went to bed.

Next day I unraveled the hair and couldn't believe how smooth and curly my hair still was, so I decided to put in some flat twists.

Not as neat as I wanted them to be since the butter made my hair quite slippery............

 And after 2 days of wearing flat twists, it was time to unleash them :)

 

 I was clearly very impressed with the results.....................

.............and had to find a way to style it

 I reached for my flower.............................

 tried a bun too

but at last, I just let it be. It was a success!

Keep smiling!