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Disclaimer

The hair tips, advice and recommendations given on this blog are given based on the experiences of the authors. These tips may not work for everyone and every hair type and it is important to acknowledge this since we are neither hair specialists nor trichologists.


Also many pictures on this blog belong to the authors but there are others that we do not have ownership for and thus we do not claim ownership of the ones that do not belong to us.

Showing posts with label Fashion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fashion. Show all posts

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Pop of colour

Some employers require that their employees dress in neutral colours. This does not have to be a sentence to a "colourless and boring" existence. I suggest you add some pop of colour by using colourful hair accessories to spruce things up a bit. This will make your hair interesting, add some colour to your dressing and honestly it will make you feel so much better too!

In Lagos Nigeria, hair accessories can be purchased in most salons, hair product shops, markets and neighbourhood stores. Of course there are also accessory stores like Diva House of Accessories (Palms Shopping Mall Victoria Island, Lagos) and Accessories 2 Die 4 (Adeniran Ogunsanya Shopping Mall Surulere, Lagos: where you have Shoprite store). There are a lot of Nigerian entrepreneurs making their own line of hair accessories also and these pieces are usually unique and one-of-a-kind.

Here are some pictures for inspiration.



  








 




 







 Oh if you are not keen on colourful hair accessories, pop in some colour through your handbag or shoes or jewelry!







Keep it natural!

Omozo

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Naturals in Complete Fashion

This month's issue of Complete Fashion (Agbani Darego is on the cover) got me grinning from ear-to-ear right from the second (or third?) page.

First, it was the General Editor, Franca Chiedu (Nee Asindi). Her profile picture has her sporting really cute short twists. I have seen Ms. Franca in a TWA, in weaves and braids. And now these tiny twists. It just goes to show that keeping your hair natural and un-relaxed does not mean your hair experience has to be boring. Go ahead and spice it up a bit! Thumbs up Ms France for rocking your natural hair. You look fab in it!




Then there is the spread with the model with the really short cut that looks almost like a fade. The shots are so close up you feel like you can touch her hair. If I could, I would have touched her hair (after getting permission of course! ;)





The icing for me came when I flipped and saw a full page spread with a natural haired model whose hair was styled in a Cinnabun style. So cute! I felt really proud. LOL! Weird huh?





I have to give Complete Fashion 4 thumbs up (I borrowed thumbs for that)! I don't know if they are consciously using natural haired models for their spreads. If it is unconsciously then I encourage them to be more intentional about featuring women with natural un-relaxed hair. We are here, we buy the magazine, we are "Fashionistas" too and it would be great to see representation on their pages.

This is a great start though and I look forward to the edition that will make me hoot, hollar and hop on one foot! Till then ...

Keep it natural!

Omozo



Thursday, November 1, 2012

Ituen Basi Rocks Natural Hair At 2012 MTN Lagos Fashion & Design Week

I think that is the longest blog post heading we have ever had!


Ituen Basi in one of her designs


Anyway, I am a fan of Ituen Basi firstly because I saw her Ankara helmets. I promised myself I would get one and ride on Okada (commercial motorcycle in Nigeria) and take a picture of me. :D




Ituen Basi Ankara Helmets at Arise Fashion Week 2011 *Image from Popafricana.com*

Then I saw her designs and enjoyed them very much. I still do. I think she is the one who brought back the Oleku buba and short wrapper. I plan to own an Ituen Basi piece of clothing. *Nothing wrong with setting goals* She also comes across as modest and not "noisy" like some other designers. Let me explain: you don't see her everywhere on every red carpet attending every event. She keeps a low profile. Plus no be she wey introduce colour blocking ankara style?



Ituen Basi designs


Ituen Basi Dolls

Then I saw she rocks her natural hair too! *sigh* What a lady! Check out the honey brown colour on her TWA at the just concluded 2012 MTN Lagos Fashion & Design Week. She also won the 2012 Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Africa – Africa Fashion International Awards Designer of the Year.



Ituen Basi is the one in the middle with the TWA. Image from Bellanaija

So there you have it friends. I am an Ituen Basi fan *taking a bow*


Keep it natural!

Omozo

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Mega Shoe Sale in Lagos Nigeria this Saturday

I just had to share this! Someone I know went to this shoe sale and got 4 pairs of NEW shoes for Ten Thousand Naira (that is approximately USD$62 for the 4 pairs). You have to at least check it out. Go early because Lagos Babes like a good bargain.


Date: Saturday 3rd December 2011

Time: 10 AM

Venue: City Mall Onikan, Lagos

Contact: For more info and general enquiries BB Pin 26E0AD85
Call 08023965129
Check out their Facebook Page



Friday, November 18, 2011

"The Napp Edition" of The Nigeria Fashion Show Nov 17, 2011

The Nigeria Fashion Show runs from November 17th - 19th. Venue: Muson Centre, Onikan Lagos Nigeria. Runway shows are 12 noon and 6 pm on all days. Exhibition runs from 9 am - 8 pm. We asked a fellow Napp, Ibhaze, to check it out and let us know how it went and here is her report. We interviewed Ibhaze here and she gave us a hair tutorial here.

Salut!

Omozo called me to invite me to the Nigerian Fashion Show. She asked me to go "A-Napp-Hunting", and I’m glad to say that I found a few natural sisters who were nice enough to let themselves be attacked by my questions and my hand in their hair (after asking of course lol) and by my camera. This was my first attempt at interviewing people so I apologize if there isn’t much “meat” for you guys on their hair care regimen and such. Enjoy!

Meet “Stella”!

She is a nice lady who wanted to be kept anonymous. So I’m sorry, I can’t reveal what state she comes from for her to have this type of hair texture. She is Nigerian and this is definitely her natural hair. When I asked what products she uses for her hair, she told me I would be very surprised and she was right. Her hair care routine is very simple.

She washes every 2 weeks with Moroccan oil and conditioner. She applies olive oil in her hair and that's it! She sleeps with her hair wrapped up in a scarf (not necessarily a satin one). She has been natural all her life and intends to stay that way.

“Stella” and her sister will be at the Natural Hair meet-up in V.I. this Saturday 19/11/2011. Her sister makes skin care products for black skin with goat milk. Definitely try to attend this event!

Here’s Bimbola.

I practically tackled her at the end of the event to ask her a few questions, more because of her sunny disposition than anything else. :) Bimbola has been natural and loc'd since 2009. She started her locs by rubbing the foam on her head. As her hair grew longer, she palm-rolled with Jamaican wax. It takes her about 3 hours to re-loc her hair. She uses an anti-itch serum to control itchiness. She washes weekly with “Light Dread” shampoo. She’s another one who takes it easy on her hair and just lets it do its thing.



Hello Ngozi!

One of the models who strutted the runway and she definitely did an awesome job. Not only that, she stood out completely from all the others thanks to her "no-hair" style. Ngozi ("Zika" to her friends) cut her hair in 2008 when she started modelling. She cut it so she could have the low cut style as her signature.

Ngozi never wears wigs nor does she make her hair at all. She usually leaves a bit of a fuzz on but she goes completely bald for fashion shows. She has no plans to grow her hair until she leaves the industry. And I would advice her to keep it short and sweet even afterwards. :)

Hey Patience!

At the end of the fashion show, I snuck into the exhibition centre where designers displayed their creations. As I was looking round for my target, I found Patience and her lovely mane. She was really nice and friendly even after I’d separated her from her friends and shot my questions at her at crazy high speed. I’m sure I spotted a desperate look in her eyes as she watched her friends walk away, leaving her in the hands of a maybe slightly deranged hair-loving freak.

But, she obediently nodded and let me take her picture. I had to follow up via sms as she was scared ... umm ... KIND enough to leave me her number. Patience cut all her hair off and started her locs 5 years ago following a personal traumatic experience. She washes every 3 weeks with a conditioning shampoo.

She says it’s not easy to have a particular look for a long time so when she gets bored, she styles her locs differently, or changes the colour of her hair. Each time Patience changes the style or colour of her hair, she receives nothing but positive responses from people and she gets inspired this way.


Temple Muse Lagos Store Launch

Temple Muse launched their flagship store in Lagos on the 5th of November (No 21 Amodu Tijani, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria). They will be carrying African design brands including: Tiffany Amber, Maatano, Lanre DaSilva-Ajayi and Odio Mimonet. We hope that items from more African designers will be more accessible to the Nigerian shopper. Check out Bella Naija for more info and pictures.

I noticed two ladies rocking their natural hair in the pictures. O'Naturals would like to interview these women. So please, please hook us up if you know them. Thank you!

Courtesy: Bella Naija




Courtesy: Bella Naija


Keep it natural!

Omozo

Sunday, October 30, 2011

MTN Lagos Fashion & Design Week - Where are all the natural haired fashionistas?




 
The MTN Lagos Fashion & Design Week, held at the Eko Convention Centre, Eko Hotel & Suites Lagos, Nigeria, ended yesterday. The event was organized by Style House Files. There were designers who showed their talents on the runway and at the exhibition hall. I made a last minute decision to attend the exhibition yesterday to see if I would spot MY PEOPLE. 'My people" refers to women rocking their natural hair.

With camera in hand, some money in my purse and excitement in my body, I drove down. I stopped at the first table where Zainab Ashadu of Zashadu showcased her lovely bags and belts made out of vintage Aso-Oke, snake skin and I think I saw some Damask there. She had man bags too. I did not meet Zainab because she was preparing models for the runway but I met her sister Karimah. Okay so these sisters are talented! Zainab is a designer and Karimah is a performer, interior and spatial designer and film maker (Karimah's website). Karimah did a solid job promoting the Zashadu label.

And the bonus part is both Zainab and Karimah are natural! Karimah and I chatted gushed about natural hair and products and ingredients that mess with our hair and on and on. After meeting her, I was confident that there were more of us walking through the exhibition. I looked around and unfortunately did not encounter anymore Curlies. I started asking ladies "Excuse me are you natural? I mean do you use relaxers?" Believe o! It was sad sha. I mean there were tons of ladies with ALL SORTS of weaves but none really rocking her napps. I am believing that under some of those weaves, are napps waiting to exhale.

Bags by Zashadu

Zashadu belts




Eye popping pieces by Circa64
Not to be discouraged about not finding other Curlies, I walked around and found Circa64 Jewelry. It was raw will power that stopped me from spending all my money there! This company has beautiful and well made jewelry. Helen is the Style Specialist I met at the table. She did a fab job explaining how I could use the pieces, what to do to keep them from becoming dull and she gave me the various options of purchase. Bought some gifts and ran because my eyes were getting bigger than my pocket!




Lovely necklace by Circa64


 On my way out, I passed Designers' Muse. I had to turn back because of all the shiny things I saw. This company provides designers and craft lovers with the items they need to get their job done. She had buttons, hot glue, novelty fabric, notions and trims, beads and loads more. I got some sequins that I plan to sprinkle on a plain headband that I have.
 
Beads, sequins and gems o my!
Novelty fabrics from Designers' Muse



















Although I did not find many ladies rocking their natural hair, I still got some goodies worth talking about.

Keep it natural!

Omozo