Omozo of O'Naturals featured in AIT report on natural hair in Nigeria.

Natural hair in Nigeria is getting some "screen time" in Nigeria. Check out the report aired last Saturday (August 3, 2013) on AIT in Nigeria. The clip with Natural Nigerian and I was recorded at the last Naturals in the city (NITC 6) and I had just finished talking on how to select a hairstyle. Oh did you see African Naturalistas' products? And Natmane who styles hair in Abuja is in the report too. The momentum can only get better and it will!

Yeah they got my last name wrong! And why was I speaking so fast?


Enjoy!

Keep it natural!

Omozo

Funmi Iyanda's TWA at 2012 Ovation Red Carol

Funmi Iyanda did the big chop a while ago and it is cool to see her rock her TWA at a red carpet event. Natural hair is not so "out of place" these days. It is great to see some of our celebrities embracing their natural hair. And who can forget Nse at the 2012 AMAA Awards?




Source: www.bellanaija.com





Source: www.bellanaija.com

 Keep it natural!

Omozo

4 Reasons NOT to Trim Your Hair - Courtesy Jc

Would you believe you would ever hear this? Trimming is an important technique used to get rid of split ends and those stubborn knots you can not detangle with your fingers. Jc of The Natural Haven explains on BGLH why there are times you should not trim your hair.

In summarry you should not trim your hair if:

1. You trimmed it last week

2. You notice one side is longer than the other

3. Your ends appear thin/ see through but you regularly do search and destroy trims



4. Your ends are dry or do not curl like they used to but you cannot see split ends

What say you?

Keep it natural!

Omozo

Hair Rant - Cabella

We have to deal with so many mis-informed stereotypes and misconceptions.

Why is it that you automatically start talking about messy, unkempt, dirty hair when we are talking about natural hair? As if relaxed hair cannot be messy, unkempt, or dirty. Why do we natural haired women have to defend our choice to wear our hair in its natural form? How did we get to the point where natural hair, worn in its natural form, is considered unacceptable? Shouldn't the question be 'why are you relaxing your hair?' NOT 'why don't you relax your hair?'

Oh how about in the work place?! Why is it that no one challenges a woman when she wears a fake afro, a fake twist out, fake locs or a fake afro puff but when I wear exactly those hairstyles on my natural hair you start to talk arrant rubbish?! Yes it is rubbish! Ah and when the 'half caste' woman walks in with her natural hair as is, all of you start cooing about how lovely her hair is. *insert long hiss here!*




Source: Memegenerator

 Natural haired women talk about "taming" their hair for the workplace yet one woman walks in with a long , big and straight weave and that is okay. No taming is required there abi? Come on people!

It is so messed up! The worst of all of this is that people see nothing wrong with it. And they will sit down, stand up in their self righteous tone and 'explain' why straight hair is better or why BLACK natural hair is not.






Source: The Angry Black Woman


You see the issue is not the hairstyle. The issue is that I am styling my natural hair in its naturalness. Like I said above, if I go to the office with a fake twist out I will get compliments and be asked where I got the fake hair from. Enter me another day with my natural hair in a twist out and as soon as they know it is my natural hair, I will start getting useless and unsolicited advise from people. The message is HIDE your natural hair and all will be right with the world. *insert an even longer hiss!*

Why is MY natural hair YOUR business? Mind your own business and leave my hair alone!

If people heard that I was not hiring people because they wear weaves will there not be an outcry? Yet folks think it is okay not to hire or promote a woman because she is wearing her natural hair in its natural form. No be one kind madness be this?

Imagine a dark skinned person being told to "lighten" up for clients. Or a tall person being told to "shorten" down for their job. How about someone with light brown eyes being told to "darken" those eyes to look more professional? The point is, those attributes are natural and why should they be changed whether permanently or temporarily?

What is vexing is that I am constantly being 'advised' to PERMANENTLY OR TEMPORARILY ALTER THE TEXTURE of my hair. Like permanently alter your skin colour. My hair is coily, kinky, nappy, natural - whatever you want to call it. That is the texture and I ain't changing it!

*dropping mic and kicking soap box*

Cabella

Take Out Your Locs - Courtesy Z of LITK

So I never believed you could take out your locs until I saw this post by Z of LITK. Z took out her locs and returned "Poofy" to the fro! At first I screamed "WHYYYYYYYY!" But then I was intrigued. I saw her with locs and then with the locs picked out. Unfortunately there is no video on how she picked out the locs. However, it is great to know that it can be done and you do not have to cut your hair. Check out the post here and see what her hair looked like after she took out the locs.

Here is the video ofZ talking about taking out her locs.

Here is a You Tube video showing you how to take out your locs. Lots of work but worth it.

Keep it natural!

Omozo

Uneven hair - Long here short there

Twisted my hair and took a good long hard look at it. It is glaringly obvious now that the back of my hair is much longer than the front and sides. Hmmmm ... I know that the back grows faster than the rest of my head (hair?) but now it seems to be very obvious. I thought about cutting the back to match the rest of my hair and decided against it. And here is why:

1) If my "back hair" grows faster than the rest then cutting it will not stop it from growing faster than the rest of my hair. Sure for some time I may have even hair length all over my head but that will change because my back hair will just outgrow the rest of my hair

2) Who says I have to have even hair length anyway?

3) It kinda looks like a mullet hair cut *cringe* with the twists in but in a twist out or Afro, it looks fly!

4) Finally, my hair is growing so what's the fuss? *shrug*

I say all of the above to say this: it is always good to question some of the assumptions and beliefs we have about hair (and life too). Now that I have thought about it, there is really no reason why having faster growing hair on one part of my head should be an issue.

So good people, some of the expectations we have for our hair (and selves) are just baseless and not necessarily beneficial (some things are permissible / allowed but not necessarily beneficial). When these baseless expectations are made the rule, whether knowingly or not, we become stressed over nothing. So chill out on the "my hair is not soft" or "my hair is not tightly or loosely coiled" or "my twists don't hang like that" or "my hair shrinks too much" or ... Get my drift? Just stick to the "good hair practices" and you will have healthy hair. And trust me, healthy is better than anything else.

Keep it natural!

Omozo

Halle Berry on the cover of Interview Mag

So here is Halle Berry with an afro looking delish on the cover of Interview Magazine. Can she ever look yama yama? Even when she cried while receiving her Oscar, she looked cute! Loving the BIG AFRO. Maybe I'll rock a BIG Afro this weekend. #justthinking




We see you Ms Berry



The Shoes? The Dress? The Chair? The Sunglasses? All cool!

Keep it natural!

Omozo

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

"Is this your hair" cartoon

I have been asked this question so many times! No one has asked if I am mixed though. Hmmmm ... Anyway, it still amazes me that some people believe that natural un-relaxed and / or black folk hair cannot grow long. FYI: It can grow to the length you want it to grow.

Check out our blog post about my encounter with a lady who did not believe my natural twists are real. She thought I had extensions in. What was outrageous to me was that she had locs in her hair! I know: weird right?! *SMH* Maybe she thought her locs would stay stubs forever. I tire o!

Source: Hairgetskinky.com

Keep it natural!

Omozo

Protective Styling



Twists



So here you are with your hair: short, long and in between. And maybe it is even a mix of relaxed and natural hair. Or maybe it is relaxed hair. There are many things you can do to your hair to keep it healthy. Protective styling is one of those things. 

The objective of protective styling is to limit the frequency with which you manipulate your hair. By manipulating our hair I am referring to when we pull, stretch, tug, roll etc our hair and when our hair is subject to frequent snagging from our clothes or jewelry. The more we manipulate our hair the more likely we are to damage our hair and loose the hair length and hair health we have built up over time. So less manipulation is better for hair health and growth.



Twists




Kinky twists



Bantu Knots

How much manipulation is too much manipulation? That is a tough question because I cannot say the ideal is to manipulate once a week or twice a week. I have talked to a lot of women who have healthy hair and I noticed that they manipulate on average weekly or every two weeks. So they wash, condition and style weekly or every two weeks. This is not a rule. The principle is to reduce how often you subject your hair to "stresses" and "tension". Intro Protective Styling. When protective styling is used, the wearer is then restircted from excessive "touching" of the hair. And that is the idea! No touching. Not touching. No touching for a period of time so your hair can rest.

Braids

 


Corn rows with braids in front



Twist and pinned twists



Corn rows with bantu knots on the ends



In my opinion, the common protective technique natural haired women use is twists. However, there are many other techniques like: braids, corn rows, African threading, flat twists, coils, bantu knots, bunning etc. You also have weaves, yarn braids, kinky braids and other styles done with extensions. And of course you can also use a wig. I usually recommend that you keep in extensions for four to six weeks maximum. I heard the loud laughter! It is my recommendation ;D





Braids with extensions





A wig

 
And people get creative with these protective techniques and that's where "styling" meets "protective". I have mixed corn rows and twists, corn rows and African threading, twists and bantu knots to get some interesting styles. The point is: be creative. Yes, you want to keep your hair healthy but it doesn't mean it should be boring all the time!

Corn rows and African threading

So what is your favourite protective technique and how do you style your hair with it?

Keep it natural!

Omozo

Love her locs (and her attitude)

I spotted this lady's lovely locs when I went to visit a client. Her disposition was lovely too! I could not help myself and had to tell her her locs were uber cool and she complimented my twists too. You know how we Napps do! :D

Of course we got talking and I found out her locs are 7 years old. She told me how she went for a job interview when her locs were new: about 2 years old and they "stood up" at that time. Many people close to her said that the employers would not take her seriously with her locs. She made a decision to go for the interview anyway. She had expertise to offer and if the company did not employ her because of her locs, it was their loss. She has been working for the company for 5 years: apparently they took her seriously!

We chatted a few more minutes before I had to leave. One thing I remember is this: she had a big smile on her face throughout our brief chat. I would like to think it was because she was hanging out with me (call me Ms Vain!). Something tells me it was more than that. Her loveliness was from deep within. ;)

Keep it natural (and naturally lovely),

Omozo

Harmattan and Dry Ends

For many of us around the world, the cold / dry season is approaching. In Nigeria, we call it harmattan. It can get really dry, dusty and cold. During this period lots of things can get drier: your lips, your feet, your hands, your throat, your clothes hung outside and your natural hair too. So what can be done to limit / prevent the season from taking a negative toll on your hair?

I read a simple, straightforward blog post on Curly Nikki on how to cope with dry ends. The great thing about the post is that these are healthy hair practices that really should be done as part of your regular hair routine. The post discusses 5 steps including: deep conditioning, moisturizing and sealing, trimming etc.

I would like to emphasize moisturizing and sealing. If you have not already done so, consider using a conditioner (rinse out or leave-in) as part of your regular hair routine and then putting your sealant over it. This helps retain more moisture in your hair for a bit longer. Your sealant can be any of the butters you prefer (Shea, cocoa, mango) or natural oils (olive, jojoba) or a mixture of both.

 Check out the full post here.

Keep it natural!

Omozo

A trim in time

I no longer fear the scissors and trims. I have had my share of horrific experiences when it comes to getting my hair "trimmed". You know the times when you ask the stylist to take "a little" off the ends and you stir from sweet salon slumber to see you just got that Halle Berry Bond Girl cut! And in Nigeria the stylist may soothe your screams and tears by telling you the style is "reigning" or  "it fits you oh!" Yeah those ones!

I typically trim my ends myself. My hair is long enough now for me to be able to pull the back hairs to the side to see what I am doing. Taking off a little hair off your ends is referred to by some people as "dusting". Now if you need a major cut it is advisable to go to a professional. I gave myself a major big chop in 2008 and let's just end the story now with "bwaahhahhahahaha at the lop sided result"!

My last trim was last April so I'd say I was due. Plus my ends looked dry and like they needed help. And the ends had started snagging, more than usual, whenever I was taking out my twists. For me all these are signs that I need a trim. How do I trim my hair?

1) I trim my hair just before taking out old tiny twists;

2) I put my hair in sections and get out my SHARP pair of scissors. Don't use blunt scissors because you do more harm than good;

Put hair in sections to make it easier to work through

Sharp scissors please. If unsure, buy a new pair.

3) I stand in front of the mirror and decide how much to take off and I trim one twist at a time. I never trim two or three twists together.

Looking at the mirror to make sure I do not trim off too much hair

All done?

My ends look much better than before

Time to take out the old twists, shampoo, deep condition and style. It is much easier taking out twists after trimming and I have less snags.

So there you have it. Go to a professional if you are not comfortable trimming your hair yourself. Just be sure to stay awake and alert!

Keep it natural!

Omozo

Natural Haired Brides - this one is for you

More and more natural haired ladies are looking for ways to wear their beautiful natural hair for their wedding. I have met with many brides to discuss styling options for their wedding day. Some share how they have been told to "just relax your hair for your wedding" OR "fix a weave" and of course "you cannot wear natural hair for your wedding o!" Really people? REALLYYYYY? *sigh*

Munaluchi Bride has some help for the natural haired bride. Thanks Munaluchi Bride! Check out the article and pictures and be inspired.

Source: Munaluchi Bride

Keep it natural!

Omozo

5 Must-Have Items

The longer my hair stays natural and the more I learn about healthy hair, the fewer products I use. At one point, I had so many hair products that some friends came over just to know what product I had just bought! Not so anymore thank God (and I know my bank account is dancing too)! There are some items I realized that I have always had with me for my hair.

So the 5 items I THINK every natural haired person should have are:

1) A wide tooth comb or a brush or something you can use to detangle your hair (that could be your fingers too). I have a wide tooth comb and a Denman brush. I use my fingers to detangle when I take out any hairstyle before I wash my hair. I use my comb or brush after washing my hair.

2) A satin or silk scarf or pillowcase to wrap your hair when you sleep to retain some moisture in your hair. I prefer a scarf if I cannot have both because it keeps my hairstyle in longer and reduces the occurrence of frizz.

3) A spray bottle (or 2 or 3) for water and any other moisture or oil based product you need for your hair. I have a few spray bottles. One for water. Another for some oil. And the third for a mix of water, glycerin and peppermint oil. I have big, medium and small spray bottles.

4) A shower cap (or old nylon or plastic bag) to cover your hair for deep conditioning. We know that deep conditioning helps moiturize our hair. Trapping heat is essential when deep conditioning and a shower cap assists with this.

5) A butter or oil product (or both) for sealing and conditioning your hair. I use shea butter or cocoa butter or both mixed together.

So what items do you think every Napp should have in her arsenal of hair care products? What are yours?

Keep it natural!

Omozo

Another slamming twist out!

Remember the last blog post about the 3 week old twists? Check it out here. So after rocking the revitalized twists for a week I took out the twists and here is what the twist out looked like.

Can someone scream D-E-F-I-N-I-T-I-O-N!!!!! I totally loved the look and decided to rock the twist out for another week. You guessed right I took it to work. And not a peep of complaint from anyone at work. They are learning *wink*

So this is how it "happened":
1) I washed and conditioned my hair as usual and used thread to stretch my hair
2) I did micro twists with my usual shea butter mix
3) After the 3rd week  I used gel to roll my hair with rollers (see post)
5) I took out the twists after the 3rd week and got this twist out.

We would love to hear your own stories of "Slamming styles" and pictures would be a bonus. Have a fab weekend!

Keep it natural (and slamming)!

Omozo

Spruce up old twists (or braids)

Okay! You have had your twists (or braids) for a long time: they are looking old but you are not ready to take them out. So what do you do? Put them in a bun or hide them in a scarf?




3 week old twists. What do I do to spruce them up?

 No need for that! Do you have rollers? Can you do bantu knots? If so, use those methods to spruce up your old twists or braids.




Aha I've got an idea!

 

How? Easy! Get your rollers ready. The size of rollers does not matter - the size of the rollers depends on how big you want your curls to be.

Wash, condition and seal your hair as you would normally do. While damp, put your twists or braids in the rollers (or bantu knots) and let your hair air dry (or use a dryer if in a hurry).





Small rollers on old twists. Use any size of rollers you want or have.



Take out the rollers or bantu knots and voila newer looking twists (or braids). Use a product that will give you some hold, like gel, if you want stronger hold or longer lasting curls.





Voila! Newer looking old twists. LOL


 I was able to rock the curls for an extra week before taking out the twists.



Styled for the office. Not bad I'd say.


Hope this helps. Have fun putting new life into old twists (or braids).

Keep it natural!

Omozo