Hi people, what's been on?

Saturday was full of naturalistas as we met up in Enugu State, Nigeria!

Enugu Naturalistas Meetup was organised by NaturalNigerian and myself. For the first time, naturals based in Eastern Nigeria could meet up and talk about healthy hair. The event took place at Tommylnn Hotels (Behind Robans Stores), Independence layout, Enugu, Enugu State-Nigeria on Saturday, 13th June 2015.

The theme of the meetup was "Mother and Child" to acknowledge the influence of mothers in cultivating healthy hair.
Someone asked me why "Mother and child? Isn't the event for single people too?".
My reply..."The world revolves around mothers. If you aren't a mother, you are someone's child and someday you might be a parent with your own children."

Mothers were encouraged to come with their children and it was lovely to see little children with a love for their kinks!!!!
 NaturalNigerian brought her pretty daughter too!!!

Three generations of naturalistas were present with grandmothers, mothers and their children.
Daughters came with their mothers (Shout out to Chioma who all the way from the States told her mom and brother about the event), friends came together,  husbands came with their wives and sisters came with each other. It was heartwarming.

Our appreciation goes to all the mothers that made it  with their children!  I know it wasn't easy bringing your precious ones with you and to every beautiful and handsome attendee that made the meetup worth it!! You guys are awesome!!!!

A special shout out to our vendors, our speakers, our giveaway sponsors, the hotel management and staff, friends and family and every single person that helped spread the word!!!

The meetup was scheduled to take place by 1pm and people came in quite early!!! As promised, the first five attendees to register went home with a gift of NappyGirl Growth Enhancing Oil!



Our beautiful ushers,  Doris, Uduak, Chinelo and Blessing handled registration, seating and helped make our mothers and children comfortable. They contacted me by email to help out.They were very punctual and even dressed in the same colors!!! We really appreciate them!

L-R Udy, Chinelo, moi, Blessing and Doris.

We had 4 speakers.
NaturalNigerian spoke first about "Natural Hair Care for Children" where she shared useful tips about selecting the right products for your child; washing, conditioning and styling your child's hair to encourage healthy hair growth and reduce hair loss which is a disturbing trend in today's children. Some of the styling tips she shared were
- Avoid tight hairstyles
- Avoid heavy hair decorations
- Reduce dependence on extensions for children


Nwene , CEO of NweneNaturals, a natural hair product company based in Enugu spoke about "Natural Hair in the Workplace". She talked about her experiences as a natural working in a bank. As a working mother, she understands the value of time and shared tips on how to care for your hair on a tight schedule. She also talked about natural hair styles that were appropriate in the corporate environment. Some of the tips she shared were...
- Pre pooing before shampooing helped make her hair less dry and more manageable.
- Combining conditioning and deep conditioning steps in one after shampooing.
- Styles for the workplace should be neat and not distract and never take a style to the office you haven't mastered yet.
- Work with your length and texture while styling your hair. for example, if your hair texture can't pull off a twistout without poofing up, don't take it to the office. Do styles that work with you hair and make you look neat and presentable.

Nwene of NwenexNaturals, Enugu

Fena, CEO of Sleek Beauty Shop and MakeUp Studio, Awka - a professional makeup artist talked about "MakeUp for Naturalistas". She shared her experience after her big chop. She said when she cut her hair, she felt exposed and was tempted to overcompensate with makeup and big jewelry just so she wouldn't look like a secondary school student. She shared tips for making up without going overboard.
Her tips includes..
- Less is more. That your makeup shouldn't just keep attention on your face but allow people see the whole you.
- For everyday makeup, all one needs are well drawn brows, subtle contouring with blush and a lip color in a shade or two brighter than your natural lip color.
- Mineral makeup and powders are good for the skin. For those of us that want to avoid parabens in makeup, she suggested affordable makeup brands such as Milani Minerals.

Fena of Sleek Beauty Shop and Makeup School

I was the last to speak and I talked about the "Simplifying your natural hair regimen".
I shared tips on selecting the right products for your hair, adapting your hair regimen to your schedule and simple tips to make natural hair care pleasant for children.
Some of the tips includes...
- The big five...shampoo, conditioner, leave in, styler and oil and how you can make them work to simplify your regimen.
- Deep conditioning treatments are the spa treatment for your hair and if you are a DIYer, heat your honey before use to prevent lightening of your hair.
- Body art henna which is known as Lalle in Nigeria can be used to strengthen weak, breakage prone hair.
- For affordable hair oil treatment, go for locally available oils and butters such as coconut oil, palm kernel oil, shea butter instead of foreign ones like argan oil etc...


We had a mini tea break then we went right into our giveaways!
Five Healthy Hair Kits proudly sponsored by TwentySix85.com (a natural hair products shopping site) and I were up for grabs. Also 6 Polo Shirts and Yummy hair butter were proudly sponsored by NwenexNaturals (a natural hair products company). This meant there were 11 prizes to be won....which increased the "odds in everyone's favor"!!!!!


All tickets were put into a bag, shaken thoroughly by me (until the attendees begged me to stop saying it was reducing their chances of winning) and NaturalNigerian did the honors of picking out the winners!
 It was fun!

Then my favorite part....shopping!!!! Sizzelle Stores and NaturalNigerian provided our product junkie fix! NappyGirl UberMoist Hair Treatment Kits were also available!!!






So that's it in words!! Now the pictures!!!

These pictures would not have been possible without the help of my friendster (a friend who is like your sister), Kay!!! You may have seen pictures of her on my blog during her transition to natural hair.

Her question about how to make her straightened hairstyle last longer was divinely answered as she won the Beautiful Textures Texture Manageability System Reversible Straightening Kit

Our little naturalista volunteered to take pictures and man the registration desk! She also brought grandmama

Baby naturalista came with mummy!