LITK

Street Curlie- Pariah's Adepero Oduye

2012-05-30T17:08:00.000+01:00

Yes. I met Adepero Oduye. My weekend was a win.

Oh, and her fro is awesome!!

Loose Twists - Take 2

2012-05-28T12:50:00.000+01:00

My first set was done on lightly blow dried hair and this set was done on a braid out (pictured). I like these way more. I officially adore loose twists, I got no tangles during take down and I didn't need to detangle after I washed either.

For a tutorial on loose twists, click here.

Quickie - Bantu Knot Out

2012-05-27T00:17:00.000+01:00

Updo on Loose Twists - Tutorial

2012-05-19T23:37:00.001+01:00

Tutorial requested by Natmane :)

Loose Twists

2012-05-17T00:11:00.000+01:00

This style was inspired by Natmane of Deep Brown and Kinks.

And a Bit More...

2012-05-11T07:09:00.000+01:00

Stef's New Look

2012-05-11T06:44:00.000+01:00

I recently decided to give my hair a new look and so I dyed the front of it. I had intended to dye my whole head but one box just isn't enough for my hair and for some reason, I couldn't find more than one box. Nigerian stores seem to carry mostly black hair dye. I'm not sure what to call the new colour but I dig it...

I used Dark and Lovely light golden blond even though I was going for a reddish colour because darker colours or red shades barely show up at all!

My haircare routine now involves more deep conditioning and protein treatments to balance out the negative effects of hair colour.

Abuja Twistout

2012-05-07T00:05:00.001+01:00

Miss Fizz

Oste Accessories- Buy On Etsy!!

2012-04-20T16:22:00.002+01:00

EDIT: Oste Accessories are on the front page of Essence.com!!!

A very satisfied customer!

Did you want to partake in the Oste Sale that was happening in New York, but alas, you were not in New York? Never fear! The sale has moved to Etsy, where you can now select from the exclusive styles left, and have them neatly shipped to you.

You don't even have to get up from your desk. Or in my case, kitchen table.

CLICK HERE FOR AWESOMENESS

'Unkempt' Natural Hair

2012-04-17T16:29:00.004+01:00

Ladene Clark by Quazi King

So, there I was on Tumblr, peacefully procrastinating and scrolling through my dashboard, when I came across a discussion on 'unkempt' natural hair. I said I wasn't going to engage in a discussion about it there, but I do write a natural hair blog when I'm not neglecting it, so I figure I may as well rant about it here.

First of all, there's this whole idea that black people must comb their hair. I don't know how many times I've had to tell folk to stop going through their afros with a fine tooth comb. People stay breaking up their curls because their hair is meant to be 'combed', and it drives me nuts. Your hair is meant to be detangled. And that's only if you're not trying to loc it up. If you're going to use a comb, use a wide ass comb and detangle with conditioner under running water.

This whole idea of combing out your hair, picking out afros until the natural spirals are removed, what is the point of it? Or is it just a personal preference? I get combing it out if you need it finely detangled to braid or cornrow it, but I must say, I really dislike some picked out afros. Give me a wash and go, a textured afro, a twist-out, a picked out afro in a geometric cut. My sister used to pick out her afro for ages when she moved here because you know, we're supposed to comb our hair. I tried getting her to leave it be, to no avail, until she rinsed out a conditioner with cold water one day and saw her natural spirals. She called me from the bathroom, excited to realize what her hair finally looked like.

Why are we supposed to comb out our curls?! No one asks white people with curly hair to comb out those curls, their curls are nourished and taken care of, not picked out. You can't brush white curly hair because you'll just end up with frizz and static. But for us, it's different. You can have clean, moisturized, healthy, detangled hair, but if it's not 'combed', then it's 'unkempt'? I'm not buying it. Bump the noise.

I'm probably biased because I free-formed my locs, and the issue of unkempt hair is particularly strong with locs. Heaven forbid people can't see your scalp, that your locs aren't twisted tight and shiny, that they aren't the same size and shape. People equate that with dirty, unkempt, uncivilized- never mind that my hair is probably cleaner than folk with manicured locs, being as I need to wash it every other day. Does no one take the time to challenge who gave us those ideas surrounding our hair? Right.

I supposed all of this is to say that I don't really get what 'unkempt' hair is supposed to be. If I keep my hair clean and healthy, that's about as 'kempt' as it needs to be. This is what our hair looks like!! When we're not manipulating it, brushing it out, combing it to pieces, our hair is in kinks and tight curls and whorls and everyone needs to get used to it. We do not need to be combing out our hair in order to make it 'socially acceptable'. We have curly hair, it's okay to leave it curly. Brushing and combing and destroying curls to make it acceptable by making it straighter is just reverting to a mentality we were supposed to be escaping by going natural.

Pick/comb/brush out your afro if you want to, because you want to, not because people are saying it'll be unkempt if you don't.

PS- Curly Film Chick (who writes the hair blog "Your Africa Is Showing") and I are chatting about this as I type the post, and she just added: "I dont think thats ever going to go away, even in admiring our own hair. Still be like- "gotta tighten up that kitchen"" #welp

Terence Nance

Yagazie Emezi

Poofy Is Almost Two!!

2012-04-05T15:40:00.000+01:00

Remember this? This is the first month of freeforming, back in 2010. I had just washed out the comb coils, and was all- yay, freeforming!! It's been almost two years since then, and Poofy has been twisted, separated, braided, and whatnot.

Now, this is me from yesterday.

E no easy.

"Strengthening Hair Through Relaxing?!!" #Lies

2012-04-03T15:05:00.001+01:00

There I was, innocently browsing through my reading list, when I came across an article on Bella Naija titled "African Girl With Long Hair". Hmm, said I. Perhaps this will be an interesting look at how being natural can help you grow your hair. Right? Obviously. What else could it be?

I was wrong. I was so wrong.

Let's look at some gems from the article:

So the task at hand is to show those women who prefer the Asian/Caucasian hairstyle, how to achieve it with their own natural hair.
Given that in 21/2 years the hair can grow beyond the shoulder, what we have to look at is
(a) How to strengthen the hair to make it look and feel like the Asian/ Caucasian
(b) How to groom the hair to ensure that it is strong and healthy until the desired length is achieved

You know...at least we're admitting that the goal is to have Asian/Caucasian looking hair. But then, there was this:

In strengthening the hair, the process of hair relaxing is used. Relaxing loosens the hair’s natural curl pattern located inside the hair cortex, and once this curl pattern has been loosened, the hair becomes straight and the new structure cannot be reversed because the structure of the hair molecule has been reshaped. Reshaping the original molecular structure of any element weakens it, but if properly treated, that element can be made stronger in its new shape.

"Strengthening" and "relaxing" should not be used in the same sentence without some kind of negative modifier in there. Relaxing does not strengthen your hair!! I mean, the author even knows this, but couches the truth in lies. Your relaxed hair will never be stronger than your untreated hair!

Given that relaxing runs the risk of making the hair to be brittle and weak, hence tending to breakage, this problem can easily be avoided if the application is performed by an experienced and certified hair stylist.

o_O. A hair stylist wrote this article.

Actually, it was sponsored by some hair care company that sells relaxers. Hah. I laugh kpehe kpehe. The commenters are throwing shade reliably, and someone suggested that she means "straighten", not "strengthen". Proof-reading is a skill, my people.

Happy Tuesday. Smh.

Nneka's Hair = Awesome

2012-03-21T02:47:00.001Z

source: MTV Iggy

Need a Stylist?

2012-03-14T09:43:00.001Z

If you're in the Lagos, Nigeria area and need your hair styled for an event, product recommendations or tutorials, send us an email at litk@leaveinthekinks.com

Updos

2012-03-08T14:23:00.001Z

I flat twisted the back and sides and twisted the middle. After a few days, I undid the top and pinned the hair up. :)

Pictures

2012-03-02T22:59:00.001Z

Life as always has been nuts but thankfully Zara has been holding fort. I haven't had much time to blog but Zara insisted that I should send pictures of what my hair has been up to so here goes...

I've been making video tutorials and video blogs but I haven't got enough bandwidth for uploads. Next time I'm out of the country, I'll put up a lot of posts. In the meantime here are a few pics of what I've been doing to my hair.

I'm emailing this in from my phone so I have no idea what order they'll appear in. There are updos, twistouts, yarn twists, freeform afro etc...

Street Curlie: Chief Boima & Z

2012-02-16T17:22:00.000Z

At the Meet the Afropolitans

Willow's Big Chop

2012-02-09T15:15:00.000Z

So, the interwebs has been all aflutter because Willow Smith cut her hair off.

Honestly, I am yet to understand why. The girl shaved her head. And so? What's the big deal? Maybe it's a cultural thing, I had my head shaved from 10-16 for secondary school, as did nearly every other girl my age I knew. In fact, Willow having half her head shaved seemed more 'daring' than this big chop scenario.

Also, people need to mind their own business and let Will and Jada raise their daughter. Sheesh.

The kid is cute. I like the short hair. You?

Loc Yarn Braids

2012-02-03T09:52:00.000Z

Both Miss Fizz and I currently have our hair in yarn braids (beg her to give una pictures). I did mine on Wednesday night, first just one to see how it looked, then I realized I had to do all of them. Now, some of you can braid half your head one day and continue another day. Not me!

Once I'd started, they needed to be finished. I did not time it wisely, starting at around 8pm and finishing around 1:30am. Thank goodness United States of Tara was on Netflix! I had to add extra yarn when I reached the end of the loc, and I knotted and burnt the ends of the braids. Didn't really bother about being precise with the length and thickness of the braids, figured I'd keep a rough look to it :)

Personally, I love it! It's like having long locs! I just need to remember to keep greasing my scalp so my dandruff doesn't kick in.

Hair Candy

2012-02-01T21:06:00.000Z

Don't thank me, thank Tumblr.

And their mamas.

Reader Help Required!

2012-01-31T21:13:00.000Z

So, I've got a few crazy weeks ahead of me and I don't want my hair care to get in the way, these bad boys need to be twisted because I pull them back so much- otherwise I end up with 50% locs and 50% loose hair.

So, I want to try yarn.

Now.

How can I add yarn braids to locs??

Help me, y'all!

Bantu Locs

2012-01-26T15:21:00.000Z

Why are Bantu knots called Bantu knots? I should probably Google this instead of throwing the question out via a blog post, but maybe one of you knows the answer. I know West Indians call them Chiney knots? Did I spell that right? Is that a even a racially appropriate term? I come to you full of questions, yo.

Anyway, I recently realized that my locs were now long enough to tie into knots. Excitement galore! See, I joined a few, so my normal habit of occasionally twisting them and braiding them to hold the twist just wasn't working unless I used rubber bands, which I don't want to do. So being able to twist them and then tie them into a knot is a cause for celebration, it's more efficient, which means I can be more lazy. Awesome, in my book.

So I twisted the locs, tied them into knots, and there we go. I didn't really take pictures of the knot-out because, well, it didn't look great, haha. It was wonky locs sticking in all directions and I ended up just pulling them back as usual. But when my locs are much longer, I think the wonkiness of the curl will look good.

Oste Accessories Sale in NYC!

2012-01-22T18:23:00.001Z

Zara has just returned after her sojourn in Africa and came bearing a selection of items from Oste Accessories! If anyone is interested in purchasing from her, they can send her an email at litk@leaveinthekinks.com or check out the full selection available with pricing, by clicking HERE.

Get them while you can! Shipping can be arranged.

On Natural Hair in Nigeria... Or The Lack Thereof...

2012-01-13T16:34:00.001Z

I found this article (as well as LITK's email blogging address) today and wanted to share it with you guys. Read and comment.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/16/curls-nigerian-women-straight?mobile-redirect=false

Gratuitous Miss Fizz Shot

2012-01-08T13:44:00.000Z

Feast on that, and we promise, the post on how the meetup went will be coming up. Soon.