Kurly Kichana Meet Up Part One : The meet and greet

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20 min hair

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Hey

We had a great Saturday at the Kurly Kichana Natural Hair Meetup. So many beautiful ladies all with gorgeous hair turned up! It was absolutely lovely being surrounded by so much positivity from ladies proud to have natural hair. We shall do a post with a run down of what went down plus lots and lots of pictures.

After the weekend, I plopped into bed without tying a scarf and woke up to a nightmare on my head, read bad hair day!

Argh!! courtesy of googleimages

I spend the day doing nothing and woke up to the same mess this morning! Insanity much! I then had to devise a plan to condition, detangle and style my hair for the week in under 20mins.

Plan of Action! Enter shower, rinse hair with baking soda and water, finger detangle, rinse, apply deep treatment/conditioner, continue with other shower duties, rinse off treatment, apply leave in and gel, detangle section by section as I flat twist, seal ends with castor oil, pin up the twists and off I went to get dressed for work.

Note

• This took less than 20mins
• My hair was clean and conditioned
• When you do this in the shower, the steam from the hot shower will help your treatment penetrate better.

Enjoy the day

And The Winner Is... (Drum-roll please) Pt.1

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Hola mamis,

Just a few more hours to the meet-up! It's a sunny day out here in Nairobi, may the god of small favors keep it that way for another 48hours.

Moving on!

I can't wait to see all the different hair styles and outfits that y'all will be rocking. Well, I'm sure by now you know that Nyachomba and I are huge fans of fashion (eclectic and individual style to be precise); so we figured, why not throw in a prize for the lovely lass (or lad) who will be sporting the most unique look. So there you have it! A gift for the most unique/ individual look! Work it!

We will also be giving away a prize for the most sociable socialite! This individual will receive a gift for being the most outgoing and chatty bee at the meet-up. Go on, make a few new friends :) We shall also have 2 free hair consultations by yours truly up for grabs!

For those of you who wanna be down with the product swap, be sure to carry that hair care product that you don't want anymore. I've got my duplicates ready for departure. Remember though, nothing less than three quarters full (c'mon, it's only polite).

Now... on to the grand prize. The raffle winnings.

Nyachomba and I selected all our favorite natural hair care products that we trust and swear by and put them into this one fabulous gift basket (of pure awesomeness). We even threw in a couple of our personal smile-bringers (candy, nail polish...) The gift basket also contains hand-crafted earrings by the lovely Iquira. Shall I go on? Pure shea butter pudding, conditioners and cleansers.. e.t.c. Why you ask (L'Oreal forgive me) BECAUSE YOU'RE WORTH IT!

Raffles tickets fetch for KES 200! If possible came with change ready at hand. We will have the final draw at the end of the days activities. If you're a gambling woman such as myself know that you are permitted to buy more than one ticket. May Lady Luck smile upon you my dearies!!

We'll be seeing all you rock stars tomorrow. I cannot wait.


Mad love.

An Ode to Braids

Tis but a dream to think that natural hair is easy, if your not struggling to detangle, your fighting with those pesky single strand knots, or worse! Waking up with a perfectly matted mess that makes you feel like grabbing a japanese sword and going all afro samurai on your hair!

For the past few weeks, Mary and I have been wearing unworthy twists, wonky buns and rocking the headscarfs....everyday dreaming of theses times;

Braids sure make Mary happy!

Clean braids while donning nightwear!

So? Protective style challenge, its ON! 3 months of braids or kinky twists! No more having to wake up to do hair and grabbing scarfs just to avoid spritzing and sealing. We shall braid in the next week and try keep the braids in for minimum 4 weeks.

Disclaimer : We do love our hair, its just thats handling braids is so much easier and such a good protective style.

For the Meet up, we do encourage guys to carry products for the swap and we are really looking forward to meeting all of you!

X

Count Down to the Meet-up

Hey there all!

As the clock ticks, drawing us that much closer to the Natural Hair meet-up, I find that time is a pesky little thing. Why the heck is it going so fast!!!?

So Nyachomba seems to think I'm not as calm as I should be... what nonsense! I'm the calmest person I know! *hands shake as I reach out for my 4th cup of coffee*.... Calm gaddamit!

I digress...

Five more more days to go! We have a few things planned for this friendly soiree. Lots of mingling, chatting and getting to know one another. We also have discussions and demonstrations on the basics of natural hair care. On that vein, Nyachomba and I were wondering if there is anything in particular that anyone of you would like addressed on that day. If there is, feel free to email us or post your thoughts either here or on our Facebook page.

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I can't wait to see what yaol will be wearing! Be mindful of the weather guys, I'll have my wellies nearby, but best believe I'll be a wellington wearing diva (it can be done.)

Here are a few things to note for the meet-up:

1. Carry some writing material. This is optional, I personally like jotting down things everywhere I go.

2. It starts at 3.00pm ends at 6.00pm (thereabouts), Crave lounge. There will be an epic cash bar with yummy bitings!

3. No individuals under the age of 18 will be allowed in the premises. The law's the law people. (We'll try and pick an age friendly local for the next meet up for those of you who would like to bring their kids or younger siblings... suggestions are always more than welcome).

4. Carry your business cards! You might make some amazing connections there!

5. The raffle prize will include a whole bunch of our favorite goodies! Amongst them is a jar full of amazing shea butter pudding, you will also receive our favorite conditioners, deep conditioners, hair gel, shampoo, moisturizers and pretty accessories, etc. Everything a natural gal would want. You know you want this. Nay, NEED this.

6. There will be a Q&A session. Can I ask you a favor, do you mind coming with a few of your questions written down so that we can maximize on time? We will still answer impromptu questions, but golly, written down questions sure would help.

7. Remember, you need not have natural hair to attend. All are welcome!

Can't wait to see you there!

All this can be yours

Hola mamis

Had a great week, hope so. We have been super busy planning for the meet up...despite the world ending tomorrow we are defo still on for the 28th May!!

We are hoping to have naturals, ladies who are toying with the idea of going natural and those who want to find out more about natural hair. So we thought, what an idea?A RAFFLE with a mega prize that will have our favourite products, hand made hair pretties by Kurly Kichana, candy, and glitter and goodness!There shall also be two other prizes to look forward to!

The raffle will be Kshs 200 and we hope all of you will be able to enter.

More details on the Agenda of the meet up..coming up soon :-)

Happy Friday

Inspiration!

heyfranhey, hairtrending, naturalhaireverything, for the love of afrika, blackandbeautiful

Guilty Pleasures

Good morning,

It's chilly out here in Nairobi. The threat of rain hangs heavily on the air, I'll be in meetings all day today and get this, I forgot my lunch at home. Triple bugger.

I reckon that this is the perfect moment to get lost in fantasy and list down all the little things that make me smile secretly to myself! That ought to get me through this terrible Tuesday. I hereby ask that you indulge me and have a read.

Judgement is welcome. Feel free to share your own.

Guilty Pleasures:

1. Nutella (yep, the amazing, divine, inspired bread-spread)

I go nuts for this stuff! I love nutella so much, I'd wrestle a playground full of 6 year olds for it. I can eat it plain, on white bread, with cookies, cake, carrots, celery... I LOVE NUTELLA!

2. Wearing your Boyfriend's/ Husband's/ Significant other's clothes

Even though it may drive them crazy. I find it adorable :)

3. Watching Cheesy 90's Chic Flicks.

Now before you go rolling those eyeballs, let me take you back... back to a time where movie leads were the epitome of what romance is all about.

The men were rough, broad-shouldered and more often than not had a bit of stubble... and the women were sharp-tongued damsels in distress bearing fantastic perms. I revel in the predictable nature of such movies, the boy always got the girl.

4. Working Out Way too Hard

I'm like a semi-neurotic army general when it comes to fitness. I go at it and push myself way too hard but man it feels sooo good. I am currently unable to scratch my nose because my arms are super sore. And guess what, I'll go push myself some more tonight.

I blame Wonderwoman.

5. My Red Lipstick.

I love me some red lips. I really do.

6. Talking to Strangers on the Street. Not in a Weird Kinda Way but like Giving Directions and Stuff.

Is that creepy? I don't think so. I'm told when I walk I put on this serious "TALK TO ME AND DIE A THOUSAND DEATHS" face... so when people walk up to me for a general inquiry I light up like a Christmas tree! I welcome it!

On that note, Nyachomba and I LOVE it when our readers stop us on the street to say hi. So please feel free to do so whenever you spot us. Don't mind my angry face, I'm probably just thinking about cheese, or dinosaurs or something.

Busy Nairobi.

7. XBOX 360. A.K.A. life.

I've spent billions of precious seconds on my brothers console. Each second was better than the last. Video games rule.

8. Tumblr.

I love Tumblr... it's like a online world for like-minded lifeless souls to meet, laugh and share awesome stuff!

9. Re-reading Novels.

If ever there was an indication that I need a life, this must be it.

- I love the Jane Austen Classic, Pride and Prejudice. It's my favorite love story. I think I've read it about six times.

- Ken Follets Pillars of the Earth. Three times

- Nadine Gordimer, The Pickup. Read once, but I've thought about it numerous times and cried consequently.

- Junot Diaz, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Read it twice, and I am currently rereading it. Please read this book.

10. Chips. French Fries. Waru.

I. LOVE. CHIPS.

sweet mercy.

Yeah ... that's if for now.

Later yaol!

The Meetup

Its finally here!! We are very excited and looking forward to seeing you guys there.We shall give snippets during the week of what you guys can expect. Register now at kurlykichana@gmail.com

The Kurly Kichana Natural Hair Meet-up “Africa's First Natural Hair Meet up” You are Cordially invited to the 1st Kurly Kichana Meetup Time: 3.00pm - 6.00pm Date: 28th May 2011 Venue: Crave Lounge, Amboseli Road, Lavington Cash Bar, Raffle, Product Swaps, Interactive Discussions, Demonstrations and much more. Registration Required Register now at kurlykichana@gmail.com www.kurlykichana.com | Email: kurlykichana@gmail.com Follow us on Facebook and Twitter -

Adelle's Words

Blogger has been acting up today, was hoping to get this post out earlier.We always do natural hair features on this blog but have never really gone into locs.The lady we are featuring today has got to be the bubbliest girls you will ever meet, she has the ability to put emotions into words and is a great person to be around. Her name is Adelle and she is a poet as well as a radio presenter on OneFM..catch her from 4pm. Enjoy

1. Firstly how did you have your hair before you loc'd it and how long have you had your locs in?

I've had my locs for 3 and a half years now! And before that I was the queen of braids haha! I tried ALL types of braids! Then when I got tired I cut it into a short hair-do, which I thought would be easier to maintain - SHOCK ON ME!!! I practically lived in salons (HATE SALONS BTW) After a month of that, I turned to locs. The idea was to have them for at most 2years, but I fell in love :-)

2. What was your family's reaction to you getting locs?

Hahaha my family has known to expect the unexpected with me, be it in terms of piercings and unconventional stuff. When I got the locs everyone just went with it, they weren't too shocked :-)

3. With your poetry, do you think your locs play alot to your poet image?How does having locs affect your career?

In terms of stereotypes (which I hate) yes they do. But in reality even if I had relaxed hair, i'd still be a poet! But that's in terms of image. However, my hair is part of me, especially now that I do it myself, so it's part of Adelle the radio host, Adelle the poet but I don't think it directly influences my writing!

4. How do you take care of your locs and what products do you use?

I loc my hair every 2 weeks at home. It's so convenient!!! I use moulding wax to loc it, and a colour retaining shampoo and conditioner. Also use a herbal oil that's really awesome :-)

5. How long do you intend to grow your locs?and who is your loc idol?

I'm just going with the flow really!! I guess a length thats both practical and easy to mantain! Loc idol...I LOVE YVONNE CHAKA CHAKA's locs (tho she wants to cut them off *gasp*)!

6. What do you love most about having locs?and how do you style them?

I love that I can do my hair at my convenience and don't have to go to the salon! I also love the natural feel. Like I don't have to use "fake" hair to achieve a look that I'm happy with. As for styling I'm quite the tomboy so I used to have a lady called Fatuma style my hair only when I really needed it BUT now I'm actually tryng out new things at home! Last week I had a one sided bun that was pretty neat (But do I say lol)

7.What are your thoughts on the Kenyan perception of dreadlocs

Humans LOOOOVE stereotypes and labelling others! Women with dreadz are seen as OUTSPOKEN, ARTSY or sometimes even REBELS! And hey, maybe those attributes are true about me BUT they aren't linked to my hair! But I'm ok with the odd look every so often by either older people or weaved-up girls haha!

8. For your poetry, what inspires you and how did you get into it? You started Open Mic, how is that going?

I begun poetry - writing - while in Botswana. The school system I was in was very flexible and thats how I learnt about my love for poetry. begun writing then, that was 2003. I came back home 2 years later and joined St. Mary's and continued writing but just for fun! In August 2009 the opportunity to host my own Open Mic came up! I jumped on it and haven't looked back! I had to slow things down this year because juggling a job, school plus a monthly gig was hard but I didn't cancel it - Just made it every 3months. Its my 1st love. If Poetry could get dressed up in a tuxedo, Marriage pap! Haha but seriously, Its AMAZING getting to mix with other artists and just be around such positive energy! What inspires me? LIFE! Everything I go through and everything I see people go through! The good, the bad....the bizarre :-)

9. Where can people get hold of your poetry?

I've been working on publishing my poetry for the longest tme. I'm not yet done with that. So for now I do performances and I have a blog that I keep updating with poetry just so I keep in the practice of writing : www.strengthofherwords.wordpress.com (mouthful huh?)

Happy Thursday Lovelies