The Kigali Naturalistas Launch Recap, in Pictures

August 19, 2015 Donna 0 Comment africa, natural hair, rwanda

Two Fridays ago, I had the pleasure of hosting what might have been Kigali’s first natural hair meetup. As expected, I had a great time. Any time you put fly black women in a room, that tends to happen. More importantly, based on the feedback we got, most people had a great time too.

The event was held poolside at the Eden Palm Residence. We only had 50 spots for this event because we wanted it to be a chic and intimate soiree, where you could come with friends, and leave with new ones. Upon entry, each guest was given a giftbag containing an assortment of handmade soaps and lip balm from Rose & Co. Naturals, Swiss chocolates, and candy, and the really lucky folks got souvenirs from Jamaica.

Darla - Guard of the Giftbags, Doyenne of the Door, Soldier of the Swag. — Darla – Guard of the Giftbags, Doyenne of the Door, Soldier of the Swag.

Guests mixed and mingled while enjoying finger foods and sangria, and interacting with our vendors.

Chicissime - Beautiful bags and jewellery, made in Rwanda — Chicissime – Beautiful bags and jewellery, made in Rwanda

Getting into the handmade natural hair products at the Rose & Co. table.

Intense discussions over shea butter, straight from Ghana.

Part 2 of the program involved three stations – one for makeup, one for loc styling, and one for general hairstyling. Claudine, Sylvia, and Rose gave great tips and instructions that we could all put to use.

Claudine's makeup station. — Claudine’s makeup station.

Sylvia, giving a style tutorial. What we really need to know is how to get waist length locs like hers :-) — Sylvia, giving a style tutorial. What we really need to know is how to get waist length locs like hers 🙂

We ended the night with a 30-minute panel featuring three fab naturalistas – Joan, Rose, and Sylvia. I really enjoyed hearing Joan and Sylvia reminisce about how it was to start on their natural hair journeys in Kigali a decade ago, when they stood out way more than they do now. Our big takeaway from the evening – embrace your natural self. Not everyone will love it, but they won’t love everything you do anyway.

Joan - President of The No Comb Club, of which I am a proud card-carrying member. — Joan – President of The No Comb Club, of which I am a proud card-carrying member.

Many thanks to Rose, Louise, Darla, Sylvia, Claudine, Michaella, Espy, Tania, and everyone else who helped bring this to fruition. As promised, we are planning our next event on nutrition. Make sure you’re following us on Instagram (@KigaliNaturalistas) to stay in the loop.

For now, enjoy more photos 🙂

Turban Queen! She's @osezlefoulard. Her Instagram is full of dope pics of woman around Africa in headwraps. It's definitely worth a look. — Turban Queen! She’s @osezlefoulard. Her Instagram is full of dope pics of women around Africa in headwraps. It’s definitely worth a look.

Afro greatness! (Also, they’re adorable)

Flawless skin. This pic makes me want to drink more water.

When #KigaliNaturalistas meet #SpokenWordRwanda

The best part was hearing from folks who went home and did something different with their hair based on what they learned at our event. My favs are sisters L and S, below. Their mom came to the launch and learned how to do twistouts. So big sis got her first twistout ever the following Sunday. Little sis wants to keep her braids in. Ha! Thanks to D for letting me photograph her beautiful daughters.