Fro Fashion Week -Fall 2011

Fro Fashion Week Fall 2011 was a whirlwind of excitement and education. The event was beautifully planned and executed by Tarin Boone its creator.

Tarin Boone

The weekend events started off Friday evening with cocktail party featuring live performances, a DJ, a buffet and product samples. Saturday morning there was a Zumba fitness class for all, an invitational brunch for bloggers and product representatives. I was honored to be seated next to the celebrity guest of honor Kim Coles during brunch. :D She was gracious and personable.

Kim Coles posing with Nappy Rutz earrings

The day continued with workshops I attended Thirsty Roots module that helped women find natural hair resources online, Virtuous Styls module, looking fabulous on a budget. It was wonderful. Kim Coles was featured in her own module on Saturday.

Throughout the day the various vendors are available to all attendees including Nappy Rutz, Bee Mine, Pura Body Naturals, Koils by Nature, Bags that Beckon and many more.

Saturday evening there was THE Fro Fashion Week Fashion Show.

Sunday the educational modules continued until the Pool Party finale. The pool was beautiful and had lovely cabanas, a buffet, a bar, a DJ, product demonstrations, samples and give-a-ways sponsored by Kinky-Curly.

Pool Party Finale

All images are courtesy of Tara Harp

Homemade Natural Hair Barbie

I was amazed by by the beautiful custom Barbie dolls created by Tabloach. The dolls had braids, locs, BAAs and TWAs. I found a tutorial on how to afro-lize my Barbie.

Here she is as she arrived:

Before

And here she is after her new texture and styling:

After

You can find the tutorial here.

What do you think? :D

Digital Guestlist loves natural hair.

Joey Digital, founder of Digital Guestlist

Atlanta, GA is the home of the Atlanta Classic collegiate football game. This game is between Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University and Southern University and as with most collegiate event it spawns a variety of social event and parties leading up to and following the game. Joey Digital the founder of Digital Guestlist has decided that he will show his "utter disdain for weave and love for natural hair" by giving all the natural ladies a discount. He also extends this discount FAMU to homecoming activities.

All women with natural hair simply have to do is use the code “natural” when purchasing tickets using the links below:

• Atlanta Classic: Society of the Crown at 200 Peachtree (Your ticket will be just $10)
• FAMU Homecoming: A Special Evening Introducing NUVO Lemon Sorbet at Mary Brogan (Your ticket will be just $10)
• FAMU Homecoming: The Art of Celebration at the IMAX (Your ticket will be just $10)

He even has an anti-weave page where he list natural hair resources.

Thoughts ladies?

Design Essentials Media Meet-Up

LeeAnn of Napptural Roots, Cornell McBride Sr, center right Cornell McBride Jr.

After the World Natural Hair Show 2011, Design Essentials Naturals invited myself, Swarthy Daisy, Mhe magazine, Napptural Roots magazine and others to small reception.

After a light meal, we were all permitted to interview Cornell McBride Sr. and Cornell McBride Jr. The McBrides are the owners of Design Essentials. Mr. McBride Sr. was the original creator of Stay-Soft Fro, following the success of that product he and a partner formed M&M Products company. Mr. McBride sold M&M products in 1990 to focus on products designed for professionals and founded Design Essentials.

Mr. McBride Jr. now heads the company. Mr. McBride Jr. stated that the Naturals line is targeted at the consumer who wants to maintain the hair themselves with salon quality products. Both the Design Essentials and Design Essentials Naturals products can be purchased in salons and online directly from the company.

Cornell McBride Jr.

Excellent workshop presenters from D.S.S Salon in Duluth, GA

World Natural Hair Show 2011-Fall

I attended the World Natural Hair Show 2011 this past Saturday. This year is the fist year the show has been offered in both the fall and the spring. Traditionally, the event occured in April each year. The show has grown almost exponentially this past April the venue was filled to capacity. I personally watched as the number of people exiting and entering was closely counted because they had reached the fire marshall's limit.

The fall show was far less crowded than spring. There were fewer vendors and some large companies were notably absent. I found this pleasant. There was more room for people to navigate the venue, many local and smaller companies were featured and for the first time I was able to attend the complimentary workshops. In the past, it took so long to navigate the venue ans see all the vendors I routinely forgot to attend scheduled workshops. The smaller crowd allowed me to see everything and experience things that I wasn't able to in the past due to the size of the crowds.

Hand-On interaction in the Design Esssentials Area

I was very impressed with Design Essentials, Jamaican Mango and Lime, Jane Carter Solution and of course Taliah Waajid's Black Earth. These companies have historically offered great show prices and quality products. Shea Moisture was also there.

Thermal Silkening workshop

Design Essentials recently launched their Naturals line, see my review here. I attended both of their sponsored workshops: Thermal Silkening and Natural Styling. The presenters were personable, knowledgeable and encouraged crowd interaction. I learned tips and tricks for styling, deep conditioning and thermal straightening. Following the show, I was invited to a media event sponsored by Design Essentials Naturals.

Natural styling workshop crowd interaction

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