All Na Packaging

Hello my beauts!!!

Allow me to wish you a brilliant new year! During my reflecting on 2015 and gazing into 2016 with new eyes, one sentence has stuck with me. Mother says it is a message for me, dropped into my heart for a purpose. I have decided to wish this to all who care to accept it. And so, for you and you and you, today, I say, May your path be yours!

Ok. Ok. Ok. Why have I brought you here today?

For the Nigerians here, how many times have you heard the expression “all na packaging” and dismissed it as bull? I know I am guilty of doing that. Translated directly, all na packaging is pidgin for “it is all in the packaging” or “it all lies in the packaging”.

Well, I have come to realize, in the spirit of introspection, that I am a very visual consumer. Mmmm, MeeMee, but who isn’t?! Right? Who isn’t? We all are. To varying degrees, yes, but we all are. Without any prior knowledge about a product, I am more likely to purchase a product just because the package is pretty. Because somewhere in my subconscious, pretty packaging equals pretty smelling product, ergo pretty amazing product. As with many other things, I did not realize that this was my mindset until a few months ago when I saw a product and immediately turned my nose upwards. My exact words were, “this doesn’t look like a natural hair product.” And honestly, if you take a survey of the packaging of natural hair products in the market today and place it next to this product I speak of, I am so sure that you will agree with me. What does this mean? That somehow, natural hair products – big brand names and small business names alike – have knowingly or unknowingly chosen a uniform look and are sticking to it.

Now, that product that I mentioned earlier, the one with the non-natural looking packaging, turned out to be a more than decent product. It checked out in pretty much every way! BUT I still am not over that packaging o.

Now, in recent times, I have found myself wondering how product formulators decide what design of bottles will be best for their products. Apart from aesthetics, there is also the issue of functionality. I love my oils. I suffer from dandruff and so my oils are oh so very dear to me. So far, the Dr. Miracle follicle healer hydrating oil’s bottle makes the most sense to me in terms of oil packaging. Oils, especially hair oils, need to be applied sparingly. Heck, these oils are expensive and please, who has money to be replacing them bi weekly?! This is my biggest grievance with the Jamaican black castor oil bottle. Wide mouth, no dropper, nothing. Oil bottles should either have droppers or at least an applicator cap that controls its dispensation.

The only products that I like being in wide-necked jars are butters, soufles, gels, and cremes. Shampoos, conditioners, DCs, leave-ins, co-washes, work best for me either in bottles with pumps or a hole in their caps.

Yes, they say that the taste of the pudding is in the eating and that one will be wrong to judge a book by its cover. There is no denying, however, that with products, hair products – natural hair products more precisely, there is something to be said for products that are raving the beauty store shelves and the beauty and functionality of their packaging.

So, tell me, do you agree? How much of the success or failure of a hair product lies in its packaging? And finally, what do you look for ultimately, when deciding to buy a product (without reading any reviews or getting any good word about the product).

– MeeMee

xx.

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