Hey guys,
AB here! How are things?
I’m currently experiencing some kind of block in my life right now- writer’s block? Blogger’s block? Haven’t journaled in 4 weeks block? Hard to pick up a pen to even scribble block? Meh. I don’t know oh. I hope to snap out of it soon. I’ve got plenty to share, hopefully, I’ll be back to my old self by next week! 🙂
Before I go into today’s post, I’d just like to remind my Lagos naturals that tomorrow is Naturals in The City 9 at Social Place. More deets over here!
And, the Where to Find pages have been updated. There’s a Port Harcourt salon on our list now (whoop whoop!!), and if you’re looking for Liquid Aminos and other Maximum Hydration Method approved products, you should holler at Calabar based Style Boulevard. Pure Joie Consulting is in Uyo as well, with lots of hair goodies to shop from! Contact info for these businesses and more, are in our ever growing Where to Find Directory. Even if you aren’t in Uyo or Calabar, you can still talk to them and arrange delivery.
Now on to the business of the day!
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I’ve realised that studying a youtube tutorial and trying to copy it immediately does not work for me. It leads to disappointment. What works, is me watching the videos as entertainment. Just watching them, taking mental notes, watching different tutorials- and then, trying the style out when I need to. I’ve found that it’s better when I draw inspiration from past videos when I’m on my feet and I just have to do something, than sitting down to follow step by step. Weird? Maybe my brain needs more marinating time with these hair things, lol.
Naptural85, Jouelzy and FusionOfCultures may just be my favourite hair vloggers of all time, but you probably know them already. I’ve been on YouTube a lot lately, and so today I’m going to share with you some new faves, more vloggers I like to watch, or vloggers that made tutorials I found particularly helpful, that are not as well known. They’ve got great content, well edited videos, I don’t have 3rd world internet to waste or struggle with!
In no particular order,
1. AfricanExport
I love Vanita. She’s one youtuber I can trust with product reviews (no BS), and she has no time for senrenren, so her styling tutorials are pretty straight to the point. She recently cut her hair again, so you may want to keep your eye on her channel if you have a very teeny weeny afro, and see how she has fun with it!
2. TheChicNatural
Kim is quite lovely, and she responds to most questions in the comments. STILL haven’t been able to do Straw Curls right since I was inspired by her Straw set tutorial last year, but sha sha, God dey. I’ve been thinking about straightening my hair for a while now, and watching a bunch of tutorials, so here’s this really good one from her. She stretches her hair heatlessly at first, and then straightens using the Chase method.
3. Jessica Pettway
Yummy mummy Jessica (jfashiongirl87 on Instagram) is always so fabulous. What I love the most about her channel is that she likes to style on dry, stretched hair. Wet styling is like the bane of my natural hair journey so far, so I’ve decided to stop setting myself up and style my hair dry in peace. It’s just more predictable this way. I still try with the wet sets, but anybody who gets pretty styles out of dry hair has my full attention.
Her bantu flat out, for the “bantu knot challenged sista” looks really great. You may want to try this sometime, and I think it’ll be really good for the relaxed, texlaxed ladies too. 😉
4. Paola Mathe
I love Paola’s blog, and the love has now extended to her vlogs. She’s such a pleasure to watch, whether she’s just speaking, hula-hooping, styling- I think I could watch her do anything but for the purpose of this post, nobody does head wraps like Paola, and her tutorials for her line Fanm Djanm (Haitian for “Strong Woman”) are worth watching if you want to take your head wrap game to the next level. I’m ready, I just need to find the right wrappers!
5. LoveStarr823
Oh wow. I wrote about wanting Genie Locs on January 15. The year is about to end and I’m still wishing. I really want to wear this style, but I am not interested in sitting in a salon for a whole day. I’d rather do them myself, take a whole weekend- but I haven’t been able to find the time, AND I’m staying away from braids and twists with extensions until my edges are 100 (so help me God!)
However, I stumbled on this Crochet Braid Faux Locs tutorial from LoveStarr823 and I think it’s pretty good. I just need to find a rod, and do my locs over time, for as long as it takes, and then install when I’m done. I don’t know when that blessed day will come (it’s looking like 2015 lol) but here’s her tutorial:
6. Ahsiekk1118
After watching videos last night, Youtube suggested this one to me. If you’d like to try a chunky “messy” twist out, you should see this. More than the tutorial, I think she’s hilarious lol and I will be watching more of her.
7. WestAfricanBaby
Aboyowa’s hair is SO FULL! I love it! She’s quite the minimalist Naturalista- really simple, just water, shea butter, leave-in, mostly, and she rocks her 4C hair all types of curly ways! You should check her out on youtube when you have the time: westafricanbaby. In the tutorial below, she does a braid out with an old twist out, with just water and Cantu Shea Butter Leave-In Repair Cream.
She also posts short videos on her instagram page: westafricanbaby.
Alright guys. Do you seek hair inspiration on the tube? Who are your all time faves? And who are you loving right now? What’s the best tutorial you’ve seen in a while? Do be generous, share!
Love,
AB,
xx
The Kink And I 