Lately, a lot of black girls are getting rid relaxed hair and keeping their hair natural. They are starting to take pride in Africanism and linking it with the hair. For some, they keep kinky hair to make a political statement while for some it is a simple acceptance of their natural beauty. The reasons are varied. Despite the different reasons for going natural, the problems of maintaining hair remain the same. ‘BW Natural Hair Meet’, a show coined to addressing natural hair issues is set to take place in Gaborone on the 13th of June. The hair show, a brain child of wedding photographer Fify Lowen, will be making its debut at the BNYC auditorium. According to Lowen, “This show is targeted at girls who have natural hair or have children with natural hair. It is a platform for all of us to meet and share tips and advice on how to take care and maintain natural hair.”
“Before I kept my hair natural I had this long flowy relaxed black hair and after I had my first child, I decided to cut it all off and start again. It was during that time that I started to realize that this type of hair was not easy to maintain and keep. Kinky hair in its nature is a bit hard to comb and style. So, at the beginning of the year I created a Facebook page and had friends who also had natural hair join in and in there we shared tips on how to make it soft and how to style it and make it more manageable. With time we had more and more people join in to get advice and in April we decided to meet and that is when the show idea was born. These types of shows are common elsewhere in the world, women create platforms where they can sit and discuss hair issues so this is not a totally new idea,” said Lowen.
The show will feature three key people from the hair and beauty industry: one, a trained hairdresser, will speak about blow drying techniques and how best to make hair softer and products that are friendly to natural hair; another speaker will speak about hair from a scientific point of view. This person will talk about hair structure and explain things from an academic point because they actually studied hair and beauty; and the third presenter is an elderly lady who has maintained natural hair her whole life.
“We also hope to have demonstrations on how to plait natural hair, possible styles that are suitable for kinky hair and people exhibiting products that are made specifically for natural hair. This is going to be a really fun show and I urge people to come,” she said. Live music by a band will provide background sounds and the cover charge is P80. “We really hope to change people’s perceptions about natural hair and make it acceptable even for the work place,” said Lowen.