The setting was The Afro hair and beauty show in London. The energy was electric, a bustling and exciting atmosphere with a venue full to the brim with Melanin Queens (mainly). There was a real feeling of sisterhood in the air with so many Queens in the same place at the same time. There were numerous stalls enticing us with promises of longer, stronger, healthier more defined hair, softer skin, whiter teeth and the like. Also on sale were Afrocentric products from innovative creatives, selling us everything from clothes and jewellery to accessories and books. It was overwhelming at times, not knowing where to start or stop.
I’ve been going to this event for many years on and off and have seen how it has developed and evolved. This year I went with a friend of mine, Debbie, from way back. As we were walking past one of the many stands Debbie spots a Melanin Queen, calls out to her and says “You’re so beautiful!” in a real spirit of sisterhood. Graciously the Queen thanks Debbie for the compliment, we go over to her stand and a conversation starts. The stand is showcasing the UK launch of a new product called Skin Bandages, plasters for dark skin tones, another nude product redefined, yea!!! I’m so happy because I complained about plasters not being available in all shades of nude in my blog post on nude diversity just a few weeks ago. Ha! The universe always serves me what I’ve requested when I least expect it!
After learning about the product we then start getting to know the lady promoting it. This turns out to be Lovette Jallow, of Lovette’s house of style, the home of Black Vogue which is the largest Scandinavian online beauty forum for black beauty. Well that was a surprise. After spending some time conversing and exchanging good energy at the stand we took pictures and exchanged social media profiles. It’s so nice to meet nice people.
We stayed at the Afro Hair and Beauty Show for the whole day having spent much of our money on new hair and skin products and beautiful merchandise made by creative geniuses.
A few weeks later Lovette, who is based in Sweden, returned to the UK and invited Debbie and myself to a small dinner date along with some other ladies she met at the show. What a lovely gesture!
A stylish restaurant and bar in Shoredich was the setting. Despite leaving later than expected and getting slightly lost, Debbie and I were still on time and surprisingly the first to arrive. The rest of the group Christine, Mary, Lovette, Missy and Vivian soon joined us.
We all hit it off, all of us are naturalistas, maybe that was the common theme that drew us all to the hair show (although it is not specifically geared towards women with natural hair). As we got to know each other we discovered that 3 of the group are social media girl bosses – Mary is a natural hair You Tuber, her channel is called The Curly Closet; Missy is a vlogger and blogger with a lifestyle channel called Missy Senghore Lovette is a vlogger and author with a channel called Lovette’s house of style; Vivan is launching the brand Skin Bandages by Nuditone and Debbie and Christine are slaying the world outside of social media.
We get talking about all kinds of things during the evening – business, social media, relationships, travel and of course hair. It was a night of chit chat, laughter, dancing, girl time and positive vibes. Girl bosses vibing and Queening.
In a world where women can be competitive towards each other it’s great that a group of like minded women, unknown to each other, can come together in a positive sister circle to laugh, encourage, support and uplift each other.
Most of the beautiful Queens at our dinner party have public profiles on social media so please follow and support them:
Lovette – @lovetteshouseofstyle
Missy – @missysenghore
Mary – @thecurlycloset
Debbie – @theebajanqueen
Vivian – @skin_bandages http://www.skinbandages.com
Sisterhood is such a beautiful thing, so many great things can come from it. How about you start a new sister (or brother) circle by reaching out to someone new? Go on, I dare you!
Some highlights of our night are captured in Lovette’s The London vlog 2017 below:
© Elise – Cinnamon & Brown
CINNAMON & BROWN 