In July, yes July of this year, 2017, that’s how late this post is. I was privileged to be invited to a product reveal event by Loreal Paris in Sandton. I was not going to miss this one for the world. You know why, I knew, the goodie bag at the event had our bonnets as well. Yep. What a proud moment. This is how I knew. It happened that, earlier in June, an agent working for Loreal forwarded an email about the 100 bonnets that they had ordered from us. And I was like, oh wow. So these bonnets are for a Loreal event. It made sense after all because they had insisted the bonnets need to be purple and how I went all over town looking for that colour in the soft stretchy satin that we make our bonnets in. I even called a few friends to ask where else I could find the fabric and finally got some in Johannesburg CBD where they did not accept cards and had to walk, in heels to Carlton Centre to withdraw cash to pay for the rolls of fabric we needed. And I was so scared, walking back to the shop and praying hard that I’ll not be robbed of the cash that I had withdrawn. All went well though. Yeah. So I was not going to miss this event for anything. I was there.
Can you see the Natural Moisture bonnet right there? Loved the activated charcoal and clay mask as well.
It was also nice to see bloggers all around. Some I had not seen in a while which was quite refreshing to meet again and catch up. One person I hoped to see though was Kavuli from goodhairdiaries.com. I saw her name on the tags at the entrance of the event venue and I was quite excited at meeting her after so long. Disappointed I was because she was not there. I hope she is fine though. Met some new faces as well. It’s so great to see the natural hair bloggers community expanding and younger ladies coming up.
Curls in the house… Beautiful
The event was well attended with some bloggers being flown from Cape Town as well. Not sure if there were others from other major cities though. I only met ladies from Cape Town. These big brands have a lot of money for PR and marketing I tell you. The event also went well, short and sweet. However, the expert on hair, the lady who was showcasing what the range could do, she kept saying good hair bla bla. One statement which got me off was, “This one has good hair naturally. It seems like when God was giving out hair, she was way in front while some us were at the back” I almost raised my hand to raise a point of order, but I held my peace. I was like, let me not cause drama here. So I held my peace. Once we were outside, clicking away on our phones and cameras to take selfies and photos for social media and our blogs, I spoke to a few ladies and I was like, “Girl, we still have a long way to go if those so called professionals on hair still label the looser curl as good hair. And then… if you have a tighter curl? Bad hair” Eish, I don’t know. Personally, I’m convinced that, all hair is good hair as long it’s healthy and being taken care of. It’s just different but good hair. Period. Oh, and she didn’t end there. This lady has a daughter who was also there and she said something like, “well, this one, has good hair. Her dad is white and it was just us adults being naughty and mixing the race up.” These were not her exact words but she said something like that. And I was also like, where did they get this woman from who still thinks like this? That aside, her shenanigans and all, the event went well and I was so happy that someone with real natural hair, whom we can identify with is the brand ambassador for the range. Congrats to you Nomzamo Mbatha.
Nomzamo Mbatha is the Elvive curl nourishing range Ambassador. Oh wow. Great pick.
The launch got me thinking though. It’s good that the cause of the kinky curly haired woman is being heard and we are not being expected to make do with products that clearly don’t work well with our hair. Have you noticed, the big brands in hair and beauty have come to the party and I’ll say with a huge force. A space where small businesses started some 4 to 5 years ago, identifying the gap in the market of kinky hair care products in South Africa and starting their businesses to fill this gap, big businesses with big marketing budgets and established distribution channels realised there is money in the natural hair care space, entered at full force and are launching almost every month. The pharmaceutical retail giants were not outdone either. They have seen the power of You Tube and the fact that our people love American hair personalities and will buy whatever they are using and now, Dischem and Clicks now has most products that we only saw on YouTube for so long and only wished we could lay our hands on with the hope of growing waist length hair in a year. Ofcourse I also know that there are small businesses who were importing these products and selling them here, but as I mentioned earlier, these businesses do not have the distribution channels that big businesses have. They sell mainly online and have to charge shipping costs as well which puts off would be customers. But it’s so wonderful to the consumers though. Because, now, we have access to these products without having to break the bank by footing the courier bill as well. Plus, most of the products are cheaper in these retail giants since they are being brought into the country in large quantities and they can bargain for a cheaper buying price from the suppliers abroad since they buy serious bulk. It comes at an expense though. What? expense? Yes dear. But that’s a post for another day.
What I want to know from you is this. Big brands are launching natural hair care products left right and centre. What does this mean for you as the consumer? Comment below to share your thoughts. For now, let me share with you pictures from the awesome event. Just don’t forget to keep smiling, laughing and loving. It makes life more colourful and enjoyable. I’ll chat to you guys later. God bless you.
Look at those smiles. These two ladies are as amazing as they look.
Amy, Joan and Wissal
Sev and Isabel. You guys are real. Appreciate you big time
The food. Oh my…
Joan. What a gem in the natural hair bloggers space. Love you lots.
