Wednesday, June 10, 2015

INHMD Event Review: "Curlfriends Do Brunch" hosted by Naturally Kish

 


Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending my first International Natural Hair Meetup Day.  The event was titled, "Curlsfriends Do Brunch" and it was presented by Design Essentials and hosted by Naturally Kish.  Being as though this was my first INHMD Event, I wasn't sure what to expect. When I first found out about the event, I imagined a sit down brunch for natural women to meet and mingle; but I arrived and to my surprise it was so much more.


It was a little tricky locating the venue because I did not see a sign on the front of the building; but once I found it, I was able to find street parking rather quickly.  Although I arrived a bit late, I was still greeted by a friendly staff. The venue was packed with so many beautiful women with beautiful hairstyles, ranging from TWAs (Teeny Weeny Afros), to long flowing curls, to locs, to protective styles. All the chairs seemed to be taken but the staff went out of their way to ensure that my guest and I had somewhere to sit.


I arrived just in time to hear the first speaker, Jamesha Bazemore. We grabbed some of the delicious food & drinks provided and took a seat to enjoy the presentation. Mesha spoke about her Herbal Infused Oils and Hydration Hair Mix.  She also had a Q&A session following her presentation and provided some valuable hair care tips.


In between speakers we were provided time to grab more food, which was delicious (especially the Belgian Waffle Skewers)!  I thought turning the INHMD into a brunch was a great idea being as though I've attended other natural hair events for the same price and have not been provided any food or drinks; so kudos to Naturally Kish!  I thought it was great that there were so many raffle giveaways.  I would have loved to see more people winning the prizes; there seemed to be a good amount of attendees that won multiple prizes.

During the break, we were also able to mingle with the other lovely ladies in attendance and check out the vendors.  I enjoyed meeting a lot of the vendors and even took pics with some of them! There was a great variety of items for sale including hair products, hair accessories, jewelry, clothing, & natural hair t-shirts (which I can't get enough of).  I couldn't resist buying this cute little handmade tissue box cover!










I also met these lovely ladies and learned that they are the owners of Naturally Chic Hair Salon, which I will definitely be contacting in the near future for a hair appointment for my daughter's hair.





Following Jamesha there was a Panel Discussion.  The Panel consisted of my friend, Mary Taylor (Everyone's Favorite Curlfriend @naturalhairforreal), who invited me to the event, Nile Fossett (16 yr old Natural Hair Blogger & Entrepreneur, Nerdy Natural), Simone Little (Natural Hair Care Specialist, www.simonesstyles.com), and Jamesha Bazemore.  The Panelists answered a lot of the audience's questions and touched on topics such as the divide within the natural hair community, natural hair envy, and the wash-n-go for 4c type hair.  I could definitely relate to Mary's experience of learning to rock her frizzy, "end of the day" hair as if that was how it was meant to be.  I've learned in my short time of being natural that CONFIDENCE IS EVERYTHING!!








The last presentation was a makeup demonstration by Sade Robinson (Mirage I-Art) which was kinda hard to see but Sade did provide some helpful tips for applying makeup.  I was happy to learn a new way to apply my eye shadow. Sade informed us that packing on the shadow allows you to use less shadow as opposed to brushing it on.  I also learned to blend in a circular motion instead of sweeping it across back and forth.


The overall vibe of the event was very nice. It was very organized, the stage was visible from all areas of the room, the DJ played some great music, and the sound system was on point so I was able to hear all of the speakers clearly.  All of these things provided for an enjoyable experience.  I look forward to attending this event again next year.







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