By Hadassah Agbaps - August 12, 2013

Hi people, what's been on?

Well, I wrote an earlier post about the 'in between' length of natural hair growth and how to style it.
I also posted some photos I thought would inspire y'all stylewise and one statement I got recently was that
'the models in the photos I used weren't Nigerian and that it wasn't easy to make those styles in Nigeria seeing as we don't really have natural hair salons that can work with kinky hair without damaging it'.
While this is true, I think it's still not impossible to achieve some of these styles in a regular salon especially if it involves minitwists, braids and cornrows.

One trick I've learnt while styling my natural hair was to approach hair stylists that make children's hair.
This is because you're more likely to find children with natural hair than grownups and this means that that hair stylist will be at least familiar with natural hair texture.
It's still up to you to prepare your hair properly before going to the hair stylist and best results are gotten the day after your wash day.

Why "the day after wash day" you may ask?
This is because your hair is weaker when wet and with all the manipulation while shampooing,conditioning,detangling and stretching, it will be an extra burden on your tresses to add styling (most especially if the stylist is inexperienced).
It may also take a day for your hair to be fully dry, absorb whatever strengthening products you've applied and be stronger to withstand the manipulation of styling.
From experience, I notice less breakage when styling on post wash day hair.

The purpose of this post is to let you know that it's possible to achieve beautiful styles on any length of Nigerian natural hair.
All it takes is a lil creativity......aaannndddd.....patience.
Remember, you don't have to style your natural hair yourself and while we wait for dedicated natural hair salons, stylists in regular salons can still do the work!

So, I'm officially Kay's natural hair stylist and I love how she's open minded about her hair care.
This is important because the rules that apply to caring for your relaxed hair (if you're a transitioner) does not really apply to natural hair care and you have to be pretty open minded to trying out something different.
Kay wanted a protective style that was mature yet fun.
Yeah, I understand that's one of the problems with natural hair styling in Nigeria...
"that thin line between children's natural hair style and a grownup's natural hair style".
I admit that natural hair can shave off several years of your life (that's a good thing na!) and some of us don't really care for drowning our faces in makeup to paint our faces older.

BUT.............but, it's still possible to style your natural hair without extensions and still look very classy.
Here's the style I did for Kay. It's not difficult and can easily be done by any Nigerian hair braider.
.....and here's mine too.
I was going for what looked like Havana twists using kinky extensions but while it wasn't a 'hit', it wasn't a 'miss' either. I still love it all the same.

The Kinky extensions I used

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  1. Hi Nappi gal,i so much like ur blog,am done transitioning n am proud to tell u am a naturanista*smiles* am rockin it in afro now, but ma hair right now is hard....wish i cud share a picture of it

    1. Thanks naturalista :) I can't wait to see your new look! You can send your pics to, include your current list of products and regimen, let's find out what's causing the hard hair...

  2. That's it. Natural hair styles makes one look like a kid. i dont know what to do with my "in between" hair. *frustrated sigh*

    1. Lol! It does make one look younger ...and worse if you're smallish but on the bright side, it saves you a pretty kobo in face lifts, microderm and antiaging potions!
      I understand how you feel about your current length and I think option A will be good until you feel more comfortable with your length or get a creative stylist.

  3. Me too,done wif transitionin *yayyyyy*.Got my hair styled by nappi girl and I feel fly. Tnx dear

  4. You're welcome ;) You looked really good!

  5. I have always worn my hair natural. But these days I stretch it kinda often with the hot hair stretcher like once in 6 weeks. Is it healthy?

    1. Well, any heat straightening isn't healthy for your hair but you can minimize the damage by using a good heat protectant. Look for those words on the product. Stretching once in six weeks is preferable to stretching every day!

