Do.It.Yourself. HAIR & MAKE UP 101

Hello all, back again blogging, and expect consistent updates. Its lovely bumping into people around London and after the formalities, the next question is "When are you updating your blog?" which I must say, makes me smile.

So a few weeks ago, I posted this picture on facebook, was pleasantly surprised at the positive feedback. I had a few people ask "Is that all yours? ", "Where did you get your hair done" and "How long does it take?"

I often do my hair myself, (I've done it since secondary school) especially when I'm in London. A few months ago I was in Lagos and the topic of doing my own hair came up. "Anh anh Aunty? You fit remove your head, put am for your laps?" The girl in the salon asked in broken English if I take off my head temporarily while I braid or twist hair extensions into my own hair. While this may or may not happen in various parts of the world, I tend to use a mirror to see the back of my head. The thing is, I'm a bit of a D.I.Y girl, and my protective styling skills improved drastically within the first few months of working in Nigeria. I've been natural for most of my life and the benefits of doing your hair yourself are endless.

You learn new skills and techniques, you become familiar with your hair type, (I'm a 4a/b) I learnt the hard way about straightening my hair without a heat protectant as I mentioned here. I mentioned in a previous post that I often translate styles seen on the runway, to suit my hair type.When you start doing you hair yourself you tend to experiment more and try new things; you do your hair when you want, the way you want. There is nothing worse than leaving a salon upset and frustrated, having spent half the day there, and most importantly, you save money.

I'm not saying I do everything myself. I make the long journey to Lewisham if I'm in London (yes she lives miles away, but its worth it until I find a replacement), or in Lekki or Ikeja (Lagos, Nigeria) to do this

Ghana Braids

I wouldn't highlight my hair myself, even though I know I can, but it is advisable to go to a stylist you trust.

Many people will say, "But its a waste of time....", but why pay someone for a service you can supply yourself, if you have the TIME to do it yourself. By rule of thumb this applies to anything; cleaning, washing your car, changing a tyre, cooking, learning how to do your make up yourself, unless it is your wedding of course. Granted, if you do not have the time, or you want to relax, the service provided must be the very best otherwise learn and Do It Yourself.

The lovely Hazel Mak does her hair herself, albeit she works in PR, and is a recording artist. There is nothing Hazel cannot do with her hair.

Love the way she alternates between braids and weaves

Experiments with different textures

Then shaves the whole lot off into this awesome buzz cut and dyes it platinum

 Fab skin might I add.

Doing things yourself can often have a psychological benefit. It proves you can actually carry out particular tasks yourself, improves your proficiency, I find I apply myself mentally and physically to tasks; most importantly its empowering and increases your self worth.


There is a fantastic Hair and Make Up 101 D.I.Y practical class for ladies, guys this is a fabulous present for the Mrs for Valentines day. Tips, tricks and techniques from creating day, night and occasion looks from Decoro Makeovers to learning quick updos and protective styles for any type of  hair, advice on problematic skin to transform your hair and beauty regimen.

Hair & Make Up 101 will take place in London on the Saturday 23rd February.

Click here for details

Follow Hairmillionaire here

Like Decoro Makeovers here

Highlights since I last blogged....

1) Bukky and Lee's traditional wedding; London, England met Osun State, Nigeria (Yes I am biased)
2) Contacted to be a Hairstylist at Fashion week..... :-)
3) Nigeria to the finals for The African Cup of Nations
4) Making wigs and taking part in an awesome focus group with courageous women who have beaten cancer
5) Loving what I do even more this year

Looking forward to....

1) Hairmillionaire master classes in Atlanta and New York
2) Manchester United vs Real Madrid
3) Man U vs Real Madrid

The Experimentalist and The El Clasico

The post is called the Experimentalist and The El Classico which basically means I should have published this post a while ago when my team Real Madrid won. *Hides face in shame*

I must say I'm overwhelmed and honoured.... I received a few emails asking me to update the blog. Apologies for the lack of posts its amazing the amount of things that happen within three months,  travelling for weddings in Lagos, work and enjoying this beautiful journey called life.

So in my last post I mentioned that I began to experiment with more styles, after my second "Big chop". It is best to think about what you are going to do with your hair, i.e. colour, cut, hair extensions etc... It is not healthy to change styles too often, however do not fall into the trap of keeping your hair extensions for too long .... esp those who live in cities where it can be expensive, London, New York, Barcelona etc... Please do not fall into the trap of not maintaining your hair....

I normally change my hair every three weeks, apart from braids, I tend to wash my braids and touch up (re-braid) round the sides.

I received a question about my inspiration for hair styles. I often look at Western hairstyles and see how it can be translated into styles suitable for natural hair, and which type of hair extensions I will use to achieve the look.

First style is a Twiggy style bob, there is a funny story about this style, involving a thief, my blackberry and chicken republic in Lekki phase 1 in Lagos, maybe for another post. I used very cheap hair from Balogun Market in Lagos as I was going to cut it and style it. A combination of colour 1 and colour 4 and then a short blunt cut all the way round the back, with a longer fringe.

Second style is a short curly bob, with a combination of various types of hair extensions. Since I discovered the combination of colour 1 and colour 4 with any type of hair extensions, I have been hooked. I am not brave enough to experiment with colour yet....so this is my "Go to" hairstyle if I fancy something other than jet black hair. This style was inspired by one of my favourite style icons January Jones.

Here I have used Miss Rola Hair at the back, in colour 1 and colour 4 and short "Brazilian hair" at the front. Miss Rola is a type of hair extension created for shorter hairstyles, it lasts up to 6 weeks, and is naturally curly, which means low maintenance.

Apologies for the picture below, I was walking the dog, and hadn't styled my hair yet.

Third style I have experimented with is my  modern version of shuku. Shuku was a hairstyle popular among King's wives in Yoruba land (Southern Nigeria) many years ago.

Believe it or not this hairstyle takes an hour and half and lasts up to three weeks and is inexpensive. Two bags of expressions hair extensions are used below, the hair is woven (cornrowed) to the centre with a tiny bit of expressions into a tiny ponytail, then the whole length of a bag of expressions braided, and wrapped around the pony tail. I like my bun to have texture so, some parts are twisted and some braided. Its unusual but you will stand out. Expressions cost approximately 2.50 per bag in England and 350Naira in Nigeria. Initially I wanted to have "Pack and gel" a hairstyle popular in the late 90's, but as I have natural hair, I decided to cornrow my hair instead. This is my version of a top knot or high bun.

A smaller version of shuku below

Actress Nse Ikpe-Etim with a variation of shuku below

Fourth style isn't really something I have experimented with, its more my "Go to" style, Ghana weaving, or cornrows "All back" with hair extentions. This style suits everyone, just like braids, but it depends on where your parting is. I tend to have a star (the cornrows start from one point at the hairline and leads to the back. "All back" is often referred to as Kolese in Yoruba land, and gives everyone a naturasl look. Its popular with school girls, without hair extensions. As I mentioned in my last post, all back Ghana weaving was the hairstyle I had through most of my transitioning period.

The Fifth style is the Mohawk, it is striking when the cornrows are small, I did this style below for one of my colleagues with "Afro kinky" hair, she is brave as she used burgundy hair extensions. I'm a repeat offender when it comes to hairstyles that I like, I think I did this one too many times. The first time I saw someone with a real Mohawk, was many years ago in East London, but you see mohawks all the time in Camden town. The style was popular during the punk period in London in the 60's and 70's especially along the Kings Road in London, where the sides of the head is shaved and a thin narrow strip of hair is left, from the front of the head to the nape of the neck.  The term Mohawk is from the Mohawk nation an indeginous people of North America.

The term Mohawk is from the Mohawk nation  an indigenous people of North America. Artwork has been discovered from as far back 600BC depicting Sythian warriors sporting mohawks.

A few celebrities sporting mohawks.

Footballer David Beckham

Singer Chrisette Michele

My favourite  below

Call for one of our mobile stylists in London  07949507271

In other news....

Highlights since the last time I blogged

1)Spain vs Portugal and Spain vs Germany in Euro 2012
2) Real Madrid vs Barcelona and Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich, it was a hard decision but I went to Church instead of watching Real vs Bayern Munich
3) Onyinye and Chika's wedding
4) Rachael and Yinka's wedding
5) Temi and Femi's wedding pictures, watching La Haine (really good independent film)



Looking forward to...

1) The release of Bond 23, also known as Skyfall
2) African Fashion Week in London
3) More blogging...



This Post is dedicated to Bridget Boateng and the Boateng family, Bridget your Dad was an Experimentalist, I remember him consistently studying and working, whilst we were in secondary school.

*Thanks to Bunmi Aijotan for assisting with the post