MTV Africa Music Awards

The first MTV Africa Music Awards were held last weekend in Abuja, Nigeria. Some of the biggest black US talent travelled all the way to join the event (Alicia Keys, Kelly Rowland, The Game...). The king and queen of the night were D'BANJ, Artist of the Year and the Kenyan singer WAHU, Best Female (see pictures below).

When a relationship ends

Kerry Washington perfectly translated the difficulty to deal with the overwhelming memories of a past relationship in 'I Want You', the video she directed for Common. We love the song too...

African secret to grow hair

Do you know why women in Africa wear braids most of the time? It's because braids are the most effective protective style.

The Crown and Glory Technique is based on the idea that braids helps grow hair when they are done properly (ie not too tight). Braids are a protective style that avoids daily manipulation and breakage. They allow you to give a break to your hair. In the Winter, they also protect hair strands from cold air

See how braids helped these women grow their hair to massive lenghts in a few months with these before / after pictures: http://www.growafrohairlong.com/claudine.html

My Nappy Roots: A Journey Through Black Hair-itage

Watch the interview of Regina Campbell, Director, about the genesis of My Nappy Roots, her fascinating documentary on African-american hair care. The documentary covers all the periods from the slavery to today.

Campbell goes through the social processes that encouraged women and men to relax, the stigmas coming along with afros and the recent surge of natural african hair care.

http://video.aol.com/video/my-nappy-roots-a-journey-through-black-hair-itage-dir-regina-kimbell/1850449

Coconut power

We're not the only women obsessed with our hair!
Watch this Indian commercial for a coconut oil brand.
I llllove it!

Before Obama...

This post will be controversial but before Barack Obama, another black man gathered huge crowds and delivered powerful messages to the whole world.

Michael Jackson. His songs were all about "keeping the faith" (Keep the faith, Dangerous) and "making that change" (Man in The Mirror, Moonwalker).

I grew up with Michael, among other artists, and even though I couldn't understand his lyrics because I didn' speak English at the time, I could see the videos.

Compare his lyrics with what kids hear today! Of course there are currently some talented artists who have a lot of interesting things to say. But they're not mainstream and I wonder what (added) values the others bring to the young audience.

Here's a comparison:

Michael Jackson, Man in the mirror:



Soulja Boy, Get silly:

Bi-racial president

Barack Obama is officially the new president of the United States!!!

I immediately called a relative in Cameroon to measure the impact of the news outside western countries. Everyone over there is celebrating the election of a black man at the head of the world's most powerful country.

You're probably asking yourself what the elections have to do with hair. We wanted to give our little touch to the news.

During the US campaign, many questions aroused about Obama's identity. Is he black? Is he white? We couldn't help but wonder what 'biracial' meant. We found a definition with a woman's touch.

With her poem, Zora Howard reminds those who questionned the symbolic of this election what the African-american people had to go through.

A little something

I saw this picture on the Facebook appreciation page of Zara (yes, it does exist!).

I don't know if it's the red background or the wedges but there's something about it, even though it's not a professional pic.

It's called 'China Girl'.

Collector: Mariah Carey & Snoop, Cry Baby