The Vegan Nigerian: GARRI COOKIES

Garri is every Nigerian's lifesaver...my sister is practically addicted to the thing and my mum loves it too.Me, it's a hit or miss kind of thing for me. I chalk my indifference up to drinking garri practically every day in boarding school. While websurfing and generally being lazy jobless creative,I came across this awesome blog. She does wonderful thing with food yo! Might experiment with this one of these days..

The Vegan Nigerian: GARRI COOKIES: This recipe has lingered in my mind for a long time now. Today was the day to finally transform the abstract image of a garri-based cookie ...

xx

HOW TO: HENNA

Hey peoples :)
Disclaimer: I've never used henna. Now we've gotten that out of the way...

As I've stated before, I have tightly coiled hair. It's very kinky(which is kind of what inspired the blog name) and I refer to it as "original black hair". That having been said, I love my hair to bits! Sometimes though, I wish my curl pattern was looser and that is where henna comes in.
Henna (botanical name lawsonia inermis) is a plant that grows in Asia and parts of Africa. The leaves of the plant are dried and powdered. In Nigeria it is commonly used by the northerners and it's called laali. Most natural hair bloggers swear by henna for hair although it's kind of drying. The solution is to deep condition after applying the henna. Dabs of Naija Hair Can Grow has two methods for applying henna here and here
I hope to get laali from Abuja in a couple of weeks so I can (finally) henna my hair. I'll let you know how it goes. Also, the free e-book Henna for Hair is a wonderful resource. It tells you all about henna, its history, how to mix it, use it and all that. I  personally found it very helpful.
P.S: on natural, black coloured hair henna shows up as a red tint in the sun.

Have a wonderful week, and don't forget to leave a comment if this has been helpful :)
xx

HOW TO: SHEA BUTTER MIX

According to most natural hair bloggers and my natural hair "mentor" Layo (hey Layo!!), shea butter is a must have and must use for healthy and soft natural hair. Of course, my wonderful body has decided that I must develop an allergy to shea butter. In Nigerian salons, they use shea butter a lot and it was during one of my salon visits I noticed it. Once shea butter is anywhere near me, I get a headache, sore throat, runny nose.
Believe me, it's never a nice experience. Due to this, I killed everybody that used swore off shea butter.
However, recently my twa has been dry and refusing to stay moisturized. In searching for solutions I found recipes for both whipped shea butter and a shea butter/oil mix. I really liked the idea and look of the whipped shea butter, but I don't have a whisk and I wasn't (no way no how!) going to whisk with a fork so I decided to make the shea butter/oil mix instead.

whipped shea butter(i couldn't find a picture of shea butter mix&my camera is terrible)

For my mix I used: unrefined shea butter, coconut oil, olive oil, amla oil, cold pressed castor oil. Basically I took all the oils I had at home and poured in the mix.  The mix cuts down the smell of the shea butter and it is soooo creamy. Because shea butter is solid at room temperature and melts at body temperature, it was easy to store.

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

• shea butter - I used about a palm sized amount because I didn't want a lot
• coconut oil - about a tablespoon
• any and all oils you want
• plastic/wooden spoon or a chopstick
• a plastic container to store it in, you can also use it for the mixing too or get another container for that

Melt the shea butter (I put mine in the microwave for about 20secs, or you can use the double boiler method)
Stir it for about 10seconds, to remove any lumps
Pour the oils in it and stir again
Put it aside until it solidifies. You can just put it in the freezer.
That's all!!
What I love about this mix (apart from the fact that it feeds my mixtress hunger)  is that a little goes a long way. Also, it's so creamy and melts immediately it touches your skin. I've read that you can also use it as a body cream.
Let me know if you tried this out. Also, you can leave any other recipes or amendments in the comment box or send me an email at olowo.tolu@yahoo.com
xxxo

HOW TO MIX PATTERNED AND PLAIN

Mini-blog post...Just saw this on a blog I discovered today. Being a law student, I have an excess of white shirts and I get tired of pairing them with black all the time. I have a skirt that looks like this, so I must try this out asap! I'll try to put up pictures when I do.

image courtesy www.thenaturalfashionista.com