aHead of MY Hair: June 2016

June 28, 2016

BET Experience with NappyWood

This past weekend marked the fourth year of the BET Experience Weekend that Black Entertainment Television added to their awards recognitions in 2013. It is a really cool event that allows the BET fans and celebs to get more involved in the process and enjoy the days leading up to the awards. There are concerts, celebrity "genius talks", a SneakerCon, giveaways, fashion show, and even a celebrity basketball game and slam dunk contest! There is SO much going on and this year I got to be a part of the fun pairing up with NappyWood and a Snapchat takeover!

It was a really great day meeting all kinds of beautiful, naturalistas and I even ended up doing an interview with BET for one of the BETx feedback segments they were working on! We modeled the Nappywood t-shirts as well as these beautiful pencil skirts by Oz + Otz. It was definitely a long day, but all in all I enjoyed it, and it got me even more excited for the upcoming Nappywood Expo August 2016 ;)

As for my hair, I am rocking a 2 week old "loc knot out" on my locs and the front is two strand twisted on one side and flat twisted on the other side. I put the two strand twists in bantu knots at night to achieve the curly look!

- "Mo hair"

Rahkua Ishakarah

rahkua.com

YouTube: A Head Of MY Hair

Instagram: @aHeadOfMyHair

Tumblr: http://rahkuanailshair.tumblr.com

DONATE TO MY PROJECT AFRICA CAMPAIGN:

www.gofundme.com/ProjectAfrica

iHEARTrahkua@gmail.com

June 22, 2016

STYLE ALERT: Braided Fauxhawk Swoop

It took some thought and creativity to come up with a name for this style, haha, but I think "braided fauxhawk swoop" is a good descriptor.

I created the style while looking for a cool but quick performance-do...it's actually a variation on another style I do that more closely resembles a fauxhawk...it just goes down the middle rather than swooping over on the side. The concept and execution is basically the same in the beginning steps though.

I wish I had some closeups of the actual style, but I THINK you can see what's going on up there! so the sides are flat twisted upwards on both sides and then I turned my head upside down so that I could braid the locks from the back of my head to the front of my head down the middle. I braided it all the way to the end and just took the large middle braid and swooped it to my left side using bobby pins to secure it into itself somewhere toward the middle.

Here's me rocking the look at my sister's big birthday bash (wearing an original design by me I might add!):

- "Mo hair"

Rahkua Ishakarah

rahkua.com

YouTube: A Head Of MY Hair

Instagram: @aHeadOfMyHair

Tumblr: http://rahkuanailshair.tumblr.com

DONATE TO MY PROJECT AFRICA CAMPAIGN:

www.gofundme.com/ProjectAfrica

iHEARTrahkua@gmail.com

June 14, 2016

FEATURED: Namibiyah Ishakarah

This month's featured naturalista is a Mississippi native who has been natural for her entire life. She recently made the transition from locs to loose hair...AND SHE'S MY SISTER! Say hello to Namibiyah!

WHO IS NAMIBIYAH?

Namibiyah is a beautiful spirit currently attending the University of Southern Mississippi for Business and Dance. She has been natural for 20 years.

Like me, my parents started her locs when she was a toddler. She started having some health issues that affected her hair and decided to start all over with a big natural chop! Namibiyah has been growing her fro since the end of her freshman year in 2014 and says "it's been like a fun adventure". She sometimes gets a bit frustrated with the growth process, but she is loving her new look and experiments with different styles and colors.

You can follow Namibiyah on social media:

Contact Info:

Namibiyah Ishakarah

Instagram: @lilliroseee

Facebook: Namibiyah Ishakarah

- "Mo hair"

Rahkua Ishakarah

rahkua.com

YouTube: A Head Of MY Hair

Instagram: @aHeadOfMyHair

Tumblr: http://rahkuanailshair.tumblr.com

DONATE TO MY PROJECT AFRICA CAMPAIGN:

www.gofundme.com/ProjectAfrica

iHEARTrahkua@gmail.com

June 8, 2016

STYLE ALERT: Loc Knot Bun

I love rocking my loc knots. Whenever I wear them, I always get complimented on how nice my hair looks. And in general, the style is just such an easy, "get-up-and-go" look. Yes, it does take like an hour and a half to two hours to achieve the style, BUT I don't have to do anything else to my hair for as long as I keep the style. It is the most literal "get-up-and-go" look I know that still manages to look intricate and well planned.

The downside for me, is that I often get bored with having just one look. The convenience does not always trump my desire to try new things with my hair. But out of that "hair boredom" often comes little gems. Today was no different.

I'd had my loc knots up already for about a week and a half and the front un-locked portion was due for a wash and re-do. I decided to try something new and the result made me happy :)

So it was a pretty simple idea that I should've discovered long ago...BUT it's always better late than never. So basically I did a top bun with hanging hair in back. I probably never tried the look before because I didn't really think it was possible. But with some inventive thinking and bobby pins, I was able to make it work!

After washing the front, I wasn't really in the mood to spend an hour putting it into two strand twists, so I just sort of haphazardly threw it up into a bun on the top of my head. The textures of the locs and the un-locked hair are so different though that I wanted to try to blend it a little better. So I proceeded to wrap the loc knots around the bun. Of course, since they are pretty short, it was difficult to make it stay without the aid of bobby pins...so I put my dislike for the little metal accessories aside and successfully wrap, tucked, and pinned a loc knot bun around my loose hair bun. I then tied a cute Kente scarf piece around the top and brushed my "baby hairs" into a tamed position.

Here are side and back views: