Depending on how long you’ve been following ZedHair you will know it as; a blog chronicling Masuka’s natural hair journey from big chop, a Facebook page, a source of information on hair care through workshops or a business that provides products for natural hair care.

Masuka at the first ever Natural Hair Show, an event that marked the beginning of ZedHair’s transition from blog to business.

We’ve had a sort of metamorphosis from a one woman hobby to a business run by three women Masuka, Nkem and me, Mwanabibi. We successfully ran the first ever Natural Hair Show in Lusaka in 2013 and have been holding regular workshops and meet ups ever since. We supply natural butters, oils and African black soap to various outlets across Lusaka as well as online at www.shopzed.com.

ZedHair Shea Butter, African Black Soap Shampoo and Mafura on sale at our workshop in March this year.

What you might not know is that ZedHair also provide, personalised, one on one consultation that equips you with the knowledge and products to take care of your natural hair. We work with you to come up with a practical regimen based on your individual hair type.

Fashion Designer Towani Clarke of Kutowa Designs is a long time champion of ZedHair. She featured on the blog when it was in its infancy and has continued to support us through various collaborations.

Last year at Kutowa Designs store. Towani (left) and Mwanabibi showcasing Kutowa Designs hair accessories.

Towani is currently working on her next collection and when she reached out to us, we jumped at the chance to work with her again. She has decided that this collection would be a treat to herself for her birthday and she will model all the garments herself for the launch. In true Devil Wears Prada style she has opted to get her very own glam squad together and as well as ZedHair she has asked MaFashio, Zambia’s most stylish siblings, think cutting edge Olsen’s, to style the fashion shoot, Nou Koncept, a fabulous make up artist and Fortress New Media, who you’ll know from our Fashion Yapa Zed competition, earlier this year, to document the whole process from start to finish.

Mwanabibi styling Fashion Yapa Zed’s winner Asimbuyu’s hair. The image was captured by Fortress New Media.

Towani with MaFashio ladies Sekayi and Khii during our first meeting discussing the concept of the new collection.

Kapesa of Nou Koncept Make up brainstorming ideas with Towani.

Searching for inspiration.

When we worked on last year’s special Jubilee collection fashion shoot with Towani we went through the concept, joined forces with a hair stylist and immediately came up with a couple of styles for the models.

One of the models who big chopped in on the day of this shoot so that we could achieve the popular “shaggy look”.

This hairstyle was a combination of mukule (cornrow), flat twists and an exaggerated ponytail. The model had relaxed hair but we decided to demonstrate some popular natural hair styles.

This was an updo created on braided hair. The same hairstyle can be achieved with locs.

This time we wanted to do things differently.

We began with a session on hair types and regimen building to get Towani started on a healthy, systematic approach to her hair care as well as to help determine the type of hairstyles that are achievable for her hair type within the stipulated brief.

Towani and Mwanabibi comparing hair strand thickness.

We will go on to choose and test some hairstyles before the final shoot on Towani’s birthday. We will document every aspect of this project and get you all involved in helping to choose the hairstyles before revealing the final collection right here on the interwebs. Social media to be precise.

By Brandi of http://www.hairinsights.wordpress.com

I have the best natural haired buddies, I was given some African Black soap for free.99! I hadn’t even been hunting for it because I didn’t think it would ever be found in these southern parts unless I bought it online.

What is it?

African black soap a product of West Africa (typically Ghana). It is made from the ash of locally harvested plants and barks such a plantain, cocoa pods, palm tree leaves, and shea tree bark, as well as water and various oils – palm oil, coconut oil, palm kernel oil (including shea butter and cocoa pod powder). Different tribes have different recipes and methods of making their black soap. Black soap sourced from Ghana directly is purer than those that are processed in the West and sold online because those tend to have additional artificial ingredients.

What does it do?

Skin: evens out dark spots, treats eczema, razor bumps, skin rashes, scalp irritations, body odors and eliminates blemishes. It is also suitable for all skin types including sensitive skin.

Hair: Cleans hair without leaving it dry and stripped of natural oils, softens, detangles and moisturizes hair.

Using black soap for my hair

I started by watching a video or two on YouTube to see how others used it. You can either rub the soap directly to your damp hair or dissolve a bit of the soap in hot water and use it in the way you would use a shampoo. I chose the latter. A little goes a long way so I took a small piece of the chunk I have to make the shampoo.

It lathered up well and when I rinsed it out my hair felt soft and slightly oily, much like the effect I get whenever I used my natural Earthsapp shampoo which contains coconut oil. In comparison, regular shampoos would leave my hair feeling stripped and dry. I could have skipped the conditioning step because my hair felt very moisturized already.

ZedHair African Balck Soap is available online from http://www.shopzed.com

Every new natural should be part of either an online forum or have some sort of network of support. I big chopped in September of 2011 but only started actively taking care of my hair and understanding the reasons behind certain practices when I joined an online forum called Zedian Naturals. There is something about seeing what other people are going through in pictures and being able to share common experiences that really transforms the natural hair journey from a trudge to something a lot more pleasant.

This week’s hairstyle was inspired by one that was shared on an online forum that I am a member of.

Join the ZedHair Forum on Facebook for advice and camaraderie.

The eagle eyed among you will notice that this is basically last week’s style let down.

I’m sticking to longer term styles but I did decide to try making the flat twists on the side smaller and I think I’m getting better at them if I do say so myself.

I basically unravelled each of the chunky flat twists and divided them in two.

I did plan on only having this style for another week but we’ll see how well this new set of flat twists hold up.

One of my favourite things to do is transition one hairstyle into another and have a completely different look from one day to the next. My current flat twist hairstyle is the perfect example. This is the third hairstyle that I’ve managed to achieve using the same canvas and all I’ve done is refresh the flat twists on the sides.

Week 21 was a pinned up flat twist sides and two strand twists in the middle.

For week 22 I simply removed the pins and made the flat twists on the side a little smaller.

This week I tucked the ends of my hair back in. I refresh the twists by spritzing with my water and aloe mixture, applying my leave in conditioner and sealing with a whipped shea butter mix.

Step 1:

Unravel the front section of your hair in a U shape. I rubbed my scalp with the pads of my fingers to give the twist out a fuller look; put the hair in the front aside using either a clip or a hair slide.

Step 2:

Braid the hair upwards from the back in a simple cornrow. Pin the end of the cornrow down.

Step 3:

Create a pompadour by pinning to create your preferred shape.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t really expect to love this hairstyle when I decided to do it but I absolutely do! I love the juxtaposition of the curly, slightly messy front against the very put together back.

By Naomi of http://www.kinksntwists.wordpress.com

Wangeci has been natural for almost five years now. She hasn’t had a hair cut since she was one month old. Today we decided to do full hair stretch using a blow dry.

I shampooed her hair and followed up with conditioner, rinsed off thoroughly then dabbed with a cotton t-shirt (check wash routine post). I applied leave-in conditioner with a small amount of our oil mix and grape seed oil as a heat protectant – you can also use avocado, coconut or argan oils. I tied the hair in a puff as we headed to the salon . Wangeci had mixed feelings about going to the salon but she was proud of the results.

As we headed home, she whispered, ‘mummy that lady was very rough, she was pulling my head’. She vowed never to have her hair done at the salon again, declaring her mama the best hair stylist of them all . For me the experience was invariable because I would like to think that in future Wangeci will appreciate my labor of love.

Hair after wash.                                                                                    Hair Fully Blown Out

Length Check.

In December 2013, Wangeci ‘s hair was below shoulder blade (BSB).  On 25 July 2014, her hair is mid back length (MBL)

By Naomi of http://www.kinksntwists.com

Style overload :)

This post consists of three styles.

Style One: Some time last week I wore a chunky twist-out side puff. I sprayed each section with a mixture of rose water, leave-in conditioner and oil, then applied a small amount of shea butter and twisted. I made about six to eight two strand twists. The next day, I applied a small amount of oil to the twists and unraveled. I separated the hair from the roots to about an inch away from the ends of my hair. I brushed the back and left side of my hair towards the right, then tied a headband and manipulated it until I achieved the look I desired. I fluffed the hair using a wide tooth comb. Here is the finished look.

Style Two: So after wearing my hair out over the weekend, I decide to do a quick protective style for a week or two. I made a section in the middle front of my hair then twisted and pinned for styling later. I made four flat twists on each front side of my head almost meeting in the middle section of my head. I made about eight flat twists from the back in an upward direction to meet at the center of my head, together with the rest of the flat twists. I then tucked and pinned the twists. I made small two strand twists with the front middle hair i had put away earlier and then tucked and pinned the twists.

Style Three: Next day, I unraveled the two strand twists because I was going on kinksntwists marketing business :). I re-twisted hair in the evening. Clearly, I love wearing my hair up; puffs are my aboluste favorites and now this one.

I love it style.

Happy Tuesday.

Sometimes life gets in the way of hair care. This week, hair care has been the last thing on my mind and when this happens I tend to reach for scarves. Not the type that are decorative but the type that you use to cover your hair when you’re having a bad hair day or are disguising your deep conditioning, plastic covered, wash day shenanigans.

I decided to show 5 styles because my protective styles are meant to last from Friday to Monday with a break at the weekend to create a new look. My hair is co washed and plaited into cornrows to keep it nice and flat under the scarves.

Whenever I wear cotton scarves I wear a satin scarf underneath to protect my hair from being sapped of moisture.

Aunt Jemima

I call this one the Aunt Jemima after the famous image on the similarly named pancake mix. It’s basically a square silk, satin or polyester scarf fold diagonally in half and tied at the front with the ends and tip tucked in.

African Turban

I think this one creates a sort of turban shape. I fold a very big rectangular scarf in half, twist the ends around each other and tuck the tip in at the back. I used an old Khanga (East African Fabric) that I had cut into a square to achieve this look.

Rolled Uptop

This is a very simple style and probably the one that I wear the most. I get a rectangular shaped scarf and tie the ends at the back of my head; I then twist the ends of the scarf and wrap the rolled piece from the back all the way across to the other side to create a sort of band. This scarf is from a piece of sari material.

Ms Ambrose

This scarf is a signature look for celebrity stylist June Ambrose. I wrap the scarf around the back of my head and roll the ends up together. I don’t like a very put together look so I make a very loose roll. I then wrap the ends in a circular motion almost the way you would do a Bantu knot. I tuck the end under the knot to secure it.

Side Bun

This is pretty much the Ms Ambrose on the side.

Next week I may go back into a long term protective style until the end of the month but then again this week was unexpected so I’ll probably just play it by ear.

By Chiteu of http://www.bellamufazi.tumblr.com

Phew where to begin!!! The last 12 months have been quite a whirlwind from having major surgery on my foot to finding out I was pregnant a month later, suffering first trimester blues, losing my dad, picking up the pieces, adapting to a new normal and the birth of my daughter.

Being in a cast for 8 weeks and battling first trimester blues *which resulted in my losing 7kgs* called for a new regimen that could accommodate my new life. Wash days became not only few and far between but a nightmare as I had to make sure the cast didn’t get wet and ensure that my head wasn’t down for too long which would result in dizziness and me hugging the toilet bowl.

In a desperate bid to still care for my hair I sent out an SOS to Sibongile of Zedian Naturals asking her how she coped with her hair during her pregnancies. It turns out she was one of the lucky few that had smooth sailing in the first trimester but she gave me a few pointers nonetheless.

Her first piece of advice was that she lived in two strand twists. That way you can stay out of your hair and simply maintain them with a spritz and TRY to wash once a week. At this point I was not washing my hair weekly anyway so this was great news for me. It meant that I could do my twists, maintain them with a spritz, ACV swab once a week and carry on with life hair hustle free. For  Sibongile’s  simplified regimen check outhttps://www.facebook.com/notes/zedian-naturals/nausea-fatigue-wash-day-natural-hair-care-tips-on-wash-day-for-expectant-mothers/665650296801990

This is my new regimen which I have continued post baby as it makes  wash day shorter  and life a world easier for me*when you’re a new mom you soon discover that you no longer have tons of time to yourself*

Pre-poo: This process begins the night before wash day. I pre-poo my hair with coconut oil. This is ocassionally switched up with an oil mix depending on what my hair needs. Jojoba oil is my new go to oil so it ends up in almost everything.

Detangling: I now kill two birds with one stone by using my deep conditioner mix on dry hair to detangle and deep condition. I have switched to this method because it is faster, the deep conditioning mix provides slip for my detangling and has cut my finger detangling time to about 30 mins at a time.

Deep conditioning: Once the detangling is done I add a little more of the deep conditioning mix, put on a self -heating cap or cover with a plastic bag and allow to sit for 30 mins to an hour. My deep conditioning mix has stayed pretty much the same but is tweeked every so often to suit my hair needs with mayonnaise, Tresemme Naturals conditioner, avocado oil and olive oil as the basic components. I left out tea tree oil as some essential oils are said to be unsafe to use during pregnancy and I wasn’t about to take any risks.

Co-wash/shampoo: I mostly co-washed during my pregnancy firstly because I was experimenting with the no shampoo. Due to the fatigue I also didn’t wash my hair every week, I switched to once every two weeks because I just didn’t have to energy and if the hair was in twists or cornrows I could get away with it. I still have mixed feelings about only co-washing *I am yet to determine if I have more build up as a result* but I have carried on with it to see what difference it will make to my hair over a prolonged period of time.

ACV rinse:  This has remained the final and my favourite step in my wash day. Instead of mixing my usual 8 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar to 3 litres of water, I switched to smaller quantities of ¼ teaspoon acv to 120mls of water as I had more control over this and could get to my scalp while sitting on my stool *yes lack of energy meant wash day was conducted while sitting* . I have also purchased organic apple cider vinegar as opposed to the one sold in supermarkets because it had less of a smell. In fact it was barely there.

Sealing: I couldn’t stand the smell of Olive oil on its own so I switched to sealing with Jojoba oil. I have two Shea butter mixes that are now a staple in my regimen, one contains coconut,castor,jojoba, kinky curly leave in and shea butter while the other one simply contains shea butter, jojoba, castor oil and glycerine.

So this is my current regimen even post baby. I have tweeked a few things in the weeks following the birth of my little one and post -partum shedding. Details of this will follow in the next post…..

My hair throughout my pregnancy;

This week I’m wearing Bantu Knots. They are always seen as quintessentially African but the truth is, I’ve only really noticed them in West African movies, Nollywood to be precise. In Zambia we tend to favour braids or cornrows. Bantu Knots are primarily used for setting hair as they create a really nice spiral curl but I quite like to wear them as a style too. I did mine on freshly washed stretched that was sealed with Shea Butter.

To create a Bantu Knot you basically twist the hair until it gets too taught and starts to turn on itself then you twirl the hair around the base and tuck the end in to secure it.

One of the scarf tutorials I did last week illustrate how to create a Bantu knot really well.

By Brandi of http://www.hairinsights.wordpress.com

Girls are not the only ones who rock mean fros!

Recently a few dudes have approached me for fro advice so I thought I’d let a male friend of mine give us some fro inspiration today.

His name is Ndiye and he’s a break dancer among other things. He’s had long hair for as long as I can remember, I met him when he had straight hair though. He finally decided to go back to the nappy life after he saw an old pic of himself in a fro looking awesome. His main reasons for going straight where because combing it hurt and it was just tough to manage. However with the following tips I gave him, life is much easier:

1. Only comb when hair is damp and be gentle! And only do so once or twice a week.
2. Always use conditioner after shampooing
3. Apply hair butter or moisturizer after washing and conditioning
4. Let hair dry in twists then untwist and style with fingers.
5. Use a hair spray daily to moisturize.

Really simple no? Check out more pics below…

This week I’m back in a long term protective style. July is probably the driest month of the year and there is so much dust around that it just makes sense to hide the hair away.

I decided to stop being lazy and finally do some mini twists. I used to wear these quite often in year two of being natural but got lazy and moved on to protective styles with extensions in year 3. I decided to revisit them because they are a good example of a style that lasts quite a while. I tend to keep mine in for six week at the most. They are easy to maintain and allow access to both the scalp and ends of the hair. I will tell you how I maintain my hair and keep it moisturised as the weeks go on. As with the last set of twists I did I will attempt a different way of styling them every week.

I started twisting with trepidation on Friday evening and kept doing sections all weekend. The bulk of the hair was twisted on Sunday. I would say all in all, without breaks, it probably took me about 6 hours. The twists are tiny but deliberately not too tight.

I chose to twist on stretched hair which is why I had Bantu knots in last week. I didn’t want too much shrinkage because I want to be able to style the hair. I moisturised with a leave in conditioner and sealed with Avocado oil before twisting each section.

A great trick for knowing how moisturised your ends are while they are in twists is to see how fuzzy they are. Bushy ends tend to mean either a lack of moisture or split ends.

Spritz the ends with water, apply your leave in conditioner and seal with an oil or butter. I’m using Shea butter this season because of how dry it is.

When your ends visibly curl up then you know they are happy and moisturised.

My plan is to keep these in until at least the middle of August. I’m having so much fun with them already. I love the fact that I can play in my hair without actually manipulating it too much.

By Rumbi of http://www.everythingamum.com

And then my hair can just become so frizzy because “it” wants to… :)

In this picture here, it may not clearly show but my hair had just tuned out, doing whatever was on “its” mind. When it frizzes, there really isn’t much I can do. I just can’t style it.

And boy is it annoying to try and work with frizzy hair. Here are a few tips to help avoid that kind of drama…

-Protein Treatments
-Good conditioners
-Natural oils, e.g Argan oil (but careful, it could dry up your hair, so use sparingly)
-Don’t overwork your hair…too much manipulation can cause frizziness
-heat up a cup of olive oil and wear a shower cap or plastic bag for 40 minutes. Wash out with a shampoo or co-wash
-Mayonnaise and Avocado deep conditioner
-Apple Cider Rinse…really good for getting rid of build up and also leaves hair with a shine
-get rid of all split ends
-I make my last Apple Cider Vinegar rinse cold, a cold ACV rinse or just plain water rinse helps with sealing in moisture and gives the hair a nice shine
-dry with an old t-shirt instead of a towel.
-no brushes
-use a satin/silk hair bonnet and/or pillow

I hope you will find these helpful. Little changes in your hair care regimen can really go a long way in achieving great results and enjoying your hair.

Here are a couple of pictures with my dear daughter, enjoying our frizz free hair out in the sun…

This week has been a busy one in the African Natural Hair community. BBC Africa have been sharing a series of articles, pictures and videos all about natural hair. Today, Thursday 23rd July, 2015 at 1300 Central African Time (CAT), ZedHair’s Masuka M., will feature on a Live Facebook Q&A on the BBC Africa Facebook page. Also featuring on the panel will be Natural Nigerian and Valley Fontaine. Visit the BBC Africa Facebook page her for more information.

ZedHair will be sharing answering questions about natural hair

BBC Africa have also compiled a short Flipgram video of my natural hair journey in pictures. It took a while to compile, but I found it extremely enriching and rewarding because it showed me just how far my hair and I have come in our journey. I have learned so much, mainly through trial and error and just giving things a shot.

#MyHairJourney. Masuka M. of ZedHair shares her journey to natural hair. Have you gone from natural to relaxed? Weave to wig? Extensions to full afro? Share your before/after photos (and reasons for the change) with us #bbcafrica #hairtalks #flipagram made with @flipagram See full video at flipagram.com/BBCAfricaInstagram

A video posted by @bbcafrica on Jul 22, 2015 at 4:38am PDT

I’m really enjoying having my mini twists in. I keep getting asked if they can be unravelled. Its a little like having sisterlocs without the commitment.

This week I’ve decided to just switch it up a little and create one of those “half up, half down” hairstyles that are so popular at the moment.

I haven’t washed my hair since I installed the twists but have moisturised by spritzing, applying leave in conditioner and sealing with Shea butter.

You may have noticed that my twists seem a bit shorter than last week. This is because I baggyed mid week (spritzed my hair with water and covered it under a plastic cap for a bit). Sometimes I like shrinkage because it creates volume.

This style was achieved by parting the front of the hair into a U shape and then pinning the ends of the twists in that section down to create a pompadour.

I rolled each side up clockwise and pinned the ends down.

I’m often asked to demonstrate hairstyles that are appropriate for the workplace or “professional”. In fact during this very challenge I was implored to try more styles that would be suitable for even the most conservative of offices. I get a little confused by these requests because I feel as though it suggests that natural hair is inherently unprofessional.

How can hair be unprofessional? Yes, hair needs to be neat and tidy but how can we attribute what is essentially a human trait to our hair?

Some of the hairstyles I’ve worn during my challenge this year.

I believe that many of the hairstyles that I have worn so far during this challenge are workplace friendly but just to appease the office workers here is one that is unarguably work appropriate. I even wore a smart jacket to prove it!

This is a style that always features when I have mini twists installed. I did it during my second year as a natural head and the only significant difference in how I styled it then and now is the number of pins involved in making sure it looks put together.

It’s basically the same as the very first style I did during the challenge except that, instead of flat twisting, I’m rolling the hair.

Week one hairstyle was the Flat Twist Halo

I divide my hair into two sections, aligning the parting with my left eyebrow so that one side is bigger than the other. I then literally roll the hair from the parting all the way down to the bottom of my head, picking up extra hair as I go along. I use a bobby pin to secure the end of the roll and do the same with the other section of hair.

As I said, if you have shorter hair than mine you can still achieve this style but you might need to add more pins to the body of the roll to make the style last.

These twists probably have two more weeks left in them.

What do you think of the idea that hair can be deemed unprofessional? What kind of natural hair styles have you worn in the office?

“那是你的头发吗？(Is that your hair?)” is a question I often get asked when I’m out and about regardless of whether my hair is braided or not.

Having a fro in China is undoubtedly unique and makes one stand out quite a bit. Among the sea of straight and usually long jet black hair, a coily cotton mane is very easy to spot. When I first arrived I had long box braids and that completely baffled a lot of Chinese women that came into close contact with me. Normally, they first ask if it’s my hair, then ask how I did it and if I did it myself. Some would ask to touch it and take pictures of it or if they were too shy, stare, point and speculate amongst themselves. Since my mandarin is not very good I’d sometimes just say it is my hair to which they’d respond with gasps and wow’s.

This however is not how all Chinese react to black hair. It is mainly how Chinese who don’t have constant contact with black people react which is perfectly understandable, they are seeing us for the first time. When I was in Shanghai, for the most part only the Chinese we met in tourist areas reacted that way. In Guanzhou, given the high population of blacks there, no one bats an eyelid. Baoding, however, is not as metropolitan as the other cities so black people and black hairstyles are still a rare sight. Although the attention is sometimes annoying or inconvenient, it is usually good natured. They are not racist or rude, just curious and fascinated.

Interestingly, though the males may also be curious about it, none of them ever say anything. It’s generally women that ask questions. I think hair should also be cited as one of the things that transcend language and race! Being around a lot of people with hair that is not as versatile as black hair has also made me appreciate mine even more. I get bored easily and having cutting, dyeing, curling and adding pieces as my only options would be so uninspiring. I’m thankful that I can do all the above plus braid a myriad of styles and change my texture too. In fact, whenever we change hairstyles here, some Chinese people we occasionally meet don’t recognise us.

In other news….

In terms of hair care I have been introduced to the wonders of online shopping. And not shopping on American or British sites either, but on one of China’s most popular peer to peer shopping site: taobao.com. Some Africans who live in China sell afro kinky extensions and hair oils online as well as T444Z hair food! I am so excited about that, I can hardly wait for my current products to finish so I can hunt for others (product junkie tendencies). I intend to buy different coloured afro kinky extensions so I can alternate colours during the coming winter. I could get my hair braided by a fellow student if I wanted another style but doing twists costs me nothing so I prefer them.

Side note: If you would like to read about my little adventures while here in China, please keep an eye on my Soul Canvas blog: funkyforyou.wordpress.com

By Naomi of http://www.kinksntwists.com

I started off with freshly washed hair (check out  wash day routine post for details), I let the hair air dry a little. I sectioned hair into four part, threaded hair using cotton thread to stretch it (wore them all weekend).  This morning I took down the thread and combed the hair.

For today’s style, I sectioned hair into two part (front and back). I flat twisted hair, two tight flat twists on the sides and five jumbo flat twist in the middle. I brushed the back and pinned the hair in the middle. First attempt and I love the results.

Much Love & Happy Styling.

I was going to do a completely different look this week but I started playing around with my twists and liked this one so much better.

The style is another variation of the first hairstyle that I did during this challenge and its amazing how something as simple as the position of starting the flat twist can really alter the effect of the hairstyle.

Can you tell I really like how this one came out? I think it’s got a sort of elegant feel about it.

I didn’t necessarily part my hair in two but I did clip the back of the hair away so that it didn’t interfere with my twisting.

I started flat twisting at the right hand corner nape of my neck. I wanted a Grecian look and so had to awkwardly flat twist in a clockwise direction. I took a little bit of hair at a time, not more than 10 twists, and flat twisted all the way round to create a crown like shape. I tucked the end in using a pin.

Kutowa Desgins Glam Squad

A couple of weeks ago we introduced an exciting project that we have now completed. ZedHair was approached by Towani Clarke of Kutowa Designs to style her hair for a special photo shoot that would launch her latest collection, Ba Donna.

We decided to take a more holistic approach than we normally would and started by consulting with her about her hair practices and complete hair type before giving her advice on the kinds of products and practices that would work best for her as well as which hairstyles would be most suitable for her hair.

After working out Towani’s hair type we discussed hair styles that would work well for her.

We took into consideration factors such as texture and porosity and encouraged Towani to try Henna as a protein treatment. She absolutely loved it and shared her experience on the ZedHair Forum.

Many of the meetings took place at Kutowa Designs store in Kalundu, Lusaka.

With the help of regular ZedHair Contributor Naomi Malambo of Kinks n Twists we carried out a hair style test a couple of weeks before the shoot and both we and Towani, the client, were confident about what we wanted to achieve on the day.

The photo shoot took place at Pamodzi Hotel in Lusaka, it was styled by MaFashio, Nou Koncept took care of the Make-up and Fortress Media captured the whole process in pictures.

Our studio for the day. A room at the Pamodzi was a hive of activity.

Nou Koncept Make Up

MaFashio styled the shoot.

Mwanabibi of ZedHair undertook all the initial consultation, working on the concept with Towani and making sure the styling on the day of the shoot was just right. Hairdresser Hope Miyoba plaited Towani’s hair to set it before the shoot and Naturally Sammie who is regularly involved with ZedHair workshops, was part of the styling crew.

Naturally Sammie taking center stage.

Look out for final shots on magazine stands and close ups of the hair on the blog next week.

This project was an absolute pleasure to work on, like Fashion Yapa Zed it was a great opportunity to showcase Zambian talent but it also encapsulated the ZedHair ethos so well, namely to take a holistic, scientific approach to achieving fabulous hair.