Homegirl Quel (kel) in Austin

Go Girl: Natural Hair Stylist Veola, Do You Naturally

Last Saturday I attended sneak peak event the get a look inside the new location of Jae Undreas full-service natural hair care salon. I was there to support my friend and one of their newest natural hair stylists, Veola, who is also the founder of Do You Naturally. Do You Naturally evolved from the original group Veola founded called Do You Austin, which I last mentioned in a post about the group's Anniversary party.  

At Saturday's event, we enjoyed a nice spread of refreshments and drinks, giveaways, and educational discussions and demonstrations about natural hair care. My favorite part was listening to all the natural hair journeys some of the women shared. All the stories were so different, but the one thing they all had in common was the increased joy and self-confidence every person who made the transition to natural hair experienced after their transition was completed. Love that. 

I left my camera home and my Blackberry died on the way to the event. I had my iPod Touch on me, but there's no flash on it so my photo from the event are crappy. But I do have a video! Homegirl and gents, meet Veola...

Photos of some of Veola' recent clients from big chops to straw sets (yes, on natural hair) to cornrows after the jump. Check 'em...

Fashion Friday: Nappy Rutz

The first time I saw Cherie Huff, owner of Nappy Rutz, was about a year ago at meet-up of a natural hair/lifestyle social group called Do You Austin. When she walked in, my stream of thoughts was something like this: Yay! another tall girl--Wow, she's striking (That's her in the middle in the pic up top, see? Striking.)--those earrings are HUGE--I want them. She's a six-footer like me and wore a floor length canary yellow skirt, a plain white tank top, and the biggest earrings I had ever seen. I learned about her company during a quick chat after the event and we agreed to keep in touch.

A few weeks later I got my earrings: a pair of huge, leather, diamond shaped earrings, and the teal teardrop pair I'm wearing in the photo. I wear the teal ones in my Twitter profile pic, in one of my Youtube videos and in one of my Clinique beauty reviews. I shot all of those on the same afternoon. Since the videos and pics made their debut, a few ladies have asked about the earrings, so I thought I'd introduce the artist here.

 

In her words...

"The tees came first. I’ve always admired nappy tees but had the hardest time finding tees long enough for me. I have the longest torso, EVER!! My hair is in its natural state, so I immediately thought Nappy Roots but with a twist spelled Rutz instead. The lack of large affordable earrings that made a bold statement were hard to come by, so I created my own. The rest is history. Nappy Rutz will be moving to Atlanta in the next few months. In the near future I plan to implement cuffs made of leather, clutches, belts and skirts. This means lots of work to look forward to."

The latest addition to her collection is the feather line! Peacock feathers, anyone?

Nappy Rutz tees and jewelry make a BIG statement. The pieces are designed with the natural girl in mind, but many of her fans rock Nappy Rutz pieces with their straight hair too. Check out her photo gallery of satisfied customers HERE.

Nappy Rutz tee-shirts and earrings can be viewed and purchased online at http://www.nappyrutz.com.