How the rest of the world does it: Felicia Leatherwood's Natural Hair Workshop, London

I thought I was lucky when I got my hands on a pair of tickets for Felicia Leatherwood's Multi-Texture Hair Workshop in London, however some things came up and I was stuck in Lagos for an extra week. Boo! Never fear, my roving reporter and fab friend Goz was on hand to cover the event.

Now if you have never heard of Felicia Leatherwood, start googling now! She is indisputably one of the godmothers of natural hair. Stylist to stars such as Jill Scott, Kinkspiration! alum Tomiko Fraser Hines, Will Smith, Sanaa Lathan and many more, Felicia is the founder of the Loving Your Hair With Natural Care Workshops, which have been attended by thousands of people all over the world.

Over to you, Goz:

Over two hundred women turned out for the Gidore & Loving Your Hair With Natural Care workshop, held at the Swiss Church in London’s Covent Garden.

In order for the day to run smoothly, as there was a great deal to get through, the organisers laid out a lovely lunch canapés, fruits and drinks to start the proceedings. This was a great opportunity to meet people, hear their hair stories and take pictures of truly inspiring hair. It was during this time that I met Cassidy from ‘NaturalSelection’. (note from The Kinky Apothecary: Natural Selection is one of our favourite blogs, and Cassidy once featured us here when we were in our infancy).

We chatted about her hair journey, travels and her blog. Cassidy has such energy around her and as a prominent blogger had lots of people around her who wanted to take pictures and talk to her; so I took my opportunity to take a couple of pictures with her too.

The gorgeous Cassidy. That haircut is really serving as a source of kinkspiration here at the KA!

Felicia was the billed as the main event of the day and she did not disappoint one bit! She took us on a step-by-step process of how to care for our hair. Starting with conditioning and retaining moisture through to what to do when blowing out your hair. Her insights, recommendations and tips were amazing and she had women jostling for position at the product counters to buy products that she had endorsed.


The indomitable Felicia Leatherwood doing her thang!

Goz with Felicia

Jane Carter (of Jane Carter Solution) took part in the workshop, and her run through of how to use her products was again immensely useful and insightful. She had two models with two very different types of curls to show which products to use and how to use them.

Jane doing a product demonstration

Goz with Jane

Other activities:

1. There was a demo on how to blow out your hair

2. A scalp check by Felicia Leatherwood – this was pre-booked in advance

3. Raffles and goodie bag draws

There was also a large range of vendors selling hair products, toiletries and accessories.

The five hours went by so quick and it was great that women were not afraid to ask questions that really opened up to dealing with different issues, types of hair and products to use.

After all the talks and demos, there was time at the end to mingle, and exchange stories, tips and contact details. Again I seized this opportunity to take pictures, and we all left with great goodie bags.

I know everyone loves pictures, so you will be pleased to know Goz managed to take about a million of them, which I've managed to whittle down. Enjoy!