Zina Saro-Wiwa: Black Women’s Transitions to Natural Hair

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Roughly about a month ago, I attended a Natural hair meetup in Union Square, hosted by Nneka of Darker Than Brown.  I met up with a good girlfriend at Vapiano, and together, we had a pretty awesome time.

Okay, so to be honest, I'm an awkward girl.  I've totally come to accept and even embrace this aspect about myself-i.e. classic introvert- (quick wave to my fellow brethren out there).  So, meeting and conversing with new people, are acts I approach very tentatively.  

However, at this particular meetup, I never really got a chance to stand back and observe people, like I normally would.  Instead, my hair was the unwitting star of the event, as I was tugged and literally jostled from girl to girl, to give a detailed rundown of my hair regimen.  One attendee even made a comment about my hair being her idol that night, and I had to quickly school my features to hide my amazement. I mean, I'm Geri- overdramatic, awkward, and goofy.  Moreover, the room was overflowing with equally drool-worthy natural hair eye candy.

One of the attendees, Zina Saro-Wiwa was documenting the meetup.  Quick blurb:  She is a British-Nigerian filmmaker who directed This is my Africa *highly recommended*.  Her father is the late Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was a Nigerian human rights activist who campaigned against vast human rights violations caused by the Royal Dutch Shell company in the Niger Delta.

She was documenting women who were transitioning into being relaxer free.  When she found out I was Nigerian, she was adamant that I be in her documentary.  I'm totally over the moon about it, and I'm glad to be a real part of the natural hair story for the new age.


You can see me fluffing my hair *grin* at 2:29, and again at the end with some of the beautiful meetup attendees.