Last weekend, I had the privilege of hosting an event with Carol’s Daughter to discuss how their Monoi Repairing Collection can strengthen our kinks. It was also the official celebration of this site!
The Scene
The event was held at the Carol’s Daughter Flagship store in Harlem, NY. I love that Carol’s Daughter has their main store located in Harlem rather than downtown NYC, and it was refreshing to be able to go to an event in my neighborhood. The store also houses their Mirror Salon, which I visited for a Ceramic Fusion treatment in May. To entice people a bit more, there were delicious mini cupcakes from Tonnie’s Minis and champagne punch to welcome guests.
The Products
After a bit of mingling, the event began with a quick introduction of the Monoi Repairing Collection by Saniyyah Griffin, the General Manager of Carol’s Daughter Flagship & Mirror Salon. She explained what Monoi oil was–a Tahitian blend of gardenia flowers and coconut oil–essentially a fancy cousin of coconut oil. The two star products were the brand new Anti Breakage Spray which is both a leave-in conditioner and a detangler, as well as the Sacred Strengthening Serum which is an incredibly light, silicone free oil that helps reverse and prevent damage. Tlisha Matthews, my stylist at Mirror Salon, also came out to answer questions about determining your porosity, which is part of the True Reflection Consultation that the salon offers.
The Education
Then it was my turn to shine! I told attendees a little bit about my hair journey, the website and its mission, and my experience using the Monoi Collection, especially after my recent hair color. Since my hair lovessss coconut oil, it was bound to respond well to monoi oil, which it did. I also shared my month-long finger detangling experiment (I’ll talk more about it at the three-month mark), and explained how I’ve seen less breakage already when using the complete Monoi collection (shampoo, conditioner, anti-breakage spray and serum). Several attendees asked questions such as how often they should wash with shampoo however often you need but conditioner will do the trick most of the time, how to prevent shrinkage while washing wash in braids or twists, and what texture I classify my hair see this video on hair typing. We also gave away some fabulous products from a raffle as well as from Twitter and Instagram, where participants could enter using the hashtags #carolsdaughterharlem and #carolsdaughterklassy.
The People
A wide array of women and men stopped by the event, including loyal Carol’s Daughter customers, my blog followers, local natural hair blogger friends, some of my friends and family, and curious passersby. There were so many beautiful faces and wonderful heads of hair, a lot of mingling and chit chatting, and of course, smiling for the camera!
I’d like to especially thank Saniyyah for making this event possible! More photos will be posted on the Facebook page by the end of the week, so check back there later on!
All photos are courtesy of Kandice Lawson and may be used with proper attribution to my website.
Ijeoma, we had a great time and meeting your mother was definitely a highlight. Great photos by Kandice and we loved your presentation! Looking forward to the next one and thank you for sharing this really awesome recap.
Awesome event! Congrats girlie.