In only few years, the Natural Hair Academy in Paris has become an international event not to be missed, gathering all types of magical beauty. For its 8th edition, the marketing ethnic agency Ak-A, renewed the festivities by making the NHA 2019, a two day fair all about Black beauty in Europe.
In the beginning of June, in the heart of the Vincennes Woods (Paris area), curly, fro, straight, 4C, 4B hair types of young women were rushing to a floral entrance. Just like every year, the Natural Hair Academy celebrates and educates about being Black and beautiful. This year, the event exceeded our expectations. Brands, Influencers, artists, were present to introduce their businesses and share real life stories.
What did we do at the Natural Hair Academy?
Once we passed the Parc Floral entrance, it felt like we crossed into an underworld full of magic. Indeed, the fair is huge, and crowded. At some point it looked like we were never going to see the end of it. We were even given a map to help us navigate. 3 nice pavilions, 2 halls and one main stage. Why not begin this almost sunny day with a workout session. You are reading right! Coming straight out of Atlanta, Georgia, the Ector ladies, Ellen and Lana, were offering an early morning ‘Black Girls work out too’. Watching Elen Ector who is 66 years old barely sweating was definitely an inspiration.
Later on, we couldn’t help but notice the food trucks outdoor. One particular stand out was New Soul Food. Given the fact that we were in Paris, we did not expect them to have collard greens and mac n’ cheese, the level of quality was real. New Soul Food is an “Afro Caribbean” cuisine which featured 3 choices of meal. We went for the jugular: the Subsaharan Afro meal made of braised Penja pepper chicken, basmati rice, plantains along with Cameroonian spice peanuts sauce.
The first encounter that we had with a brand was with, Activilong, stand 21. To be honest, when we saw that a young lady with the name Queen Kalicy was going to represent the brand for the NHA, we immediately thought of some odd impersonations of Game of Thrones. So imagine our delight and surprise when we met Queen Kalicy, a French braids experts doing demonstrations and sharing her tips on how to braid children. Stand 21 was so far the most animated. It featured a private Dj, dance battles and hype up influencers. Check out the story here!
We kept walking, and we saw something familiar. Shea Moisture had made the trip to Paris showcasing their “all natural products”. It is safe to say that the brand is actively trying to improve its image since the several questionable commercial controversies.
Next up, we checked out Nia the Light. Some probably saw her in the Masego video, ‘Wifeable’, and others from her Youtube channel when she used to have a full of volume blond fro hair. Half British, half Zimbabwean, Nia is now rocking her hair bold. She accepted the Natural Hair Academy’s invitation to talk about her experience and her documentary ‘I am not my hair’.
We definitely felt empowered. Later we sat down with activist Michaela Angela Davis and Beauty Director Julee Wilson. They hosted a very educational panel that taught us about Black culture and the story behind each Black woman’s hair. To conclude the event, we fully enjoyed a conversation with Author and Speaker, Luvvie Ajayi about her journey to success.
About 8000 Black women were present during the two days of NHA 2019. The international dimension of this event is what makes it interesting. Black Culture is two words that have a different meaning depending your locations. In Europe, the Culture is diverse. At the Natural Hair Academy, we saw sisterhood, we felt beautiful inside and out and overall we felt empowered.