https://mobile.eatyourworld.com/blog/african_cooking_whats_with_the_maggi_cubes Sierra Leone, but relevant. We cooked before Nestle!

Hello Nairalanders

I wonder if anybody would be interested in helping me complete the fieldwork portion of my Masters Dissertation? I would like to complete a short interview/questionnaire, either over the phone, internet or in person, with people involved in community organisations in London/UK that send money or carry out projects in Nigeria. My focus is on Yorubaland, and the questions will be basic ones about the kind of projects you undertake.

If you are interested, please send me a private message, or respond to this thread, and I will send you my email address/telephone number.

Thanks in advance.

Lola

P.S for Moderators: I have posted this thread in several forums, it is not spam, but please feel free to reduce it to one thread if necessary.

Hello Nairalanders

I wonder if anybody would be interested in helping me complete the fieldwork portion of my Masters Dissertation? I would like to complete a short interview/questionnaire, either over the phone, internet or in person, with people involved in community organisations in London/UK that send money or carry out projects in Nigeria. My focus is on Yorubaland, and the questions will be basic ones about the kind of projects you undertake.

If you are interested, please send me a private message, or respond to this thread, and I will send you my email address/telephone number.

Thanks in advance.

Lola

P.S for Moderators: I have posted this thread in several forums, it is not spam, but please feel free to reduce it to one thread if necessary.

Hello Nairalanders

I wonder if anybody would be interested in helping me complete the fieldwork portion of my Masters Dissertation? I would like to complete a short interview/questionnaire, either over the phone, internet or in person, with people involved in community organisations in London/UK that send money or carry out projects in Nigeria. My focus is on Yorubaland, and the questions will be basic ones about the kind of projects you undertake.

If you are interested, please send me a private message, or respond to this thread, and I will send you my email address/telephone number.

Thanks in advance.

Lola

P.S for Moderators: I have posted this thread in several forums, it is not spam, but please feel free to reduce it to one thread if necessary.

how can there be tenets to unbelief? i'd be interesting in hearing them. 'how to deal with unbelievers' is no different to offering advice on anybody or anything else that bothers us. a list need not be compiled- considering as there have always been people who don't believe- and the unbelievers didn't compile a canon of unbelief and propagate it worldwide. i have no problem with religion or the religious, and i do think that unbelief and belief are both matters of faith, but atheism (or in my case, agnosticism) are not a religions.

i don't think philosophising about the existence of god, or how to deal with believers is quite the birth of a religion. there are no tenets, or ritual, deities or laws.

yeah, i think it looked really sparse, but also that she was just going to do some shopping or whatever and not done up for the cameras. i'd remembered seeing shots of her when she was pregnant and wearing a low (but longer than this) cut, and it looked very different.  i think her features may have enhanced the billy goat look, lol. i think length isn't the issue as far as suiting people, more that one cut doesn't fit all.

though i prefer finding inspiration in ordinary people, i think these comparisons are beautiful:

@TOH
you have in the past declared that you 'hate people like Lita', so i didn't exactly pluck the idea from the air.  but glad to know there's no beef. in response to what you so lovingly reiterated about natural salons, as i said, i don't use salons and hairdressers.  i just think its a ridiculous state of affairs that anyone should have to search for one that specialises in 'nappy', unprocessed or whatever.  hopefully that'll change one day.

----
and for anyone whose nerves i'm not getting on (yet), there's one more naija natural link that might be helpful:   http://www.youtube.com/user/RusticBeauty .  admittedly, i haven't watched a lot of her vids, but she's gorgeous, and i like looking at pretty people 

well in as much as a christian is certain that there is a god.  you get my meaning   

@Lanik
i know!  if you're interested, i found a link to two other naija girls with fabulous hair. http://leaveinthekinks..com/. one is in Naija right now.

@Tatase/Waterworks

when i used to relax, i could never leave it is long as eight weeks, or i would get breakage (at the line where the new hair and the permed hair met). as long as you're only relaxing only new growth, and not blowdrying (i used to roller set and then wrap at night) or doing anything else too stressful, i reckon it should be fine.

you can get hairspray, which should give hold, you could probably spray some in your hair if you comb or fix it in sections. something like elnett would hold whatever style you had, but it might flake, so you'd have to figure out the right amount.

@ TOH
if you don't think its a problem that a 'hairdresser' can't do hair, then we've reached a stalemate.  if i found an architect who couldn't draw, and had paid them good money, i would have something to say.  i also wouldn't appreciate my hairdresser pressuring me to do anything (as was mentioned in someone else's post), let alone something that wouldn't aid the condition of my hair, or that they couldn't even do properly.  (i have been to a hairdresser three times since i went natural seven years ago, so they have little effect on my life) it seems the only difference in opinion between you and me is that you're resigned to the situation, whereas i don't see why we shouldn't expect better.  i chimed in to a conversation that was already happening, so perhaps your fury isn't aimed totally at me, but i don't think i've read any 'chanting' that anyone is trying to be white.

the fact that something isn't within your experience doesn't make it untrue or invalid. i've never met a natural 'nazi' ('nazi', seriously?)- all the naturals i meet don't make a deal about it- doesn't lead to me declaring that you must be lying, or overblowing your experience.  i spent my whole adolescence in London, with people who had huge problems with natural hair (or at least certain natural hair), and when in Nigeria, or with people newly from Naija, i get looked at like i have three heads.

extremists occur on both sides- look at those who are so angered by the sight of natural hair, on themselves or anyone else. i have heard people say 'we aren't slaves any more' as though we have been saved from our hair by dark and lovely. there are plenty who are belligerent in countering a natural supporter, acting as if they, in relaxing or weaving, are in a tiny minority. i for one never said everybody who relaxes or whatever is self hating.  i'm simply arguing against the idea that there are no people who relax out of some level of self hate. i would just like to see more variety.

@bluespice
i hate using/having too many products, but it took me a while to figure out what to use when i went natural.  i've got five or six (shampoo, conditioner, curly product and hair butter) that i've been happy with for a long time.  nice to have a few more pennies in the purse.

@bluespice- natural means untouched, i have colour in my hair, so technically it isn't natural.  doesn't mean anything, its just a definition.  as for the self-hate question, unfortunately,  too often it is a factor. i know too many who don't feel feminine unless their hair/weave moves in the wind, is the opposite texture to what grows out of their head and falls on their shoulders. we've forgotten how to manage our hair, and we see it as unmanageable, as we use tools and methods that don't suit it (small toothed combs, pulled through the hair from root to tip etc). length has become some holy grail because we can't retain it due to bad practises and are addicted to a vast arsenal of products that don't help.  what nonsense when a naija hairdresser says she can't manage virgin hair? where's the variety in that?

@waterworks
i'm glad we've both found what works for us.

i just pour it on my hair as i don't use it for build up. i've occasionally let it pour through my scalp as its supposed to be good for the skin too, but my main purpose is to smooth the hair cuticles and get the pH balance back to normal. I usually rinse it out a little, and then apply conditioner. since using a cheap soap as shampoo, i do this at every wash. if i had my favoured shampoo, i'd do it once a month.

@thief of hearts
what is porosity in relation to hair? does hair become more porous, and if so, what are the disadvantages? i too used to love the creme of nature shampoo, but it seemed to coat my hair. not necessarily a problem in itself, but my hair's best when its really clear of all residue. used to be a really good, widely available buy, shame they changed the formula.

@ Oyinda
i do the same as Tatase- dilute by the same amount, but i tend to rinse it briefly out of my hair, and then apply conditioner. it makes such a difference as far as tangles in my hair. i'm not sure that it does clarify, though a lot of people use it for that purpose.

i believe that scepticism does not mean definite disbelief, simply questioning.  Atheism is the certainty that there is no God.

well lather doesn't mean cleaning. its a comforting thing though, and luckily the shampoo bar i use lathers enough for me to feel happy when i wash. i don't find that baking soda increases the lathering much though, but you only need a little. Sufate-containing shampoos make my hair like straw too, and a lot harder to work with.

its too much considering they were married for five minutes and she has her own means of making money. however, i hope there are mechanisms for equal custody and therefore limited/zero child support. if he's gonna be looking after his child too, there's no need to pay her to take her part.

i sure hope not

good luck, i hope you gain the confidence and excel

@Gaminechic

can't claim the credit for the frohawk i'm afraid!

@FLGator
i'm glad it worked for you! believe me, my hair takes half a day to dry!

good to know.  i'm new to NL, spotted the thread, put in my opinion and more questions were asked.  i'm not sure how its off topic to state my opinion that most products won't produce magical results and that a change of method is possibly advisable.

I didn't really explain much, sorry- silicones aren't bad in themselves, more that I try to use mild shampoos (Sulfate free) which do not remove silicones, leading to build up.  I'm sure they are actually good for relaxed hair as they coat the strand (I believe). They're in so many conditioners, so they can be quite hard to avoid.

I also use baking soda in my shampoo once in a while to remove all build up, and if my hair's feeling tangly I use a heavily diluted apple cider vinegar to rinse my hair. Sounds weird, but it makes my hair extremely smooth.

As far as parabens, they're supposed to be carcinogenic.  I'm not greatly bothered by them, but they tend to not to appear in the products I use anyway. 

@Thief of hearts

i'm sure what I did to offend you.  anything i say is of my own experience,i can't speak on anyone else's behalf.  my problem stems from the fact that without any knowledge of how to deal with their hair, most black women have been led to believe that anything 'unnatural' is better.  there isn't any other race in this world that feels cursed in this way.  i think anything we do should be an option, not a compulsion.

@Oyinda
i use carrier bags for treatments too!

@Tatase 
that's how my hair looked when I transitioned!  the only thing I wonder is do you get a lot of breakage? a lot of people who treat hair that's part relaxed, part natural in the same way find it breaks at the point between two textures.

@FL Gator

sorry I missed your question.  I'm glad someone was on here to alert me, thank god for the NL police  .
*i wash my hair with a shampoo bar I buy online from a ghanaian lady in the UK where I live www.akuawood.co.uk .  if i can't find/afford that, i use dr bronner's castille soap http://www.drbronner.com/DBMS/LS.htm
*i condition with aubrey organic conditioner, sometime with pure mayonnaise.  sometimes I add yogurt or olive oil, but these extras rarely happen these days. http://www.aubreyorganicsuk.co.uk/ .  its not cheap, but lasts (for me) a very long time.
*i use either shea butter, castor oil or a blend of the two with aloe vera gel and any other ingredients I have about. 

i've found natural/natural based products, with no silicones, parabens or petro-chemicals work best for me.   a lot of 'black' products are full of these ingredients with add a false shine, but i find they strangle my hair and make it hard.  i'd rather have fluffy, soft hair than shiny, greasy hair.

kilon sele? so fe ki Dayo pin advice fun irun e?

i cannot speak Yoruba, only understand, and my writing is similarly abominable, so excuse my small attempt!

anyway, I'm pretty sure you can't turn processed hair natural. i've never tried to make permed hair coarse again, so can't really help you.  sorry 

the bonds in the strands have been broken so it lies straight and flops instead of standing up.  http://thenaturalhaven..com/ this lady explains the science better than i do.

good luck, and let me know if you find something that works.

hey, i'm not arguing on behalf of the trinity- like i said, i am basically agnostic and certainly neither christian nor muslim.  all i'm saying is as christians and muslims are talking about the same historical figure, born of a virgin and taken straight to heaven by god.  whether he was the son or a prophet is kind of irrelevant.  my point that there was a difference in the 'claims that Jesus and the prophet Mohammed made' wasn't useful- i should have spoken of the claims that christians and muslims make about them.

i don't think i said anything that was contrary to that. have a second read.

which woman in that era would be allowed to go on the road following a man considered crazy by most?  the one woman he closely associated with (and was probably a disciple) was known as a prostitute (probably as a result).  even in this age such women are referred to as groupies. Prophet Mohammed married many women, which allowed them to be a part of his entourage.  Considering the difference in the claims that Jesus and the prophet Mohammed made, I think this was quite reasonable.

anyway, as a muslim, i believe you consider Isa a great prophet. i'm a pro-gay agnostic, so calling Jesus gay is of no consequence to me.  but if you are trying simply to cause offence by 'insulting' Jesus with gay slurs, i think you ought to consider it against your professed beliefs.