African Hair Braiding, a fashion trend in Philippines.

in philippines •  7 years ago  (edited)

From mid last year to date, hair braiding has been a hot trend in cebu, and The Philippines at large.

Moving to the Philippines , almost 8 years ago, with very few foreign students of my
descent it was hard to move around with braided hair without getting a tone of
attention and on lookers. I figured its because people in this side of the world are not
familiar with such hair styles. Some of who related it to dreadlocks , and there fore had resentments thinking it was unruly, dirty and unkept. ( not that dreadlocks are, i think its a misguided perception) .

Up to this day, I get a lot of attention towards my braided hair styles,even with the increase in number of women of color who braid, but this time more with admiration than before. I assume its due to the increased exposure especially American movies and music videos .

Brief History of African hair Braiding.

African braiding has a long history dating back to the 3500 B.C, and the tradition has been passed down to the current generation and will be generations to come. Its a big part to many cultures, an ancient beauty technique. In the olden days there were many reasons why women braided their hair but in current Africa, we use braids as protective styles for our coily, curly and kinky hairs. Its bit of a to manage our curly crowns daily, thus braids, and of late , more of a style trend. They never go out is style.
I was impressed to also find out that hair braiding has not only been in black communities but its a tradition that has also been practised in European and even Asia.

Are Filipinos embracing the braiding trends?

More than you can imagine, I get lots of curious and exciting inquiries from prospect clients every day that can't wait to have their cool hair do's, and gradually the love of the art is increasing, we get clients all the way from Manila , leyte, and different parts of the country traveling here to cebu to have their hair braids done. Its phenomenal!

Box Braids is a familiar look amongst women of color and with absolute no doubt,they look gorgeous, always and enhance ones beauty. No lies, but there is an exceptional, sort of exotic look when women of other ethnicities , especially Filipinas wear braids. I just don't know why, but am guessing its the fact that they are embracing a different culture, that is always something of admiration and exception, no wonder the word exotic came to mind.

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Braids in any form are cool. There are variety of styles, enough to make you change your hair style and be different every other day, a great style Tune up. How awesome! They are soo versatile.

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Braids have became a sensation in cebu and a style trend, especially to people in the dance sport. These fitness queens get to change their hair style every month. From differrnt braid colors ( darks, light, ombres) to shorter , longer, bob style,corn rows) you name it.. Kind of makes you and the people around you excited about your looks every month..

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Brown, Braided, Bold and Beautiful...

Even the gents did not want to be left behind on the trend.
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FB_IMG_1515090396677.jpgMan buns have never looked sexier...

Some celebrities here are embracing the culture as well, e.g KZ Tandingan

One of the highlights in this business is when i received this client, who had idolized his singing icons hair, and could only just wish to have hair like hers.
Can u imagine the joy when he found out it was possible to do so here in Cebu? He quickly messaged me and booked an appointment. Lucky for him, soon as he got his hair done, he got word that his idol was visiting cebu. He seized the moment,
and took a picture with her. Am quite sure he will cherish this moment for a long time to come.
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We were privileged enough to catch the eye of the beauty industry such as Zee lifestyle magazine, and styled the models in cool awesome braids for their last September issue.
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After the Zee lifestyle September issue with the models, one of the the editors for the magazine took his interest further and gave us an interview, that featured in the Zee Lifestyle October issue.
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I and the A team in the Zee lifestyle magazine issue.

When and why did i start this business here in Cebu.
As i mentioned earlier, when i came to Cebu 8 years ago there were few Africans here but as the years went by, the number of foreign African students increased and so did the demand for hair braiding. I therefore decided to venture into the business and Founded Afrique Lassie Hair braiding, check our page out on facebook @afriquelassie.
Its amazing to know that i now serve not only Africans but all genres of ladies as they come. Recently we had a Russian client who turned to a friend, a japanese who was soo fascinated with her hair make over, Aussies, Germans to mention but a few, and the locals are loving it., its an international sensation.

You can get creative and do anything you want with your hair. as u can see this gorgeous client went all bright for the festives. Who said braids are boring?
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Did i also tell you we can do fake dreadlocks?

I know right? Who would have thought.

Now a Festival is not festive without looking the part, right? SINULOG is just around the corner for Cebuanos and the masses cant wait, i included.
Why not Complete the festival celebration with a simple corn row style to compliment the whole festive look? See also our facebook page for more inspiration on hair styles. And great News for fellow Steemians is that you can pay in SBDs. That should not cost much at all judging from the current sky rise of SBD value in the market.

Hair doesn' at all have to be boring... Doesn't have to be regular either.
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Thanx for passing by loves.. Xoxoxo

Day 5 of FB_IMG_1514890078905.jpg.

NB. I wanted to make this look more articulate with markdown , but am using my tab and i dont have a hang on how to navigate through it yet. Hope you enjoyed reading throught, regardles..

Pictures used in this post are from my business page on facebook @Afriqulassie

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  ·  7 years ago (edited)

Wow.....good to know braided hair is trending over there. Is a norm here in Africa-Nigeria and you can find where to braid next door. The braid really looks beautiful on you. Been a while i braided my hair, seeing this now makes me wanna braid my hair.

Oh i miss that easy access of hair braiding back in Africa, here its a foreign culture.. Thank you for passing by.

didn't know braids are so much in trend now in the philippines. Seems like there are so many different ways to do a braid. Sweet stuff!

There are a million ways to braid, very versatile and filipinos are loving it.
Thank you for passing by.

I think braids are really cool. I'd like to try to braid my hair at least once in my lifetime. :D

Darling shining shimmering. . I will have it before sinulog. . Pm me the price. . I'm excited. Ahuh! ! Happy for you.keep steeming here. . See you!

Am super excited too... Let me know when u are ready.

I love it 😍
I have a kinky hair, I wanna have like this? Where should I go? And how much is it? I’m also in Cebu?

Do those hairs

I’ve had it once when my hair was still short 😊 I wanna have it again now that my hair is long. But I just don’t know where to go to have it done 😂

See you feeling all swaggey

Thank you 😂

mmm, nice post!

@iwanderela Hiii, it was nice meeting you today. Lets chat on fb and get ur braids done real soon. Xoxo.
Thank you for passing by.

Nice meeting you too :)

I already found a braid design... i'm looking forward for it to be done soon.

We can easily embrace that and If I have a long hair I want to try it. My wife and daughter tried it in Boracay and I wait for an hour. Soon If we visit in Cebu I wish we could meet you @purpletanzanite

Hahaha for some some hair styles like the ones iv displayed above, you might have to wait longer... Maybe even up to 7hrs.
Thank u for passing by.

1 hr to go for a full work shift, this needs a real patience and passion but worth the wait.

Braided hair looks so awesome. I think they are not easy to do and have a hard time doing it.I am fascinated by the people who are expert in doing this trendy thing.

Braiding is a work or art perfected with time. Not that hard to do, but veeerryyy tiring.

Thanks for taking time out to read my post and comment.

I followed this post from @surpassinggoggle facebook page, i was curious as to why braiding is trending in Philippines.

You can get creative and do anything you want with your hair. as u can see this gorgeous client went all bright for the festives. Who said braids are boring?

Honestly, with braidings, you are only limited by your imagination.

Exactly! U said it..
Thanx for passing by.

Looks so nice

Thank you... Xoxo
Thank you for passing by.

Display your shine here and bring all your braidees here, Let's create the trends

I have a friend who visited Cebu to get braids too! She is into the Afro Dancehall thing too, very interesting how she carried the look. However, she said it became inconvenient when she would dance! hahaha

Hahaha, maybe because she wasnt soo used to them yet.

Maybe haha she said it kept hitting her face! hahaha

Very cool and informative! In my eyes the braidings looks awesome but my hair is too thin for it for sure!

Not at all hun.. Its actually a protective hairstyle as we add extentions, so no much strain to your natural hair.

Thanks for taking time out to read my post and comment.

Megggg i told you, this is it nah heheh its very good that you shared it here, love the result ;) 😘💖
I resteemed your post

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Wooow, thank you soo much.

Welcome to the family! Happy steeming and enjoy your new journey as a steemian! 😁😎😎

Thank u , thank u.. I feel at home here. This place is awesome.

yay that's cool.. i remember when we met at tom n toms, i can't get enough with your cute braided hair!

It was nice meeting you meg even t'was just for a minute. I've heard so many things about you when you visited the cancer patients. Hope we can organize an event again there . Keep steeming and enjoy the journey :)

Awesome style I never see this before i am very thank full to you and follow you hope you also do same for me

You could imagine my shock when I saw that hairdo on the kady int the picture. Nice to see our hairstyles are leaving our shores now and influencing other continents.

There's another style to this braiding which is called "Twisting" .... Two strands from the bottom are twisted around eachother like sailors ropes till the end. They are my favourite though.

You guys should also check out the bob marley style... Tiny braids and can take a full day to weave.

How do i know much about these, I and mum weave my sisters hairs.

Great stuff

wow, this hair is the bomb...I would really love to try this...thinking of what to do right now...great work dearie. Love you!

this are awesome hair...

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The african hair is taking over the world.

Am telling u..

Thanx for passing by.

Great hairstyle. And cheers to your business @purpletanzanite!

Thank u soo much .. And thanx for passing by.

It's my favorite choice

Its really awesome., 😀😀

This hairstyle is awesome . I really want to have a hairstyle like this but i think i cant pull it off hahaha

awesome ! . . it makes me want to grow my hair this year and i'm gonna try this. .. soo cool..

Right? But we use extentions most of the time so no need to wait for ur hair to be very long.

Nice hairstyle

This is possinly the most interesting phenomenon I've came across in a while.