Naturally Live!!

Last night I took part in the first of three Livestream series put on by Tameka, co-owner of Natural Resources Salon.  Y'all know I already LOVE what they do at the salon.  I had the pleasure of visiting them with the Nappy Love Houston meetup group last month and I was beyond impressed.  Since I've been natural I've been nervous about the idea of even entering a salon for fear that they wouldn't know what to do with my hair but trust me, Natural Resources will be my salon when I get to chance to make my appointment.  It's something about the open, honest and caring atmosphere they exude...they really do care about the HEALTH of your hair, not the length and they're not out to just get your money like I've seen other salons do. 

I digress lol!!  The Livestream started kinda shaky, there was an echo and we had a hard time hearing Tameka and the ladies.  The chat side was cutting up...that was actually fun interacting with people from across the states that tuned in.  Once the audio was fixed (I don't think it took more than 5 minutes) we were in business.  Tameka and the panel tackled the basics of natural hair care, going natural in corporate America, did several style demonstrations, and answered questions from the livestream attendees.  Sounds like a lot, but it was all done in a little more than an hour.  The ladies on the panel offered pretty candid answers to each topic which was refreshing to hear.  When it came to the topic of wearing your natural hair in the corporate world the Livestreamers really lit up at the question.  Many ladies felt they shouldn't have to change their for work, others mentioned they would wear their hair flat ironed for the interview then show up with the fro on the first day...they cracked me up!! Shout out to Misha, MarciaD, GPink26, Simplylici, Tiff, Plutofigaro, ARS, Kiapharm, Kdw4jc, Breanna and the other ladies that kept the Livestream so interesting!  And thanks to the all the ladies that kept it interactive by asking good questions, and thanks Tameka for answering them!!

What really struck me was when they played MY VIDEO from the Nappy Love Houston meet up...Tameka demonstrated several quick and easy styles, all taking well under 5 minutes to construct! If you missed it, I'll post it again for your viewing pleasure :)  Talk about proud mama...I was glad I had captured those moments at the salon and that they really were super easy to recreate.  I've actually done several of the styles myself and with great success!  Thanks Tameka for expanding my hairstyle arsenal!  All in all, I can't wait for the next session.  Was it perfect?  Not quite but it got better as the stream went on!  Was it genuine?  Absolutely!!  For those who chose to cut out before the end I'm almost positive I'll see y'all back on Dec 13th...try to give it a chance next time, you might pick up something worthwhile!  To Tameka, Natural Resources Salon, and the media crew I love the concept of the Livestream to connect and interact across the US.  My suggestions for the next time are pretty simple (I think) turn the mics off on the laptop when someone is typing (because we could hear EVERYTHING in the salon) if using a camcorder mount it on a tripod with a swivel (it was kinda crazy with the video swinging from person to person...I think it was a laptop webcam?) I don't know how feasible it would be to have mics, but sometimes it was hard to hear the panel while speaking, maybe allotting a bit more time at the end for questions would be helpful and maybe have a wider range of lengths represented on the panel (it was refreshing to see Naturals with longer hair, but a lot of ladies were new to being natural or had recently done their BC, and wanted to know more of the basics and styling for TWAs).

All in all I think it was a great experience...thanks Natural Resources, can't wait til the next one!!