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.
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.
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..
Brown, Braided, Bold and Beautiful...
Even the gents did not want to be left behind on the trend.
Man 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.
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.
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.
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 
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?
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.
Thanx for passing by loves.. Xoxoxo
Day 5 of .
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