Honouring Her Roots by Naomi Mudiay

A young black woman decided to take matters, business, and hair into her own hands, while preserving and celebrating her roots.

by Naomi Mudiay

Necessity is the mother of invention. Plenty of ideas, skills and businesses begin where there was lack of something, and a niche was identified. This is exactly what happens when you move to a different continent with most of the population having a different texture and colour of hair from your own.

As a Black woman living in Dublin, one of my challenges has been finding someone who can wash and braid my hair without burning me. After several failed attempts of having my hair done at the usual hair salons around the corner, and hearing excuses varying from ‘we don’t have the right products’ to ‘it will take longer than usual’, my only resort was to look up any black hairdressers. The search was proving to be futile, but I was eventually introduced to Adowayo.

I reached out to this remarkable business owner after a thorough look at her work, or rather art, via social media. The aesthetics and content she displayed on her Instagram business page is enough to pull one towards the follow button. To say I was relieved when she finally replied would be misleading, because I was both nervous and excited to meet her. Her work is impeccable; she has done styles I have not seen before and the way she captures the process is simply flawless.

We settled to have the interview online, and I appreciated her timing keeping skills. ‘’I have actually never been interviewed before,’’ she giggled and let out a warm laugh as she introduced herself. ‘’Moving to a different country,

Model pictured after braiding. Photo by Elisaveta Dantsig

leave alone continent is definitely top of my list of ‘life changing experiences’ and I am almost always glad to meet people who somehow relate to the changes and adjustment that is needed for you to survive.’’

We briefly discussed the challenges, weather and culture shock that is attributed to moving from home. ‘’Abuja is extremely hot, and Dublin can get extremely cold. I will never get used to it,’’ says 26-year-old Adowayo.

Adowayo came to Ireland as a student, where

Model pictured after braiding. Photo by Elisaveta Dantsig she majored as a Chemical Engineer and enjoyed the course. It was within her first few months in the country that she realised she had to ‘retouch’ her hair but had not seen any African Salons that could braid her hair. Unlike me, she did not bother to look for any hairdresser. ‘’I’m actually glad I did not attempt to get a hairdresser, they are expensive and most of the time, you will not like the outcome.’’

Adowayo quickly discovered that she has the gift of braiding. ‘It started as a simple thing, I had the ultimatum of either relaxing my hair with chemicals or learning how to braid my hair.’’ What started as a ‘trial and error’ activity ended up being her main source of income. ‘’I simply enjoy it. I have made connections and learned how to do several styles.’’ Her vision and mission were to make black women feel like their hair matters and can be tended to without feeling like a task.

Dublin 8 was recently described and mentioned as one of the top neighbourhoods to live in worldwide. The article mentions that it is a large area with friendly people from different walks of life. As much as there is a diversity in businesses and people in the area, we both agree that it could do with a wider range of representation.

She started off as an on-call hairdresser where she would do house calls for customers. ‘’ I was able to talk to my landlord who gave me the go-ahead to build a small shed in the backyard, which I transformed to a salon space.’’ I was fortunate to get a virtual viewing of the space and one can easily tell that she sticks to a theme; a hint of purple, gold, and pictures of black powerful women from Madam C.J. Walker, who created hair-care solutions and remedies with black women, to Lyda D. Newman,

My mother has told me the history several times and has always reminded me the importance of ‘staying true’, and when I discovered I could braid myself and others, I knew I had to stay on this path.

who also ventured in creating and inventing better hair remedies for black women.

‘’It has always been about preserving my roots and appreciating where I come from.’’ Braiding history can be traced to more than 5000 years ago and its evolution is one that black women hold dearly and celebrate to date. A lot of women in Africa would define it as a rite of passage. It is impossible to comprehend the history of braids and Black Hair culture in general without considering the impact of slavery on African women. Aside from the physical and psychological trauma it caused, it also resulted in an erasure.

Braids became more useful. There wasn’t time to create intricate styles in a system where they were just trying to stay alive. Due to a lack of time, resources, or products, African women began to wear their hair in a simpler manner. The women chose easier-to-manage styles, such as single plaits, and conditioned them with oils they had on hand, such as kerosene.

‘’People like to see the person behind the brand, so I show them that person. My sessions include conversations and playlists curated by my customers’’ I too would like to have my hairdressers allow me to curate the playlist of the day.

Model pictured after braiding. Photo by Elisaveta Dantsig