Welcome to Tokyo: Curly Troops + Book Tour

Konichiwa from Tokyo! Why in THEE entire hell am I here, you ask? Welp, I’ve received many emails over the years from natural haired soldiers (soldiers figuratively, and literally) stationed in random places, but the ones I was receiving from Okinawa and Tokyo were coming fast and furious over the past 8 months. It peaked my curiosity, and after several interchanges, I learned that they have quite the community over there (they hold events and erry’thang,) they’re avid CN readers and they don’t have access to many products. So I thought it’d be pretty cool to head to Japan to meet with some of the naturals who weren’t fortunate enough to come home for the holidays, take them some free SheaMoisture products and do what we do best, talk hair!

So, after much planning, and in partnership with SheaMoisture and American Airlines Black Atlas, here I am. Also, this just so happens to be the official first stop on my Better Than Good Hair Book Tour! I’m so excited about this, y’all.

Now, let me say this. When I started blogging 4 years ago, hair shows ruled the day. If you wanted to interact with other natural hair divas, that’s where you would have to go. We’ve all been to that same hairshow with the fluorescent lighting, booths and the wafting fragrance of frankincense and myrrh, right? Just me? Anyway, it’s cool, I’m not knocking it, it’s just not my scene. I’m more of a lounge, ‘let’s shake our afros’ kind of girl, so in order to bring the spirit of the CN community to life, I started holding ‘CN Meetups’ in my area. I wanted to meet the readers while enjoying appetizers, cocktails and music. The early CN meetups brought out 10-20 people.  We’d meet in local restaurants and nightclubs and the invite was a super informal announcement on the blog. It was a few of us, at the bar swapping products and talking ish with friends. Pretty soon, members from the forum would plan CN meetups of their own, in their area, in my absence, and submit pics for me to share on the site! What you know today as the ‘natural hair meetup’ was born right here in the CurlyNikki.com community.

The community has grown tremendously and so has the scale of the meetups. We now rent out and take over entire venues, lounges and restaurants/bars. The lines are long and the venues get so packed folks can hardly wobble–Remember this?

The intention was never for these to become ‘celebrity’ appearances or money makers. I like ‘free’, which is why my events remain as such.  And in that vein, what I want to do is take it back to the old school. These book signings will be smaller events, but there will be a lot more of them. Space will be limited but we’re going all over the country! We’re taking it back to what the original purpose was, to encourage sisterhood and talk hair on a more intimate level.

I’m happy to be partnering with the good folks of SheaMoisture! They’re sponsoring these events and together we’ll be bringing you the book, education, fellowship and of course… free products!

For details, stay tuned to the events tab on betterthangoodhairthebook.com, as space will go
quickly.

One of my first stops on the tour, Yakota Base. These women are away from their families during the holiday, they’re serving our country, they never get featured ANYWHERE, no offense, but I never see them on Fox news, so what better way to kick off the tour then to head to Tokyo to show love to The Curly Troops!

Stay tuned for our usual antics, great content, and ROMWE giveaways!