It’s a Swap Thing. (Blogtober #27)

This past weekend, me and a good friend decided to host a Natural Hair Swap Party. And it was all kinds of awesome.

The Original Plan: a year ago, as my friends sat in a car and discussed the different products we use for our natural manes and how effective/ineffective they were, I found it interesting that the same products that worked for one person did the complete opposite for another. Moreover, most of us had used these products once or twice and abandoned them for other options. I wondered aloud about having a party where all of us would bring our products and swap them with each other to create the same effect: what didn’t work for me may work for you. It was also an idea to curb the product junkie-ism/convenience stores that most of us had in our bathrooms.

The Details: each naturalista would bring their gently used (used once or twice, so no half bottles or barely there) products. And then swap! In other words, no one would come empty-handed or leave that way. So, yeah, there was no significant curbing of that product junkie-ism I mentioned earlier, since we were all going back home with something, but we were returning home with decidedly fewer things that we came with. So success?

The Execution: what better time of year do this than in the autumn, when a lot of us are going through our assortment of products to prepare our manes for the upcoming changes in weather? As mentioned, we gathered this past Sunday for the party. It was pretty awesome to have a bunch of naturalistas and mutual friends in one room. Along with the actual swapping, we played a few natural hair inspired games (name 10 natural hair vloggers/bloggers and 10 natural hair brands), gave out prizes (gift bags with all kinds of hair goodies inside), favors, etc. So much fun. The swapping itself was great: my co-hostess came up with the brilliant idea of giving everyone a ticket with a number on it. For Swapping Round 1, whomever had their number called could come up to the products and grab one product. After everyone got their turn, in Swapping Round 2, the ladies could feel free and take as much as we wanted. It was a wonderful bedlam. As intended, no one left without something, including yours truly and her co-hostess.

Not only was it terrific to see a plan come together, a year in the making, at that, but the ladies thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Needless to say, we plan on making it an annual event. Below are a few more photos from the party.