Natural Hair and a Trip to Africa

While out in the world, I found this fantastic hair shop called A d i m u Salon! I was like a kid in a candy shop as I bought up her natural and braided styles named after stars of African descent with ad photos of models reminding me of friends and family...In RL, braiding's not a gift of mine, but my sister and cousin can with no problem. A d i m u's creator, Rubina Stanwell, does fantastic braided hairdos like this one--"Maya"...And this one, "Rita". In RL, I spent a month in Senegal (in West Africa) a few years ago. Women in Senegal are very style-conscious and folks pay attention to what you're wearing. I joked that I was in a nation of supermodels. In both photos, I am wearing an inworld re-creation of my RL floor-length Senegalese ndockette dress, with the fabrics taken from the actual garment...
I also re-created the flowing robes and headwrap of my grand boubou, a flowing garment that is common in West Africa. This is the version in white. Senegal is a 96% Muslim country and you will see most folks wearing white boubous and ndockettes on Fridays...
Here I am in the Africa sim (please make sure you check out the art for sale to support the sim and its positive cause!), wearing it in its actual hand-dyed fabrics (bazin--pronounced "bah-zahn"--cotton damask). The embroidery around the neck is also scanned from the actual garment and was hand-made as well...
I have always been interested in diversity and cultural experiences here in SL...I'm happy to be able to share one of mine with you all...