The Tribune

By ALESHA CADET

Tribune Features Reporter

acadet@tribunemedia.net

Back home from college, financially broke, and looking for natural hair care products she could actually afford, led Keshia Smith down the route of cooking up her own hair treatments right in her kitchen.

“As a recent college graduate, of course I was broke, and natural hair products in the Bahamas are extremely expensive. So I decided to put my biochemistry degree to work and create all-natural, vegan products that not only restored my hair but helped it grow. I believe that whatever you put on your body should be good enough to put in it,” she told Tribune Woman.

Keshia came up with her “Simply Natural” brand - organic hair and skin care product line made in the Bahamas which includes shampoo, deep conditioners, hair growth oil and moisturisers, as well as natural skin care products like African black soap, raw shea butter and coconut sugar body scrubs.

To her customers, the 28-year-old is known as "The Oil Lady", as oil-based products to restore edges and encourage length is what she first launched her brand with. She believes every woman, girl - and curl - deserves to learn, grow and shine.

And to help women achieve this shine, she recently released an e-book called “Journey to 6 Inches of Hair Growth”

“ ‘Journey to 6 Inches’ is an easy seven-step guide on growing longer, healthier hair. This book will help build a hair regimen that is easy to follow by providing easy instructions that, with consistency, will allow you to see growth in a shorter time frame. It also provides my favourite DIY recipes to promote healthy long hair,” said Keshia.

The motivation for putting together the e-book came from her doing the “big chop” of her own hair not one, but three times.

“One was from heat damage and the other colour damage. The steps provided are the steps I have taken time and time again to grow my hair longer and faster. So many times during hair consultations women ask me what I've done to grow my hair, so I decided to make the e-book outlining the steps. By using these steps along with a growth oil, I got six inches of hair growth in six months, which is major, because scientifically the average person can expect to grow six inches of hair per year,” said Keshia.

But she is points out that every step outlined in the book is realistic; there are no magic tricks, no pills or special potions, just factual information.

“Some women want six inches of hair in one month and that is not possible. I want my readers to grasp that, with consistency, any hair can grow. Everyone can have ‘growing hair’ once you build a regimen, be consistent with that regimen, and most importantly, trust the process,” she said.

For all those interested, Keshia Smith’s e-book is available for purchase online via the websitewww.simplynaturalco.com.