I was like a kid in the candy store...

adw425

Well-Known Member
I work at one of the schools in the Atlanta University Center and sometimes I forget where I am in terms of what I can get my hands on as the first place I usually go is online. I walked up the street at lunchtime, which is not unusual. However, I usually walk over to West End Mall or Family Dollar or further down to Angies Beauty Supply although I hardly go to the BSS anymore because: I have lots of stuff already and more and more I am into more natural products.

Anyway, I walked across the overpass today over I-20 at Lee Street and kept straight. I told myself I would stop at the African store to browse as they have beautiful fabrics, clothes, earrings, statues, masks, drums, etc. I hadn't stopped in there in over a year. Next to it (I did not know it was there) was a new store called the International Beauty Supply. It sounded interesting to me because of the word International and I thought they may have some hair products in there that are different from all the other BSS's like maybe Minoval products or products that contain rachette, etc. Anyway, the door was locked, much to my disappointment, although I cannot imagine why it was closed at 1:10 pm when folk are on lunch and may want to browse and buy, but I digress....

I went into the African store and it just took my breath away. There were tons of new products in there: Nubian Heritage's entire line, Saniyah (sp?) hair products (I am not familiar with this line, but the products looked great at a glance), lots of African Formula products, Dudu Osun, etc. They had a huge tub of raw shea butter, huge round blocks of African black soap, huge baskets filled with round balls of raw shea butter soap and on and on.

I was not supposed to spend any money today because I had already placed an order earlier for jojoba and tea tree oil from Tea Tree King and Jojoba King, but I could not resist.

I bought a 16 ounce container of raw shea butter (since it is warm here, it is a perfect scooping and spreadable consistency), raw shea butter soap (not packaged stuff like Nubian Heritage and African Formula, I plucked it out of a basket); palm oil soap -- again not packaged up or perfectly shaped, but something it looks like you would buy in a, open air market in Africa or the Carribean.

I started talking to the lady about palm oil telling her how I add palm oil to my conditioner and she was like: "How do you know about palm oil for hair and skin" and I was like: "You'd be surprised at what I know" (smile), so we had a nice conversation about palm oil and aloe vera, coconut oil and she told me the lady in the shop right around the corner sells palm oil, which I either usually order online or go up to the Sweet Auburn Avenue Market to buy. I also bought some black seed oil, which I will be adding to my scalp concoction.

In all I spent $22.00 and feel I got some really great natural products. I am pretty happy! I will walk back up there next week to the International Beauty Supply to see what they are about and report back.
 

Radianthealth

Well-Known Member
I love this story, and it sounds like you got a great deal. All natural products are really expensive. 16 oz of shea butter will go a long way:D
 

lmjenk67

New Member
What is the name of the African store? I'm not really familiar with that area so I don't want to miss it when I make a trip over there (see what you started?):lol:
 

la flaca

New Member
Cool, I am too an online customer :lol: but I am looking for stores in the Atlanta area, I don't want to pay shipping and handling fees anymore:)
 

preciousjewel76

New Member
So this is down by the West End MARTA station? I work right near Five Points. I could probably sneak down there on my lunch break one day.:cool: I'd love to try that shea butter & shea butter soap!
 

adw425

Well-Known Member
It is about three blocks before the West End Marta station on Lee Street. The store is called Afro Centric Network. They had some mango-scented shea butter there that I put on my hands and I have been smelling them for the last two hours. It has made me absolutely fall in love with the mango scent -- not that I need to fall in love with anything else....

Oh yeah, they also had a few black seed-based products, too.
 
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turnergirl

New Member
I absolutely love this story. I was born and raised in the A and hearing the names of the streets you crossed warmed my heart. I absolutely loved going to West End on weekends this was when I was 4 years old. I would get my hair pressed at the hair salon a couple of doors down from the old Krispy Creme and get ice cream. Everytime I am in town, I visit the book store that sells all of the 5 dollar books in side of west end.
That is a wonderful area to get natural hair products and that wonderful soy "ice cream" at soul vegetarian.
 

adw425

Well-Known Member
Turnergirl: I used to go to the beauty shop a couple doors down from the old Krispy Creme when I was in grad school. It was always filled with Spelman girls when I went (smile) and they could do some hair...
 
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