Monday, April 6, 2009

Kahina~Giving Beauty

Dahia al-Kahina of Mauretania was a warrior queen of the Berbers around 690 . Al-Kahina, described as possessing "dark skin, a mass of hair," was a Moorish freedom fighter, resistance leader and African patriot. The term Moor, meaning scorched or black, was a designation applied to the Black populations of Northwest Africa.
Dahia al-Kahina directed the most determined resistance to the seventh century Arab invasions of North Africa. Al-Kahina, whose name means the 'priestess' or the 'prophetess,' commanded the African forces, and under her leadership, the Arabs were briefly forced to retreat. The Arabs were relentless, however, and Kahina ordered a scorched earth policy . The the effects can still be seen in North Africa today . In 701, however, after fierce resistance, her troops were defeated and she took her own life, sent her sons to the Arab camp telling them to adopt Islam . Eventually , her sons participated in invading Europe and the defeat of Spain and Portugal. When she died , the fight to preserve North Africa for Africans died with her .

Many of the women of Morocco cannot read or write . Cooperatives now exist for these women to work , support their children and learn to read and write . Kahina~Giving Beauty has created a line of beauty products using the amazing argan oil harvested by hand in these coops . Argan oil has been used for centuries by Moroccan women as their beauty ritual for hair and skin . It 's properties are healing and balancing , containing 4 times the vitamin E of olive oil . It has a lightly fruity scent and immediately is absorbed by thirsty skin . We recieved a 1 oz dropper bottle of this new product , not yet released to the world . Incredible !!

For more information , please visit the website to find out how they are donating 25% of their profits toward improving these women's quality of life . ( to build a school for the children !!) http://www.kahina-givingbeauty.com/

5 comments:

katharine l'Heureux said...

Thanks for the nice piece on Kahina-Giving Beauty -- and for doing your research on the namesake. I'm so glad you like the argan oil. It is fabulous stuff. All of our products contain high concentrations of argan oil, making them truly effective, but most importantly, sales of our products will directly support the Berber women in need who make the oil. There is no information posted yet about the preschool, but we will be video blogging soon to detail our progress. One small correction, the name of the company is Giving Beauty, not Living Beauty. Many thanks again.

waftbyCarol said...

My apologies for the typo in the text Katharine . I had it spelled correctly in the title . Corrected now !
Everybody , meet Katharine , she is the owner of the company with such commitment to helping women !
Thank you Katherine . Are you hiring ? LOL...

waftbyCarol said...

Then I spell her name wrong . Sheesh . Sorry Katharine .

ggs said...

Never heard of Argan oil! That's great that Giving Beauty came to the Sniffapalooza so that perfumistas can spread the word.

waftbyCarol said...

Hi Gail !
How was Hawaii ?
The argan oil is new to me too , but others at my tablle have used it in perfumery .
Katharine has a line of beauty produsts using this rich , anti-oxidant oil too , not just the oil .
I've been using the oil on my oily skin...very nourishing !