For anyone who has grown up on the African continent, you will be familiar with the Acacia tree. As a development worker, I have long come to know that when trying to improve access to water in rural areas, you look for the Acacia tree. Where there is an Acacia, there is water. How does this relate to natural hair you may ask?

The Acacia Tree is synonymous with African landscapes

Well, by now, any ZedHair reader must know that water is our natural hair’s best friend as acquiring and retaining moisture is critical to healthy hair. It is only natural then that scientists have been looking at ways to harness the Acacia tree’s ability to detect water in dry and parched lands and apply this to the cosmetic industry.

ZedHair can confirm that the University of Zambia will announce later today that they have been able to identify the chemical properties in the Acacia tree bark that when mixed with carrier oil can increase moisture uptake and retention by up to 50%. Obviously we are really proud that this work has come from our top educational institution and underscores our commitment to identifying and promoting indigenous knowledge of hair and beauty practices across sub Saharan Africa.

The Acacia Tree hair food will be made available in stores as soon as we get the green light from the Zambia Environmental Management Authority (ZEMA).

Please check today’s date. 😉

It’s the 1st of April, which means you have just been fooled. 😉 😉

UPDATE: 2nd April, 2014

It seems that this was written too convincingly and no one (and I do mean no one), picked up that this is obviously a fake story.

1. We don’t make percentage claims

2. We avoid the term hair food because it implies that a single product can work miracles, which is impossible. Great products do exist, and we will always talk about them and share reviews etc, but great technique will always trump products.

3. Why would the fact that villagers, NGOs/charities, government officials etc use Acacia trees to site where to drill boreholes or dig water wells have any bearing on moisture uptake or retention? The Acacia tree seed dies where there is no water, so the tree follows the water, not the other way around.