CARTAMIALISA

Have you tried out any face mask? Do you think face masks work? Are you having trouble figuring out your skin type?

Pharrell has done it again, and are we really surprised by it? Absolutely not. Pharrell is a genius p e r i o d . On top of his undebatable success in multiple industries he always remains conscious and well rounded, using every platform he gets to not only be an inspiration but to give back and make a difference. Not one of us can deny that our world has been a lot a bit crazy these past few weeks, so Pharrell allowed his newest collaboration with Adidas just to be a subtle reminder that we are all a part of one ultimate race. Although, his Instagram shows he has been working on this collaboration for a while, he couldn't have picked a better time to draw attention to the shoe. The Human Race. His new shoe line titled ‘Humane Race’, a twist to the normal NMD Adidas, is scheduled to debut on July 22, 2016. If you haven’t noticed by my word choice already, I absolutely love them. The first pair to drop are in the color way yellow, with ‘Human’ written on one shoe and ‘Race’ written on the other one. He picked a perfect time to begin releasing these color ways to send a nice subliminal message to society. The design of the shoe is meant to emulate the sensation of moccasins while still being breathable and having support. Nothing is better than a comfortable, stylish sneaker. The color ways are suspected to include yellow, green, red, burgundy, mint, and orange. There is speculation that other colors will also be added, probably resembling the rainbow in my opinion. The burgundy color way is my personal favorite. The shoes are pricey, but what do you expect with how sneakers are marketed now. What do you think of the Pharrell x Adidas NMD collaboration? What color is your favorite?

Phillips Brooks

August is probably the hottest month of the year, and it’s right around the corner. The heat and humidity have been reminding us of this. With the weather so hot those with natural hair are fighting a battle they are bound to loose…maybe. To prevent your hair from drying out leading to a slew of hair problems, I have a few major tips for the up and coming heat. For starters, hydrate. Hydrate your body and hydrate your hair. Deep conditioners, leave in conditioners, products like Aloe Vera Juice are key to keeping your hair from drying out and breaking or loosing its natural curl pattern. Too much frizz is always a major cause of a bad hair day. Following hydration, protective styling is your friend. Yes, we love our beautiful curls, but our curls have a hard time being beautiful when humidity and heat get a hold of them. So protect them with some nice styles to keep your hair intact. It’s okay to put your curls away from time to time. Some of the most popular forms of protective styling are braids, twist, buns. A thing to keep in mind about doing protective styles is that the point of the style is to protect not to harm. You don’t want to put tight braids/twist in your hair to wear they are pulling too tight on your roots. Same thing goes for when you have a bun. Try to have it toward the looser side. Also be mindful of what causes breakage. Using certain hair ties will cause damage your ends leaving you with split ends. Make sure you use products and styling tools that will benefit your hair. Not to mention keeping your hair up and out of your face will keep you cool, and if you have sensitive, oily, or both skin it will help you avoid a few break outs caused from the combination of heat, sweat, & natural hair oils on your face. Last but not least, drink water. Yes its cliché, but you are what you eat. Balancing the amount of water you drink will help you keep your skin together while also helping your bodies overall performance (aka your hair will continue to grow). Don’t be afraid to go for it or add your own touch. Let me know how you feel about protective hair styles. Do you think they work? What is your favorite protective hair style?

 Do you co-wash? Do you think co-washing works better than the normal hair washing method?

Now if your curious about how Greenpeace came to its decision about how brands are doing with their chemical levels feel free to go to their site GreenPeace.org. However, they have a three step criteria including Detox 2020 plan, PFC Elimination, and Transparency. Feel free to check out the link I listed above to educate yourself more on the goals of this movement and to find out how the brands are staying committed. I think it is important to stay true to your brand and if you commit to something you should see it through. This “catwalk” could make a huge difference in the world we live in allowing us all to live a bit longer. If the chemicals in our clothes are destroying the ozone layer so quickly imagine how it may be affecting our skin that’s in direct contact with these clothing items. I am not a “health freak” nor am I perfect but I am working toward a better lifestyle and I found this information to be interesting.  How do you guys feel about these brands vowing to eliminate hazardous chemicals from their clothing? Are you surprised by the companies that have fallen short of their agreement? Do you think the Catwalk Detox will help the environment?

Benjamin Franklin

 Please use these resources. Comment if you know any other sources for black owned businesses, or outlets to keep our community building together. How do you feel about investing in your race/culture? Do you think self investment is helpful?

It’s hard to get on track with eating/living a bit healthier than you may have been. Especially when you don’t understand everything about what makes something “healthy” or “ not healthy.” The most important part about learning to live healthier, is understanding that everyone has their own remedies and schedules. I found that starting with smoothies was a better regimen for me. The next step for me was deciding on what outcome I wanted from the smoothies and what mixes would please my taste buds. I’m still working on being in a better state of health but I’ve gotten much better. Also, the internet is your friend. If you start with smoothies like me all you have to do is search and the internet will have an something that works for you.  I will link a site that has a couple of options for smoothies, but don’t think that that’s your only option. There are many different regimens. Some people find going vegan or being a vegetarian is the best result, others find that having a very strict work out schedule or cutting out red meat works better. Make sure you stay true to yourself when deciding on being more healthy. Taking the time to do your research is extremely important. Here is the link to some smoothie options: http://flip.it/yw-Du . How do you feel about healthier living? Do you find it hard to change your habits to live healthier? 

Looking for cute, comfy shoes for your infant? Freshly Picked has the answer. I first heard about this brand because of a family friend who always had her son in them and posting their Instagram. When I got a pair for my daughter she seemed to love them (although I only got her one pair because she has WAAAAYYY to many shoes). Honestly, I think this collaboration was a perfect match up. This brand promotes a very “no place is sweater than home” kind of feel, and the quality of their products are great. Ayesha Curry is pretty much the face of that ideal family, where God comes first, success follows, and love and peace are circulating to keep everything going. With that being said how could they not do a collaboration? Not to mention these color waves are super cute and (minus the pink one) are gender neutral. If you haven’t already, you should most definitely go check out Freshly Picked. I love Ayesha Curry for keeping her cool and showing people (especially women) how to endorse themselves using the values they hold to be true as the starting point and not losing sight of those values. What do you think of these toddler shoes? 

Support our Generation. Support our Artist. #QuentinGilmore

Above are photos showing how my hair came out after using the Bumble and Bumble Products. As a disclaimer, each day I did dampen my hair to reactivate the product that was put in in from the first day. With that being said I did not add any more of the product to my hair past the first day. Also, I tend to be heavier handed with products, but I was lighter handed with the gel( and only the gel) which is a lighter (slimy feeling) gel and glides through the hair way easier so that less was more. These photos go with the post ‘The Buzz About Curls.’

With the weather finally breaking, if that’s how you’d like to put it, ‘tis the season for the “wash and go” look. Wash and go looks tend to be the easiest, “fastest” hairstyle for the warmer seasons. The problem with wash and go styles are knowing what products to use to allow your style to be at it’s prime and last all day. If your like me and have curly hair, finding products that hold your natural curl pattern while still fighting frizz is quite the task. However, where there is a will there is a way and I’ve recently been introduced to a very, very good product (or brand rather) and I love it. I know you all are wondering what product? What brand? Where can you find it? So here it is: the brand is Bumble & Bumble. The product(s) are the curl defining crème and the anti- humidity gel. These items can be purchased at Sephora (online or in person). The best part about this brand is that they have a collection for each texture, so it seems. For my purposes though I can only rave about their curl collection (since that is the one I used), but I’m sure you’ll get great results for any hair texture as long as you follow their guideline. This product works so well though, literally my 3rd day hair looked as flawless as my 1st day hair. Although it is on the pricier side for hair care its completely worth the money. The amount of product in the packaging is a good amount, and I’m more on heavy handed side with products (so trust if it lasts me a while it will last for you too).  If you decide to try this product, or even a different collection based on your texture let me know. How do you feel about the wash and go hairstyle process? What products do you use?