Pronunciation: a'näv-a-lista. Function: noun. A writer of novels, non-fiction and screenplays; entrepreneur; beauty junkie; history buff; foodie; fashionista; un-fashionista; bookworm; Christian; Lt. Uhura namesake; Oprah-holic; Coffee Fiend; Hopemonger; Black Forest Berry Honest Tea Lover; Newark-born, South Jersey-raised New Yorker;
Copyright 2005-2008 Nichelle Gainer.« July 2008 | Main | September 2008 »
Friends, Frenemies, Twitterers, lend me your ears...
Instead of guilt-tripping myself into trying to keep up with three blogs and offline responsibilites, I am taking a break. I will see you in two weeks, just after Labor Day and just in time for New York Fashion Week Spring 2009 and the inevitable Black Model Watch.
Enjoy the rest of your summer!
Nichelle
Back to School cool bags from Bag Snob!
All About the Pretty has found a new lip treatment for overnight with Sally Hansen Lip Recovery.
Line your way to sexy with Shu Uemura liquid eyeliner pen- Beauty Snob.
Coquette's got the perfect magic shade of pink with Smashbox O-Gloss.
Fashion, evolved celebrates the launch of boho, the first green fashion magazine!
Fall's hot trouser jeans that love you & your rear view...Fashiontribes has 'em!
KRISTOPHER is wanting, wearing, hating bags for under $500.
Quinta Trends talks to Colombian designer Viviana Alba about her blessed clothes Do you agree with our picks?
BagBliss gives some tips on choosing the right Handbag for Your Body.
Check out Second City Style's recent Celebrity Style Smackdown.
Shopping and Info found the most amazing platform wedge shoes Vivienne Westwood designed a collection for this company.
StyleBakery.com has four cutting edge denim designers you want to wear now.
Stylehive's Top 10 Online Fashion Webzines! (and free, too)
Stylenotes loves handbags, jewelry, shades (you name it), so we found a handful of fabulous Must-Have Accessories Under $35!
Funke Adenodi Akinbuli is Ladybrille Woman of the Month!
Zara's no.1 beating out Gap and Papierblog explains why.
The Beauty Stop has tips for maintaining your health while on holiday.
The Fashionable Housewife found undies that are actually wedgie-free! Plus, they're virtually invisible. Erase panty lines forever!
On a shoe budget?
The Shoe Goddess thinks you should splurge on timeless classics, but spend less on fleeting trends.
Allie is Wired is questioning whether the Chinese gymnasts really are old enough to compete.
A Few Goody GumDrops snags an eyebrow tweezing with Robert Sweet William that was well worth the plucking!
Stiletto Jungle picks the best of the Juicy Couture Fall Trunk Show.
Charrell and Nichelle with Dickey.
Anthony Dickey (always known as just Dickey) is a originally from Seattle and has more than 20 years of experience with all types of hair - but he has made his mark as a master of textured in all of it's forms, kinky, curly, wavy or a slight mix of any of the three. Like any star hairstylist, he has the requisite list of celebrity clients: Kelis, Alicia Keys, Minnie Driver and the marvelous writer and actor Anna Deavere Smith. He also recently styled my favorite potential First Lady Michelle Obama's hair for an October magazine cover.
His business partner in the Hair Rules product line is Kara Young Georgiopolous, one of my favorite 90s supermodels. Guess how they met? Apparently, Kara was on a shoot for American Vogue in 1990 working with beauty industry titans - photographer Steven Meisel, hairstylist Kevin Mancuso and the late, great ever so fabulous makeup
artist, Kevin Aucoin. Would you believe that all three of them begged Kara to get her hair done
professionally before future shoots because it took too long to do her hair on the set. They introduced her to Dickey, and the rest is history.
Now, if they were having a hard time with Kara's hair, are we really still surprised at all of the Black models who elect to wear wigs and weaves?
Oh dear, another story for another day. For now, here is Dickey in his own words.
Nichelle: A lot of women with naturally kinky hair opt to cleanse their
hair with conditioner instead of shampoo. Should women with natural
hair skip shampoo all together?
Anthony Dickey: Cleansing creams are a better approach but if you are looking for a shampoo, look for one that is sulfate-free. You want a shampoo to cleanse without stripping your hair. Shampoos were originally developed for women without textured hair - to give them volume. That's why it leaves the hair stripped.
Nichelle: What is the best way to correct damaged naturally kinky hair? Curly hair?
Dickey: Cut it. There are no two-ways about it. Conditioners don't repair damaged hair. You're just prolonging the inevitable. You should get your hair cut every three months, which is only four times a year, and you don't have to take a lot off if you take care of it. You will need to at least "dust" the ends.
I know cutting can be traumatic for some Black women because of the myth that Black hair grows slowly. If you don't know how to take care of your hair it will grow slowly, or not at all. There is a method to growing the hair out so it grows. You have to start by treating your hair like a cashmere sweater. You wouldn't throw a cashmere sweater in a regular washing machine with the regular clothes, you take special care of it. You need to make sure you are getting the necessary cuts (without taking too much off) so any damage doesn't get any worse. You want to use a sulfate-free cleansing cream and you want to use styling products that soften the hair so you can see your curl pattern and work from there.
Nichelle: Is it possible to over-condition natural hair? What about in the summer when you are battling humidity or just extra dry air?
Dickey: No. Naturally dry hair loves to be conditioned.
Nichelle: Do you recommend hot oil treatments with oils like coconut, jojoba or grapeseed? If so, how often?
Dickey: Olive oil is good and I like Castor oil but you have to make sure you shampoo it out well because it is thick but it softens the hair. On the other hand, Tea tree oil is really drying. You have to be careful with essential oils. You want to make sure that you are using essential oils that contain fatty acids.
Nichelle: Some women have told me that they have different textures in their hair (i.e., the crown is kinky, the back is curly). How can you determine if you should use "Kinky" or "curly" products?
Dickey: You can go back and forth with products, it's not set in stone. Our Kinky Curling Cream has more moisture but the Curly Whip has more hold even though it is moisturizing too.
Nichelle: There have been a lot of questions about the inclusion of mineral oil in your products because some people are convinced that mineral oil coats the hair and blocks moisture. And, some have even suggested that the manufacturers of various hair products, including yours, only include mineral oil because it is cheap and plentiful. Your thoughts?
Dickey: As we research more natural alternatives to mineral oil we use it based on its performance - period. Contrary to some negative backlash it has nothing, zero to do with Hair Rules trying to make a dollar on the consumer by using a cheap ingredient. It has nothing to do with cost - just performance - especially when your trying to appeal to a consumer that has historically had nothing but relaxers and grease marketed to her. We believe that developing product that enhances a woman's natural texture and helps her to believe that she is good enough the way god made her in all her natural beauty was more important - so why in hell would we try to pull the wool over the consumers eyes? Hair Rules lists all our ingredients in plain view for the consumer to see on our web site. Further more, there are some brands out their that have gone to great lengths to deceive by writing mineral oil in latin in ingredients listed or not putting ingredients at all. But the more people you try to reach and change the mindset, the negative stereotypes of what acceptable beauty, the more resistance you meet - ying and yang, haters - and that's fine. If you've got ten haters you need to find ten more cause 1000 listeners have had some aha moment on what the real truth is and truth leads to greatness, nothing else.
UPDATE 8/20/08 - Here is a link to information on mineral oil that Dickey referred me to from Paula Begoun's site.
Nichelle: What would you recommend to a woman who would like to transition
from relaxed to natural hair?
Dickey: You have a lot of options with a transition. You can cut it off or you can leave it and get regular styles until the chemical grows out or you can get a weave in a curly or kinky texture that matches the texture of your hair. It's really up to you.
Nichelle: A reader had this question: "I have natural hair and would love some suggestions on some really good deep conditioners. My hair is super thick, dense and curly and it's still in the growing phase. I have no idea what I'll do once it starts to really grow out to ponytail length."
Dickey: Regular haircuts and condition, condition, condition to prevent it from tangling. Keep it elongated to prevent it from shrinking so it doesn't break. The only time you should comb your hair is when it is wet with conditioner it it.
Nichelle: A friend asked me a hair question recently and I wanted to get your take: "I washed my (relaxed) hair this morning and a big clump was in the drain. It has been shedding on and off for about two years and really thin in the back. I don't know what type it is - how do you know 4A, etc?" Any advice? It seems to be shedding from the root - it grows but the thickness is not there anymore and I hate to comb it cause it just seems to be strands everywhere.
Dickey: Stop relaxing it. Grow it out and get familiar with your texture. Remember, condition
ers don't repair damaged hair and if it's shedding, you should stop relaxing.
Nichelle: I know Hair Rules was designed with kinky, curly and wavy hair in mind, but what about relaxed hair? Can women with relaxed hair use your products?
Dickey: All the Hair Rules haircare is designed for all hair types as dry as these natural textures. Kinky, curly and wavy hair are as dry as relaxed or color treated hair so indulge and pamper your silkeners, texturizers, relaxers and colored hair people because the line is sulfate-free. There is no drying and the cleansing cream is great for keeping vibrancy in color-treated hair and maintaining shine in relaxed hair. Also, the wavy mousse is perfect for wraps and wet sets for light weight incredible shine with no build up or tacky feeling.
I have two sisters, and all three of us have completely different hair textures. My hair is kinky yet cotton-candy soft and very fragile. My sister Tuwana's hair is even finer than my hair. So fine, that she can't take any chemical at all but she didn't truly realize this for years because we grew up when the rule of thumb for "all" black hair was that it had to be relaxed or pressed period.
This is our youngest sister Charrell, a grad student (she's going for a doctor of physical therapy degree), brand new New Yorker and my lone friend on Facebook for many years until I discovered some of my blogging buddies! Even though Charrell had been wearing her hair relaxed since she was a teenager, I always thought it was kind of ridiculous because I thought she could get away with using a blowdryer and a curling iron to straighten it - and that turned out to be true even though conventional "wisdom" had her relaxing her hair well into her college years. She grew her relaxer out two years ago and in the first picture, she is wearing her natural hair straightened with a flat iron. In the second picture, she is wearing a twist out look that she had been wearing for the last few weeks.
I remember doing her hair when she was a toddler very well. Do you see the model's "before" picture above? Imagine that head of hair on a three-year-old. Not fun! Of course, in the 1980s, we didn't know anything about sulfate-free shampoos (more on that tomorrow) and assumed baby shampoos were for all babies.
When Charrell arrived at Dickey's, she looked like this. Like me, she was also trying out some colors from MAC Fall 2008 Color Collections because I can't try all of them (and yes, she's always glad to help). She really loved that mink & sable eye shadow she's wearing (it's a frosty olive green from the new Starflash collection) and since I didn't, it was hers along with MAC's new Lustre Twins lipgloss duo in Pink Air and White Top.
I snapped this picture of Dickey and his assistant Dailey working on Charrell's hair while I was under the dryer. Yes, they were having that much fun! And I was so jealous of Dickey's orange Obama hat. He said that he picked it up in Times Square.
Dailey shampooed Charrell's hair with Hair Rules Daily Cleansing Cream Moisturizing No Suds Shampoo and followed with the Quench Ultra Rich Conditioner. Next, she combed Charrell's hair through carefully while the conditioner was still in her hair and then rinsed it out after about five minutes. Then she used the Nourishment Leave-in Conditioner and the Kinky Curling Cream while Charrell's hair was still wet, working with the curls carefully with her hands.
At this point, it was time for her to join me under the dryer so the curls would set.
Here is Charrell's "After" shot from Friday (left) minutes after she emerged from the dryer and her "After" shot from Monday after Dickey's assistant Dailey gave her a cut. The goal was to get rid of uneven ends and allow Charrell to grow out her hair minus the "awkward" stage. She told me that she was very pleased with her hair and glad that she won't have to spend an excessive amount of time doing it in the morning!
I will follow up in the next few months on our progress. In the meantime, click here if you missed my "kinky hair" experience and check back tomorrow for my full interview with Dickey.
It's sad when it gets hard - really hard - to find a hairstylist that has no idea how to deal with black hair unless you are getting a relaxer or a weave. I am hardly against chemicals. I just happen to believe that if you are a professional hairstylist, you should be able to do hair period. Anybody's hair! But I know that is not the case because when I was in beauty school in the early nineties, we learned, like generations of hairstylists before us, how to do anything but naturally kinky or curly hair. Some stylists, recognizing their bread and butter in straightening or extending hair, never bothered to learn anything else - even on their own hair.
Thankfully, Dickey is not one of those stylists.
If you have very kinky, wavy, curly or happily nappy hair, you have probably been on every blog and website known to womankind that deals with natural hair. Chances are, you have also probably heard of Dickey's very popular book Hair Rules!: The Ultimate Hair-Care Guide for Women with Kinky, Curly, or Wavy Hair and pined over the very appealing "before" and "after" pictures of Dickey's model clients.
I met Dickey briefly last year and he told me that he was developing a new line of hair products designed especially for kinky, curly or wavy hair. When I heard that the line was finally available (you can check Dickey's Hair Rules website or select stores in Atlanta and New York City) I knew I wanted to see him again. And get a little help with my hair while I was at it!
I have chronicled my ups and downs with my hair quite a bit here. In the summer of 2006, I tried two-strand twists on completely natural hair and I have been braided, relaxed, weaved, texturized and back to natural since that time. In December 2007, after yet another stint with braids (Nu Wave Kultural Kreations in Brooklyn - highly recommended) I decided to texturize my hair again with visions of Dickey's "before" and "after" pictures dancing in my head. It didn't turn out so bad, if I don't say so myself. Here I am with a twist out:
Unfortunately, the follow up texturizer last February didn't turn out as well, so I ended up growing it out. After a brief fling with a weave, I decided to try a texturizer again at the end of July with my December look in mind, but the necessity of a good haircut was hampering me. I wish I had known that I would finally catch up with Dickey because I would have left well enough alone!
Here is my "before" shot taken last Friday during my visit with Dickey. His assistant Dailey shampooed my hair with Hair Rules's Aloe Grapefruit Clarifying Shampoo. Clarifying shampoo gets rid of product buildup ( I had a lot of product in my hair) and is only necessary about once a month. She did not follow with a conditioner at ths point because Dickey needed to cut my hair and conditioner would soften it too much. My hair was very uneven - different lengths and textures in different
places - so a cut was necessary. Dickey attempted to put me at ease
about the cut, sort of. He said, "I'm going to cut it as low as
possible without scalping you." He's a real subtle guy (Heh.) I was well prepared for a cut,
but I did flinch when I heard him use the word "clippers".
Thankfully, this was not as scary as it
sounds. He used scissors and he used clippers (with no comb) around the ends of my hair
and cut it into a nice even shape . 
After the blow out, it was back to the shampoo bowl where Dickey applied his Quench Ultra Rich Conditioner and let it sit for about ten minutes as he attended to another client. After rinsing it out, he applied his Nourishment Leave-in Conditioner and then the Curly Whip while my hair was still soaking wet. I assumed he would go with the Kinky Curling Cream but he used the Curly Whip initially because it has a bit more hold. Once applied, he lightly re-wet my hair to set it and then sent me to the dryer. The idea is that the way your hair looks wet is how it will set.
As I was under the dryer, Dickey and Dailey worked on my youngest sister Charrell's hair. She recently moved to New York to attend grad school. 
Now, you know if I'm showing myself in the bowl... Ha!
Come back tomorrow for the full report on how Dickey made Charrell see her natural curls for the very first time! I wanted her to see Dickey because she has relaxed her hair since she was a teenager five minutes ago (haha) and only stopped two years ago. 
And here I am AFTER. A fresh start topped off with MAC's 'Mattene' lipstick in a new fall color called Bing (a matte blackened eggplant) that should be out next week. More on that later. I like it because my hair is even all the way around and, so far, it's quick and easy even though I am growing out what is left of my texturizer so Dickey can actually see the texture of my hair next time. He finished off my look with his Hydrating Finishing Cream, which I am using daily now just after I use the Kinky Curling Cream. I want to follow through with his products for the next few weeks to see how they work for me.
On Wednesday, I'll have my full interview with Dickey - reader questions included.
No, not that Tyra!
I found Tyramade Jewelry on my buddy Andrea's blog Fly last week. Tyra, a "New York City by way of Columbus, GA" jewelry designer is the featured Fly Girl of the Week. If you aren't already obsessed with Fly, you may remember when I featured Andrea's natural hair care routine last year.
Tyra's brand-spanking new Etsy shop features an gorgeous, eclectic collection of earrings, necklaces and other interesting pieces. She is also having a nice little sale on selected items in honor of her Fly Girl selection, so be sure to check her out.
Top: Large brass filigree bead earrings with two strands of multi stone chunks $14.00.
Fire and Ice Butterflies Earrings $12.00. Fire and Ice Leaves $12.00.
