Good Morning, it's Wednesday, March 5. You can now rent a chicken in the US, adult ballet is on the rise and there’s an at-home device that lets you scan your skin to find your perfect foundation. We are also speaking to Jade Buffong-Phillips, founder of Mane Hook-Up who gave us her guide to finding a great stylist for textured hair so keep scrolling 🤎💄☀️
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🤖 Kung Fu Bots: A humanoid robot by Unitree Robotics is now capable of executing split-second martial arts maneuvers, and its code is entirely open source.
🇯🇵 Wildfires in Japan: With over 1,000 people forced to evacuate, Japan is currently battling what is its worst wildfire in half a century.
🐔 Chickens for Rent: Rising egg prices in the US have led to customers renting chickens, so they can collect fresh eggs at home.
Skiing in Lehengas: BombayMami is the singer whose music video for her single Fire in Delhi is going viral for skiing down the Swiss Alps in a red lehenga.
👁️ Korean Eye Creams for You: Beauty editor Sarah Wu tests the best eye creams from Sulwhasoo’s Ginseng Eye Cream to Hanskin’s Hyaluron Serum.
Shade Matching: BoldHue is an at-home device that allows you to scan your skin and make custom foundation shades.
💄 Lipsticks by Lovechild Masaba: Lovechild Masaba loves creating lipsticks for Indian skin, and here are the shades you need to try ASAP.
💧 Eczema Essentials: Monica Veloz’ essentials include a tub of Aquaphor for her flare-ups and her therapy soothing bath treatment from Aveeno.
➿ Natural Hair Creators: Bustle honoured several natural hair champions, including Ivone Numbi and Yar.
🍑 Laser for Melanin-rich Skin: Peach Fuzz Skin Studio is the Brooklyn-based sister-owned studio prioritizing safe and efficient hair removal for women of colour.
New Wellness Retreats to Try: Kilolani Spa in Hawaii offers treatment rooms, meditation lounges, and hydrothermal gardens for a holistic wellness holiday.
🩰 Adult Ballet on the Rise: Adult ballet has quite a few benefits like improved strength, balance and flexibility but they are not fitness classes.
🍃 Ancestral Plant Medicine: Several Black women are now slowly returning to herbalism, plant medicine and ayurveda to help with anxiety and burnout.
Aamir and Hameeda’s Home: The Sharmas take us on a tour of their luxurious home, built to bring nature into the home with trees.
Terracotta Sanctuary: This Sanctuary in Kochi is now on our mood board for its earthy decor and traditional Kerala architecture.
Timber Stools from Omi Collective: The latest six-legged multifunctional stools from the Lagos-based design firm can be divided into three standalone stools.
🇰🇪 Ranger: Ranger is a new film about the 12 women who trained to become East Africa’s first all-female ranger programme, protecting wildlife in the region.
🇵🇭 Keeping Sea Salt Farming Alive: Kathleen Apilado is keeping the Filipino practice of artisanal sea salt farming alive, despite near eradication due to land ownership issues.
🇺🇬 Rewriting The Stigma: Gloria Nawanyaga founded the Global Young Positive Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to ending discrimination and helping HIV-positive individuals find love in Uganda.
🏒 Black Girls in Hockey: 19-year-old Laila Edwards is the first Black woman to play for the US Women’s National Hockey Team.
For those of us with kinky or coily hair, finding a hairstylist and then realising they do not know how to do your hair can be deeply heartbreaking. This inability to find textured hairstylists is a problem Jade Buffong-Phillips feels so strongly about that she launched Mane Hook-Up, a resource that links you to the best textured hairstylists.
For this newsletter, we spoke to Jade on how to identify great stylists and how to deal with the anxiety of trying new ones.
How Mane Hook-Up Vets Hairstylists
Trust is a huge factor when it comes to choosing a stylist. When someone messes up your hair, both confidence and years or months of progress are gone.
Mane Hook-Up helps rebuild that trust by giving you information that makes you feel comfortable and confident to make a booking.
Info such as how long they’ve been a stylist, what they specialise in and the qualifications they have are all part of what you’ll find on Mane Hook-Up. You can also leave a review and rate your experience with a stylist immediately after booking an appointment.
On Trying New Stylists
My advice is, do not be afraid to ask questions. The best stylists will welcome having a conversation so they can get a better idea of what your hair goals are and if they’re best placed to get you there.
However, it helps to come to a new stylist with an open mind. A lot of people get so wrapped up in YouTube tutorials and Instagram content that they don’t listen to sound advice from their stylist.
You know your hair, but great stylists understand the science behind it. Give them an opportunity to show you how much they know when you have a chat or consultation.
How You Can Find That Perfect Match
To find the best hairstylist for a particular style on Mane Hook-Up, I recommend searching with keywords like ‘braids’, ‘twists’, or ‘locs’. From then on, it’s a mix of looking at their portfolio to see how good their work looks and reviewing pricing to find someone that’s within your budget.
Also, you have to bear in mind that stylists may spend hours (sometimes, up to a full day of work) doing your hair, so the cost will also reflect that.
But more so than the cost and price, it's best to book a consultation with a stylist before jumping in and booking a style. This gives you a chance to get to know them better, ask questions and feel confident that they will get the job done well.
Jade’s Favourite Haircare Products
I have tight coils (some would categorise my hair as 4c) and these are my personal faves:
I use the clarifying shampoo and deep conditioner from Shedid & Parrish regularly for my wash days and my hair loves it.
I also have a lot of love for Mielle Organics Babassu Deep Conditioner and Carol’s Daughter’s Curl Quenching conditioner. They both helped a great deal as I started my natural hair journey back in 2018.
Besides that, I hear stylists raving about Olaplex and Cécred, so I reckon they’re also worth checking out as those recommendations come from the pros.
On Giving Back
We’re helping vulnerable children first through a series of events called ‘Crowned with Care’, in collaboration with DOOPS Braiding Studio. These events will help Black and mixed-race children in foster care get access to hair appointments, hair products, and education for free.
They are also the pilot for a much larger program that we’d like to run to tackle the systemic issues that children in care face to get access to the right cultural care. We’re in the middle of fundraising for our London event that will take place on the 13th April, so we’d love to get your support!
