When offered the opportunity to interview our favorite childhood friend, Rudy Huxtable from The Cosby Show, we were excited to catch up with the lovable Cosby Kid. When she’s not auditioning or making sure her body is right and tight, Keisha Knight Pulliam can be found mentoring teenage girls through her non-for-profit summer camp, Kamp Kizzy, or promoting Hairfinity, a hair growth product everyone from Toya Carter to Regina King is raving about. Known for her flawless skin and unbelievably laid hair, Pulliam shared an important secret with us that many women overlook when determing their health and beauty regimens. Check out what the big secret is in our Q&A below. Why did you decide to become Hairfinity’s brand ambassador? I decided to become the brand ambassador for Hairfinity (http://www.hairfinity.com/) because I believe in the product. I would never sell something I didn’t already use. Prior to becoming brand ambassador, I used the product to see how I really felt about it. Since I began using it, there is a huge difference with my hair. It is thicker, longer and it sheds less. Initially I didn’t tell my friends I was using the product and after a while they began to tell me how great my hair looks and that’s how I knew Hairfinity was working.
Mary Hunter, Inventor of Mary’s Marinating Sticks (Photo Credit: Sally Ryan for The New York Times)
Back in 1994, Mary Hunter had an idea for an innovative marinating stick. She’s been following through on it ever since — winning a TV-show contest and gaining chefs’ approval. Mary Hunter has always been happy to cook for her congregation at the Yes Lord Church in Gary, Ind. Her recipes, she told me, come directly from God. “I don’t have a cookbook,” she said. “God gives me my own.” Prayer is “where I get 99 percent of my recipes.”
Mrs. Hunter, who is 73, likes to cook big roasts for her church, “and if I had a difficult piece of meat I might marinate it in some beer and celery” with a blend of her secret seasonings. When she learned that she had diabetes and high blood pressure, though, she had to cut out her salty marinades and cook the meat more blandly. Then, one day, God had an idea. “I was writing down some recipes and God said to me that I should take that ink pen and stick holes all though it and put a clip on one side so that you can open it” — lengthwise — “and then put your onions and your garlic and your aromatics down the middle and put it inside your meat — then, you won’t have to eat bland foods.” And so was born her invention, a long stainless steel device that, according to tests in restaurants and elsewhere, far outperforms those herbal injectors and other disappointing methods for introducing flavors into the interior of a big piece of meat. Later this month, Mary’s Marinating Sticks are scheduled to go on sale in Target stores. Mrs. Hunter’s invention follows the classic arc seen in movies: she had a good idea, got it patented and found a market. But that’s the movies. In real life, it’s never that easy. For starters, Mrs. Hunter’s divine idea came to her in 1994. She’s been following through ever since.
Beauty products can be so expensive. Especially when you are buying the latest beauty trends and celebrity makeup collaborations. But you know I’m here to save the day–and your wallet! There are a number of really easy ways to stretch those hard-earned dollars without sacrificing the beauty results.
1. Revive Your Nail Polish: If your polish brush no longer reaches the bottom of the bottle, add a few drops of nail polish remover, shake the bottle and voila, new nail polish. You should also invest in a long thin paintbrush to access those hard to reach last bits of polish before trashing the bottle for good. 2. Maximize Mascara: Is your favorite mascara all dried up? Use a hair dryer to heat it up, or soak the tube in hot water to re-liquify. But remember mascara should be thrown out after three to six months of use to avoid infections. 3. Make Lipstick Last: Scrape the lipstick dregs out of bottom of the tube, place inside of a pill-box, contact lens case or a very small plastic paint palette and microwave for about 10 seconds. Then, put the melted lipstick in the fridge to harden in your new “container.” You might need to use a lipstick brush to apply, but that’s much cheaper than a whole new tube of Chanel. 4. Longer Life Lip Liner: To keep lip and eyeliners moist and firm, store them in the refrigerator between uses. 5. From Powder to Gloss: Take leftover powdered blush (when it’s cracked and you can hardly get it on the brush) and mix with Vaseline for a pink, sparkly nude lip gloss.
Lameka Weeks founded Height Goddessbecause, simply put, she was sick of settling. For years—decades even—clothing brands and manufacturers have largely ignored the plight of the tall woman. Sure, petites and plus size have dedicated sections and even full stores aplenty, but tall women have had to settle for clothes that don’t fit and don’t flatter for far too long. Height Goddess is a contemporary line for women measuring 5’9” & taller. In 2007, with no formal fashion training, Weeks sought out to find experienced industry professionals to assist her in developing premium denim for tall women. For over two years, she continuously worked to ensure each style embodied the confidence and beauty of a tall, fashion- forward woman who is innovative and timeless. All of Height Goddess’ garments are designed in house and proportioned for women 5’9″ & taller. Week’s garments are also made in the USA. After a few seasons the collection has grown to include dresses for tall women, tall pants for women and tops for tall women. Through fashion, Weeks hopes to inspire women to love their height, embrace their uniqueness and spread the same confidence to others. How did you launch your career and get to where you are today? I knew at an early age I wanted to do something related to fashion catering to tall women. Initially, I thought to open a boutique but after researching for vendors who produced clothing for tall women there were very few and those that did were very outdated. I realized I would have to create my own brand. HEIGHT GODDESS is a contemporary clothing line designed specifically for the tall, fashion-forward woman. What have you had to sacrifice along the way, if anything? Because I’m building my business while working full-time my time is very limited and planning it a must. In the past I have been known to wake-up and decide I want to take a trip and within hours I’d be on a plane or in the car, not so much anymore. It takes a lot to run this business and I’ve had to make a lot of sacrifices but it’s been a great journey thus far.
From left: Dante de Blasio and his family on primary election night in September; Eldridge Cleaver at the trial of Huey Newton in 1968; Magazine covers featuring Oprah Winfrey, right, and Prince; Angela Davis at a news conference in 1972. (Mario Tama/Getty Images; Jeffrey Scales, 1968; Agence France-Presse — Getty Images)
Dante de Blasio’s towering Afro, a supporting player in his father’s mayoral campaign, riveted attention once more last week when it caught the eye of President Obama. Introducing Bill de Blasio at a Democratic fund-raiser in Midtown, Mr. Obama digressed to point out, “Dante has the same hairdo as I had in 1978. Although I have to confess my Afro was never that good.”
Nor was it as voluminous, or as apparently devoid of a political charge. As 16-year-old Dante implied in an interview with DNAInfo.com, an online local news source, hair is just hair. “Some people want to take photos and I’m really just happy,” he said. Others want to reach out and touch it, and some did at last week’s fund-raiser, their enthusiastic petting prompting the elder de Blasio to joke that he might have to call security.
The mayoral candidate was doubtless aware that Dante’s outsize hair placed him in a league with a current generation that has adopted what once was a badge of revolt as an emblem of style’s cutting edge. Resurgent in films and television and the streets, inspired by a galaxy of pop culture idols, the Afro today seems friendly enough, even downright disarming — a kinder, gentler “natural” pretty much shorn of its militancy.
Images like those of Halle Berry’s tightly coiled halo or Nicki Minaj’s poodly pink Glamfro on the cover of Allure last year have played a part in resurrecting the hallmark style. Hoping to stand apart from her more famous sister, Solange Knowles last year chopped her chemically processed hair to reveal the wedge-shaped Afro that has since become her signature. And the actress Viola Davis showed off her natural curls at the Oscar ceremonies a year ago after walking most of the red carpet season in a wig; Prince poses regally in his Afro on the August issue of V magazine.
Even the customarily conventional Oprah Winfrey stepped out to front the September issue of O, the Oprah magazine, in a 3.5-pound wig that spanned its cover nearly edge to edge above the cover line: “Let’s talk about HAIR!”
The style’s current iteration bears little kinship to the anti-gravity hair flaunted in the late 1960s by Angela Davis, Eldridge and Kathleen Cleaver and other icons of the Black Power movement. “In the ’60s the Afro was looked upon as ‘Wow, you’re stepping out there, you’re really going against the grain,’ ” said Andre Walker, the man who fluffed Ms. Winfrey’s wig into its umbrella-size proportions. In contrast, “When I talk to a lot of the kids from this generation,” he said, “the whole civil rights movement, it’s very vague to them.
“I don’t think they really know the meaning of how radical an Afro was in the day,” Mr. Walker added. “It’s a different time now.”
Though his father wore an Afro in the 1970s and ’80s, 16-year-old Noah Negron, a high school senior in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, was not bowing to family tradition or the politics of a bygone era when he decided to grow out his hair. “I’m an environmentalist,” he said. “That’s where the locks come in. It’s like all natural.”
Reluctant to treat her hair with potentially damaging lye, another Brooklyn resident who identified herself only as Tamar A., declared: “This is just how my hair grows out of my head. I’m not trying to make a statement. I’m just more comfortable being who I am.”
Women won’t pay higher health bills simply for being women, and they will be able to get the medical care they need, particularly for breast cancer, under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act(ACA), a leading women’s advocate says. “The Affordable Care Act will help us realize the promise of access for all,” said Eleanor Hinton Hoytt, president and CEO of the Black Women’s Health Imperative in Washington, D.C., which was founded 30 years ago as the National Black Women’s Health Project. Open enrollment began this week under the ACA. Uninsured and underinsured Americans will gain greater access to a medical home with preventive care that can reduce the risk of a host of conditions including breast cancer, the second leading cause of death among women. “We know that prevention works, and mammogram screening is an essential health-care benefit,” said Hoytt, adding that Congressional efforts to stall or kill the ACA as part of a federal shutdown are “unconscionable.” Black women are number two behind white women for developing breast cancer, but the gap is narrowing, according to a new study released this week for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. They are the only group of women to show increases in breast cancer — up 0.2 percent each year between 2006 and 2010 — and they also have the highest death rate. The American Cancer Society published the study, “Breast Cancer Statistics, 2013,” in CA: A Cancer Journal for Cliniciansand in aconsumer version. Under the new healthcare law, women who are 40 and older are entitled to coverage for mammograms. Those who have a family history of breast cancer or ovarian cancer can also receive free counseling and testing for mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. Women with mutations are five times more likely to develop breast cancer — a fact highlighted by actress Angelina Jolie’s double mastectomy earlier this year. Women facing genetic tests ranging up to $4,000 and other costs associated with breast cancer won’t have to worry about annual or lifetime spending limits, beginning in 2014. “You can now be insured with pre-existing conditions,” Hoytt notes. “You do not have to be afraid of being dropped from your insurance.”
Designer Rick Owens debuted his spring/summer 2014 collection in Paris today. In lieu of models, Owens called upon a team of step dancers to show off his clothing. And dance! They marched down a metal staircase…
bjpandabear/Instagram / Via gramfeed.com
… and took to the runway.
blamanda/Instagram / Via gramfeed.com
Wearing signature androgynous, monochromatic garb typical of Owens. Which was also probably pretty comfortable to dance in!
They performed a routine much more rigorous than mere cat-walking. And about 1,000 times more interesting. And the fashion crowd went mostly wild with praise. This spectacle resulted in what might be the only literally fierce runway stills in the history of fashion.
see full article by Angela Vitello with video at buzzfeed.com
The University of Cambridge is staging a mayor exhibition exploring the 6,000-year history of the afro comb and the politics of black hair. The fascinating display charts the inception of the comb in Ancient Egypt through to its ascendancy as a political emblem post-1960s.
“What we know from the early hair combs is they were connected to status, group affiliation, cultural and religious beliefs,” says curator Sally-Ann Ashton. “In more recent times, the ‘black fist’ comb that references the black power salute has wider political connotations.” The material is being showcased at 2 university sites: The Fitzwilliam Museum, and alongside life-size installations created by artist Dr. Michael McMillan at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology(MAA). Items on display at Fitzwilliam include hundreds of combs from pre-dynastic Egypt to contemporary picks. Some interesting artifacts include a 5,500-year-old comb from Southern Egypt and the original black fist comb, which was patented in 1976 in America. The idea behind the exhibition was to take a fresh look at Egyptology within the parameters Africa in all its diversity, rich heritage, and culture, says Ashton. Interestingly, she says the earliest combs in the collection are from Egypt and this alongside her scholarly research has left her with no doubt that ancient Egyptians were racially and culturally black African. “People do not want to admit or believe that these early civilizations were non-European but they were,” says Ashton. Associated material includes paintings, sculpture and images showing the variety and complexity of hair styles found in Africa and on the Diaspora.
Trying to stay healthy while traveling can be the most stressful part of a vacation. Temptation is everywhere! Meal prepping and counting calories take a backseat when carbs, fat and sugar galore are all over the place and you’re in a relaxed state of mind because you’re not home. Well, to avoid the bloat and the guilt that travel eating can bring, follow these tips and keep that waistline in check on your next vacation.
1. Avoid thinking you have to indulge just because you’re on vacation. Grilled protein instead of fried, salads with light dressing are all great options to pick at restaurants. I make sure to specify that what I order is not cooked in butter or heavy oil. 2. Pile on the veggies! Avoid heavy sides. Traveling alone tends to make me bloat and breakout. I’ve found that tons of veggies with my meals cuts down on both! 3. Pack some meal prep. When I know I’ll be traveling for a few days, I pack protein shake packets in my checked luggage and do a meal replacement each day. If you’re traveling within the U.S., you can even pack other items like nuts, trailmix and nutrition bars to have healthier snack options at hand. 4. Protein is your best friend. This is especially true when you’re hungry at the airport. With the exception of a few forward thinking airports, most hubs only have fast food dives to choose from. Even still you can cut down on the guilt when ordering by choosing lean proteins. And pick things that are Grilled, broiled, steamed, roasted, baked or poached. 5. Grocery shop. If you’re roadtripping it, invest $20 or so bucks in a cooler and pack fresh fruits, veggies and deli proteins to munch on. If your staying in a hotel, take advantage of the mini fridge! When I’m flying out of town the first thing I do after check in is find where the grocery store or Bodega is and buy fruits and healthy snacks to keep in the room (think almonds!) so I don’t have to rely on room service or the mini bar when I get hungry. article by Devi Dev via blackamericaweb.com
People Magazine revealed Friday that Kerry Washington topped their new list of the world’s best-dressed women. “I like to find balance in an outfit where it doesn’t feel too much of any one thing,” she told the magazine about her red carpet style. “It’s not dressing like a nun and it’s also not dressing like I’m in a swimsuit competition. It’s finding the middle ground.” With her new marriage and the success of “Scandal,” Washington definitely had a standout year, and we are sure her Emmy nomination is just icing on the cake. The Hollywood actress shared that she and her stylist of two years, Erin Walsh ,have been working to find the perfect dress for Sunday’s ceremony. “Erin and I really work hand in hand,” she said. “We’re always sending each other ideas and pictures.” She added, “For me the goal is to feel comfortable, event-appropriate and to be an elevated, more special version of myself or to feel like the best version of myself in that context and just be in the moment.” Other fashion titles for 2013 went to Solange Knowles for Best Risk-Taking Style, Jennifer Lawrence for Best High Fashion Style, Jessica Chastain for Best Red Carpet Style and Jenna Dewan-Tatum for Best Pregnancy Style. Past stars who’ve won the “Best Dressed” title include Gwyneth Paltrow, Blake Lively and Zoë Saldana. article by Myeisha Essex via blackamericaweb.com
When offered the opportunity to interview our favorite childhood friend, Rudy Huxtable from The Cosby Show, we were excited to catch up with the lovable Cosby Kid.
Lameka Weeks founded Height Goddess because, simply put, she was sick of settling. For years—decades even—clothing brands and manufacturers have largely ignored the plight of the tall woman. Sure, petites and plus size have dedicated sections and even full stores aplenty, but tall women have had to settle for clothes that don’t fit and don’t flatter for far too long. Height Goddess is a contemporary line for women measuring 5’9” & taller. In 2007, with no formal fashion training, 
They performed a routine much more rigorous than mere cat-walking. And about 1,000 times more interesting. And the fashion crowd went mostly wild with praise. This spectacle resulted in what might be the only literally fierce runway stills in the history of fashion.
People Magazine revealed Friday that Kerry Washington topped their new list of the world’s best-dressed women. “I like to find balance in an outfit where it doesn’t feel too much of any one thing,” she told the magazine about her red carpet style. “It’s not dressing like a nun and it’s also not dressing like I’m in a swimsuit competition. It’s finding the middle ground.”