This is what The Glow Up is buzzing about this weekend: a world of curls; multiethnic, natural-hair care; ’90s-throwback, female-dominated streetwear; and traveling like royalty. Happy weekend!
For Your Curls
I am dying over HSI’s Groover Curler Master Kit curling iron, with 10 interchangeable curling wands. It’s beach season. It’s wedding season. That’s lots of bridesmaids’ parties and many invitations to nuptials on the calendar, all of which call for style switching.
The Glow Up friend hairdresser Andrea Wilson put the Groover Curler to the professional test. Her opinion? “It’s lightweight, it heats up extremely fast, and the barrels are made out of great materials that glide smoothly on the hair.”
The drawbacks? Of the convenience of having multiple options specifically made to create different styles, Wilson says: “When you want to change the barrel, you have to wait for it to cool down before changing to another different-shaped wand.” That adds extra time to styling. “You know, I’m a greedy hairdresser, so I could use another barrel for the kit—I usually use two wands per style,” she adds.
The wands might be lightweight, but the price for the curling iron is not; at $149, you’ve got to be obsessed to invest.
For Your Wash-and-Rinse
Board-certified family physician Ena Hennegan came up with her hair-care line, aptly named Many Ethnicities, because of her frustration with some 70-plus bottles of shampoos and conditioners lined up in her bathroom, none of which did the trick for her and her three daughters’ multiethnic hair types.
In addressing the need in the market, the doctor, in a press release, asked: “Why can’t the multicultural naturalistas, the most overlooked segment of the hair-care marketplace, have a premium line composed of premium ingredients and manufactured in small batches to exacting standards? Why wasn’t there something for me?” Following the old adage “Physician, heal thyself,” Hennegan created the all-natural, sulfate- and paraben-free formulas for adults and children. Shampoos and conditioners, $25; family variety six-pack, $89.99; sampler, $14.99.
For Your Feet
Did you know that Reebok was the first sneaker company to design tennis shoes specifically for women? Flipping the Game, a new podcast dedicated to showcasing female players in the streetwear and sneaker game, launched Thursday, just in time for the weekend. You’ll hear from Walker Wear designer April Walker—who wrote the book on ’90s hip-hop style and famously dressed Biggie and Tupac—being interviewed by TV host Scottie Beam on whether the future of streetwear is female, and just what that might look like.
How about a multibrand megastore stocked with fitness gear made for women, by women? Until that day comes, snuggle up in your Coogi sweater, throw your old-school kicks—like the rereleased Reebok Freestyle Hi—up on a chair, sit back, relax and contemplate an all-girl sneaker world.
For Your Weekend in Wakanda
Make moves like royalty this weekend. Pack your blessings into some seriously stylish and rugged gear from the black-owned luggage company Kingdom of Mel. Speaking of supporting female designers in the sneaker and streetwear game, designer Tiffany Hill takes kente cloth on the road in tour-jacket and gym-shoe versions, as well as her signature waterproof, carry-on-sized duffels in bold red, black and green stripes and, of course, your title. Whether it be queen, king, prince or princess, all are represented in the Kingdom of Mel; $49 to $99.