These Are The Hair Trends Bringing The Heat This Summer & Beyond
One of my favorite aspects of being a Black woman is the dedication to our ever-changing hair. Forever testing the bounds, we love staying a step ahead while placing no limits on what we can do with a lot of texture and a little imagination. Our hair is a lifestyle and the art of being a Black woman includes our diverse range of looks we can pull off from one week to the next. Whether a sleek pony or beachy body waves, we can literally pull off anything we set our mind to.
During the summer, there are quite a few looks I try to squeeze in before the warm weather starts to cool off. It's hard to resist the temptation of a blunt cut or long bob to keep hair off our neck and shoulders for a super chic and easy look. If not a drastic cut then maybe extra length and volume with soft beachy waves that I can easily maintain for an effortless style. If I’m not experimenting with cuts or lengths of my hair, then I’m experimenting with brighter hair tones and colors that come alive with the light of the brighter beaming sun. Whichever hairstyle I’m wearing for the moment, there always seem to be certain styles that I tend to gravitate towards at certain times of the year.
Like everything else within the beauty world, hair has trends and this season is all about blunt bold cuts and effortless hair. To get a better idea of what women are asking for, I reached out to the California-based owners of DreamGirls Fine Hair Imports & Salon for hair tips and inspiration on the top hair trends of summer.
Meet the Experts
DreamGirls co-founders, Tonya Thompson and Sharie Wilson.
Sisters, Entrepreneurs, Healthy Hair Experts
1. Beach Waves
"We highly recommend wearing a protective weave style to promote healthy hair growth, and to give your hair a break from everyday wear and tear. The summer is a great time to wear protective styles like weaves, especially since we are outdoors exposing our hair to the sun and elements like chlorine and salt water," Tonya and Sharie explain. "Beach waves are great if you wish to have a longer style, which can easily be done with no heat, twisting your hair back and securing it with a bonnet before you go to bed at night, and then letting it loose in the morning to reveal loose waves.”
2. Classic Curls
You can never go wrong wearing big bold curls. One of my all-time favorite looks for summer, this is one of my go-to looks especially when during high temperatures. I love that curls are hassle-free and able to withstand the elements without the use of heating tools. Using a moisturizing spray, a long tooth comb/pick and a banana bun at night wrapped with a silk scarf can uphold your curls for weeks. “Simple classic curls are one of the top three styles requested by clients during the summer,” states the styling duo Tonya and Sharie.
3. Lob
Lob is short for “long bob.” A bob, but longer, hitting somewhere between your ear level and chin, the lob can land as far as your shoulders or somewhere in between. I love this edgy style, especially when adding brown or blonde highlights for an even bolder eye-catching look. Tonya and Sharie add, “Classic cuts that re-emerge every summer are textured lobs and choppy bobs. These looks allow you to quickly style, in addition to being classic looks that never make you look dated.”
4. Blunt Cut
The classic bob is still a go-to look however this year they’ve gotten even shorter, giving even more of a summer appeal. Tonya and Sharie state, “We recommend short [hair] cuts that are off your back and easy to quickly style.”
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How This New Bond Repair Line Transformed One Mother's Postpartum Shedding Into The Ultimate Curl Comeback
This article is in partnership with SheaMoisture
For Crystal Obasanya, her wash day woes came shortly after her son did. The beauty and lifestyle content creator had been natural for years, but during postpartum, she quickly learned about one reality many mothers can relate to experiencing: postpartum hair loss. “Sis had thinning hair. Sis had split ends,” she shared about her hair changes in a Reel via xoNecole.
Over a year into her postpartum journey, Crystal explained she also had dry, brittle hair, noting that keeping it hydrated before pregnancy had already been “a task.” The 4C natural recalled going from thick hair during pregnancy to a thin hairline due to postpartum shedding as “devastating.” When it came to strengthening and revitalizing her hair, the new SheaMoisture Bond Repair Collection was just the thing she needed to elevate her damaged coils to revive and thrive status and get them poppin' again.
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The SheaMoisture Bond Repair Collection Bonding Oil is a multitasking all-in-one formula that acts as a heat protectant and provides the hair with moisture, strength, shine, damage protection, and intense nourishment. This lightweight oil not only offers 24-hour frizz and humidity control but also fortifies your tresses, making them up to 5 times stronger with significantly less breakage.
Featured image courtesy
Looking for ways to level up your solo sex sessions or your partnered sex play? Entering the wonderful world of arousal oils might be exactly what the doctor ordered. As its name suggests, arousal oil arouses. And they might very well be the pleasurable vessel through which your mind-blowing orgasms can be beckoned. Specifically, arousal oils are a pleasure-enhancing sex lubricant intended to increase the sensitivity to your nipples, your vulva, or your clitoris, just to start.
With an ingredient list that can include the likes of CBD, ashwagandha, and essential oils, arousal oils act as an aphrodisiac in a bottle, maximizing intensity and heightening the levels of pleasure you feel, thereby making your climax that much more attainable.
Keep reading for our selection of some of the best arousal oils in the game right now.
Bloomi Luxe Arousal Oil
Described as a "sensual pleasure oil," the Luxe Arousal Oil by Bloomi is clean with plant-derived organic ingredients. With 2-4 pumps, a gentle massage with this oil-based intimacy oil is formulated to intensify pleasure to your clitoris, your vulva, your thighs, or anywhere else you care to use it, before and during the act.
Foria Awaken Arousal Oil
Not only do reviewers rave about the "incredible o's" from Awaken Arousal Oil, but this best-seller is also known for its sensuous aroma, slip, and feel. With the uncanny ability to enhance sensations, users of the product have reported reinvigorated orgasms and renewed sex lives. And all we have to say is, say less.
Mood Maker Pleasure-Enhancing Intimacy Oil for Couples
Amazon
The Mood Maker had us at hello. Christina Aguilera's sex oil is where luxury and intimacy meet. Thanks to the relaxation facilitated by magic mushrooms and pleasure-enhancing adaptogens, the Mood Maker lays the groundwork for easeful foreplay, sex, and even an encore. With its texture like silk and warm scent, the oil effortlessly sets the perfect mood for pleasure play and allows your body to follow suit.
Lure Deluxe Intimacy Oil
Sultry, clean, and moisturizing are the cornerstones of this intimacy oil. The oil is formulated with organic ingredients like MCT coconut oil and CBD, so there is no need to worry about throwing off your pH balance or leaving behind a sticky residue when using it for intimate moments. The silky texture provides a sensual slip that is all gas no brakes, creating a slip n' slide glide during partner play, as well as solo play.
Bonus points: since it's all-natural, it's also oral-friendly. So Deluxe Intimacy Oil is queening-approved.
Green Compass Intimacy Oil
Green Compass
Entice and awaken your pleasure and your senses with the Intimacy Oil by Green Compass. An intimacy oil made for every body, this oil is fragrance-free, paraben-free, and silicone-free and formulated with plant-based and organic ingredients. With ingredients like organic hemp flower extract, coconut oil, and jojoba oil, the pleasure felt and experienced in intimate areas becomes even more intense upon application.
FOCL CBD Arousal Oil
Loved by users for its "perfect texture," its "warm wonderful feeling," and the fact that it's "non-irritating," the CBD Arousal Oil by FOCL is definitely worthy of a spot in your tox boy. Like other CBD oils, the hemp-derived product is said to ease tension and promote blood flow, which are major keys to enhancing and maximizing your sexual pleasure.
Sensuva On Arousal Oil
Amazon
Looks like we saved the best for last. Available in Lite, Original, and Ultra to give you the ability to choose the intensity that suits your intimate moments best, the On Arousal Oil by Sensuva is said to be one of the most powerful arousal oils on the market with good reason. With a "unique, buzzing vibration sensation on the clitoris," in 1-2 drops, On Arousal delivers more sensation during sex, helps women achieve orgasms quicker and more intensely, and can also help curb any issues with vaginal dryness.
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