I Tried Gabrielle Union's Flawless Hair Collection & My Curls Popped Severely
At every stage of her career, Gabrielle Union has adorned beautiful hairstyles– from protective styles to edgy bobs. That's why when she announced the launch of her hair care line Flawless by Gabrielle Union in 2017, it seemed like a natural move. The 10-product collection was a hit at Ulta Beauty, and all seemed well. But behind the scenes, Union was dealing with personal struggles. In several recent interviews, the actress and entrepreneur shared that during that time she began experiencing hair loss due to multiple rounds of IVF, and was pressured by her white hair care brand investors to promote a product she wasn't satisfied with.
After taking three years to reimagine the brand, Flawless is officially back and better than ever. This time around, Union teamed up with her longtime hairstylist and friend Larry Sims. Together, the duo worked to create a new and improved line that offered textured-hair friendly formulas at an affordable price point (FYI: everything is $10 or less).
During my most recent wash day, I had the chance to try four of the staple products from the Flawless collection. Ahead, I'm sharing my honest thoughts on how they worked on my curls.
My Flawless By Gabrielle Union Haircare Review
Hydrating Detangling Hair Shampoo
First up, the Hydrating Detangling Hair Shampoo. For me, the perfect shampoo is one that cleanses all of the build-up from my hair and scalp without drying it out. This one did just that. When I applied it to my hair, it created a luxurious lather and as I worked it throughout my hair and scalp, the shampoo made detangling my hair a breeze The shampoo is formulated with a potent blend of oils and butters–including Coconut Oil, Shea Butter, Passionfruit Seed Oil, Rice Oil Complex, Acai Palm Oil, Moringa Seed Oil, and Brazilian Bacuri Butter–so my hair felt intensely hydrated and super soft after rinsing it out.
Hydrating Co-Wash Cleansing Hair Conditioner
I followed up with the Hydrating Co-Wash Cleansing Hair Conditioner. The conditioner has a thick, creamy texture so I knew immediately it was going to envelop my hair in a cloud of moisture. It is infused with tons of hair-loving ingredients like Castor Seed Oil and Acai Palm Oil, and together they work to nourish the hair. Per the instructions, I massaged it into my hair from root to ends for five minutes. When I washed it out, my curls were so juicy and full of moisture. I can honestly say Gabby and Larry did their thing with this conditioner.
Detangling Leave-in Hair Conditioner
Flawless' Detangling Leave-in Hair Conditioner is my favorite product out of the four that I've tried from the line–hands down. After I hopped out the shower and squeezed out excess water from my hair using a cotton t-shirt, I sprayed the leave-in conditioner liberally all over my head. It instantly soaked into my strands and added more moisture into my curls. When my hair fully dried, I was left with curls that were incredibly soft and bouncy. This leave-in conditioner spray also doubles as a great hair refresher. I've loved using this post-wash day to rehydrate my curls and make them pop.
Defining Curl Hair Cream
I finished things off with the Defining Curl Hair Cream. Upon opening the jar, I was immediately greeted by a fresh and subtly sweet scent. I worked the product into each section of my hair, making sure to distribute an even amount to each area. After letting my hair air dry, I noticed that the cream provided my curls with noticeable definition and reduced frizz. My one complaint: the cream left a bit of an oily residue on my hair after use.
Olivia Hancock/xoNecole
The Final Verdict:
Olivia Hancock/xoNecole
I'm a true Gabrielle union stan, so it's been so beautiful to see her relaunch Flawless on her own terms. It's incredibly clear that Union and Sims put so much of their heart, soul, and energy into the brand to ensure that these products were formulated for us.
Olivia Hancock/xoNecole
As with any haircare brand, the products have been met with mixed reviews but I went into my wash day with an open mind. Overall, my first experience with Flawless was largely positive and my curls were definitely popping after trying the products. After giving the brand a try, I am certainly eager to try more from the Flawless range.
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Olivia Hancock is a writer who can constantly be found putting pen to paper or typing away at her keyboard. The transplant ATLien is currently working on her undergraduate degree in Journalism and roots for all things #BlackGirlMagic. Connect with her on Twitter and Instagram at @oliviahancock_.
Beyond Burnout: Nicole Walters' Blueprint For Achieving Career Success On Your Own Terms
Nicole Walters has always been known for two things: her ambition and her ability to recognize when life’s challenges can also double as an inspiring, lucrative brand.
This was first evident more than a decade ago when she quit her job as the corporate executive of a Fortune 500 company during a Periscope livestream. “I’m not sure if there’s an alignment of [our] future trajectory. I’m going to work for myself. I'm promoting myself to work for myself,” she said at the time before flashing a smile at the viewing audience. As she resigned on camera, a constant stream of encouraging messages floated upwards on the screen.
By 2021, she’d fashioned her work as a corporate consultant and her personal life with her husband and three adopted daughters into a reality show, She’s The Boss, for USA Network. This year, she released the New York Times bestselling memoir Nothing Is Missing, written as she was in the process of getting a divorce and dealing with her eldest daughter’s struggles with substance use.
Convinced that there’s no way the 39-year-old has achieved all of this without intentional strategic planning, I asked her about it when we spoke less than a week before Christmas. I’d seen videos on social media of her working on 2024 planning for other brands, and I wanted to know what that looked like following her own year of success.
She listed a number of goals, including ensuring that the projects she takes on in the new year align with her identity “as a Black woman, as an African woman, as a mother, as someone who has lived a [rebuilding] season and is now trying to live boldly and entirely as themselves.” But, I was shocked by how much of her business planning also prioritized rest.
Despite the bestselling book, a self-titled podcast, and working with numerous corporations, Walters said she’s been taking Fridays off. This year, she doesn’t want to work on Mondays, either.
“A lot of us think we work hard until retirement hits. I want to progress towards retirement,” she said, noting that she’ll check in with herself around March to see how successful this plan has been. The goal, Walters said, is to only be working on Tuesdays and Thursdays by sometime in 2025. “It is intentionally building out what I know I would like to have happen and not waiting for exhaustion to be the trigger of change.”
"A lot of us think we work hard until retirement hits. I want to progress towards retirement... It is intentionally building out what I know I would like to happen and not waiting for exhaustion to be the trigger of change."
Walters said the decision to progressively work less was partially in response to her previously held notions about her career, especially as an entrepreneur. “When I first started, I thought burnout was a part of it,” she said. “What I didn’t realize is that even if you’re able to bounce out of burnout or get back to it, there’s a cumulative impact on your body. If you think of your body as a tree and every time you go through burnout, you are taking a hack out of your trunk, yes, that trunk will heal over, and the tree will continue to grow, but it doesn't mean that you don’t have a weakened stem.”
But, the desire for increased rest was also in response to the major shifts that occurred three years ago when she was experiencing major changes in her family and realized her metaphorical tree was “bending all the way over.”
Courtesy
“One of the things we have to recognize, especially as Black women, is that there is this engrained, societal, systemic notion that our worth is built around our productivity,” she added. “That is some language that I think is just now starting to really get unpacked.” In recent years, there’s been an increased awareness of achieving balance in life, with Tricia Hersey’s “The Nap Ministry” gaining attention based on the idea that rest, especially for Black women, is a form of resistance. Even online phrases such as “soft life” and “quiet quitting” have hinted at a cultural shift in prioritizing leisure over professional ambition.
"One of the things we have to recognize, especially as Black women, is that there is this engrained, societal, systemic notion that our worth is built around our productivity."
If companies are lining up to consult with Walters about their brands and products, then women have been looking to her for guidance on starting over since she invited them to livestream her resignation 12 years ago. As viewers continue to demand more from content creators in the form of intimate, personal details, Walters has navigated her personal brand with a sense of transparency without oversharing the vulnerable details about her life, especially when it comes to her family.
The entrepreneur said she’d been approached to write a book for several years and was initially convinced she was finally ready to write one about business. “I started to do that, and then I went through my divorce. When that happened, I said, why would I write a book telling people to get the life that I have when I’m not sure about the life that I have,” she said.
Instead, she decided to write Nothing Is Missing and provide a closer look at her life, starting with being born to immigrant Ghanaian parents (“You need to know my childhood to know why I’m passionate about entrepreneurship.”) through the adoption of her three daughters and eventual divorce. Despite her desire to share, however, she said she felt protective of the privacy of her family, including her ex-husband.
When discussing this with me, Walters said she was reminded of a lesson she learned from actress Kerry Washington, who released her own memoir, Thicker Than Water, just a week before Walters’ book release. Washington’s memoir grapples with family secrets, too, specifically the fact that she was conceived using a sperm donor and didn’t learn about it until she was already a successful TV star. While Washington reflects on how the decision and subsequent deception impacted her, she’s also careful to hold space for her parents’ experiences, too. “A lot of things she said was that she had to recognize where she was the supporting character and where she was the main character,” Walter said.
This is something Walter worked to do in Nothing Is Missing when discussing her daughter’s struggles with addiction. “I was very intentional about making sure that I did not reveal more than what was required,” she said. “If I say something about someone’s addiction, I don’t need to go into the list of the substances they used, how they used them, what I found. [I don’t need to] walk into a room and paint a picture of what it looked like for people to understand.”
Walters said some of the most vulnerable moments in the book barely made a ripple once it was released. She was extremely nervous to write about getting an abortion, she said. But no one has asked her about this in the months since the book was released. Instead, people have been more interested in quirkier revelations, such as the fact that she once appeared on Wheel of Fortune.
“I have bared my soul about this thing I went through in my youth that has changed me for people, and people are like, ‘So how heavy was the wheel when you spun it?’” she said, chuckling. “It just goes to show that people never worry about the thing that you worry about.”
With the success of Nothing Is Missing, Walters said she still isn’t planning to release a business book at the moment. But, as she navigates parenting a teenager and two adult children while also navigating a relationship with her new fiancé, Walters said she believes she has at least one or two more books to write about her personal journey. “There is sort of an arc of where my life has gone that I know I’ve got something more to say about this that I think is important, relevant and necessary,” she said.
In just three years, Walters’ life has undergone a major transformation. There’s no telling what the next three years will have in store for her, but it seems likely she’ll retain an inspired audience wherever life takes her.
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Quiet Luxury Is The Secret To The Rich Wife Aesthetic: Here's How To Achieve The Look
Throughout centuries, signs of fortune and wealth have been depicted through a louder, more luxurious appearance. From precious jewels to the finest furs, elites have been able to speak a common language through fashion and extravagance. In 2024, when money talks, it's loud with monogram logos and large graphics.
Wealth whispers, screaming effortless taste and style. A low-key approach to luxury, it can be described as an "anti-trend" by maintaining the same aesthetic characteristics over the years, focusing on quality, design, and polished craftsmanship.
What Exactly Is Quiet Luxury?
Quiet luxury is rooted in understated heroes, exuding power and sophistication. It's the subtle details with a minimalist aesthetic that portray passion, confidence, and wealth. Think Sabrina Elba meets Jasmine Tookes with a hint of Michelle Obama. Whether day-to-day shopping, cocktail parties, or a casual day out, it’s more than style. Quiet luxury is a state of mind, a way of life that anyone can aspire to.
Muted colors such as black, brown, and beige are at the core of quiet luxury, with minimal hardware and discreet logo-less designs that give off its sophisticated, anonymously chic appeal.
Rich Wife Aesthetic: Sabrina Elba exuding quiet luxury as she attends Paris Fashion Week.
Darren Gerrish/Getty Images for Victoria Beckham
To achieve the rich-wife aesthetic, less is more with quality, timeless designs, fine everyday jewelry, and designer denim. With these attributes, the key to achieving quiet luxury is not being influenced by trends but gravitating towards statement pieces that are essential and more sustainable.
Need more defining features of rich-wife energy? Below, see what they’re wearing to master this subtle chic way of life.
Mastering the Quiet Luxury Aesthetic: The Blazer
A quality blazer is a staple that is worth investing in. No matter the season, a structured luxe look can be easily achieved with an oversized silhouette with a matching trouser, straight-legged denim, or a dress along with statement jewelry or a classic watch. The possibilities are both easy and endless.
Jasmine Tookes shows a quality blazer is worth the investment.
Rachpoot/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images
Mastering the Quiet Luxury Aesthetic: The White Button Down
A simple yet powerful item to include on your list of rich wife essentials is a button-down collared shirt. This core item is worth seeking a quality fit and material to achieve the right look. Tuck in or leave out for an effortless feel, from resort wear to an everyday casual look.
A white button down is a simple yet powerful staple to include in your rich wife essentials.
Rachpoot/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images
Mastering the Quiet Luxury Aesthetic: Denim
Denim is a staple in everyone's wardrobe; however, fit and quality are what separates the rich mom aesthetic from others. Pair a straight-leg pant with denim or a white button-down with a loafer and oversized tote for a conspicuously chic moment.
Quality is what separates how quiet luxury does denim from the others.
Edward Berthelot/Getty Images
Mastering the Quiet Luxury Aesthetic: Overstated Wool Coat
Just because it's quiet doesn’t mean there can’t be any statements. The underestimated power of a quality wool coat demonstrates true style and elegance. Layer with a wrap-around oversized scarf is the cherry on top of a minimal masterpiece.
Nothing says true style and elegance quite like a wool coat.
Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images for Gucci
Mastering the Quiet Luxury Aesthetic: The Shopper
RIP to the mini bag; oversized totes are back and bigger than ever. With intricate details and textured designs, there’s a level of maturity and sophistication when splurging on a designer shopper. Style with a wool trench, denim jeans, a white tee, and casual sneakers for an on-the-go luxe look.
Lingeer (L) and James Corbin (R) serve muted looks without sacrificing personal style during Paris Fashion Week.
Jeremy Moeller/Getty Images
Mastering the Quiet Luxury Aesthetic: The Slingback Heel
The epitome of class, the slingback is a conservative yet elegant heel. Layer with stockings or wear with long-length denim for a range of occasions. Details are extremely important, especially for an individual take on the style. Look out for hardware and heel silhouettes for a more modern option.
The epitome of class, Emilie Joseph demonstrates how to rock the conservative yet elegant slingback heels.
Edward Berthelot/Getty Images
Mastering the Quiet Luxury Aesthetic: Knitted Maxi Dress
A maxi dress is worn during any part of the year, no matter the season. A long-length blazer or wool trench is the perfect top layer. Pair with chunky clogs or keep it simple with a calf boot and statement earrings.
Mastering the Quiet Luxury Aesthetic: Soft Cargo Pants
The cargo pants are having a long run and not letting up any time soon. Doubling as a trouser, the comfort and utility of the wide straight leg is a no-brainer in the quiet luxe category. Pair with high heels or boots for a slightly edgier take on the look.
The cargo pants are here to stay, and they absolutely give in the category of rich wife aesthetic.
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