If you're a product junkie like me (trust me, I'm getting better), then you might want to consider making room for one more product or two.
As a natural hair girlie, I have tried many lines that claim to soften your hair, help it grow, or do all the above, and while some of them have worked, others, not so much. Recently, I had the pleasure of trying the new collection from Flawless by Gabrielle Union, a line that she teamed up with celebrity hairstylist Larry Sims for, and I have to say, I enjoyed the experience.
The line primarily uses Brazilian bacuri butter, which, according to the site, softens hair, increases its ability to absorb moisture, adds natural shine, and promotes overall hair health. I'm all about finding products that will help with the health of my hair, especially after experiencing dryness, excessive shedding, and hair loss from dying my hair blond.
I tried five products in total: the 3 Minute Restoring Conditioner, Styling Glaze, 5 Butter Miracle Leave-In Conditioner, Elongating Custard, and Repairing Edge Control.
After taking down my braids, I shampooed my hair and followed it with the 3 Minute Restoring Conditioner. I was instantly entranced by the scent, which reminded me of being on a tropical beach.
3 Minute Restoring Conditioner
Freshly washed hair.
After three minutes, I rinsed the conditioner out, and my hair felt soft and revitalized. Next, I detangled and sectioned my hair and applied the 5 Butter Miracle Leave-In Conditioner. The five butters used in the conditioner are shea, cupuacu, murumuru, bacuri, and mango.
5 Butter Miracle Leave-In Conditioner
How my hair looked after applying the leave-in conditioner.
I followed that up with the Elongating Custard, which is supposed to define curls and minimize frizz without crunch or flaking. Both the leave-in and the custard had the same scent as the conditioner, and I was in heaven. It has a light scent that hits you when you turn your head or even walk, and the best part is that it lasts for days.
Elongating Custard
How my hair looked after applying the elongating custard.
I used the Repairing Edge Control to lay my edges down, and I love that it's infused with biotin and creatine to help grow and strengthen the hair.
Repairing Edge Control and Styling Glaze
The finished look.
A few weeks later, I tried the Styling Glaze to give my curls a little more definition, and I liked it. However, I will have to try it for a slick-back look such as a ponytail as that's what this product was intended for.
Overall, I think Flawless is a good line. What stands out for me is the ingredients used in the products, such as the many butters, rice oil complex, and lilac leaf extract, which all promote healthy hair. And, of course, I can't forget about the inviting, beachy scent.
I'm still relearning my hair after having to cut a lot of it off because of color damage (blond isn't worth it, y'all), so I still have a little frizz where the blond is, which is no fault of the Flawless line. However, I can see myself continuing to use some of the products, especially the conditioner.
Let’s make things inbox official! Sign up for the xoNecole newsletter for love, wellness, career, and exclusive content delivered straight to your inbox.
RELATED
While an evolution is a natural progression that happens as businesses grow, a rebrand is a total change. Lola tells xoNecole, "A total rebrand is necessary when a business’s current reputation/what it’s known for is at odds with the business’s vision or direction.
"For example, if you’ve fundamentally changed what your product is and does, it’s likely that your brand is out of alignment with the business. Or, if you find your company is developing a reputation that doesn’t serve it, it might be time to pump the brakes and figure out what needs to change.
She continues, "Sometimes you’ll see companies (especially startups) announce a name change that comes with updated messaging, visuals, etc. That usually means their vision has changed or expanded, and their previous branding was too narrow/couldn’t encompass everything they planned to do."
Feature image courtesy
The Brand Doula was born in 2019, and its focus is on putting "the experiences, goals, and needs of women of color founders first," as well as brands with "culture-shifting missions."
According to Lola, culture-shifting is "the act of influencing dominant behavior, beliefs, or experiences in a community or group (ideally, for the better)."
"At The Brand Doula, we work with companies and leaders that set out to challenge the status quo in their industries and communities. They’re here to make an impact that sends ripples across the market," she says.
"We help the problem solvers of the world — the ones who aren't satisfied with 'this is how it's always been' and instead ask 'how could this be better?' Our clients build for impact, reimagining tools, systems, and ways of living to move cultures forward."
The Brand Doula has worked with many brands, including Too Collective, to assist with their collaboration with Selena Gomez's Rare Beauty and Balanced Black Girl for a "refresh," aka rebrand. For businesses looking to rebrand, Lola shares four essential steps.
1. Do an audit of your current brand experience — what’s still relevant and what needs to change? Reflect on why you’re doing the rebrand in the first place and what success would look like after relaunching.
2. Tackle the overall strategy first — before you start redesigning logos and websites, align on a new vision for your brand. How do you want your company to be positioned moving forward? Has your audience changed at all? Will your company have a fresh personality and voice?
3. Bring your audience along the journey — there’s no need to move in secret. Inviting your current audience into the journey can actually help them feel more connected to and invested in your story, enough to stick around as changes are being made.
4. Keep business moving — one of my biggest pet peeves is when companies take down their websites as soon as they have the idea to rebrand, then have a Coming Soon page up for months! You lose a lot of momentum and interest by doing that. If you’re still in business and generating income, continue to operate while you work on your rebrand behind the scenes. You don’t want to cut existing customers off out of the blue, and you also don’t want so much downtime that folks forget your business exists or start looking for other solutions.
While determining whether the rebrand was successful may take a few months, Lola says a clear sign that it is unsuccessful is negative feedback from your target audience. "Customers are typically more vocal about what they don’t like more than what they do like," she says.
But some good signs to look out for are improvements in engagement with your marketing, positive reviews, press and increase in retention, and overall feeling aligned with the new branding.
For more information about Lola and The Brand Doula, visit her website, thebranddoula.com.
Let’s make things inbox official! Sign up for the xoNecole newsletter for love, wellness, career, and exclusive content delivered straight to your inbox.
Feature image courtesy
In a xoNecole exclusive, the mom of two opened up about many things, including starting her wellness journey at 13 years old. However, a near-death experience during a procedure at 20 made her start taking her health more seriously.
“There's so many different levels, and now, I'm in a space of just integrating all of this good stuff that I've learned just about just being human, you know?” Dreka tells us. “So it's also fun because it's like a journey of self-discovery and self-mastery. That's what I call it. So it's never-ending.”
Courtesy
If you follow Dreka, then you’re familiar with her holistic lifestyle, as she’s no stranger to promoting wellness, self-care, and holistic living. She even lives part-time on a Mississippi farm, not far from her grandmother and great-grandmother’s farm, where she spent some summers as a child.
While her grandmother and great-grandmother have passed on, Dreka reflects on that time in her life and how having a farm as an adult is her getting back to her roots. “So the farm was purchased back in 2017, and it was like, ah, that'll just be a place where we go when we're not touring or whatever,” she said.
“But covid hit, and I was there, and I was on the land, and I just started remembering back to going to my grandmother's during the summertime and freaking picking peas and going and eating mulberries off the freaking tree in the bushes.
“And she literally had cotton plants. I know some people feel weird about picking cotton and stuff. She had cotton plants and I would go and pick cotton out of her garden. And she had chickens, and I literally just broke down in tears one day when I was on the farm just doing all the things, and I'm like, ‘Oh my gosh. I'm literally getting back to my roots.”
I literally just broke down in tears one day when I was on the farm just doing all the things, and I'm like, ‘Oh my gosh. I'm literally getting back to my roots.
You can catch glimpses of Dreka’s farm life on Instagram, which shows her picking fruit and vegetables and loving on her animals like her camel Eessa. Her passion for growing and cultivating led her to try and grow all of her ingredients for her wellness brand, Dreka Wellness. However, she quickly realized that she might be biting off more than she could chew. But that didn’t stop her from fulfilling her vision.
Watch below as Dreka talks more about her business, her wellness tips, breaking toxic cycles, becoming a doula, and more.
- YouTube
Let’s make things inbox official! Sign up for the xoNecole newsletter for love, wellness, career, and exclusive content delivered straight to your inbox.
Feature image courtesy