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On Monday afternoon, a gunman shot and killed 10 people, including the first police officer on the scene, at a grocery store in Boulder, CO. After authorities took him into custody, he was later identified as 21-year-old Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa. He has been charged with 10 counts of murder.

According to police reports, around 2:30 p.m. Alissa entered a King Soopers grocery store a few miles south of the University of Colorado campus and opened fire. Shoppers and employees hid or escaped through the back of the store as they waited for law enforcement to arrive. According to The New York Times, a witness posted a live video from the scene not long after the shooting began claiming he heard about a dozen shots. Later, videos showed multiple police officers escorting a handcuffed man from the building who had what appears to be an injury to his right leg. A law enforcement official told The Associated Press that Alissa used an AR-15, which is a lightweight, semi-automatic rifle, but that officials were still trying to trace it to determine whether he is its registered owner.

Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold confirmed that Alissa sustained “a through-and-through” gunshot wound to the leg before being taken into custody at 3:28 p.m. on Monday. In the same briefing, Herold said that Alissa was sent to the hospital in stable condition and is being treated. It’s unclear whether the shot that injured him came from police, said Herold. In a statement given by Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty, Alissa is expected to be taken to jail after treatment is finished later today. 

“[It is] premature to draw any conclusions (about motive) at this point in time,” said FBI special agent Michael Schneider, who is overseeing the case. Herold added, “We are going to do everything in our power to make sure this suspect has a thorough trial.” At present, he is believed to be the only perpetrator involved in the mass shooting.

The names of those who died in the shooting have also been released, according to the Boulder police: Denny Strong, 20; Neven Stanisic, 23; Rikki Olds, 25; Tralona Bartkowiak, 49; Suzanne Fountain, 59; Teri Leiker, 51; Boulder police officer Eric Talley, 51; Kevin Mahoney, 61; Lynn Murray, 62; and Jody Waters, 65.

Not much information is currently known about Alissa, but investigators have shared that he is from Arvada, CO, a suburb of Denver about 20 miles from Boulder. He is said to have “lived most of his life in the United States,” according to Dougherty. Officials say they had two encounters with Alissa in 2018 — one for “criminal mischief” and another due to a report of a third-degree assault, which is considered a misdemeanor.

“This is a tragedy and a nightmare for Boulder County,” said Dougherty. “These were people going about their day, doing their shopping. I promise the victims and the people of the state of Colorado that we will secure justice.”

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It should not be normal to know that every time you go to the grocery store or your local coffee shop, somebody could gun you down and kill you, or that you could find yourself running and hiding from a mass shooting attack. It is not something that people in most countries in the world experience, or that anybody should experience. Yet when you hear from Americans who have survived mass shootings, there are a lot of reflections like, “I always knew in the back of my mind that something like this would happen to me one day.” 

“It’s been in my head that something like this could happen,” Logan Smith, who was working in the Starbucks kiosk at King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, CO, when a man murdered 10 people on Monday, told the TODAY show on Tuesday morning. He explained that there had been other times his and his coworkers’ lives had been threatened, though they were “not as severe.” During the shooting, Smith helped a coworker hide behind some trash cans, and tried to find cover himself. Two of his coworkers were killed in the shooting, and he said he still hasn’t heard back from a third. “It’s harder even than it was yesterday, just thinking about the friends that I’ve lost.” 

The U.S. is the only country in the world where mass shootings like the ones in Boulder and Atlanta, where a young white man killed eight people across three Asian-owned spas last Tuesday, are a regular occurence. Depending on one’s definition of a mass shooting, there are between a dozen to hundreds of mass shootings in the U.S. each year. On top of these deadly events, there are many more far less publicized and preventable gun deaths in the U.S. each year. According to Giffords, 38,000 Americans die from gun violence every year, which is approximately 100 a day: 61% are suicides and 36% are homicides. This crisis is happening because we have some of the weakest gun laws and the most firearms in the world — and we also have shameless politicians who line their pockets with NRA cash and refuse to do anything about it.

Back in November 2020, comedian Dave Chappelle joked on Saturday Night Live that COVID had at least one silver lining. “Do you guys remember what life was like before COVID?” he asked the studio audience. “It was a mass shooting every week. … Thank god for COVID. Something had to lock these murderous whites up, keep them in the house.” Mass shooters are overwhelmingly young white men, which has started a number of necessary conversations about white supremacy and toxic masculinity. 

And Chappelle had a point: Mass shootings in public places had become less frequent during the pandemic, as more businesses and schools were closed. Before last Tuesday’s attacks in Atlanta, there had been no similar killings since March 2020, according to the Violence Project. That is not to say that violence decreased: The early months of the pandemic saw an unprecedented spike in gun purchases, and there has been a sharp increase in homicides and a domestic violence epidemic. Still, the wave of public attacks, ensuing in mass grief and outrage and calls for gun reform, only to be met with “thoughts and prayers” from politicians, receded. “There had been a hope that maybe we broke the cycle and maybe we won’t return,” Jillian Peterson, PhD, a criminal justice professor at Hamline University in St. Paul, MN, and cofounder of the Violence Project, told The New York Times. “Now that it’s back, a number of scholars are really concerned.”

As more people continue to receive vaccinations against COVID-19 and states begin to relax lockdown regulations on businesses, many are eager to get back to a semblance of pre-pandemic “normal”: for their children to go back to in-person school, to have large parties, to not fear going about our days and things like going to the grocery store. 

The desire to feel free and not live in fear is not only universal but very understandable. We feel nostalgic for aspects of our past lives before this major upheaval, even though the circumstances of those lives were flawed. So, amid the attempt to return to “normal,” it has become apparent that “normal” has never meant safe or free. It means weekly mass shootings at grocery stores. It has become exhausting to point out that it doesn’t have to be this way. Just a few days before 10 people were senselessly killed at King Soopers, a Colorado judge ruled that Colorado cities and counties are barred from adopting their own local firearm restrictions, which means Boulder was blocked from enforcing its assault-weapons ban, which had been on the books since the Parkland, FL, shooting in 2018. The gunman on Monday carried an AR-15.

Most Americans, including many Republicans and NRA members, support sensible gun restrictions such as universal background checks, a federal database to track gun sales, and bans on assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines. Yet our homicide rates are stratospherically high compared to those of other countries. The reasons range from an out-of-control gun lobby to a near-cultish adherence to (and misinterpretation of) the Second Amendment to negligence among NRA-paid politicians. But there’s one common-sense solution: Pass legislation that will prevent this violence from happening with such regularity. It’s worked in other countries, and it can work here.

There are many aspects of pre-pandemic life that we considered normal that should be anything but, and its consequences have revealed cracks in our society that were already deep, from income inequality to racism to misogyny. Mass shootings are yet another one: The fact that we consider them normal is the sign of a deeply sick country and society. I’m crossing my fingers that we’re going to envision a “new” normal from now on, but I’m not holding my breath.

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On Monday afternoon, Sarah Moonshadow was shopping for groceries with her son when a gunman opened fire. Ten people were shot and killed in Boulder, CO, while she was inside King Soopers grocery store. One of them was police officer Eric Talley, who arrived at the scene first. Moonshadow said she timed the shots in order to determine when to flee for safety.

In an interview with Good Morning America on Tuesday, Moonshadow described the events leading up to the deadly mass shooting. She recalled that she had only been planning a quick grocery trip, but ended up perusing around a bit. “At first I was kind of kicking myself, like, if we had left a little bit sooner maybe we could have avoided things,” she said. “But then I realized that we probably could’ve been in a lot bigger trouble had we left any time sooner, because when we had gotten out of the store, there were people lying in the street.”

As soon as she heard gunfire, she shifted her focus to protecting her son, trying to conceal him and stop him from moving around too much, and paying attention to where the sound of gunfire was coming from. “I just looked at my son and I told him — by the fourth shot I started counting — and I told him, ‘We have three seconds. Stay low and don’t look. And just move fast,'” she said.

Moonshadow was only one of dozens of shoppers who were at the scene when an unidentified gunman opened fire on Monday afternoon. At 2:49 p.m., the Boulder police department put out a Twitter warning about an active shooter at King Soopers, telling all residents to avoid the area. For at least 30 minutes after, officers reported a shooting stand-off with the gunman before they were able to take the suspect into custody.

“I promise … we will secure justice and do everything we must do to get justice in this case,” Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty said in response to the violence.

In the hours after the shooting, several survivors recounted the terror that occurred inside King Soopers. Anna Haynes, the editor-in-chief of the University of Colorado’s CU Independent, said she witnessed the shooter enter the grocery store from her apartment window. “I saw the gunman himself holding a semiautomatic rifle. On his way to the entrance, [he] had turned around and was shooting rapid-fire at one particular target. … And then he turned around, he entered the building through the handicap entrance,” Haynes told CNN. “A few seconds later, I saw people running out of the building, I heard screaming, I heard people leaving in their cars, and it just evolved into chaos within just a couple of minutes.”

Ryan Borowski, who was inside the store during the shooting, described hearing three gun shots and running with another terrified shopper to the back of the store. “The employees in the back of the house didn’t know what was going on, so we told them that there was a shooter, and they told us where the exit was,” he said.

The shooting occurred less than a week after a white man killed eight people at three Atlanta massage parlors, and just a day after another gunman opened fire at a Philadelphia “pop-up” event. Police say they are continuing to investigate the deadly attack and have released information that the shooter is a 21-year-old man from Denver. They have not yet disclosed the gunman’s identity or motive.

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Do Light Skinned Girls Perpetuate Colorism?

by Veronica Wells of NoSugarNoCream.com

Sisterhood is something many Black women strive for. But despite our best efforts, we all fall short from time to time. Sometimes we intentionally choose words we know will cut. Other times the disregard, disrespect is less sinister and due to years of consuming Eurocentric beauty standards, internalized racism, and seeking male validation.

Recently, I spoke with Dr. Sarah Webb about colorism and the way many of us subconsciously perpetuate it within the community and especially against dark skinned Black women.

You can check listen to or read our conversation below.

NoSugarNoCream: There are Black people who are really open to having the conversation about colorism. And then there are other Black people who don’t want to talk about it. It’s a source of shame. They want to pretend like it doesn’t happen. They feel like we need to keep that in house. So what influenced you to start speaking out about it?

Dr. Sarah Webb: The ultimate influence was my students when I was teaching high school from 2010 to 2012. I heard them making colorist statements. And that’s when I realized that it was still a thing, that it hadn’t just disappeared magically on its own after my generation. I was like, ;’Oh, really? Young ones are still perpetuating and still internalizing this?’

And then right around that time, too Dark Girls, the documentary, was coming out. I felt compelled to speak out because I saw how colorism still impacted my students. But then I also felt free enough to speak out because there was this national conversation happening because of the film.

NSNC: Did you have any personal experiences with colorism growing up?

Dr. Sarah Webb: I did. I’m pretty sure they started before I was even consciously aware of them. When I was five–I don’t remember the story but my mom remembers it.

She told me how we were visiting relatives and some extended aunts were talking about my lighter skinned sister and how she’s gonna break some hearts one day and we have to keep an eye out for her. She’s so cute. Just praising and going on and on about my sister. And my mom heard me say, ‘Well, that’s because she’s light skinned.’ And I was five.

I don’t consciously remember that experience, but it’s so illustrative of the fact that it was something I had been observing and feeling for a long time. In order to be able to articulate that at five, that says a lot about how much I had already seen.

[Experiences with colorism] started before I was even consciously aware of them.

More overt things growing up, in middle school, I had the typical bullies. Guys saying, ‘You’re too Black.’ ‘You’re still black.’ Girls too.

Fortunately, all of the negative experiences happened outside the home. My family environment was cool.

NSNC: I reached out to you because I saw the quote you shared about how light skinned women help perpetuate the system of colorism. And I was like, ‘Whoa!’ We have to talk about that.

You said in the statement that you believe that most Black men are colorist. What have you seen or experienced that made you feel comfortable saying that publicly?

Dr. Sarah Webb: I think the real answer, full transparency, is just the research. There are people who’ve done quantifiable research, like surveying Black men on college campuses.

I don’t know if you are familiar with the Harvard Implicit Bias test. They started out with a Black/White implicit bias test. But over the years, they have implicit bias tests based on age, all features of identity. And they have one for colorism and similar to every other category that they test for, the majority of American people period have a pro light bias regardless of their race,

There are various research studies on marriage statistics and how light skinned women were more than twice as likely to be married in their younger years. And I think that speaks to that statement being valid.

NSNC: When you say that light skinned women are complicit in colorism, what does that mean?

Dr. Sarah Webb: There are many light skinned women who don’t acknowledge their privilege. Which is a form of complicity. Ignoring the problem allows it to persist. But then there are also light skinned women who go so far as to relish in their privilege.

And because they know that a lot of dark skinned men would prefer lighter skinned women they go along with that, and they sort of play up the light skinned girl role. They’re competitive in the dating market or the marriage market and even their source of self confidence comes from knowing they’re more accepted throughout much of society.

With that, a lot of light skinned women perpetuate this narrative of the ugly Black girl.

Biracial women who are lighter skinned, for example will say, ‘It’s always the ugly Black B-i-t-c-h-e-s who…’ You know?

NSNC: Yup!

Dr. Sarah Webb: So even beyond them accepting advances from colorist men, they themselves often say hurtful things to Black girls of various shades.

There are also light skinned women who go so far as to relish in their privilege.

NSNC: Why is it that darker skinned men are not victimized by colorism in the same way that women are?

Dr. Sarah Webb: That’s a big one. It’s a very important aspect of understanding colorism.

I did a short series where I interviewed men about colorism. They all happened to be Black men but they were various shades of color. In that interview series, I brought up the Biggie Smalls lyric, “Black and ugly as ever, however I stay Coogied down…” Basically saying, society might deem me as ugly but I can still make money and get women.

I think that patriarchy and male privilege allowed men to move through society despite how they’re viewed in terms of their attractiveness. So they seek upward mobility as men who are perceived as unattractive because they have other things they can lean on like their success, like their talent, like their money, like their sexual prowess.

Because the marriage market, in a patriarchal society, always favors or privileges the male in terms of relationships. They’re positioned to be the ones who choose, regardless of what they look like physically.

NSNC: For the women who are actually interested in helping to begin to dismantle colorism or the colorist ideologies that we hold on to, what are some things that they can be actively doing in terms of dating?

Dr. Sarah Webb: I think it’s important to use your voice and speak up. If you are being approached by a man who exposes his internalized racism, if you want to be an ally and if you’re serious about dismantling colorism, you would move on. You would not accept their advances. I’m not gonna say you need to take the time to educate them or school them because they don’t deserve that emotional labor from you.

If you feel up to the challenge, you might say some educated comments about why we shouldn’t think that way. But also, violence against women is real. Sometimes the best thing to do is just walk away and not confront them on their bias because that could escalate.

And then if you’re in a relationship with someone and you realize that they have a colorist bias– obviously, I’m not going to tell you to end the relationship because that’s super, super personal. But I definitely think if it’s a healthy relationship where you feel you can express yourself, then bring up those conversations.

And for light skinned women, in particular, I always say that it shouldn’t be flattering to you for someone to fetishize your skin tone. The totality of your humanity, your beauty and your worth should not boil down to something as superficial as complexion, or hair texture or your eye color.

Any man putting those attributes on a pedestal has their own work to do in terms of loving you for your humanity, for all of who you are.

If you’re serious about dismantling colorism, you would move on.

NSNC: I wanted to ask you about featurism too. It goes beyond just the actual skin color. We have issues with traditionally African features being demonized as well. Light Skinned Girls Light Skinned Girls Light Skinned Girls Light Skinned Girls Light Skinned Girls Light Skinned Girls Light Skinned Girls Light Skinned Girls 

Dr. Sarah Webb: it’s definitely featurism. A lot of the research on colorism actually includes featurism. I remember one study in particular that always stood out to be about shooting simulations where it wasn’t just about the person’s skin tone. It was also their facial features and how Afrocentric the features were, the hair, the nose, the size of someone’s lips, if they were more quickly identified as Black, they were more likely in the simulation to be shot. And I’m sorry to be using a violent example.

But also for beauty standards though, aside from that kind of real world example, I think we see, in the industry nose jobs, people wanting to pinch babies’ noses with clothes pins. It happens across the diaspora too. The popularity of colored eye contacts, although I don’t see that as much these days, it was a thing for a while.

Even when I was teaching high school, some of the darker skinned Black boys, in particular, were really ashamed of their lips, having really big lips and they’d hold them in for pictures.

And then, you know, you could probably have a whole other interview just on the hair piece.

NSNC: You mentioned colorism really is internalized racism. And a lot of times you’ll hear people, men mostly, say things like it’s preference.

Dr. Sarah Webb: Oh yeah

NSNC: What do you say to that? Because that argument comes up quite a bit.

Dr. Sarah Webb: So there are so many different ways that people respond that are really good responses. My response is that yeah, absolutely. It is your preference, but our preferences– everyone’s preferences– are conditioned according to the society we live in. And we can have preferences that are racist preferences. We can have preferences that are sexist preferences, and we can certainly have preferences that are colorist.

I point to the fact that if you talk to someone who you would label as a racist. They would not perceive themselves as a racist. They would say, ‘I just prefer to work with other white people.’ They would say ‘I just prefer to have white neighbors.’

To the racist people, it feels like preference. They don’t see themselves as being terrible people. So it’s quite possible to be a colorist and perceive it as just a preference.

It shouldn’t be flattering to you for someone to fetishize your skin tone.

NSNC: Do you find or do you hear that people are less likely to to take the word of someone who is darker complected speaking about colorism versus someone who is lighter complected?

Dr. Sarah Webb: I’ve definitely seen that. Now, I can’t point to research studies on that–well, it depends on what you consider research. We know that research shows people assume lighter skinned people are more intelligent, that they are more competent, more trustworthy. They think, as a darker skinned person you’re probably not as well educated, for example. So in that regard, it’s possible that some of those biases might be influencing people’s perceptions of, ‘I’m definitely going to listen more. Pay attention, more for if a light skinned woman is speaking.’

It’s the bias that she has to inherently be more intelligent than the dark skinned women that we’re going to perceive as ghetto or uneducated just by virtue of her skin tone. But in terms of, the more specific context of speaking about colorism, I also have seen where people give more benefit of the doubt to lighter skinned women, particularly when lighter skinned women talk about being told they’re not Black enough.

A lot of people of all races, white people, other Black people seem to be very empathetic with that story line. Whereas dark skinned women talking about their experience of colorism, we’re often perceived as having ulterior motives. As possibly just being bitter or lashing out or trying to retaliate against light skinned women.

I have a lighter skinned sister who also does a lot of work on colorism and we presented at a few conferences together. And I kind of got that vibe in the room. Like a lot of questions directed to her or people misattributing something I said to her. So it’s a level of bias.

It’s quite possible to be a colorist and perceive it as just a preference

NSNC: What would you say to darker skinned women as they try to navigate this? I mean, how do you escape it? What do you do to heal yourself from this type of stuff? Because it’s coming from outside of the community, it’s inside of the community. It’s in the dating pool. It’s on television. What do you do to escape this?

Dr. Sarah Webb: I think it’s interesting the way that you phrased the question, to escape it, because in many ways it feels inescapable. Because, like you said, it’s so pervasive. One tangible thing that I do is I have cut back a lot on content. I mean, it’s such a blessing that we’re in a generation that has the ability to be selective of the TV shows we watch.

My mom, my grandparents having to just kind of settle for whatever was on cable or TV that night. But with Netflix, Hulu and YouTube series, we have the ability to pick and choose and curate the media that we consume, which is helpful. Although I would say it’s frustrating because when I am going through the streaming platforms and looking for TV shows or movies with like a dark skinned Black woman lead- not a dark skinned Black woman who is somewhere in the cast, who will appear at some point in the movie.

But where she is the lead, it’s difficult. It’s really scarce, even in 2020. But I think it’s a start. I just stopped watching TV shows. I might really be into it and then, something colorist will happen. And I’ll just stop watching it.

And for me, it protects me from being triggered. Because I know I don’t need to expose myself to that.

Another thing, in terms of an approach to life in general–not necessarily one specific action, but a mindset that I’ve come to adopt– is having to learn to be in a state of perpetual forgiveness.

Forgiveness is about you and not about the other person and they say that holding a grudge is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. So I kind of had this thought where I had to preemptively or proactively forgive society, forgive the culture for the colorism that it hasn’t even been perpetuated yet.

Because I know tomorrow, next year, maybe five years from now, there will still be colorism in the world. So I’m sending out my forgiveness ahead of time.

I don’t know if that makes sense to anybody, but I send out my forgiveness ahead of time so that I can be in a better place emotionally for myself. Those are two of the things that have really helped just in terms of my own coping. And, of course, speaking up, telling your story, finding those one or two people who get it, holding on to them for dear life, when you don’t have to prove that it’s a thing.

Having those kinds of conversations can be very, very triggering and taxing. When you find folks where they already come to the table knowing what colorism is, knowing why is the problem, those are the people you want to get closer to.

I’m sending out my forgiveness ahead of time.

NSNC: Is there anything that you would say to very young Black girls? Your strategy comes from a lot of maturity, a lot of spiritual growth, I’m assuming. And young Black girls don’t have that maturity yet but they’re still living with the triggers. They’re still living in this world. So what would you say for them?

Dr. Sarah Webb: The third thing about paying attention to who you have relationships with is key. So not sticking around the girls who are colorist, even if they’re dark skinned girls who say colorist things, right? Distance yourself from these people. I know it’s a tricky thing to end friendships. I’m not saying stop talking to people, but limit your time around colorist folks, be very, very protective of your inner circle.

And only let in people who affirm you and say positive things, only let in people who show you that they also love themselves. Don’t befriend bullies, even if they’re bullying somebody because they have a physical handicap or because of their size. Anyone who bullies for any reason is not the vibe tribe that you need.

If you’re of the age to be making decisions about friendships and the circles you run in, that’s important. I also think that for young adults, middle school age, there are a lot of books coming out that you can read at various reading levels with dark skinned Black girl characters where they’re explicitly talking about colorism. One of the most famous ones is The Skin I’m In by Sharon G. Flake. There’s a new one out called Genesis Begins Again by Alicia Williams.

And then another thing I’ll say for young people of any age, whether they be 6 or 16 is to find a creative outlet. I used to draw and write a lot, writing poetry in particular, having a journal drawing in it and writing poems about my anger, writing down my sadness, writing about my hurt.

You can also control your consumption to some degree.If you have access to YouTube as a young person listen to some Lauryn Hill. Listen to some India Arie music videos, Jamila Woods, “Holy,” which talks about self love. Even if you’re relatively young, you can still find music and role models.

Only let in people who show you that they also love themselves.

NSNC: Lastly, I saw you wrote something about the notion that ‘we’re all Black.’ I even have a product like this on my website and it features different skin tones and at the bottom it says All Black. But you raised a really good point about that being problematic if the conversation stops there.

Dr. Sarah Webb: Yes. The we’re All Black, I’ve often equated it to All Lives Matter. It’s technically true that all lives matter. In an ideal world, that would be the fact, we can accept it and move on. And the same with colorism. In an ideal world, we could just leave it at that. Look at all these beautiful colors, these beautiful hair textures, all these beautiful facial features.

But what that statement alone obscures, ignores, and in some cases outright denies is the fact that there’s social inequality. There’s economic inequality, legal inequality that is a direct result of colorism.

And not just the systemic inequality but the psychological trauma. You can say that all shades are beautiful but where’s the evidence of that on my tv screen? Where’s the evidence of that in my magazine?

That misrepresentation–because when dark skinned women have been featured, it’s been in a very unflattering light. If we’re featured at all, we have to just cross our fingers that it’s a decent portrayal of us.

Leaving it at all shades are beautiful, we have work to do in order for that to be manifested in our everyday reality.

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HOT HEAD – Thermal Hair Care

One of the Best Microwavable Deep Conditioning Cap

Hey hey!

Over the years, I’ve owned more microwavable deep conditioning caps than I can count.  I mostly use them for my henna treatments, but sometimes for actual deep conditioning treatments when I’m on my game (which is rarely).  But most of the caps I bought were filled with those little plastic, jelly beads or gel packs made of God knows what, that would burst or ooze after too many heatings.  I hadn’t used one in like 5 years when I was recently gifted one from Hot Head : Thermal Hair Care. It’s so nice, I had to get one for my mom! Here’s what the product insert says:

Whether you have 2B waves or 4C coils, the hot head mask helps prevent split ends, minimizes frizz, and protects brittle dry strands. Like a warm soothing hug for your head, the warming tool enhances conditioning by using heat to open the hair cuticle allowing you deeply moisturize dry strands. Simply pop the natural flaxseed cap in the microwave to warm it up, apply your favorite deep conditioner, hair masque, oil, or other hair treatment and then slip it on and let it get to work. Used weekly as a self-care ritual, this treatment nourishes the hair shaft from the inside out to hydrate hair – resulting in strong hair and beautiful bouncy curls, with less frizz and damage.

When I take it out of the microwave it feels like a soft, warm towel that I took out of the dryer! No stiff gel packs, no jelly beads… just like a toasty blanket for my head! It stays warm for about 15 minutes, and then I have to re-heat. I’ve used it twice for my henna treatments so I can’t review its performance and durability over time, but for right now, I’m impressed! deep conditioning deep conditioning deep conditioning deep conditioning 

Do you own a microwavable heat cap? Which one? What has been your experience? 

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2020 was the year of the great indoors. And, since we couldn't recreate fresh ocean breezes inside our apartments, many of us relied on houseplants to revitalize our spaces. Now, we’re back in the swing of spring and it’s time to give that air-purifying indoor pandemic garden a refresh.

“Plants improve the quality of air in a small space,” Joyce Mast, Bloomscape’s Plant Mom, tells Refinery29. “Houseplants not only increase oxygen, but they’re also natural air purifiers and can remove toxins (including volatile organic compounds such as formaldehyde, found in everyday materials like paint and plastics).” While fresh air is nice and being surrounded by plants makes many of us happy, their air-purifying abilities can actually make us feel better physically as well. “Removing these toxins can reduce symptoms caused by pollutants like allergies, headaches, fatigue, etc,” the expert explains. “Plants absorb gasses via the spores on their leaves, reducing airborne mold and leaving us with fresh oxygen!"

With allergy season upon us and with us still spending time indoors, it's an ideal time to stock up on some new air-cleaning plants. But which ones should we be buying? "Though it is true that all plants purify the air in some way or form, there are a few that do it better than others," plant curator Riley Gallagher says. Ahead, Gallagher and Mast share the air-purifying plants they recommend most.

Scroll on to find out which clean-air producing plants are right for you and your home. Once you've decided which ones to go for, Gallaher advises dusting the leaves with a damp towel about once a month or more, depending on how dusty your home gets. This will ensure carbon dioxide can go in and oxygen can come out. As the plant curator says, "A happy plant is the best breath of fresh air one can get during these quarantimes."

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Olivia Harrison, Khareem Sudlow