Hey bbs!
So we’re back with another issue of ASK AUNTIE ANYTHING, and firstly, I have to say thank you for the outpouring of questions. They are fantastic, and I am so glad people are feeling this new series! Ofc, with the deluge of conundrums, I was overwhelmed and thinking about how to answer them all. I landed on grouping them thematically. It helps me organize my thoughts and hopefully allows you, as the reader, to navigate the read. Each issue will then be dedicated to an idea we’ll try to work through together.
For this issue, I thought we’d start lighter with STYLE, BEAUTY, AND WELLNESS. It seemed like a lot of you had questions about what to buy, how to start collecting designer goods, what products I swear by, and my hair routine. Considering I’m what I like to call a *toxic shopper* I have plenty of insight to offer on it all. So let’s jump into it, shall we?
AUNTIE! WHO DOES YOUR BRAIDS AND WHAT SPECIFIC BRAND IS THE HAIR? +SYNTHETIC OR HUMAN?
So I actually switched up my braider recently. I had been consistently going to another artist for a few years now but found price and scheduling conflicts were keeping me from their chair, so I crowd-sourced and landed upon Slayed In Braids. I saw their work on a bunch of the fashion girlies' heads in the last few months, so I reached out to schedule an appointment. I, like most of New York, was obsessed with the bohemian goddess braids and wanted to try the trend out. I loved her touch and she was a doll to work with. The only thing I would strongly suggest is to buy human hair from Indique for the tendrils that are left out.
I usually go to them for all my wigs and weaves, but I picked up at a local beauty supply what was marketed as *human-grade hair* on the packaging and was sadly disappointed when I jumped into the ocean in the Caymans a few weeks later. My hair began to knot up immediately! I was horrified lol I literally had to cut some pieces out because, at that point, they dreaded. Once I got back to New York, I took a hair mask (shout out to Bread) to the strands and worked on detangling, which actually really helped. Now it’s perfectly worn in and I’m deciding on what to do next…
WHAT’S THE WORKOUT/DIETARY ROUTINE SIS?
I, like a lot of Black women, was so damn inspired by Lori Harvey’s abs last year that I immediately signed up for a Pilates class in my neighborhood. I hadn’t really been working out consistently and was going through my *Thick Rihanna* stage, which was both exciting and frustrating. I loved my new curves, but I wasn’t really thrilled by being in between sizes or losing a lot of the tone I had always had. My dieting was all out of wack, too, because I had truly become so used to eating whatever I wanted and still being really quite thin. That was no longer the case, and I found myself scrambling; Pilates came into my life at the right time.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Notes From Auntie's Desk to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.