Hello! I’m Afrobella and I’m obsessed with coconut oil. These are my confessions. I use it in my cooking. I use it on my skin. I use it in my hair. I use it to remove my makeup sometimes. And lately, I’ve been literally slathering myself with the stuff from head to toe, thanks to… read all

Lately Chicago has been setting us up for fall. Temperatures are yo-yoing between pleasant but waning warmth and you-know-it’s-coming cold snaps. The leaves are beginning to get that tell-tale yellow look. We know what’s up. We can feel it in the air. It’s time to switch up your wardrobe and your beauty regimen, and your… read all

When it’s so hot that the air is leaching the moisture from my hair, leaving my situation looking frizzy and crispy, I know it’s time to reach for external moisture reserves. My hair loves, needs, wants, craves and absorbs leave-in conditioner sprays in the summer! It can’t be just any old leave-in, either. It needs… read all

I started noticing a difference as soon as the temperatures started rising into the 80’s. My hair had been behaving so well up to that point, and then frizz started kicking in. I started noticing more tangles and loose single-strand knots. By the time I got back from Las Vegas where the desert heat got… read all

Beauty Brand History is a new regular series here on Afrobella. We all have the brands we’ve grown up using, the brands we’ve known our whole lives. Here are memories and the true stories behind the beauty brands we love. Think back to the first time you remember having your hair combed. What do you… read all

Oyin Handmade has established itself as one of the highest quality, most desirable, just all around cool independent hair and body care brands in the business. I’ve been hearing amazing things about Oyin since at least 2006 — did you know that the brand began 13 years ago? Yep,  it’s been over a decade since… read all

When it comes to natural hair, we create our own rules. Gone are the days where we accepted the mainstream standards of haircare. One size does not fit all when it comes to how we wash, condition, detangle, style or rock our hair. We have become a movement that is self-taught, self empowered, highly capable… read all

Some showers are about pure function and speed – you gotta go somewhere and you gotta be clean. Other showers are more about an emotional experience, a nurturing that you need in your soul. I needed that kind of shower today. I created a whole shower experience to deliver the kind of soul soothing I… read all

As any Child of the 80’s can attest, Annie, the 1982 film starring Albert Finney as “Daddy” Warbucks, Carol Burnett as Miss Hannigan, and Aileen Quinn as the irrepressible orphan title character herself, was a seminal film of our youth. Annie is one of those movies so hard wired into pop culture history that even if… read all

When I was backstage at The Queen Latifah Show last month, I had no idea what to expect. I came to visit my friend Sam Fine, that’s it and that’s all. When I was back there I found out that one of my favorite new celebrities was going to be on the show. Lupita Nyong’o… read all