** We spoke to Bryiel, a Baltimore-based stylist and braiding expert all about stitch braid styles she’s created. Read on to get some stitch braids inspiration and learn how to care for your scalp while wearing this protective style. 1. Heart Stitch Braids Have some fun with your style and ask your stylist to add a design to your protective hairstyle. This look includes a small heart-shaped design on the side and then extends into loose braids the rest of the way down....

Talking Locs & Loose Natural Hair with Afika James Talking Locs & Loose Natural Hair with Afika James All Things Hair: How long did you wear your locs and what inspired you to remove them? Afika James: I started my locs on my birthday 7 years ago. Truthfully, when people ask why I took them out, I would say ” because I wanted to.” However, I think deeply rooted in me is this thing: Whenever I’m going through changes in my life, I try to showcase an outward manifestation of those changes....

Red Hair Dye for Your Skin Tone Red Hair Dye for Your Skin Tone Red hair colors are usually classified two ways. Either warm with orange undertones or cool with violet undertones. An easy way to figure out your skin tone is by taking the old-fashioned vein test. Simply look at the inner part of your wrist and identify the color of your veins. What color do you see? If you have greenish looking veins, you’re warm....

As human beings, we are all affected by emotions. Most of us love to feel good and hate to feel bad. We want to be liked and accepted and despise or fear being disliked or discounted. There’s a beautiful saying that people will always remember how you made them feel. Human beings are feeling beings, and it may often appear that your emotions are affected first before your thoughts. You can walk into a room and get a feel of a person or situation before you start thinking and assessing the situation to determine whether you feel comfortable or not....

She shared that ”Blackberries used to be something we consumed, not something that consumed us.” At the time, I remember being stopped by this notion of consumption. I certainly had many days and weeks of feeling over-busy, over-scheduled, etc. But, had it reached a point of feeling or being consumed? Of losing completely who I am, what my dreams are, what is important to me? I sat with that for quite some time back then and when I was being completely honest with myself, I had to say that the answer was “yes....