Month: October 2020

YSL Beauty

LIBRE EAU DE PARFUM

Yves Saint Laurent
yslbeautyus.com

$30.00

Freedom is a means of expression, and YSL Beauty knows there’s no better way to express ourselves than through beauty and art. One year after the launch of Libre Eau de Parfum, the brand is celebrating with a special collaboration featuring four influential artists.

For the project, YSL Beauty enlisted singer and artist Mashonda Tifrere, who founded the advocacy platform ArtLeadHER in 2016 to empower female creators in the male-dominated art world. Tifrere selected three rising Black artists, Amani Lewis, Melissa Kolby, and Uzo Njoku, to reimagine the Libre Eau de Parfum with a commissioned artwork series.

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Based in Baltimore, Amani Lewis captures their city and its inhabitants. “[Lewis] has one goal for their works: to reimagine the mechanisms used by media, to deepen their subjects’ perspectives of themselves, their power, and the relationship to their surroundings,” a press release stated.

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Working out of Tampa, Melissa Koby addresses social justice and racism in her artwork.”[Koby’s] ability to create art is her way of expressing when there are no words to express,” the release adds.

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Lastly, Nigerian artist Uzo Njoku, known on Instagram as “UzoArt,” creates contemporary African art with Black women as its center. Njoku finds inspiration by viewing the world “through the lens of her culture.”

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All three artists embody the spirit of Libre Eau de Parfum, which is rooted in freedom and individuality. “Libre is an important pillar for the brand, but moreover, it’s a representation of freedom,” says Ali Ivanoff, YSL Beauty’s Director of Social Media Strategy. “These four women openly and authentically share their individual messages of freedom and gender expression through their art. We hope that this empowers women from varying communities to see themselves through this collaboration, while highlighting the need for equality of women in the arts.”

YSL Beauty

Featuring notes of orange blossom, lavender essence, and musk accord, Libre Eau de Parfum is undefinable, working the balance between masculine and feminine. The commissioned artwork will be showcased on YSL Beauty’s website and social media platforms, and featured in a perfume mailer to YSL Beauty loyalty customers.

With each purchase of Libre Eau de Parfum, consumers will be able to donate to the artists, as well as redirected to the ArtLeadHER website for more ways to support the BIPOC artist community.

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I often joke that this year, I work in a field called called “gynechiatry”—a mix of gynecology and psychiatry. It’s normal for patients to share intimate, often anxiety-provoking parts of their lives with their OB-GYNs, including details they don’t even tell their closest friends and family members.

Yet I’ve never had as many patients cry to me in routine visits as I have these past eight months. The confluence of COVID-19, the Black Lives Matter movement, and one of the worst fire seasons on the West Coast has had an immeasurable toll on our mental, emotional, and physical health, and the exam room is a safe space to release.

As painful and unfair as 2020 has been for so many of us, it’s also forced an inflection point where we’re reexamining the systems that make the U.S. especially vulnerable.

What doctors and patients are dealing with

When COVID-19 cases first surged, healthcare providers came to work and accepted the potential risks without understanding their full implications. We showed up for our patients despite our own fears because there was no alternative, and it’s what we’re trained to do: take care of people, no matter the circumstances.

In those early days, I was using one N95 mask that I had fortunately stored in my office desk the year prior. I was asked to make it last for the foreseeable future. I left my house every day, kissing my kids goodbye (while also struggling to find childcare, like so many millions of parents all over the country), worked all day in the clinic and hospital, and then, once home, started the intricate routine of decontaminating myself in the garage, hoping not to have brought something home that could kill me or my family.

At first, we didn’t know anything about COVID-19 and pregnancy, other than pregnant people were considered immunocompromised and needed to be protected. When a mother-to-be looked at me with heightened anxiety, pushing for answers, it was stressful to not have them. What information we did have came out of tiny observational studies from China and New York, where not nearly enough data was available to analyze. With this rapidly spreading and deadly virus, the go-to response quickly became, “We just aren’t sure yet,” which is always unsettling to hear.

As if COVID-19 wasn’t enough, almost all of my Black patients (and especially those planning for sons) expressed a palpable fear about bringing children into this world. What does it mean to celebrate the joy of your baby boy and simultaneously know that he too could one day be calling out your name under the weight of a police officer’s knee? I am not Black, and there is no way I could come close to giving adequate weight or words to this issue, and knowing that, I continue trying to educate myself and advocate for equity in patient care every single day. It’s my role as my patients’ doctor to rise up to this need, plain and simple.

In this unique storm of stressors, no one medical specialty is working alone—this is a team sport. Psychiatrists are inundated with patients and OB-GYNs are helping to bridge the gap by providing more temporizing mental healthcare than ever before. Given our role as combined specialist/primary care providers, and our training in prescribing medications for issues like perinatal depression, we’re often the ones patients first go to when they need psychiatric prescriptions, especially if they don’t have a primary care provider or mental health specialist. While OB-GYNs will never take the place of our much-needed psychiatry colleagues, we can be a stepping stone to that specialized care and help shine light on the dire need for improved access to mental healthcare in this country.

The other elephant in the room

With Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s passing and the confirmation of Judge Amy Coney Barrett as her replacement, the very existence of the Affordable Care Act is under fire. My patients know this, and they’re scared. This law has drastically increased the number of U.S. women who can obtain and keep health insurance and absolutely improves the quality of care for millions of Americans. It was only about 10 years ago that pregnancy was a “pre-existing condition” that precluded people from getting health insurance.

Due to rapidly evolving health policies and changes in the Supreme Court, there’s a very real possibility that many women’s health services—like breastfeeding support and counseling, contraception, prenatal vitamins, screening for sexually transmitted infections, breast cancer and cervical cancer screening—will no longer be covered as they are now.

A patient recently asked me to change out her IUD several months earlier than planned because she was nervous that once it was actually due for replacement, she would not be able to afford the $800-$1,000 that it could (and very recently did) cost to insert. She is not alone in her concern. There are millions of Americans for whom essential hormonal treatment like this would not be economically possible.

The future of women’s healthcare as we know it

2020 has been a nightmare stress test with hit after hit, but I do see some opportunity. I see patients better equipped to advocate for their care—many of them have no choice. I see the healthcare system and patients alike rapidly adjusting to virtual care and telehealth as opportunities for increased access. This gives me hope that we’ll be able to build more infrastructure and more solutions in the years to come. And I see an abundance of high-quality healthcare products that are making access to care easier than ever before. Through my work as a medical advisor at Modern Fertility to increased employer support for family planning and Walmart’s recent investment in women’s healthcare—there is positive change happening despite the cluster that is 2020.

As I tell my patients with a smirk when they ask how I’m doing, “I’m 2020-good,” but more than that, I have faith that we’re on the right track to the radical changes we’ve all been waiting for. Because we’ve reached a tipping point, and the only way forward is up.

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Jessica Alba has lived at least three different lives: Teen TV star turned blockbuster action heroine; modern domestic goddess and mom of three; and clean beauty pioneer. The founder of Honest Beauty, the clean beauty brand now available in Canada exclusively at Shoppers Drug Mart—is using these Unprecedented COVID Times to focus on the nucleus of her life that matters to her most: her family. Here, Alba shares her top quarantine skincare products, how she’s mastering TikTok dances with her daughters and why she’s urging her fellow Americans to vote on November 3.

Relatable: Jessica Alba had to hit reset on wellness this fall after “like four months of nonstop treats”

Alba tells me that after a summer of road trips with the family and endless “fun breakfasts,” she’s refocusing on her and her brood’s health. “I definitely put my health and wellness on the back burner and I just got into this mode of like ‘is it summer? Is it vacation? I don’t know,’” she tells me. “It was sort of a way to combat the monotony [of quarantine]. And then school was starting and I felt like getting into that routine was such a battle that I didn’t really take the health and wellness side into account the way that I should have. And now, I’m like, You know what? I’m ready to create those new, good, healthy habits. We’ve only got this one life and who knows how long we get to be here? I’m going to make the most of it.”

Honest Beauty 3-in-1 Detox Mud Mask, $29.99, shoppersdrugmart.ca

Yes, Jessica Alba gets maskne, too

“2020,” Alba tells me with a laugh and an “of course I do” when I ask if she’s had to deal with another hallmark of this pandemic year: maskne. She says for her, the key to fighting face mask-related breakouts is with masking. “What’s nice about our Honest Beauty Detox Mud Mask is that it pulls out all the things you want with the activated charcoal and white bentonite but it also has shea butter and Manuka honey that keep you hydrated. I find there’s so much overkill with products that dry your skin out and don’t think about the nourishing aspect. So when I was formulating the mask with the team, my big ask was making sure it didn’t overly dry the skin.” She calls the deep cleansing mask a fan favourite.

Alba uses the purifying mask on the obvious areas affected by non-medical face mask wearing like the chin and jawline but says it does a great job on regular old breakouts as well. (Yes, she gets those, too.) “I also use it on my forehead. I have this really amazing spot, right between my eyebrows on my forehead, that really loves to break out,” she shares with a laugh.

Read this next: How to Deal with “Maskne”

The family that does their skincare together together, stays together

On the topic of face masks, Alba shares that doing a regular home facial has become a bit of a family affair. “I usually do a cleansing facial with Honor (12) and Haven (9). Haven doesn’t really need it, but she feels left out, and even my husband Cash [joins us] and we all use the Detox Mask.” 

The fam gets in on mom’s cleansing routine, too. “I use the Gentle Gel Cleanser, which doesn’t overly dry the skin. It’s great for everyone—Honor uses it, I use it, Cash uses it. Haven even uses it,” the clean beauty entrepreneur says with a laugh.

Honest Beauty Beauty Facial Oil, $49.99, shoppersdrugmart.ca

Face oil is the GOAT

Alba typically follows a three-step skincare routine consisting of her brand’s gel cleanser, vitamin C serum and Hydrogel Cream. She layers on an indulgent facial oil, like Honest Beauty’s Beauty Facial Oil with avocado oil, apricot kernel, rose, ylang ylang and clove oils, for added hydrating when the California weather transitions from summer to “fall.” 

“For the fall in particular when it’s more windy—that’s kind of the difference between summer and fall [here], it goes from like 100 to 75 and then it’s more windy—I’ll incorporate our organic facial oil,” she told me with a chuckle, noting that those weather conditions are likely very different from Canada’s fall where we “actually get a real season.” We sure do *grimaces at the prospect of patio season ending.* She adds of her autumn skincare regimen: “I’ll give myself a quick little massage on the face and then I use the Hydrogel Cream which I leave on in a layer on my face, almost like icing on a cake, at night and it slowly penetrates as I’m sleeping.” 

Read this next: How to Use Facial Oils

She’s relishing this time at home

“[Quarantine] has really allowed me to spend quality time with my son. I remember I was back to work with Honor and Haven pretty full-time by the time they were three, four months old. And I didn’t get to really spend the toddler time with them,” she tells me of the silver lining of lockdown: time with her youngest, Hayes, who was born in 2017. “I’m not in the office every day, my husband’s not at his office every day, I’m usually on a plane travelling when I’m not shooting as well. So just being able to hunker down with the kids and be with them so much, especially Hayes, because he’s at the tail end of his baby stage, getting into this little boy phase—it’s just so special.” 

Alba says that being together 24/7, through all of life’s daily mundanities, has allowed the family of five to get to know each other even better—for better or for worse. “We’ve all gone through phases of being sick of each other, and it being too much, and then we went through phases of watching movies until midnight every night, and just learned so much about each other.” 

Alba, like most of us, says she’s a bad dancer

If you follow the mom of three on social media, you’ve likely seen her nailing TikTok dances with her daughters, something she started doing with them while filming the show L.A.’s Finest. “I would shoot for six months and the hours were so long that I just didn’t get the time to spend with the kids. I was seeing they were really into TikTok and so I wanted to do something that was out of my comfort zone, that I’m not good at, and they were going to teach me,” she says. “I thought it would build their confidence, so that they can be in charge and be the one to show me what to do. And it did. They’re so confident. They had to learn how to be patient with me because I’m not a quick learner.” We’ve seen Honey so we’re betting those moves came back quickly. 

Read this next: PSA: You’re Probably Overusing These Skincare Ingredients

Honest Beauty Extreme Length Mascara + Primer, $22.99, shoppersdrumart.ca

PSA: Honest Beauty Mascara is *honestly* amazing

“I love big, fat, fluffy lashes—I have pretty decent full lashes, but I want them to be even bigger,” she told me and honestly, absolutely same. But it wasn’t easy to develop a clean formula that met Alba’s standards. “It was really difficult to create a clean-formula mascara that gave me the volume and the length that I wanted,” Alba says. “When you’re formulating clean, you can’t just take a formula right off the shelf,” she explains. But develop a wildly effective formula, she did; a two-in-one wand that has both a lash primer and clean mascara that’s gentle on sensitive eyes. I, Jennifer Berry, Known Mascara Fanatic, decided upon first application this this mascara was truly one of the best I’d ever tried. After two months of use, it’s now a staple in my makeup bag. 

And Alba’s got a very good application tip to share: “The trick is to have the primer dry for 30 seconds before you apply the mascara. It’s basically hair extensions but for your lashes.” 

But Alba’s best tip? Get engaged in politics

You know that little U.S. presidential election happening November 3? Alba feels pretty strongly about the power of voting. “I’m cynical. I’m jaded. But the only thing you can do to even have a chance at having a seat at the table or to create change is to vote,” Alba tells me. “That’s the power that we have. You can complain about things and you can take a stand if you’re actually doing something about it. The only way that you’re going to change the course of your life and your future is by taking action, not by being passive.”

Alba says that while she’s verging on cynical, it’s not “in a way that’s doomsday.” She just considers herself realistic about the facts. “And still, I have hope that if we can, in some way, shape or form, get it together and vote, then we’ll be able to live at least in a version of the world that feels closer to our values, versus what’s happening right now.” 

The to-do list? Long. Organization game? Strong. But, Queen Naija gets things done. On today’s Waking Up With, the “Medicine” singer takes us through her jam-packed morning. It starts with daily devotionals and a quick skincare routine. Her product lineup comes from Black-owned businesses including Ancient Cosmetics, The Glow Collection, and Fenty Beauty. From there, she’s getting her kids ready for breakfast and prepping her vocals for an upcoming album release. “The life of trying to be a singer, a mom, a teacher, all of that at the same time? Trust me, it’s not easy,” she says, “But we get it done.”

Pre-save her upcoming album MissUnderstood

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October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and ELLE Editor-in-Chief Nina Garcia has partnered with AiRS (Alliance in Reconstructive Surgery) Foundation to speak about her own experience. Garcia, who underwent a preventative double mastectomy last year, serves as an ambassador for the non-profit. Founded by Janet Denlinger, Morgan Hare, and Dr. Rod Rohrich, the organization financially supports women who have had mastectomies in getting breast reconstruction. AiRS also offers education, resources, and grants for patients as they weigh their surgical options.

“I was drawn into supporting the Alliance in Reconstructive Surgery Foundation because of my own experience,” Garcia says in an interview for the organization. “In 2015, I discovered that I had a gene mutation that put me at high risk for breast cancer. After years of closely monitoring my condition under the care of excellent doctors, I made one of the most important decisions I’ve ever had to make—to undergo a preventative double mastectomy. I decided to have reconstructive surgery on the same day.” A difficult recovery process was made bearable by dedicated doctors and Garcia’s support system, she explains. “Unfortunately, not every woman has the same access that I did. Hopefully, with the help of the AiRS Foundation, this can begin to change.”

Garcia disclosed her BRCA gene mutation diagnosis and decision to undergo surgery in an ELLE essay shortly before the operation. She wrote about how finding an “incredible community of strong women” who also had mastectomies helped her feel confident about the process. “For the first time in years, a dark cloud lifted, and I felt a sense of relief and clarity about my choice,” Garcia continued, a feeling which inspired the telling of her own story. “So when I went into that operating room I felt, ‘I can do this,'” she says in the AiRS video.

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Breast reconstruction played a large role in Garcia’s healing process and is healthcare all women should have access to, she explains. “The AiRS Foundation’s mission speaks to me as an immigrant from Colombia, knowing all too well there are so many women in Colombia and around the world who have no access to mammograms and they’re unnecessarily dying from breast cancer,” she says. AiRS is one of the non-profits working to close the gap and has “done an amazing job educating (women) on surgical options, assisting them with understanding health insurance—what kind of coverage they have or not, and ultimately assisting them with the cost of reconstructive surgery,” Garcia says.

In a month dedicated to educating women about breast cancer and searching for a cure, Garcia says she’s grateful for her own experience: “I know how important options are when it comes to breast cancer, the BRCA gene, and undergoing surgery because I had those options.”

Read more about breast cancer risk and prevention here.

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Black hair is complex. It’s tied to our identity and our history, and is often the first thing that’s noticed, admired, and judged about us. For Black women battling cancer, losing their hair can take on more layers than our white counterparts. And for Dianne Austin, a cancer survivor and women of color, the process of losing her hair and not finding a wig that matched her 3b to 4c coily texture added yet another layer of difficulty.

“When I went to the hospital, I was being treated at to get a wig, I realized they didn’t have any coily or curly wig styles,” she tells ELLE.com. “I went to some other major hospitals in the Boston area and found that those hospitals and boutiques didn’t carry wigs that looked like my hair at all. It was all just straight wigs or wavy wigs.”

Instead of getting frustrated or settling for a straight wig, Austin went to work. Alongside natural hair blogger Pamela Shaddock, the duo started Coils To Locs, a medical wig resource for women of color looking for our hair patterns represented—kinky, coily, braided, and locs.

Below, Austin opens up about how the business came about, the healthcare disparities for women of color, and how the wig is more than just a wig for cancer patients.

What inspired you to come up with Coils To Locs?

The business is actually based on my experience as a cancer patient. I’m a breast cancer survivor in remission. During the process of learning that I was diagnosed with cancer in 2015, I learned that I would be losing all of my hair and be given a wig subscription. My oncologist told me that I could go to any cancer center boutique with my wig prescription and get a wig. My health insurance would cover the cost of wig prescriptions.

When I went to the hospital I was being treated at to get a wig, I realized they didn’t have any coily or curly wig styles. I went to some other major hospitals in the Boston area and found that those hospitals and boutiques didn’t carry wigs that looked like my hair at all. It was all just straight wigs or wavy wigs.

The hospital store told me that I could buy a straight wig and have it taken to a medical salon for styling. For me, this was very frustrating because I remember thinking, “Ok, so I paid for a wig that doesn’t look like my hair and then take it and have to spend more money out of my pocket to kink up the wig?” That just didn’t make sense to me. That’s when the light bulb went off in my head that this isn’t right.

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Do you see the lack of wigs for women of color as a healthcare disparity?

It’s a healthcare disparity for a number of reasons. One, if you are fortunate enough, as I am, to have really good health insurance that covers the cost of these medical wigs and then to not be able to use your wig, just because these hospitals are not meeting your needs as a patient—that’s a disparity. You have a population of patients who cannot get products that you are technically making available for all patients. I was denied the opportunity to use my health insurance.

I think you touched on something common with Black individuals navigating the healthcare industry. There is care available, but we can’t benefit from the care in the same way. Were other women having that same problem?

It was during that idea stage when we started doing the market validation piece that we came across other women who validated that problem. We had conversations and we kept hearing that this is a problem. They recognized it as a problem. Physicians did, nurses in the oncology space, and those who are on the administrative side who were helping to find resources for women all agreed. And then the cancer center retailers themselves.

There was a lack of understanding that one size doesn’t fit all, that not every woman wants a wig with straight hair. And quite frankly, not every woman wants to wear a wig when they lose their hair. But for those women who do want to wear a wig, they should have options.

Also, with the shift of black women going natural, we know that this shift has been happening.

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As a Black women, I know that there are a multitude of things that we’d like to do with our natural hair. How did you decide on the styles of Black hair you feature?

We really are trying to stay on top of the trends in a number of ways. We ask for opinions around the styles and feedback from clients. And then we just watch what’s going on in the social media sphere. We’re constantly watching videos and on Pinterest and all the places where there is a really strong natural hair care movement to see what the trends are right now.

We’re still trying to find a really quality rated wig that doesn’t require glue. We have a few samples and we’re testing them right now. We do have some braided wigs that we could roll out that we’re still working on, but we do have a couple of loc styles that we want to roll out soon.

One of the messages on your site says, “We are more than just wig.” What inspired that thinking?

We want people to understand that a wig isn’t a vanity purchase for many women. Losing your hair for medical reasons or for any reason affects people. You have traction alopecia or whatever it is, which can be very traumatic, and a wig allows you to maintain your sense of dignity, your sense of self when you’re going through a very difficult process like chemotherapy. It allows you to look in the mirror and have a feeling of control over your life, because the disease and the treatment takes away so much from you. It’s so debilitating to go through chemo. It’s so archaic to me.

I often say to people, I’m hoping 25 years from now, people will look back and say, that process is so barbaric. Putting chemicals in and killing all the cells, good cells and bad cells, in order to save someone’s life. But when you go through that process, there were times when I couldn’t walk two feet without having to sit down. In one case, I laid down on the floor because I just couldn’t take another step.

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I mentioned all the hair loss—you lose your lashes, your brows—but your nails can also blacken and fall off. In my case, not all the nails. But when I say blacken, I mean black nails. The soles of hands and feet turn really, really dark, like gray. My skin started graying, it doesn’t look like it does now. There’s so many things happening with this chemotherapy process. And to be able to have some control over the way you look and maintain your dignity and sense of self is what makes these wigs more than just a wig. It’s not just because someone wants to cover up their bald scalp. It’s not important. And so this brings me to the investor process, where I’ve been at many networking events and I’ve done pitches and things like that where people have actually said, “Well, it’s just a wig, what’s the big deal?” or “Can’t they just go and get a wig somewhere?” No.

How can we support the brand?

We recently partnered with a hospital, Memorial Hermann in Texas, that purchased wigs for donation. The hospital purchased the wigs at a wholesale cost and donated them. The same is true with a medical salon that we partnered with earlier. We’ve also been trying to get into a conversation with the American Cancer Society for quite a while. We’ve had some difficulty in making connections. To be quite honest, I’m hoping that interviews like this may help open those doors.

In regards to giveback, one of the things that Pamela and I have talked about is, it’s really hard oftentimes if you’re going through cancer and going through treatments to meet life’s other demands. You may need help with transportation. You may need help with daycare. You may need food delivered. We are wondering if there are ways that we can give back when we get to the point where we’re able to do that, which quite frankly, we’re hoping it will be in the next 12 months because that’s important.

What do you think is next for Coils To Locs?

We want to control the production of wigs as opposed to sourcing overseas, which is what we’re doing now. We want to bring jobs to the U.S. We want to control the manufacturing because women, Black women in particular, we are spending billions of dollars in the Black hair care industry, but we don’t own most of the businesses that are making these billions of dollars and we want to change that dynamic. We would love to be able to explore. For example, technology. Are there wigs that are currently made by hand with a sewing machine?

We also want to produce Black mannequin heads because the mannequin heads that exist now have Caucasian features and are painted brown. We would also like to do some research around creating wigs for children and men, because there’s a definite gap in that market as well. And the other important thing that we love to be able to do in the next 12 months is add augmented reality to our websites so that people can try the wigs on virtually. Those are all on our list of things that we really want to accomplish.

Courtesy

This interview was edited for clarity and length.

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