Beauty with Mi, hosted by Refinery29's beauty writer Mi-Anne Chan, explores the coolest new trends, treatments, products, and subcultures in the beauty world. Follow along on her wild beauty adventures here.

Last year, I had the pleasure of interviewing Alice Longyu Gao, a NYC-based creative producer who has made rainbow hair and makeup her signature. Gao said a lot of inspiring things during our hours-long chat, but her approach to hair is what stood out. "I've had purple hair with pink and blue highlights, bright blue mixed with red and fuchsia shades, and pumpkin-orange hair, too," she said nonchalantly. And then she added: "If my hair gets unhealthy, I'll just shave it all off."

I was taken aback by Gao's candor: The thought of shaving off all my hair because I'd dyed it to oblivion sounded like something I would definitely regret, but she was dead serious. It was this mantra that finally encouraged me to make a change. See, I've been thinking about dying my hair for over a year now and, despite encouragement, I've always made excuses when it came time to pull the trigger on a new 'do. This month, however, I finally bit the bullet and booked an appointment with colorist Madison Garrett at Spoke & Weal salon to dye my full head of virgin hair. What's more, I decided on one of the most daring shades around: pink!

Check out the entire process in the video above, then keep scrolling to read a few things to keep in mind if you're planning on going under the bleach bowl, too.

1. Do Your Homework
No matter what sort of dye job you're looking for, it's best practice to do your homework first. Before you even think about booking a session, find a colorist you think will be able to bring your hair dreams to life. Scour the internet, read reviews on Yelp, ask friends and colleagues, and scroll through Instagram to check out a prospective colorist's work.

Once you've landed on one, book a consultation so that you and your colorist are both on the same page. This should only take a few minutes and should be free of charge. This is particularly important if you're going in for a double process like I did, which involves lightening your hair more than two shades.

Once you've booked a consultation, make sure you come with plenty of reference images. Tell your colorist what you like and dislike about each image. And remember, this is your hair so don't be afraid to ask questions. This is also when your colorist will give you some pre-appointment tips, like masking for better hair health and not washing for a few days before so the oil from your scalp can help protect your skin.

2. Know What To Expect
According to Garrett, the one thing she makes sure to let her clients know is that a double process will take time — especially if you have very dark hair like mine. Don't expect to be in an out of a salon in a couple of hours. My entire dye job took six hours — which is short — and even then Garrett explained that we were lucky that my hair happened to lift easily with bleach. According to Garrett, everyone's hair bleaches differently (as a rule, virgin hair is easier to bleach whereas previously-dyed hair can be more difficult), so expect to spend a good chunk of your day (or even a couple of days) in the salon.

One more thing: Your hair texture will likely change a bit after being bleached. "If you have straight hair, you can expect more texture, but if you have curly hair, your curl might soften a bit," says Garrett. Since your hair will be drier after bleaching, most people find they can go more days between washes. That's because your hair will soak up a lot of the oil produced by your scalp, Garrett adds.

3. Take Some Time To Adjust
You might love your hair as soon as you walk out of the salon, but don't freak if you don't. Garrett says most clients take three to four days to fully adjust to the shock of their new 'do. "You'll look in the mirror and you might not even recognize yourself," Garrett warns. After a few days, if you're still not happy with the color, don't hesitate to reach out to your colorist for an extra round of gloss to soften, lighten, or darken things up.

4. Maintain Your 'Do
Having what Garrett calls "fashion hair" — that is, creative colors like pink, blue, or red — isn't easy. It requires a lot of upkeep and monthly touchups. With every wash and dry, your color will fade, so Garrett suggests investing in a dry shampoo (Klorane's non-aerosol dry shampoo is a new favorite of mine) to keep your hair looking fresh between washes. When it's time to wash your hair, reach for color-safe shampoos like Ouai's Repair Shampoo and Conditioner. You can even purchase colored treatments like Uberliss' Bond Sustainers that you can mix together and apply to wet or dry hair to revive your color.

It's been two and a half weeks since I went pink and I can honestly say it's the best hair decision I've made to date. Sure, I may not stick with it for the rest of my life, but I'll look back on this time with the assurance that I took a risk and, in my opinion, it totally paid off.

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You know Ashley Graham. She's a supermodel, change-maker, and body activist. But a sample size she is not — and this is a good thing. Even before her historic Sports Illustrated cover in 2016, she had been loudly advocating for curvy women to be included in fashion. Now, with her monumental contract with Revlon, she's bringing the same movement to the beauty industry.

The news marks the first time a "plus-sized" model has landed a major beauty contract. It sounds odd — outlandish, even — that in 2018, during an era of women's empowerment, that this is the case. (Especially given the statistics that, among the 67% of U.S. women who wear a size 14 or above, only 2% of these images are shown in mainstream media.) But Graham says it perfectly: "Lipstick has no size. Beauty is beyond size. So there is no reason why we shouldn't see all different shapes and sizes in major campaigns."

This shift toward greater representation in beauty ads and product lines is of the upmost importance — not just for the current generation, but also for the generations to come. And yet, the conversation about size has been a long time coming. "Traditionally, curvy models have been overlooked for beauty campaigns because society equated beauty with thinness," Graham tells us. "I used to have Cindy Crawford's Revlon campaigns taped to my wall as a teenager, and I remember thinking, Wow — she is gorgeous! But also, Where is the model who looks like me?"

Revlon is just one brand lately that's bringing authenticity and relatability to the forefront, inspiring people to embrace their truest selves — no matter what that looks like. Campaigns from Aerie, Glossier, and CVS, which recently announced its new no-Photoshop guidelines, are pushing the same message.

For the sake of consumers, the movement is critical: "In many cases, no one on the planet actually looks like the model in an advertisement," says clinical psychotherapist Matthew Traube, MFT. "Even when the reader is aware of that, there is still a negative influence of this unattainable physical perfection." And that, Graham adds, is what makes Revlon's campaign so important.

"I hope this changes the status quo, and encourages more brands to equally represent everyone," she says. "Remember that perfection does not exist. Use your voice to tell these brands what you want to see. The more vocal we are, the more change there will be."

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Alessia Cara was the only woman to win a major award during the televised show at the 60th annual Grammy awards. The only one. The show made it astoundingly clear to nearly 20 million viewers just how big of an inequality problem the Grammys and the music industry have when it comes to women. The disparity came as no surprise, of course, particularly after a recent study by USC Annenberg's Dr. Stacy Smith revealed some shocking statistics, like the fact that 90% of Grammy nominees over the past five years have been male.

But even more dismal was the lack of recognition for female artists of color. After last year's backlash when Beyoncé's Lemonade lost Album of the Year to Adele's 25 (which Adele herself was shocked over) and the awards show's snubs of Rihanna's Anti, music fans and insiders alike hoped that this would be the year minority women finally got some long-awaited celebration of their contributions to popular music. (After all, a Black woman has not won the Album of the Year award since Lauryn Hill in 1999.)

Instead of being a celebratory night for women of color in music, however, the Grammy's were, in fact, the complete opposite.

While articles and press releases were quick to point out how diverse the nominees list was this year because no white men were nominated for categories like Album and Record of the Year, there were few women nominated — and no women of color in any of the major categories. Not one. The only woman of color to accept an actual award on stage was Rihanna when she joined Kendrick Lamar to take home the "Best Rap/Sung Rap Performance" for her feature on his track.

And yet, the conversation following the Grammy awards has been largely focused on the music industry's gender inequality problem, instead of its diversity problem. It seems the entertainment industry and media news cycles are only capable of addressing one problematic issue at a time. When thinkpieces and social media hone in on importance of the #MeToo and Time's Up movements, the conversations surrounding diversity often get lost. Last night, for instance, Twitter delivered the new trending hashtag #GrammysSoMale. But now that gender inequality is finally at the top of everyone's minds, it feels like diversity inequality has taken a back seat.

Why can't we talk about both?

The few women of color who were nominated this year didn't receive any support from the Recording Academy. SZA, 2017's biggest breakout music star, was undeniably snubbed. She was the most nominated woman at the awards show with five nods, yet she was shut out entirely, most shockingly losing the Best New Artist category to Alessia Cara. Now, there's no arguing Cara was incredibly deserving of the award; her music and message have made major waves over the past few years, and she's always a champion for women. In fact, last night on the red carpet she passionately told Refinery29 that we all need to "speak for women that don't have a platform" and remind everyone that "we will not be silenced," wise statements that should be applauded.

But as talented as Cara is, her debut album dropped in 2015. SZA, meanwhile, took 2017 by storm and was by and large the music world's predicted Best New Artist winner thanks to the June release of her debut album, Ctrl. The record debuted at number three on the Billboard charts and was listed as either the best or second-best album on year-end lists everywhere from The New York Times to Time; enthusiastically vocal celebrity fans ranged from Diddy to Paramore, Solange, Issa Rae, and even Cara herself. This was SZA's moment.

And then there was Cardi B, one of music's most buzzed about artists of the past year. In 2017, she became the first female rapper to top the Billboard chart in 19 years and has spent 29 weeks in the Billboard Hot 100 with "Bodak Yellow." But she lost to Kendrick Lamar in both the Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song categories during the non-televised pre-show. Lamar is hands down a more talented lyricist, and "Humble" was itself a huge track this year, and an important one both culturally and politically. But with Lamar having seven Grammys under his belt, it felt like Cardi deserved to make history by becoming the first female rapper to win either one of those categories. And not just because she's a woman, or a woman of color, but because 2017 was the year of "Bodak Yellow," and both the song and the artist deserved an honor from the Grammys. Yet while she wasn't good enough to win, she was good enough to deliver the Grammys one of their most-anticipated performances of the night, outshining Bruno Mars when she joined him to rap her verse on the remix of "Finesse."

Many viewers were not surprised at the snubs for women of color, since the Grammy's has a complicated history with Black artists and Black women, especially, often offering them up as entertainers during the show to draw in viewership but opting out of giving them accolades for their music. It's why many lovers of hip-hop and R&B skip watching the Grammys all together, and why events like Essence's Black Women In Music and BET's Black Girls Rock exist — because if the Recording Academy won't acknowledge Black female artists, Black women will do it themselves. Even female artists of color in the music industry blatantly acknowledge the lack of respect. Singer India Arie told Refinery29 on the red carpet that she's not surprised female artists of color at the Grammy's haven't fared much better since her own disappointing shutout year in 2002.

"I am a person who has been wounded by the politics of the music industry," she said. "Not just because the winners have been mostly men, but I've also been overlooked as a woman of color. The first time I came to the Grammys, I was nominated for seven. I didn't win one. A lot of the reason I didn't win was — well, because it was political. I've been watching [the Grammys] over the years from the inside, how the music industry draws so many things along lines of race. Even when it's the biggest stars, like it'll be Beyoncé and Adele, and it still comes down to race a lot. But that's the world we live in, right? I think the world is slowly changing, and the industry will too. But it's a slow change."

Naturally, dissecting why women of color are not winning awards leads us to look at who is actually voting for the winners. But the Recording Academy has never released a demographic breakdown of its voting members (Refinery29 has requested it multiple times over the years). Based on the qualifications required to be a voter, however, the odds are pretty high that the Academy is largely white and male. According to Grammys.org, to be a voting member you must be a dues-paying Recording Academy member and a music industry professional with “creative or technical credits on at least six commercially released tracks.” And according to Smith's inclusivity study, just two women from an underrepresented racial/ethnic group worked as producers across 300 popular songs from 2012, 2015, and 2017.

"There is an epidemic of invisibility for women of color in this important creative role," Smith says. "Our data did not speak to why there is a lack of representation, but one explanation to consider may be the makeup of the Recording Academy, much like we look at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the Oscar nominations. Having data on the demographic composition of the Academy is crucial to understanding what might be driving recognition through nominations and voting."

So the obvious question after all of this conversation is how, exactly, to solve the music industry's inclusivity problem for women of color, both behind the scenes and in front of it. In a tone-deaf statement after the awards show, Recording Academy President Neil Portnow suggested that, "Women who have the creativity in their hearts and souls, who want to be musicians, who want to be engineers, producers, and want to be part of the industry on the executive level" should "step up, because I think they would be welcome." As if there aren't millions of women out there who have been "stepping up" for decades, writing songs, studying music, submitting demos, uploading original music on YouTube, auditioning, making mixtapes, and doing whatever it takes to get their music out there. The problem is that so many of them — and women of color, in particular — lack the tools and access that those with more privilege have been afforded.

"For systemic change to occur and to see more women at all levels of the music industry, artists, content creators, and executives at the labels all need to work together to ensure access and opportunity are available to all talent, not just those that belong to certain groups," Smith says. "As we tackle the biases in recruitment and hiring in both the business and artistic side, we hopefully will begin to see change occur across the industry that reflects the world we actually live in."

The moment has arrived for the entertainment industry to truly take action to make sure the time is up for all kinds of mistreatment, invisibility, and inequality. And until that happens, the bigger question might be whether or not the Grammys are still relevant to our music culture at all.

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No request is too big and no intricate detail is too small when it comes to the "Big Day." But why do we get married the way we do? World Wide Wed explores the customs and traditions that define weddings around the globe — and shows how today's multi-cultural couples are making their ceremonies uniquely their own.

In our third episode of World Wide Wed, we're heading to Mexico's San Miguel de Allende for the marriage of law school sweethearts, Sara and Keith. While the newlyweds are from cultures located on opposite sides of the world, they're throwing an exuberant, color-splashed ceremony that blends her Mexican heritage to his Filipino roots. The common thread in their nuptials? Catholicism — and, above all, Sara and Keith's investment in giving its age-old traditions a modern, intersectional update.

"What was really special to us was to be able to do a ceremony that was distinctly ours and really embodied how we felt about our culture, about our family, about our friends, and what we believed in," Sara explains. "For me, religion is the experience that you have when you are part of a larger community." And for this boundary-breaking couple, that means bending ancient cultural customs to embrace friends and family of every background. Don't miss their jubilant callejoneada — a classic pre-wedding procession (complete with tequila shots, mariachi music, and a ceremonial donkey, of course) where life-like bride and groom puppets, or mojigangas, dance down San Miguel de Allende's iconic cobbled streets.

Press play above to catch every moment of Sara and Keith's exquisitely modern marriage ceremony, which combines their heritages into one vibrantly cross-cultural extravaganza.

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For a while there, we really started to believe the Kardashian-Jenner clan was taking a break from their konstant kultural appropriation. After all, Kylie Jenner's in hiding, Khloé Kardashian gives birth in a few months, Kendall Jenner is gearing up for New York Fashion Week, and Kim Kardashian welcomed Chicago West into the world just two weeks ago. We were this close to getting through the entire first month of 2018 without a single misstep — and then, well, this happened:

A post shared by Kim Kardashian Snapchats 🍑 (@kimksnapchats) on Jan 28, 2018 at 6:57pm PST

Kim's most recent Snapchat video shows the star running her fingers through her new blonde, beaded cornrows. Now, granted, we've seen Kim in cornrows before — or "boxer braids," as she likes to call them. (For the record: There's no such thing as "boxer braids.") But this time, Kim chose to refer to her new look as... wait for it... "Bo Derek braids." Not cornrows, which are three-strand braids assembled from the roots. Or Fulani braids, which are plaits assembled in a pattern and decked out with beads — a style that's been worn by the Fulani people of West Africa for centuries. Nope, she credited the inspo to Bo Derek, which is problematic in itself. And, just in case you missed her initial Snapchat video, she captioned one of her Instagram posts with "Bo West" to further emphasize the reference.

BO WEST

A post shared by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on Jan 29, 2018 at 12:58pm PST

When Derek wore beaded cornrows in her 1979 film 10, the media credited the actress for turning the traditional style into a "cross-cultural craze and beauty-salon bonanza nationwide," according to a People story from 1980. Thank goodness that Ann Collins, who was Derek's on-set braider, set the record straight: "We’ve always worn our hair like this," she said in the article. "But it’s just a fad for whites.” Years later, Derek had a very Kardashian-like response when asked about Kylie's 2015 feud with Amandla Stenberg, who called out the cosmetics entrepreneur for her own cultural appropriation. “It’s a hairdo! That’s all it is,” Derek said, when asked by New York.

But it's actually not "just" a hairstyle, which is why Kim's Snapchat is so frustrating. Look at it this way: The Kardashians and Jenners have an incomparable social and global reach, with many young eyes watching their every move. It only takes one thoughtless post like Kim's for some fans to believe that the origin of cornrows truly began with an 80s rom-com.

There's nothing wrong with trying new styles, of course. We encourage it every day. However, there is something wrong with not giving credit where it's due, especially in a time when Black hairstyles and our natural textures are still considered "ghetto" and unprofessional at school, at work, in the military, and in the entertainment industry. Kim's post manages to whitewash and ignore the rich origins of a look that isn't just a protective style, but a tie to African heritage. But hey, I guess it doesn't matter, since she "doesn't see color."

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Editor's Note: On Sunday evening, it was brought to our attention that Bandier was facing backlash surrounding its new in-house activewear brand, We Over Me. Commenters and Outdoor Voices loyalists took to the retailer's Instagram — and defense — to suggest that its recently launched label shows suspicious similarities to OV pieces.

After connecting with Outdoor Voices founder Tyler Haney, she offered Refinery29 the following statement: "I’ve seen similar product to ours pop up a number of times and chose to stay focused and not engage. [But,] I received an overwhelming number of messages about the We Over Me collection over the weekend and felt compelled to address it directly. We built OV as an inclusive, positive brand to encourage people to start Doing Things. When other companies imitate our product, it undermines the creativity that goes into designing it, but more important, our mission; we're building something much bigger than ourselves, and we're proud of it."

Despite side-by-side product comparisons, Neil Boyarsky, Bandier’s cofounder and CEO, is quick to refute the claim. "Ty Haney has built an amazing business and we admire and respect her, from one female founded business to another," he tells R29. "Colorblocking is a trend. However, We Over Me as a brand has completely unique fabric, fit, and construction. Our intention was to create something unique in the marketplace and we are confident that we executed on that."

Repeated situations like these bring up the question of what actually constitutes a copycat product, but such a blurred line isn't okay. Here at Refinery29, we work with both Bandier and Outdoor Voices consistently, and we are committed to supporting original, female-founded businesses. We will continue to promote brands we believe are exciting and innovative, and will continue to question those contributing to the increasingly prevalent knock-off culture.

This story was originally published on January 26, 2018.

Every athleisure lover who lives in leggings can easily rattle off a few of their favorite brands on the fly: Outdoor Voices, Live the Process, and Ivy Park are ones sure to be on any list when it comes to dressing for the gym (or just for, well, life). Despite the fact that we're already well-stocked with the classics, there's always a new one that will pop up and makes us want to spend our paycheck on crop tops and colorblock leggings, even though our drawers are already overflowing with spandex. The latest new brand to catch our eye? We Over Me, the first-ever private label from fashion-y athleticwear powerhouse Bandier.

Available today exclusively on Net-A-Porter and Bandier.com, We Over Me has everything we look for in a workout line: Supersoft fabrics, on-point color palettes, flattering cuts that aren't just your usual racerback, and high-waisted leggings, obviously. Most pieces fall under $100, which might still seem like a pretty penny to spend on workout clothes, but there's nothing wrong with treating yourself when it comes to wellness — and we all know that great athletic wear is the best motivation to get moving.

Click ahead to shop this fresh, sure-to-be-popular drop before all your gym buddies beat you to the punch.

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For an extended family whose legacy is one of honor and duty to the crown, the British royals — and one soon-to-be royal — still frequently make news for a very superficial subject: their hair. Prince William's is newly shorn; Meghan Markle's is bouncy, voluminous, and probably smells like Oribe; Prince Harry is a ginger. And then there is Kate Middleton, whose thick brunette hair has made her an icon, the crowning jewel of Kensington Palace.

But the Duchess of Cambridge does not simply roll out of her king-sized canopy bed with her waves intact. No, it takes a village to keep them looking fly 24/7 — especially when a four-day whirlwind tour of Sweden is on the agenda. The Duchess's private hairdresser, Amanda Cook Tucker, shared an Instagram shot (which has since been deleted, along with the rest of Tucker's feed) that quickly made the rounds to royal-style blogs and tabloids alike.

Shown in the photo, which you can still see on the Daily Mail, are six styling products, with picks from Kiehl's, Wella, and Redken; a Mason Pearson; 13 additional, ostensibly non-Mason Pearson hairbrushes; six combs; three curling wands; one heatproof mat; two plug-extension leads; two blowdryers; and, perhaps most importantly, three foreign plug converters. Because what good are all those hair tools if they can only be plugged in to British outlets?

Middleton's hair may be high-maintenance, but it also does good: After chopping her midback-length strands into a long bob last summer, the Duchess reportedly donated seven inches to the Little Princess Trust, a charity that makes wigs for children who have lost their own hair due to illnesses like cancer (and the same charity that Harry Styles gave his man-bun to in 2016). Express reports that she made the donation anonymously through her stylist, so the trust only knew that it came from a woman in the Kensington area, of which there are tens of thousands... and only one of them is Kate Middleton. And really, could there be a better place for the Duchess to donate her hair than somewhere called the Little Princess?

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I never really imagined I’d meet my boyfriend of four years in a random, mom-and-pop antique shop in Brooklyn. But I also never thought that — in the age of Tinder, Twitter, and Instagram DMs — we’d begin a two-month-long courtship strictly over email.

I stumbled upon the shop on an August afternoon, shortly after moving to the area. It was full of handmade gifts, vintage lamps, and other trinkets, with a small restaurant in the back — certainly not a place I’d go looking for someone to date. But while browsing, I came across a lamp I was interested in, and I looked up to see a tall guy with curly hair looking at it, too.

He introduced himself as Jason and seemed a bit shy — which, as an introvert, I could totally relate to. But after making some small talk, he ended up asking for my phone number. I was hesitant, as I often am (even if I think I like a guy), and stammered something along the lines of, “Could we stay in touch online?” assuming we would exchange Instagram handles as a way to get to know each other better. He said that he didn’t have social media but that we could stay in touch via email. I was admittedly thrown by the suggestion but also intrigued by his lack of social media. We exchanged email addresses, and that was that — it was practically a setup from a '90s rom-com.

I wasn’t expecting to hear from him, but the next day, I received an email saying how nice it was to meet me and asking me a bit more about myself. In return, he also told me about his background: where he was originally from (Rochester, NY), his age (8 years older), and what he did (finance). We chatted back and forth a bit over the course of the week.

Over email, I felt like I had the space and time to think about what I wanted to say and what I wanted to know — it didn’t feel as rushed or as ambiguous as texts or dating-app messages. It was old-fashioned, in a way — almost like writing letters to a pen pal or lover.

It was old-fashioned, in a way — almost like writing letters to a pen pal or lover.

After the first few days of getting to know each other via email, Jason asked me out. I politely declined and told him I just wanted to be friends, since I did really enjoy talking to him. I was pretty honest about the fact that our age difference — I was 22, he was 30 — made me feel unsure as well. But instead of giving up entirely, he was completely understanding, and we continued to email long letters to each other. The letters were mostly friendly but with some light flirting on both our ends.

For two months, we continued emailing, growing remarkably close for two people who had only briefly met, once, in real life. We talked about everything from the best cupcakes in our neighborhood and our favorite artists to places we hoped to travel one day. We learned a lot about what we had in common, too, and even helped each other discover new parts of our neighborhood, like restaurants and parks.

Meanwhile, I was still on dating apps and meeting suitors in real life — without much success. One bad date in particular really made me think hard about whether I should ask Jason out. He’d been a kind, active listener; a great friend; and an amazing support system. While the age gap had initially made me hesitant about pursuing him romantically, I had grown so comfortable talking to him, I felt like we’d known each other forever. Why not take the plunge?

I was insanely nervous as I hit “send,” shooting off the shortest email I had ever sent him: “Would you perhaps want to get brunch at the spot where we first met?”

His reply came almost immediately, and it was decided that we’d meet the next week. When our brunch date finally came, I saw the same slightly shy, smiling face right where I’d last left it. Talking to each other felt natural and fun, not stilted and awkward, like so many app dates had. We even ordered the same thing: pumpkin pancakes. After brunch, I wanted to hang out longer, so I made up an excuse that I had to go to an Italian shop a few blocks away to buy cheese and asked him to join. Even to this day, he jokingly tells me that’s the moment he fell in love with me.

Our long emails let us express ourselves and be honest in ways we wouldn’t have been able to otherwise.

While our courtship was unconventional in the age of dating apps, I’d argue that our long emails let us express ourselves and be honest in ways we wouldn’t have been able to otherwise, had I just taken his number that day in the store and started texting and dating him in the same week.

Maybe it's because I'm a writer, but I really loved getting to see his world and who he was through his words. In fact, it’s kind of beautiful to have a sort of archive of modern-day love letters that go beyond a text message. Even after four years, we still write each other long emails when we feel like it. Just for old times’ sake.

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Even though Black Panther comes out on February 16, fans have been waiting in i m patient anticipation for months on end (and if they didn't snag an advanced ticket, they may have to wait a little longer). You don't have to be a Marvel fan to appreciate the fact that this film is chockfull of representation, with nearly an entire Black cast of heroes and villains gracing our screens.

Aside from Lupita Nyong'o, Chadwick Boseman, Tessa Thompson, Angela Bassett, and Michael B. Jordan getting time to shine, we're also ecstatic that most of the cast wears natural hairstyles in the film. Not only are they badass, but they prove that Black beauty is just as conventional as everything else we've seen up until now. Last night's Los Angeles premiere was no different. With a dress code of "royal attire," the cast and fans showed up — and showed out — with their 'fros tall, edges laid, and locs flowing. See some of the best looks ahead.

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Welcome to our new bi-weekly column, Insta-Bait, where we highlight the brands taking over our feeds right now — because Instagram isn't just a place where we DM memes to our friends and double-tap our style icons' most on-point outfits, it's where we discover new labels on the regular.

If you're Instagram feed has been dominated by a certain gingham, scallop-edged dress over the past few weeks, we're right there with you. Those picnic-blanket-printed frocks have been everywhere since cool-girl label Paris 99 (the brand behind these beauts) launched exclusively on Opening Ceremony, where founder Paris Starn interned when she was 16. Everyone from editors to bloggers were posting heart-eye emojis once it was announced, and from there we've already seen countless influencers wearing their unmistakable minidresses — despite it being the middle of winter.

Falling somewhere in between the aesthetics of Daisy  and Reformation, we can see why these pieces are blowing up on the 'gram. Between the bright, girly gingham (yup, this trend's not going anywhere) to the stark-white squiggled edges and cut-outs, it's a silhouette you can't help but take a photo in. OC describes the Paris 99 look as "precious silhouettes modernized with oversized rick-rack — a playful take on the feminine" — and that aesthetic has already earned the brand over 3K followers on Instagram.

"Even though I don't have that many followers, the majority of visitors I get to the website come via social media," Starn tells Refinery29. "I come from an art history background, and for me personally, the more I learn about the influences for a specific work of art the more I appreciate it. I applied that same logic to my Instagram, where I started by posting photos from the lookbook, which convey and include my influences behind the brand. I then moved on to posting e-commerce images, which are super fun and colorful — I want people to understand the joy behind the brand, and also to meet my beautiful friends who inspired these dresses!"

Though these are most definitely on our spring wish list, Starn says she "thinks it would be so fun to see people pairing them with pants or a turtleneck underneath." And we couldn't agree more. Now all we have to do is turn that double-tapping into an "add-to-cart."

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A good movie can lift your mood in mere moments. But since it's not always convenient to queue up Netflix when you're feeling sad, it always helpful to have a book that makes you smile nearby.

Fortunately, there are no shortage of funny tomes to add some laughs to your day. (Plus, we'd argue that by going the reading route instead of always tuning into cat videos on YouTube, you might be doing something good for your brain in the long term. Just a theory.) These titles never fail to make us — at the very least — crack a smile. They even make us do spit takes in public sometimes, but whatever. That's a price we're willing to pay for a good giggle.

Have a suggestion for another funny read? We're all ears! But for now, here are the books we turn to when we need a little pick-me-up — or even when we don't.

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Sleep deprivation doesn’t just make you cranky; it can be downright damaging to your health. Of course, no one wants to be sleep-deprived, but unfortunately, falling asleep doesn’t always come easily.

Between trying to decompress from the frenzy of day-to-day life, agonizing over tomorrow’s meetings, and the irresistible lure of your endless Instagram feed, getting enough rest can be tough for many of us.

According to the CDC, more than 25% of the U.S. population reports occasionally not getting enough sleep, while 10% suffer from chronic insomnia.

Fortunately, however, there are a few science-backed ways to make falling asleep less frustrating. One of them? A decent playlist. A 2015 study from the Cochrane Developmental, Psychosocial and Learning Problems Group found that music can improve sleep quality for adults with symptoms of insomnia. And yet another study found that listening to music (particularly classical music) at bedtime was linked to better sleep quality in students. Plus, unlike sleeping pills that can leave you drowsy long after your alarm clock has gone off, music doesn’t have any side effects.

So if you’re looking for the perfect playlist to tuck into bed with, look no further. Below, we’ve rounded up some of the best songs to fall asleep to. This week, we've added some new tracks from our favorite soundtracks, including Lady Bird, Call Me By Your Name, and Big Little Lies.

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Two of the world's biggest models of the moment have just been unveiled as separate cover stars on the latest issue of British Vogue. And naturally, the Internet has something to say. For his fourth issue, editor-in-chief Edward Enninful tapped sisters Bella and Gigi Hadid to appear on dual covers of the magazine. Inside the glossy, the pair unite in a portrait shot by photographer Steven Meisel.

For their solo British Vogue cover shots, stylist Joe McKenna draped the Hadids in gold chainmail Versace gowns — instantly recognizable from the seminal spring 2018 show, where original supermodels Naomi Campbell, Carla Bruni, Cindy Crawford, Helena Christensen, and Claudia Schiffer reunited on the catwalk to tribute Gianni Versace. Following the January issue featuring Taylor Swift and the February cover fronted by Australian actresses Margot Robbie and Nicole Kidman (in conjunction with W), the March edition reverts to supermodel cover stars for the Spring Fashion issue.

With four covers now under his belt, Enninful's revolutionary debut featuring model Adwoa Aboah and the #NewVogue hashtag (already) feels like a thing of the past. Despite the backlash on his waning commitment to racial inclusivity that followed the inclusivity feat, induced by a particularly glaring exclusion of women of color from the #NewVogue covers, British Vogue is the subject of a different kind of uproar this month. Many users on Twitter are taking issue with the photos of the Hadid sisters due to the sexually explicit nature of the images that see them posing intimately in the nude.

While the photo is no doubt a stunning, stripped down portrayal of a duo we're accustomed to seeing so done up, the choice to forego fashion credits altogether is a peculiar one, especially for an issue that's supposed to be about, well, clothes. Upon debuting the images on his Twitter account, Enninful's followers had a mouthful for the editor. Similar kickback ensued when, just recently, the Kardashian family came under fire for posing semi-nude together for their Calvin Klein campaign.

Must you fetishise them? Talented women. No need to be naked to pique our interest.

— Sarah Southern (@sarahsouthern) January 30, 2018

Everyone is so right on both counts. First, I don't like this trend of models posing naked when it is supposed to be about fashion, i.e. clothing! Secondly it is definitely inappropriate to have sisters posing naked together.

— Jacob Dunbar (@Fashiomista2017) January 30, 2018

Bella is unrecognisable. “New Vogue” same old beauty standards.

— Natalie B (@hardtochase) January 30, 2018

I really thought you would do better with this magazine. Guess not.

— Congrats Dr. Priyanka Chopra (@Nitu_23) January 30, 2018

Uhhh I don't know about how other sisters do sisterhood, but as a sister, this does not seem very sisterly to me!! #newvogue #muchdiverse pic.twitter.com/8emwuqeOQ6

— Connie Wang (@conniewang) January 30, 2018

The sexualization of women, family members or not, is not a topic fashion has historically shied away from. In fact, especially in the case of the Jenners and Hadids, it'd seem completely intentional when taking into consideration previous shoots with both sister duos (see: that Balmain campaign, that V magazine spread) that spark the same bewilderment. But such is an industry whose foundation was built on selling sex and desire via clothes, and anyone with a baseline knowledge of editorials and campaigns most likely won't be shocked by this.

After all, models pose nude — often together — all the time. And considering the fact that the imagery isn't explicitly sexual, a deduction as such shouldn't be blamed on the sisters or anyone on the British Vogue staff, especially Enninful, who's known for his image-making excellence. When flipping through the issue next month, let's aim to separate the mind from the gutter in the name of art. Because really, the shoot is accomplishing exactly what most art aims to: to be provocative, and to ignite conversation.

The March issue of British Vogue goes on sale on February 2.

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There is one single mother in all of Congress. She represents the 25% of American households headed solely by a woman breadwinner. Single moms are young and old; they are black, brown, and white. Single moms are professional problem solvers and collaborators, because they have to be. Single moms are quick on their feet and good in a pinch. Single moms are masters of balancing a budget. They are strong, compassionate, innovative and tough.

I should know.

Toughness is a real asset in the Adirondack Mountains, where the winters are long, heat is expensive, and the short tourist season is our bread and butter. I own a shop that is busy for six weeks out of the year, and that butter has to be spread accordingly. I own a beautiful house that I purchased in foreclosure and can’t afford to heat. I drive an old Prius with a big crack in the windshield and good snow tires because my Dad told me it’s the tires and the driver that make a car handle well in snow. And every couple of years I have a choice to make: new snow tires or school supplies for my kids.

Most of my friends average three jobs and hustle to make ends meet, but our children climb mountains and breathe fresh air. People in the North Country often refer to life here as poverty with a view. And that’s exactly why I’m running for Congress. I’m sick of the guilt and shame I feel when my kids want to go out to dinner and I have to say no because the mortgage payment is due. I’m done sweating the three weeks it takes to find out whether my heat assistance application has been approved and I can afford to fill the fuel tank. I’d like to take my kids on vacation.

I’m running because people like me are told we’re unqualified to represent ourselves – and I wholeheartedly disagree. I don’t think anything in this country will change if the people like me, who actually live the policies coming out of Washington every day, are not included in the process. I’m sick of the lip service our elected officials pay to problems that do have solutions. Maybe it’s time for some new ideas from the real world.

Right now we have a legislature largely made up of people with the same socio-economic backgrounds and experiences making decisions on our behalf. Theoretical discussions based on statistics are shaping our policy when millions of people with direct experience living those policies could and should be included in the process. I’m here in the trenches with everyone else and I know our stories matter. That our experience is valuable. In this economy of hopelessness, it’s up to us to fight for a better future.

I’m scared that my children’s future is in jeopardy. I’m scared that they won’t always have clean air and water, even here in the mountains. I’m scared that my daughter might not have the same opportunities as my son, and honestly I can already tell she doesn’t. I’m worried that a tweet storm might set off WWIII.

So I’m doing something about it. I’m here to speak to the problems that so many people I know are facing – problems that no one has done anything about. I’m running for Congress to give my neighbors a voice, and to make sure my kids have equal opportunities no matter where they choose to live. I’m here to bring a mother’s compassion and understanding, grit and tenacity to the table.

As a mom, I had to wrestle with the knowledge that running for Congress would be a consuming process. I knew that without an incredible support network it would be impossible. But the people of my community showed up to help – and that’s also directly related to our future and the prosperity of our community. This is a strange new era and we’re all showing up to confront it.

And besides, I’m raising kids who will stand up to injustice and sacrifice a little for the well-being of all. I’m raising kids who are not sheltered from adversity but who have the strength to meet it head on.

This is for all the people out there living normal lives who feel utterly disconnected from our process of government, yet are the most deeply affected. This is for my children and yours – and their children to come. This is for all the strong women who came before me and cleared a path.

Katie Wilson is an outspoken small business owner, local community organizer, and single mother born and raised in the North Country. After studying business and entrepreneurship, she left college to return home to literally save the family farm. Now, Katie lives in Keene with her two beautiful children, where she runs her own business and is running for Congress to represent the people of NY-21.

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"Despacito" by Luis Fonsi featuring Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber was 2017’s most inescapable song. It spent a record-breaking 16 weeks at number one on the Billboard charts and is the most-streamed single of all time. It served as the year's soundtrack for millions of people, and not just in America. The sexy single topped charts everywhere from the Czech Republic to Poland to Greece; in Havana, Cuba, in May, it could be heard blasting from the radios of every 1950s-era car. In fact, it was in a Colombia nightclub last April that Justin Bieber first heard the track and, after seeing the crowd's reaction to the already popular hit, told his manager he wanted to do a remix.

Yes, "Despacito" was the musical unicorn that managed to push past language, genre, and streaming barriers to become, hands down, one of the biggest songs in history — and the first Spanish language song to hit number one in the U.S. since "Macarena" in 1996. And while the Grammys considered the hit big enough to be performed during the show — a moment that drew a standing ovation from the audience — the Recording Academy did not give "Despacito" one single award, even though it earned three nominations: Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, Song of the Year, and Record of the Year.

The big honor, for Record Of The Year, went instead to Bruno Mars’ "24K Magic," itself an infectious jam beloved by the masses over the past year. And a win for Mars is a win for Latinos, as he himself is Puerto Rican. But "Despacito" was in Spanish, and a reggaeton-pop song at that — and simply much, much bigger. Even just comparing the charts, the Motown-influenced "24K Magic" spent 19 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and only ever peaked at number two, versus 43 weeks for "Despacito," many of which were at the top spot. Neither the numbers nor the outraged Twitter fans lie. This was the year that the Grammys had a chance to finally acknowledge Latinos for their impact on American popular culture and music.

Instead, the Recording Academy chose to snub "Despacito." And that rejection was about much more than one song.

In addition to acknowledging what a success Fonsi and Yankee's work was, awarding them would've given credit to the impact the release had on mainstream music this past year. Since the original release of "Despacito" last January, American music has been infused with a Latino sound. Camila Cabello' s tropical tinged "Havana" shot up the charts; Beyoncé collaborated with Colombian rapper J. Balvin to do a remix of his wildly popular "Mi Gente," Mexican-American pop star Demi Lovato teamed up with Fonsi for "Échame la Culpa," and Nick Minaj added a verse to Farruko's Spanish trap hit "Krippy Kush." And Spanish songs by artists like Shakira, Enrique Iglesias, and rapper-singer Maluma also made their way into the Hot 100.

The dismissal of the impact of Latino music is nothing new, however. The genre has long been exoticized, considered separate than American music until one rarity manages to capture the public's attention, and suddenly, there is a "trend." We saw that phenomenon back in 1999, when the success of Ricky Martin's "Livin' La Vida Loca" ushered in crossover hits from Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, and Iglesias. But then the "trend" died down, and Latin and Spanish-language music have mostly been ignored by the mainstream since. So while breakthrough tracks by Martin, Shakira, or Fonsi are big enough to dominate the charts and influence culture every decade or so, they're apparently not big enough to garner any love from the Recording Academy, which has never awarded a Spanish language song with a Record of the Year win.

Tapping into the Latino influence only when it's convenient is not an anomaly that only happens in music. We see it in politics all the time, like when candidates briefly show an interest in Latino culture just to earn the Hispanic vote. (Remember when Trump desperately tweeted about taco bowls on Cinco de Mayo?) So it shouldn't be lost on viewers that while the Grammys half heartedly attempted to address the discussion surrounding DACA and the Dreamers, they then chose English-language singers U2 and Sting to perform the tribute songs — and then failed to recognize the biggest song of the year, which happened to be in Spanish.

"The Grammys tried to make this big stand on immigration and Latino culture, but then they failed to recognize the Latino voice with an award for 'Despacito,' so that effort just felt empty and false," says Latino cultural critic Michelle Herrera Mulligan, a contributor for Billboard, Latina, and more. "And then they have these Puerto Rican artists perform at the Grammys, but don't recognize their work. Meanwhile, their people in Puerto Rico are being treated like second-class citizens, denied of basic resources after a natural disaster destroyed their homes. And there wasn't a single word about that during the show."

A win for "Despacito" would’ve also been historic for songwriting. Erika Ender, who co-wrote the song with Fonsi, is the first Latina to ever be nominated in the Song Of The Year category. Considering that the music industry and the Grammys are both facing criticism for their lack of support for both women and women of color, specifically, Ender's songwriting credit added just one more to the dozens of reasons a "Despacito" win could've been historic.

"And inspiration for me back in the '80s and '90s was Gloria Estefan, because I saw her breaking down the walls and making people of all backgrounds around the world dance to Latin rhythms," she told Refinery29 on the red carpet before the Grammys. "So I always dreamed of making that crossover in any way that I could, and that happened this year. And not just for me, but for many Latin artists. We might be a minority, but our music is loved by all, and when people give it a chance, it always delivers results."

One could argue that the Grammys do hold a separate Latin Grammys ever year, so Spanish language receives lots of love there. But the difference is that "Despacito" wasn't just part of the mainstream this year; it was the mainstream, opening the door for more cross-genre, cross-language collaborations, as well as for more Latino artists to cross over into the American market. Not to mention that the song's singers are both Puerto Rican, which makes them just as American as the rest of us.

"For the Grammys not to acknowledge the impact of 'Despacito' was backwards thinking — and, frankly, bigoted," Mulligan says. "We're clearly at a cultural crossroads where English speakers are listening to Spanish music and know the artists. This Spanish music boom feels like our culture is striking back at the way this country has of making Latinos feel invisible. So even if the Grammys won't recognize the song, 'Despacito' is sending a clear message. And it's 'Hey, America: You can't shove us off the map. We are the map.'"

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We hate to break it to you, but for every example of boundary-breaking red carpet beauty — Rih's dramatic blush at the Met Gala or Lady Gaga's thumbprint liner at the 2017 Grammys — there's an endless sea of no-makeup makeup paired with glowing highlighter and fluttery lashes. Gorgeous? Yes, but it's also just the sleeping pill we need to snooze through the entirety of E! 's pre-show red carpet this awards season.

Luckily, there are a handful of celebs that always deliver something fresh and new — and Kerry Washington is one of those rare few. Quite the opposite of her T.V. persona, Olivia Pope, Washington isn't one to stick to natural makeup. It makes sense that the fictitious Pope, a D.C.-based crisis manager on ABC's Scandal, would keep things muted, but off-set Washington goes wild, calling on a host of colors, textures, and finishes for her looks.

In honor of Washington's birthday tomorrow, we scoured the archives and found something surprising: Despite the star's chameleon-like tendencies, she falls back on a few techniques time and time again. We've rounded up these bold cat-eyes, faux bangs, monochromatic makeup, and more, ahead. Curious? Keep clicking.

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Natural hair isn't a trend — it's what's growing out of our heads — but we still can't help but swoon when a stylist is able to push our curls, coils, and kinks to new and unique heights. Celebrity hairstylist Nai'vasha Johnson does that with every red carpeted event or press tour that she's on.

Just look at her roster: Yara Shahidi, Zendaya, Skai Jackson, and John Legend have all been lucky enough to grace her chair. Even though her Rolodex is the ultimate Who's Who, Johnson is still humbled by the love, especially considering her beginnings as a realtor in Tennessee. "Every time I get an opportunity, it blows me away," she tells Refinery29. "I'm constantly getting surprised daily." And so are we: Johnson's natural hairstyles constantly have us screenshotting and pinning, making us wonder what's next. But before we muse about the future, read ahead to see how the budding star got her start.

Southern Roots

"I was that girl in high school who did all of her friends' hair. I went to cosmetology school directly after, and then took a break from it. In Memphis, where I'm from, doing hair isn't that glamorous. They don't treat hair as an art form; they treat it as a trade. So I put it on the shelf for a long time and did banking and real estate. Once the market crashed, I reinserted myself and picked up hair from there.

A post shared by Nai'vasha Johnson (@naivashaintl) on May 8, 2013 at 12:17pm PDT

"At that time, we were living in Atlanta because my husband is in the military. That was the first time that I had an opportunity to see the beauty industry being treated as something for celebrities, as opposed to being just a neighborhood beautician. In Atlanta, you were a hairstylist or a hairdresser. You hung out with celebrities, and you had features and editorials. That intrigued me."

First Steps

"In 2013, I did a reality TV show called Big Rich Atlanta. That was the first time I really had an opportunity to be on the other side of the camera and be behind the scenes in that capacity. I remember being most surprised about the pay, to be honest. I didn’t realize that you could make that type of money being a hairdresser. I only knew about the $25 haircut. In the professional industry, the sky is the limit. My perspective of the beauty industry changed, and once that happened, I didn’t stop.

"I never assisted, either. I was always so afraid that no one would really help me, because it was so competitive. So I studied on my own. I practiced on my own. I did everything on my own because I didn't trust that anyone would say 'hey, Nai'vasha, let me put you under my wing and take you in.' No one ever did that for me, so I did it all for myself."

A post shared by Nai'vasha Johnson (@naivashaintl) on Jan 6, 2018 at 11:46am PST

Her Big Break

"My first big name was a reality star, Ariane Davis of Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta. I had an opportunity to go with her to her first New York Fashion Week runway show, where she walked for my really good friend Avnah. Everything started happening after that. I surrounded myself with industry people, like designers and fashion stylists. I started contacting photographers and other makeup artists and other wardrobe stylists, and then I started shooting. Once I started shooting all of the time and doing editorials, people started reaching out to me and taking notice of my work.

"Another moment was Zendaya's pixie at the 2015 Grammys. It was the first time she was seen with a big haircut. Her stylist, Law Roach, had it in mind, to create a moment for everyone to think on and talk about. We wanted to show that Zendaya grew up and was coming into her own.

"Yara had that moment, too, at the 2017 Emmys. Her hair wasn’t as big and curly at that moment. She wasn't in kitten heels. She had this ultra-chic wet look that was off her face, with a beautiful custom Prada gown and gorgeous makeup. America's darling had grown up."

Shaking Up The Status Quo

"I went to a beauty school where we didn’t train on textured, Black, or curly hair. All of the training we did was on white hair or Asian hair. It wasn’t until the latter part of my Atlanta experience that I got into natural hair. Even then, I was still pressing it out and making it smooth. Now, I take those beautiful images I love so much — like maybe a Sassoon haircut or an Aveda updo — and turn that into a textured look. I'll put a really clean bob on the kinkiest, curliest hair I can find, or the waviest girl that I can find.

"One of my favorite looks is Uzo Aduba for the Emmys, because that was such a risk. And to see Viola Davis celebrate her big, kinky, textured hair on the carpet for the Globes was so good, and I was so happy about that. Before the Emmys, no one was doing that. I can't remember another moment where someone rocked thick, kinky hair on the red carpet. To see women of color rock the red carpet with all of this texture, it's an awesome day. It's a beautiful day in beauty."

Frequent Flier

"I'm based in New York, but travel roundtrip a minimum of four times a month. I frequent Los Angeles the most. Life is still so different for me. Now, I don’t have to be quite as in your face and sociable with my clients. I don’t have to see as many people. When you're doing about nine or 10 people per day, that’s a whole lot of socializing, a lot of personalities, and a lot of being on your feet. If I’m with someone like Yara for the day, I’m primarily only with her just for the day and not for the week.

"Because I'm spending so much social time with my clients, it feels like we're hanging out with as sisters or cousins. We're laughing, flipping through books, figuring out our styles. It's relaxed, and totally different — like night and day"

She Still Has #Goals

"My dream is to work with Halle Berry or Iman. When you think of iconic beauties, those are some of the first names that come to mind for women of color and women, period. Their looks stand the test of time, and I would love to have either one of those ladies in my chair on any day of the week. I know the exact style that I want to do on Halle, too. It'd be epic.

"More importantly, I want other aspiring stylists to know that there’s space for all of us. There's enough room for everybody. We've got to keep celebrating ourselves. I don't know if natural hair is necessarily a priority for Hollywood glam squads, but I know that we're embracing it and really loving our authentic selves, which includes our textures."

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It's unheard of for a single skin-care product to fly off shelves at the same rate as, say, a KKW Beauty contour kit. But that's exactly what happened last week, when Kim Kardashian West, she of the dewy, poreless skin and poor judgment calls, shared with subscribers of her paywalled website that she relies on a $9.80 serum to slow down the signs of aging.

The Ordinary's Granactive Retinoid* 2% Emulsion sold out at Sephora shortly thereafter, another nail in the coffin for retinoids' former reputation for being stodgy anti-aging ingredients that are either prohibitively expensive or only available by prescription. Times have changed; celebrities now charge you money just to look at their websites. But some things remain the same — like what, exactly, retinoids are in the first place.

Retinoids are a class of vitamins, all derived from vitamin A, under which falls, in order of potency: retinoic acid, retinaldehyde, retinol, and retinyl palmitate. Retinoic acid is the active form of the chemical, the one that can immediately be used by the skin; it almost always requires a prescription, like in Retin-A (tretinoin), cosmetic chemist Randy Schueller of The Beauty Brains tells us. The others are slightly less effective than the real thing because the skin must convert them before they can be utilized, and you lose some of the potency in the process.

Retinyl palmitate, sometimes called vitamin A palmate, is the least powerful retinoid. That's why it's also the cheapest... and, on the plus side, the least drying. "The most 'effective' forms tend to be the most irritating," says Schueller, so a weaker form doesn't necessarily mean a bad thing. "Some people get better results using a less effective form because it doesn't irritate their skin as much, so they're more likely to use it more often." But even if retinoids are the sweet, sweet anti-aging, anti-acne ambrosia the world has been waiting for but doesn't have totally figured out just yet, one cannot simply walk into a store and grab the nearest thing that says "retinol" or "vitamin A" on it.

Or, well, you can, but it's probably not the best idea. You'll want to take into account your skin type — many sensitive types are too delicate for the full-strength stuff and can do more harm than good with dryness and irritation if they dive into it too fast — and you'll also want to be extra cautious about only purchasing from brands you trust, not just the cheapest formula or the one that promises to be the most potent. (You'll also want to not be pregnant. There is no reported evidence of topical retinoids causing any harm to an unborn child, but some studies have shown that high doses of vitamin A can be harmful, and oral retinoids like Accutane are known to cause birth defects.)

As celebrity esthetician Renée Rouleau explains, retinol is known to be highly unstable — not only extremely fragile to oxygen and light exposure (which is why you should look for ones that come in opaque, airless packaging), but also when combined with other ingredients together within a product. "Simply put, retinol doesn't play well with others, and only a very experienced formulator will know the best way to make it effective," she says. "Anyone can add the ingredient retinol to a product and market it for anti-aging, but it may not be doing much of anything."

And, yes, a well-formulated, high-quality retinoid can err on the expensive side to formulate, which is how they got that reputation in the first place. But you don't need to spend tons of money to get a good, effective retinoid — you just need to know what to look for, and where. How's that for making good judgment calls?

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Donald and Melania Trump rode separate cars to the State of the Union on Tuesday, breaking with the longstanding tradition of the president and first lady arriving together.

Instead, Melania chose to have the guests she had invited to join her in the first lady's box for the brief motorcade ride from the White House south lawn to the Capitol building, according to CNN.

The first lady's communications director Stephanie Grisham told CNN that Melania rode in a different car because she is "honoring her guests for the true heroes they are."

"In addition to holding a White House reception and photo opportunity for them, along with their friends and family, she is accompanying them to the Capitol," Grisham said in a statement. "Once there, the first lady and Mrs. Pence will host a more intimate meet-and-greet to engage with them on a personal level prior to the speech."

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told CNN that Melania came separately for "no reason other than she can greet the guests and he can go straight in."

Grisham said the first lady wanted to have a more intimate pre-event gathering with her 15 guests, who include the parents of two girls who were killed by members of the MS-13 gang in New York. Trump has promised to "destroy" MS-13 and has drawn parallels between the gang and undocumented immigrants.

Both recent former first couples — Barack and Michelle Obama, and George and Laura Bush — drove together in a limo from the White House to the State of the Union, for all eight years each president was in office.

A White House official told CNN that Donald and Melania Trump will travel together in the same car to return to the White House.

In Michael Wolff's explosive new book Fire and Fury, he writes that the Trumps' relationship was “perplexing” to those who worked closely with them, and that they would often go for days at a time without contact. “He and Melania spent relatively little time together... Often she did not know where he was, or take much notice of that fact,” he writes.

Then, a few weeks ago, InTouch magazine dropped a bombshell interview with Stormy Daniels, a former adult film actress who alleged that she had sex with Trump in 2006, a year after he married Melania and while she was pregnant with Barron. The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump's lawyer paid her $130,000 to keep quiet about their tryst.

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There are two distinct ways of looking at a haircut: fun and exciting...or completely terrifying. If you fall into the latter category, like I do, you've probably had long hair for as long as you can remember. In an effort to change that, I've been thinking about the concept of a "shock-proof haircut." While notably shorter, these looks aren't jarring, because you can still create the same styles as you did with your longer hair — and more importantly, the same feeling ( whether sexy, glamorous, edgy, whatever).

A "shock-proof haircut," mind you, is not just the cut you currently have, only shorter. Instead, it's a cleverly selected cut that makes sense based on your current style and one that gives you the ability to re-create your everyday look. For help navigating these uncharted waters, I turned to two top hairstylists (one on each coast) for their expert opinions: Leanne Citrone, co-owner and stylist at Andy Lecompte Salon in Los Angeles, and Jon Reyman, founder of bicoastal salon Spoke & Weal.

"The same thing, only shorter is not always the best thing," Reyman agrees. However, there is one base cut both he and Citrone recommend: You guessed it — the bob and its cousins, the short bob and the lob. "It opens the door to a bunch of different haircuts," Reyman explains. "For so many years it’s been about long hair or short hair, which is such a big jump for people. We started giving lobs...[it's] a gateway drug to different cuts."

So, how do you know if you should take the plunge? "I understand the attachment people have to their length," Citrone says. "But when you're ready, you're ready." If that sounds like you, click ahead for a two-in-one consultation with these pros, which will make picking this big chop incredibly easy.

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