TONAL Beauty Blog

As the weather progressively gets colder, it is essential that we give our hair a little extra TLC. As temperatures drop and the air becomes more dry and frigid, our hair is more prone to breakage and split ends, as a result of lack of moisture and nutrients that our hair needs to remain healthy and flourish. Though the winter months could be a great excuse to practice protective styles, such as braids, twists, or wigs, it is important to keep your hair healthy and moisturized in efforts to combat the negative hair effects that come with cooler temperatures. 

As we prepare to transition from fall to winter, we start to see a lot of changes, whether it’s changes in the way we dress, the way we go about our day, or the way we choose to style our hair. As a girl who loves the fall and winter seasons, especially for fashion purposes, I often struggle finding ways to style my hair to not only complement my outfit, but ensure that it’s a style that keeps my hair protected and healthy. Though my typical go-to style during the cooler months are box braids, there are times when I want to wear my hair out and let it breathe, yet making sure my hair is properly moisturized and styled to ensure protection from harsh weather conditions. Additionally, we all have bad hair days or lazy days where we don’t feel like going the extra mile to style our hair, or we’re simply running behind schedule where we are unable to style our hair as we hoped. On such lazy hair days, I typically would put my hair in a low bun and throw on a hat or a hoodie and go about my day.  However, I don’t appreciate the tugging on my hair from the hats I wear or the unwanted frizz my hair gets from wearing hats and hoodies, overall making my hair look like a mess and being more prone to damage. 

Thankfully, I am not the only one who looked for a solution to protecting our crowns at all costs. As Black people and people of color, we often experience the same hair struggles and challenges, and the beauty of it all is that our people actively seek to create effective solutions to the struggles we share. As we all value and cherish our hair and want it to be healthy at all times, our people have created amazing products that help to not only protect our beautiful tresses, but doing so in a fashionable manner. Continue reading to see how these changemakers have created amazing products that not only protects your hair from harsh weather conditions, but ensures that you remain fashionable and confident in your look all day everyday.

TONAL Beauty’s Top Picks

Philomina Kane a.k.a NaturallyPhilo

Founder of KINApparel

NaturallyPhilo is a haircare content creator who created KIN Apparel to make functional and inclusive clothing and accessories with an emphasis on haircare. Her Ghanaian culture is what makes her who and what she is today, as the site, with all its kente glory, is a representation of the culture and never ending love she has for her supporters. It is with her strong backbone that she produced motivational content on YouTube, ultimately leading her to create KINApparel. KIN stands for “Keep It Naturally” but its deeper meaning is family. In Ghana, her grandmother charted a path for her—value your culture, keep your faith, and never give up on your most idealistic vision of the world—a path she continues to follow, with her grandmother’s words circling her soul.

KINApparel

Retail Price: $59.99 – $84.99

Description: These amazing, stylish hoodies do not dry out your hair! It helps to promote stronger, shinier hair, reduces frizz, and promotes moisture retention. They also protect you from hair loss and breakage by eliminating friction and are made from French terry cotton and high-grade satin.

Grace Eleyae

Founder of Grace Eleyae, Inc.

Grace Eleyae Inc. was founded on the belief that you should never have to choose between haircare and style, so we made products that combine both; starting with the Original Slap (Satin-Lined Cap)®. In 2014 Grace took a trip to Kenya that changed her life. During a bumpy 8-hour car ride, all the hair on the back of her head broke off – the result of her chemically straightened hair and constant friction against the headrest. Later that year, as a solution to her completely damaged, broken and dry chemically straightened hair, the first prototype of the Slap was created. After seeing immediate changes in her hair, she passed it to friends and family. It was a hit. Soon after, Grace Eleyae began selling her products on Etsy and by September 2014, decided to fully launch Grace Eleyae, Inc. One month after the launch, a YouTuber, CloudyApples, named the cap as a “must have” in her nighttime routine. This led to more and more beauty bloggers giving the Slap rave reviews, which then brought the Slap into the mainstream world. Since then, Grace Eleyae, Inc. has been dedicated to reinventing the way we protect our hair by creating modern protective products with you in mind. Today, over 400,000 satisfied Grace Eleyae customers have broken up with bed head, ended nightly friction, limited age lines and acne, and more.

Grace Eleyae, Inc.

Retail Price: $27 – $100

Description: The satin-lining allows you to throw on and go while protecting your hair from drying out, frizzing up, and tangling. The adjustable back strap lets you tighten the hat to your liking, and helps keep it on your head. These wonderful hats are perfect for the gym, running errands, or going to the big game. 

Robyn Dixon

Founder of Embellished

As seen and known as one of the Real Housewives of Potomac, Robyn Dixon founded and launched Embellished, in which her love of fun prints and colors meets her laidback style while ensuring that we never have another “bad hair day!” Embellished caps are not only chic and stylish, they also feature a satin lining in Robyn’s favorite color, purple, to protect hair from breakage.

Embellished

Retail Price: $29 – $34

Description: Embellished satin-lined caps & beanies are made especially with you and your beautiful tresses in mind as every Embellished cap is lined in satin so that you can be fly & protected.

Cover Art: @abbygraceillustrates