Goodie Box

I finally got my hands on an Anita Grant Goodie Box Sampler, which I've been aching to do for months.
The self proclaimed 'mixtress' makes organic, gourmet hair and body products that smell, and look good enough to eat and come packaged like gifts - I almost felt guilty ripping the thing open.
Product reviews to come.

In praise of: Lori van Echtelt, savior of the European afro

My quest for afro-friendly hair and beauty products made by real people (as opposed to Softsheen-Carson) started here: Mariposa Import, run by the sweetest Dutch woman ever.
Lori van Echtelt (pictured) went up against import-export laws, bad afro hair advice and some seriously ill-adjusted Dutch lorry drivers to bring Europe half-way decent products.
The best thing about her is the fact that she inspires trust. She tries every product she sells, doesn't stock anything that doesn't work, and can give decent advice. It's a refreshing change from the local Pak, (I dare you to go in and ask for a humecant) and it made me feel much better about buying products I couldn't see or smell.
She also really appealed to my self esteem. She had natural hair, knew her products, her client base and her EU export law and she was growing a business. I'm still prepared to pay 12 euro for conditioner because of what she represents.
My favourite buy will always be the Oyin Honey Hemp conditioner which makes my hair feel amazing. It has great slip, so much so that I've stopped combing my hair, and just condition with this to de-tangle. Worth every cent of the 12 euro price tag.
Three years down the line there are a whole passel of places online, and, to my knowledge, one actual shop floor selling similar products. It almost feels like a revolution...

L'Oreal racist. It's official

As if the Nazi collaboration wasn't enough, L'Oreal has just been slapped with a £20, 000 fine for racist hiring in a historic French case.

The French campaign group SOS Racisme brought the case against L'Oréal, the world's largest cosmetics firm, over the campaign in 2000. Garnier France sought saleswomen to demonstrate the shampoo line Fructis Style in supermarkets outside Paris. They sought young women to hand out samples and discuss hairstyling with shoppers.In July 2000, a fax detailing the profile of hostesses sought by L'Oréal stipulated women should be 18 to 22, size 38-42 (UK size 10-14) and "BBR", the initials for bleu, blanc, rouge, the colours of the French flag. Prosecutors argued that BBR, a shorthand used by the far right, was also a well-known code among employers to mean "white" French people and not those of north African, African and Asian backgrounds.Christine Cassan, a former employee at Districom, a communications firm acting for Garnier, told the court her clients demanded white hostesses. She said that when she had gone ahead and presented candidates "of colour" a superior in her own company had said she had "had enough of Christine and her Arabs". The Guardian

The great thing is, they're not above selling to non-white people, they own Softsheen-Carson and RedKen, for god's sake. They have a huge slice of the billion-dollar-black-hair-industry cake.
And the same people who made those hiring decisions weren't above hiring Beyonce and Kelly Rowland to shill (because, apparently, a $500 weave needs moisturising). They just wouldn't hire them to sell.

Just to recap, the firm that actively decided not to hire anyone who wasn't white owns:

• Redken
• Softsheen Carson
• The Body Shop
• Diesel & Armani Perfumes
• Maybelline
• Ralph Lauren
• Lancome

I know I'm ditching the Dark & Lovely* fuck Kelly Rowland.

* Full disclosure: I kept that in for dramatic effect. But I stopped using Softsheen stuff like two years ago. It hurt my 'fro, which I think should be a capital offence.