booty therapy; c'est magnifique!

Hi curvy curlies! I trust you are Saturday happy, doing whatever it is you want to be doing. I am sitting on my couch resting my body, after a super fun night of exercising with a group of curlfriends. 

Last night, a few L.A. naturalistas met up, in the Athleta store at the Grove for a romp shaking good time, in the form of BOOTY THERAPY!

Booty Therapy is an inspired workout from Paris, France, that infuses African and Brazilian dances, combined with the rhythmic sounds of world music. The instructor is a remarkable curvy curly who believes, with booty therapy, you can “shake away all your worries.” Maimouna Coulibali encourages women to move their bodies in a way that celebrates the whole being and releases years of trauma we have carried internally. Too often, our natural, intuitive movement/being/energy is sexualized. Maimouna teaches her students to reject that distorted narrative and rock out the way our hips and booties are created to! I had a fantastic time and an even better workout. I walked away from booty therapy feeling beautiful, free and sexy. If you ever have the opportunity to experience this class, DO NOT pass it up!

xo

Lila

queendom in the la! #nappywood

Imagine fragrant, essential oils and incense seducing you into a space where natural hair, Afrocentric fashion and jewelry, hair care education and self care are all celebrated. That curvy curlies, is Nappywood LA!

One of the largest natural hair events in Southern California, Nappywood provides hair and healthcare education, live performances and vendors from around the country. It was a great opportunity for naturalistas, bloggers, vloggers and stylists to glean ideas and information from each other, in the spirit of community and sisterhood. I ran into curlfriends I've know since junior high school and was too excited to see that we have all embraced our coils and kinks!

Exhilarating hardly describes how great it felt and feels to be a part of this movement. Huge shout out Lydia Boyd of La Curly Girls, Kelsie Lyn of Au Natural Love and Ray Parker and Mike Kimani of LRC Healthy Hair Care, for the amazing energy and love.

xo

Lila

it's electric!

Curlfriend Janelle Monae's sound and style are the perfect storm of innovation, creativity and talent. The video for her latest single, "Electric Lady" is an amazing display of these elements. Hanging out with her naturally gorgeous Electro Phi Beta friends, she lets her curly tresses loose, in a clever juxtaposition of advanced technology (amazing product placement by Samsung) against vintage automobiles and the ageless, feel-good concept of friends partying with friends.

We're too excited to see Janelle like this - in all of her natural queendom and electricity, free flowing fro and southern swag. We love and salute you Electric Lady!

Check out the video below. 

curvy curlies all up in a man's world

There's so much yummy, caramel, chocolate, curvy curly goodness in Get On Up, I had to take a moment to express my excitement about this film! Get On Up is the James Brown biopic, starring Chadwick Boseman, curvy girl, Octavia Spencer, curlfriend, Viola Davis and curvycurly,  Jill Scott.

From all of the accounts I've read about this film, Chadwick embodies a surreal enthusiasm and spirit of the Godfather of Soul. CGNC is thrilled to acknowledge Mr. Brown's soulful contribution to American history, and to salute what is certain to be a fascinating portrayal of his life, as brought to the big screen by these amazing artists.

Please support Get On Up, set for nationwide release, this Friday, August 1st. Check out the trailer below:

acte II

Olanna and Ashley Renée make up the dynamic, southern bred, CurvyCurly, opera-singing duo of ActeII! These beautiful ladies were recently featured on "America's Got Talent" and their performance blew the judges away. Their voices and personalities are as lovely as the curves and curls they sport - naturally.

CGNC is proud to celebrate these sAngin curlfriends! I love to see sistas doing something out of the box! Check out a clip of their perfomance below:

yay for yaya!

If looks tell a story, these glimpses of curly girl, Yaya DaCosta as Whitney Houston are on point! There has been lots of chatter about how Nippy's family feels about this movie, but the jury is out until the film is released.

CGNC is here to celebrate our natural sister in a leading role about one of the world's greatest gifts. Yaya, we salute you!