VIV Says: Blog

We think we saw the slightest hint of a sneer on “Queen of Curl” stylist Ouidad’s lips when we recently admitted to her that we’d had a keratin treatment, which had left our hair silky smooth and, yes, a lot straighter than it is in its natural state. Ouidad is evangelical about letting curls be curls, but we had been invited to her Santa Monica, CA, namesake salon to experience her latest service — the Luxe Mediterranean Bay Leaf Hair and Scalp Treatment — so she did her best to hide her disapproval and agreed to chat with us about its inception.

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We love practicing yoga at home when we can’t make it to a class — but we still need a little instruction and motivation. So while attending a recent yoga event in New York City, we were happy to discover the Gaiam Yoga Club, a 12-week program with expert instructors Rodney Yee and Colleen Saidman, designed to help create a home practice. Gaiam offers a 10-day free trial for the online club, which includes a printable pose guide, instructional videos, podcasts and access to community chats and blogs by Yee and Saidman.

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Friends who can’t bear time away from their beloved pooches have told us that traveling with a pet can have its challenges, from figuring out how to transport a pup to finding a pet-friendly hotel. But even when accommodations are located, what is there for a dog to actually do at a resort? The Ritz-Carlton, Bachelor Gulch has come up with a solution that will not only make your life easier and your pooch happier, but will help less fortunate dogs as well.

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The second-anniversary party for the green lifestyle website EcoStiletto.com was held at the Rolling Greens Hollywood nursery, and the women in attendance were as pretty as flowers themselves, attired in brightly colored skin-skimming summer dresses. (We missed the wardrobe memo and showed up in black ourselves.) We were all toting an extra handbag to donate to the new Los Angeles branch of Dress for Success, the terrific nonprofit organization that provides interview-appropriate clothing and accessories for low-income women seeking to enter the workforce. In exchange we got a recycled bag to fill with the latest green swag.

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After a survey of our overflowing closet, we’ve instated the “nightclub rule” — for one new item to enter, another has to leave. So as our wardrobe’s official bouncer, we’re excited to learn that shoppers who donate a pair of gently worn jeans to a bebe retail location receive $25 off the price of a new pair from bebe’s denim collection through July 31. The used jeans are donated to someone in need through Clothes4Souls, a new division of Soles4Souls, the international shoe charity we told you about when the nonprofit donated new and used shoes to Haiti following the devastating January earthquake.

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It’s easy to forget in the bustle of New York City that the place we call home is actually an island. So the documentary Beautiful Islands, which gives a glimpse of daily life on three islands in danger of being lost to rising sea levels due to global warming, was especially moving for us. Japanese filmmaker Kana Tomoko takes a look at three very different, beautiful places: Venice, Italy; Shishmaref, Alaska, and Tuvalu in the South Pacific. Tomoko decided not to include narration or music in the film, allowing these endangered locations to speak for themselves.

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We have to admit that after reading about the recent bedbug outbreak at New York City retailers Hollister and Abercrombie & Fitch and hearing a few secondhand tales of infestations, we’ve been suspiciously eying every scrap of fabric that enters our home. The more we learn, the more we wish the blood-sucking creatures existed only in the nursery rhyme of yore. In the interest of possibly sleeping tight once more, we spoke to bedbug expert Jeff White, research entomologist with Bed Bug Central for some tips about bedbug avoidance, detection and control.

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We’re always looking for ways to green our daily routine, from toting reusable bags to the grocery store to reading digital newspapers and books. Yet, when flying across the country, what choices are there to help reduce our carbon footprint? SmarterTravel, an online resource that reports travel news and lists deals and tips for its users, announced its Editors’ Choice Awards and named Virgin America as this year’s Most Eco-Friendly Airline.

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We’ve scored deals on designer clothes, home furnishings and even luxury travel accommodations, thanks to sample sales. But our email inbox is getting overcrowded and we can’t keep track of all the items available on the growing list of discount sites. So we were intrigued to hear about MyNines.com, a “sample sale aggregator” of about a dozen sites that offer deals in fashion, jewelry, accessories, beauty, wine, travel and sports gear.

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Having given us great female-centric series like The Closer with Kyra Sedgwick, Saving Grace with Holly Hunter and HawthoRNe with Jada Pinkett Smith, TNT is doubling our pleasure with Rizzoli & Isles, about Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli (Angie Harmon) and medical examiner Maura Isles (Sasha Alexander) who team up to solve crimes. The series reminds us of Cagney & Lacey and Harmon’s last series Women’s Murder Club on the procedural end, but it also refreshingly celebrates the friendship between two women who aren’t catty, bitchy or fighting over a guy.

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