rebirth.

the etsy store is down until the rebirthday.


new look
new products
new attitude

come here for updates or email me.

also, a relaunch for this very blog!

moving!

i'm moving into a new place in 2 weeks.
i am determined to pack my craft stuff last.

we'll see how that goes.

soon come: vending. at arts garage. somewhere, maybe in brooklyn. stay tuned! leave a comment below or email me (dopegrrrlfresh(at)gmail(dot)com) to make sure you get on my mailing list!

i have a renewed feeling

about crafting.
i'm clearing spaces, trying new stuff, and not letting myself be discouraged by the # of sales i've had. vending is coming up!
and, speaking of vending: i went to habana outpost to see some sights & to motivate me to vend there this summer. i met some lovely ladies who make a customizable apparel line called greeteez. of course, i think the idea kicks ass. of course, i think i'm gonna talk to them so i can maybe fashion myself some dope girl fresh tee shirts. :D crystal & alisa (if you're reading, i know i didn't spell that right. but i'm too lazy to find your card in my bag) were really sweet. i love the fact that they're offering ppl a chance to be creative fully on their own -- in this age of customized clothing (like neighborhoodies, custom painted kicks, etc.) i think it's rare to find a situation where the consumer is an integral part of the creative process. like, you have the option to make a shirt just for good hair days, shirts for graduation day, party favor shirts & probably a grip of things that have not even crossed my mind. so, YAY, greeteez!

the roadway to hell is paved with good intentions

aka: why it doesn't matter what anyone tells me.

because this is my journey, and advice doesn't have to be taken -- simply considered
because my creative process is sacred to me and it means much more than creating something to get paid from
because i love learning from my mistakes and living via trial & error
because i'm the captain of this ship -- the most high gives me the divine spark, and i take it from there
because i'm too fly to worry about what everyone else wants me to do
because if folks were as attentive toward their own creative endeavors, they'd find themselves TOO BUSY to care about mine

i speak positivity over my situation. this process is one by which i am learning & growing. i take chances, i calculate risks, and i try new things all to my benefit.

the frustrations of a crafter with big aspirations.

*sigh*

i don't ever set out to defame or denounce someone else's products. but i used something from a certain cosmetic chain -- it was gifted to me by a dear, dear friend -- & i just knew i'd be cool with it. i just knew i wouldn't itch or break out. wrong. the bath thing i used has laureth-4 (a surfactant/ dispersant) in it, as well as the ever-ambiguous (and ubiquitous) 'perfume.' i found this page & i was amazed at the information i read. i don't ever want to use products that are widely-known comedogens or irritants. foaming agents are not necessary to me, and the last thing i want is to find that i've created a product that defeats the purpose of my entire creative process.

but it's hard. i know people are sometimes dazzled by packaging and foaming action, but i'm not willing to do it if i know i'll be causing nasty allergic reactions. that being said, i'm always open to trying new stuff. i've experimented with natural cosmetic-grade ingredients to produce coloration and i'm currently looking into ways to add shimmer without using some crazy hard to pronounce chemical name that doubles as car wax or some mess. it's hard to avoid feeling like i have to compete with the big names in this (carol's daughter, lush, the body shop, & even the cookie cutter stores like bath & body works) in order to get noticed. at the same time, i know the difference lies in showing folks that there's yet still an alternative. it's difficult. i just wanna make my stuff, sell it to folks, & have enough time/ money left over to buy new supplies.

i'm making it. step by step . . .

on deck: perfume solids & body scrubs.

i like to smell good all day. two of my all time favorite (discontinued, for cryin out loud) scents are nicole and nicole miller, but who's tryna carry that mess in their purse all day & night? and how many times have i wondered how i could possibly smell like my favorite dgf scents without carrying bath bombs in my pockets? so, i started researching how to make a solid perfume. here i am, 2 months later, up to my elbows in containers & candelilla wax (i still can't pronounce that word). it's going, slowly but surely...

onto the scrub, aka luxefoliant. crafters, holler if you hear me: there is not one thing more annoying than reading the ingredients of a product & finding that it's something you can make yourself w/ little to no effort. also, i hate the idea that lots of manufacturers test their products on animals. so, one day i decided to add honey & fine cornmeal to make a fine facial scrub for myself. the next thing i knew i was adding coconut milk, grapeseed oil, turbinado sugar & a bunch of other stuff to it to change the moisturizing properties & make my scrubs unlike anything i'd ever find on the shelf at sephora or anywhere else.


UPDATE:

if you so happen to visit my etsy store, you'll see that perfume solids are at a special introductory price with FREE SHIPPING.

get on it, i'm changing the price as soon as i feel like it.

the story of stuff & my womanifesto

first, the story of stuff by annie leonard. amazing. concise. fantastic. it reminds me to be as aware as i should be of what i buy/ don't buy. it ties directly into the values i'd like to share w/ the world. the work-watch-shop cycle? hello, it's so ubiquitous that when i got cable 2 weeks ago i decided to limit my viewing to things i knew i'd enjoy watching. when i'm not interested in what's on, i don't watch. i'm aware of how much trash i generate by not packing my own lunch or eating things that come in their own natural wrappers. i feel like an ass for it -- but i'm working at it. i guess that the thing i most want for my dgf customers is that y'all also feel like you're doing your part. not just your part to put money in my pockets, but to take your money away from the beastly monster corporations that want you to shop more. it's a process. let's shake it up y'all, even if only a lil bit.

and now, the womanifesto:

why dope girl fresh? :: a mission statement

my running joke was that with all that mysterious white powder & baking soda, something fully illegal must be afoot in my apartment. i measure & sell items by weight, i let things dry out (like crack rocks or the beginnings of crystal meth, i'm told). & to top it all off i give folks their samples in plastic baggies. a girlfriend of mine once said, "you pull that stuff out of your purse just like you're pushin' dope!" i laughed it off continually, as i felt that all i pushed was luxury: yummy smelling bath salts & the occasional bag of tea. before i knew it, i was mixing instead of making dinner & scribbling down scent recipes on train schedules. it was getting serious. i stalled a few times, though; i wouldn't make anything new or i'd use up all the stuff myself because i didn't think anyone'd buy from me. i wasn't sure that there was space for me & my ideas. but one day, i saw a recipe for bath bombs in a magazine. the next thing i knew, i was all over the internet trying to get ingredients together so i could make my own.

i started crafting again. full-speed ahead. i couldn't stop. but i still didn't have an official name for my baby. i was thinking of picking a word in sanskrit, spanish, portuguese -- anything but english. i wasn't gonna be owner/ chief mixer of eileen's daughter. oyin handmade was already taken & i refused to use sweet or honey in the name of my line. i admire this brand of soaps called fraiche (you should check that stuff out; it's wonderful) so i thought maybe i'd call my line fresca. something simple, w/ a leaf logo. that didn't fully satisfy me. i wanted something that looked good on paper. fresca was too simple; fresca beauty? fresca cosmetics? nah. fresh . . . fresh pot? no, because someone may mistake that for, well, good weed. fresh girl? nope. but there's this saying, "dope boy fresh" that's become a bit popular as of late. it's a testament to the money that the dope game brings in & the material benefits of such. i thought about it: there're dope girls. & there're dope girls, too -- some push weight, others are dope in the early hip hop sense. they are chic, on point, innovative, stylish & all around fly. i'd like to think that the latter applies to me on a consistent basis. so, i didn't wanna call it "dope girl." it didn't fit all of the things i was trying to express with my handmade crafts. but the word "fresh" brought it all together. "fresh," meaning new. "fresh," meaning i'm not compromising quality for mass-produced factory stuff. fresh means i do everything i can to make products to order; no two orders go out identically. this is definitely an at home, around-the-way girl operation. i mix to scent/ consistency, not to measurements. like my mother & her mothers before her, recipes are just suggestions to me. ;) the rest is the product of my very keen olfactory senses. my hands craft & package w/ tender loving care; my eyes spot new items for my nose to sniff. when i smell a blend & have to think of a name for it, it's based on a song i know/ love. dgf is organic insomuch as it's mine, that i came up with, that i conceived. it's not organic in the trendy, loosely government-regulated way. but in the true sense; i cultivate my craft & fine-tune it the way it was once typical to care for a crop or raise livestock.

dope girl fresh is an expression of my desire to see people with the best possible products at their disposal. have you ever read the back of a tube of anything from bath & body works, or most of the stuff you find in the market or drug store? per my observation, these items are labeled with phrases such as THIS FINISHED PRODUCT NOT TESTED ON ANIMALS or list anywhere from 5 to 15 ingredients that have nothing to do w/ smelling like cucumbers, melons, or anything else that comes from the earth. synthetic fragrance oils are one thing -- they're often wonderfully potent & help maintain low costs for consumers. i use synthetic fragrance oil in at least one of my blends. but how could anyone feel about dimethicone, imidazolidnyl urea, methylparaben, or propylparaben on your skin/ hair if they don't even know wtf those things are? i'm dedicated to creating/ maintaining a market where higher-quality products are readily available to the public. i don't test on any quadrupeds; only bipeds. actual human beings. some who're super allergic to all sorts of things, along w/ others who never have a reaction to anything. i'm not keen on using things i can't pronounce. but, ultimately we all know the difference between the scientific name of sweet almond oil versus some man-made chemical that's supposed to simulate the oils your skin naturally secretes. it's really a quality issue. i put positive thought into my entire creative process, & i think that makes or better products. hopefully, you will, too.

so, that's my womanifesto, my mission statement, my declaration to the world. dope girl fresh is officially ready to go.