swivel beauty app

Photo: Swivel Beauty

Let's Get Digital

It’s often a problem for black women when traveling: Who can do my hair? Former O health editor Jihan Thompson and her friend Jennifer Lambert have come to the rescue with the Swivel Beauty app. The tool helps women of color search for salons (in New York City, Boston, and D.C. for now) that can work with curls or kinks, relaxed or natural styles, and even Beyoncé braids (like the ones I wanted on my last vacation). Bravo to Jihan and Jennifer, who understood the struggle is real and did something about it.
scandal

Photo: Nicole Wilder/ABC

Stay Tuned

I started watching Scandal after its second season because the D.C. drama was all anyone could talk about. And once I was in, I was all in. Now, after six years of shady dealings and Oval Office hookups, it’s hard to believe the Shonda Rhimes–created show is ending. Political fixer Olivia Pope feels so real that I’ve almost called Kerry Washington “Olivia” more than once! As to whether Ms. Pope and Fitz will land in Vermont together, only time will tell. What I do know for sure: In Shonda I trust.
young sheldon

Photo: Robert Voets/CBS Entertainment

If you’ve always wondered how The Big Bang Theory’s Sheldon Cooper, played by the lovable Jim Parsons, became the neurotic genius we’ve all watched for the past decade, wonder no more: Young Sheldon is here to take us back in time. The new comedy, narrated by Parsons, stars Iain Armitage as a 9-year-old Sheldon whose stellar smarts let him zip off to high school. Though I’m no theoretical physicist, I predict this prequel will score high marks when it premieres September 25.
joules rainboots

Photo: Courtesy of Joules Evedon

Sole Mates

A reliable pair of rain boots is a closet staple. But few are as cute as this pair from Joules. The waders are available in color combos like navy and bright red, and they have all the comforts of a regular rubber boot, with the added perk of a bow in the back. I’ve never imagined having my own Singin’ in the Rain moment, but if the boot fits...
The Vietnam war ken burns

Photo: Courtesy of AP

And...Action!

The first time the Vietnam War hit home for me was during a sleepover at a friend’s house in seventh grade. Her older brother had just returned from fighting, and I heard him sobbing alone in the kitchen. Now filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick are giving veterans like him a voice and giving me a deeper understanding of those tears. Their new ten-part PBS documentary, The Vietnam War (September 17), speaks with people from both sides of the conflict—and proves you don’t have to be a history buff to learn from this painful chapter in our shared story.

From the September 2017 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine