In celebration of Mother's Day we're offering 20% off our Jewels! Enter the discount code "MCJF&F" at checkout by Sunday, May, 12th, and you'll get 20% off all the Jewels in our Queendom!  All USA orders placed by Wednesday, May 15th, should arrive right in time to crown your mom Queen in our Jewels!

Our president, Veronica N. Chapman, won first place in the Merrimack Valley Business Pitch Competition! The pitch focused on how and why we bring fashion to function with our head wrap Jewels, and on our social mission!

If you have an idea for a business that would benefit a community in Massachusetts, or if you are starting a tech company, then please apply for their upcoming pitch competitions: http://goo.gl/TOJ2o

Also, check out Veronica's interview with Kevin Willet of Friends of Kevin where she talks about her experience at the Merrimack Valley Sandbox Pitch Contest!

Join us as the extraordinary stylist Erinn D. Pearson and the Simply Erinn's Unisex Salon team dish on all the secrets and best practices that lead to healthy hair!

Also hear from Veronica N. Chapman, President of My Crowning Jewel, about how queens can now protect their hair in style in our Night Jewels! - And be sure to take advantage of our Satin Bonnet/Do-Rag Buyback Program!

CLICK HERE TO RSVP

Today is International Women's Day.  I am so thankful for all the wonderful women in my life, and for all the women who paved the way so I can walk (and run) fearlessly in the direction of my dreams.  

It would be very difficult to list each and every woman whom I admire and to whom I owe so much gratitude without forgetting someone. - I would not want to do that.  

So to all the women out there, THANK YOU for all you do.  We all know the Earth rotates; I believe we women are the axis. The seasons may change and storms may come, but we continue in support of each other, our families, our friends, society, and hopefully ourselves.

Happy International Women's Day Queendom!

Check out some events happening around the world today: International Women's Day Events

Here are some of my favorite platforms/organizations for women:

Spelman College 

LaunchHer

RosieMade

Wonder Women of Boston

Prosperity Candle

Women 2.0

Web Start Women

Sisters United Enterprises

What organizations are on your list?

Are you on social media?  Do you want to help us crown women Queens in our Crowning Jewels and employ teens this summer? 
 
Are you having trouble figuring out what to say? Let us help you!

If you're on Twitter or Facebook follow this link for some messages you can share with your friends and followers! 

Just cut and paste! 

Thank you so much for your support!

Sincerely,

Team My Crowning Jewel

Back up Sleeping Beauty! You’ve got competition!

For women who wrap their hair at night, who still want to feel beautiful and sexy, our Night Jewels are for you! Have you already joined our Queendom?  What do you wear with your Night Jewel?

MyCrowningJewel.com's Night Jewels by mycrowningjewel featuring lace slips

As you know, My Crowning Jewel women don't just go out, we step out!  Here is one way you can step out in your Zebra Libra:

 

Anatomy of the Michelle Jewel

Named in honor of our first lady, the Michelle is a sophisticated scarf that can be worn in numerous ways. Fully lined, it has a very simple, but classic look.  And like the Libra, it can be worn in numerous ways from the bun at the nape of the neck to the saucy bow at the side of the face.

Here's what we've heard from Queendom members who have purchased a Michelle Jewel, "I love the way the Michelle is contoured to the shape of my head. It makes it easy to wrap so I don't have to fidget with it."

Check out some of the ways you can tie it here.

When describing the power of love author Zora Neal Hurston wrote: 

"Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place."

Today and always we wish you all the love your heart can endure...and more.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

We truly believe women deserve better options for protecting their hair at night. So, in the spirit of gun buyback programs that reward citizens for turning in guns, mostly illegal, to get them off the street, we are endeavoring to get do-rags and satin bonnets out of the bedrooms of Queens, and most certainly off the streets!

For every woman who wants to upgrade her satin bonnet or do-rag to a Night Jewel, we will give you 10% off the price of a Night Jewel at any event where we are a vendor, when you turn in your do-rag or satin bonnet to a My Crowning Jewel representative.

Queens wishing to benefit from this program can check out our events calendar to see where you can turn in the contraband: MCJ EVENTS CALENDAR

Every wonder what makes our Libra Jewels so exquisite and versatile? Our Chief Designer, Luisa Chapman, explains what inspired the design:

FUNCTION
In creating My Crowning Jewel, we had a very simple goal: Make a head wrap that stays on at night. Our extensive research revealed this to be women’s number one concern. Our Libra’s innovative cap and strap construction solved the problem. As the part of the head wrap which covers the head, the cap, is seamed to the parts that tie around the head, the straps or sashes, this allows for the cap to be made of one fabric and the sashes to be made of another. Previously, women had been using a one piece scarf or “do rag” to wrap their hair, usually made of a satiny slippery fabric which came off at night, now the cap could be made of the satin fabric necessary to protect the hair, and the ties could be made of a stretchy fabric whose tension would keep the cap in place.

Some women prefer a real tight wrap while others do not. The Libra’s wrap and tuck feature meets both needs.  Since the sashes are 5” wide, doubled and made of stretch fabric, the cap can be tucked neatly—and securely—inside of the sashes.  Or, the cap can be left untucked.

All of our wraps are adjustable.  The Libra’s perfect fit is accomplished by the 2” space between where the sashes are attached. This allows the head wraps to fit a 20” head or a 24” head.
 
FASHION
We also had a goal of bringing fashion to function.  Why not make head wraps that not only stay on, but are beautiful?  Why not create sleeping beauties? This was the fun part.  And this is where the seamed cap and sash construction proved even more beneficial.  In addition to our basic black Libra, we wanted something sexy, fun, fashionable, beautiful.  We finally settled on a metallic polyester/spandex that had the drapeability of lame, but held up to numerous washings.  Available in light gold, dark gold, gunmetal, copper and midnight blue, these wraps could easily accessorize any fashion statement.
 
VERSATILITY
As the Libra’s sashes are 90” long, they can be tied in a multitude of ways, giving this one head wrap many different looks from the classic turban to the Unicorn to the Rosie the Riveter. The Libras that are made of high quality polyester or silk spandex resist wrinkling. As a result they can be slept in then worn during the day and night. Think about how liberating that is for all the women who don’t have time for hair! We joke around here that our Libras should carry a warning:  You may never do your hair again!
 
QUALITY
At My Crowning Jewel we believe head wraps should have couture quality. Accordingly the Libra has an elegant shirring design at the center of the sash.  As clothes that are lined tend to wear better, the cotton Libras and the Michelles are fully lined, a feature rarely seen in head wraps. And although the cotton Libras and Michelles are meant to be worn as daytime accessories, the beautiful silk/cotton lining still protects the hair. To be certain of the quality we chose a U.S. factory which allowed us to oversee production hands on.  The Roses are also made in the U.S. by a couture house.

Don't have your Jewel yet? Join our Queendom!

Thank you so much for voting for us!  Because of you we won a spot to present our Jewels at Mass Innovation Nights! 

 
We had a wonderful time explaining why women should retire their satin bonnets and frumpy head scarves and upgrade to a Jewel!

Thanks to the Mass Innovation Nights team we have a video of our pitch!

Pictured below is our President, Veronica N. Chapman, and Chief Designer, Luisa Chapman, presenting My Crowning Jewel to the Mass Innovation Nights audience.

Haiku Poems...You remember them right? They are usually the first poems students are taught to write because they are simplistic yet powerful.  

In case you have forgotten your Haiku lessons, here's a quick refresher from Creative Writing Now:

 "Haiku is a Japanese poetry form. A haiku uses just a few words to capture a moment and create a picture in the reader's mind. It is like a tiny window into a scene much larger than itself. Traditionally, haiku is written in three lines, with five syllables in the first line, seven syllables in the second line, and five syllables in the third line."

For some reason this poetic form came to mind the other day so I decided to write one in honor of our Night Jewels. LOL! Here goes...

NIGHT JEWEL HAIKU

Will you join us in a haiku challenge?  Post your haiku below!

Yesterday the Grammy Award nominations were announced and Twitter erupted with well wishes for the favorite musicians of the Twitterverse.  So many articles were published about the most celebrated nominees that it was a little difficult to find the full list of nominations. But I found it!

I couldn’t imagine a world without music; and there isn’t a day when music isn’t heard throughout my queendom; so I’m always excited to see which of my favorite artists make the list, and/or which songs on the list are on my playlists.

I love most genres of music so I was surprised to see that only a few of the artists I like were nominated...Two of them were nominated multiple times!

Nominated Songs/Artists On My Playlists: 

Record Of The Year

Thinkin Bout You - Frank Ocean

Song Of The Year

Adorn - Miguel Pimentel, songwriter (Miguel)

Best New Artist

Frank Ocean

Best R&B Performance

Adorn – Miguel

Best Traditional R&B Performance

Real Good Hands - Gregory Porter - I LOVE Gregory Porter! YES! 

Best R&B Song

Adorn - Miguel Pimentel, songwriter (Miguel)

Best Urban Contemporary Album

Channel Orange - Frank Ocean

Best Gospel Song

Hold On - Cheryl Fortune, James Fortune & Terence Vaughn, songwriters (James Fortune & Fiya, Monica & Fred Hammond)

Best Rap Song

That’s for me to know. ;) LOL!

Lizz Wright is sorely missed from this list.  She is one of the most extraordinary vocalists around, and I always enjoy her wonderful and soul-soothing concerts. If you don’t know her, get to know her! 

Which of the nominees would I hear in your Queendom, and who would you add to the list of nominees?

Real Good Hands, Gregory Porter

The following story is based on a customer's testimony about her experience wearing our Metallic Night Jewel. This story is a creative representation of her testimony. The picture below is of a model wearing the Dark Gold Metallic Night Jewel.

One would think that with my 10-year college reunion approaching, the fact that I am married with two children, and am well into my dream career, I would have long considered myself “grown”. But alas, it hadn’t firmly sunk in until now.  

This year I learned that nothing reminds you that you are in fact a grownup like hosting your family’s first Thanksgiving meal. Yes, this year I was in charge; the head Diva in the kitchen preparing a “real deal” Thanksgiving meal for my husband, our kids, and me. No more showing up at grandma’s house with a dish and my family in tow; it was my time to shine. And boy was my husband excited! To see his excitement made me smile.

Cooking is a process, and when cooking it never fails, you think you have all the ingredients and inevitably a run to the store is necessary.  At the moment when I realized I needed to run to the store I remembered that I had a head wrap on.  Actually I had had it on for the last 10 hours because I didn’t want my hair to get in the way while I was prepping my dishes, and I slept in it.  I have always worn a scarf at night to protect my hair from breakage, but it was never my style to wear a head wrap out in public and the head wrap I used to wear wasn’t presentable enough to do that anyway.

Not too long before Thanksgiving I purchased a head wrap from a new company called My Crowning Jewel.  They call their head wraps “Jewels” because they say they’re exquisite.  I mean they are nice, and the packaging was great, but it wasn’t until I needed to run out and still didn’t want to unwrap my hair that I understood why these “Jewels” are so exquisite. Before running to the store I tucked the cap of my Jewel in under the metallic sashes transforming my Jewel into a stylish turban, and nobody in the store could tell that it was my “night scarf.” All they could tell was that my Jewel was sparkling.  It worked perfectly and I looked great!  Six hours later when I had almost finished cooking dinner my husband said to me, “ Babe, that head wrap looks nice and all, but you’re going to take that off at some point, right?” He wasn’t used to seeing me with my head wrapped past breakfast so this was new to him. LOL! I had just gotten my hair done so I had already planned to take it off before we sat down for dinner, even if I'd be putting it back on in a few hours.

My Thanksgiving dinner was great! I made “the works” and it was bangin! It wasn’t long before my kids became sleepy, and I was a little tired myself. My husband and I picked up our children and ascended the stairs to put them to bed. We finally had time to ourselves! We shut off the lights in our kids' bedroom, retreated to our sanctuary, and closed the door.

Man! I forgot my Jewel in the living room!

Want us to write a story based on your testimony?  E-mail your testimony to customersfirst@mycrowningjewel.com

UPDATE: Here is a clip from the Night Jewel Tutorial: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/27377738/highlight/308088

SAVE THE DATE: Night Jewel Tying Party, Thursday, November 29th, 8:00PM - An ONLINE event! 

LOCATION: Online! - Click on the following link: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/my-crowning-jewel

For those of you who have your Night Jewel, we'll show you all the ways you can tie it before bed, and for when you need to run out and still want to look glamorous!

Even if you don't have yours yet, feel free to join us!

I so look forward to meeting you!

As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, we want to take the time to express our gratitude to you for all your support.  From Friday, November 23, 2012, to Saturday, January 5, 2013, we are offering free shipping on all domestic (US) orders!

Wishing you and yours a marvelous holiday season! :)

Last night I had to run out and really didn't have time for hair, AND it was snowing. But then I thought about this picture of Nina Simone and tried to re-create the style with my Metallic Night Jewel. Thank you for the inspiration Nina! :)

How do you wear your Night Jewel?