Why is Teen Vogue Treating Gay Boyfriends Like a New Phenomenon? AND The Top Four Reasons Every Glamazon Needs One

You know a social phenomenon is old when it gets covered by a major print publication. Teen Vogue recently released the article, "Is a GBF (Gay Best Friend) the New Must-Have Accessory for Teen Girls?," which equates gay male boyfriends (or husbands as Ferocia and I call it) to handbags, heels and rings.


The association of a human with a product, accessory to be exact, isn't all that bothers me. It's the idea that this is something new.


I've had a gay best friend since my male cousin preferred to jump rope and do my hair instead of playing basketball. 


A diva, better yet a Glamazon, and a gay man are a match made in disco heaven.


My current gay boyfriend---mover and shaker and fashion reporter, Daver Campbell---is the love of my life. There he is below.

I spend many nights out partying in NewYork City with him or making dinner, drinking wine and talking nonsense in my Brooklyn apartment. If he were straight, we would be married.


He is a wonderful friend and a great addition to my life just for being who he is. My good friend, Beautylicious, feels the same way about her gay husband, Josh Swann, who she's been close with for years (he's a manager at MAC Cosmetics and essentially, the younger Sam Fine).

And Ferocia's gay boyfriend, David Lopez, hooks up her weaves so you know they're living happily ever after. 

They have each enhanced our lives in SO many ways, but here are the top four:


-GAYDAR


Every diva is faced with the challenge of warding off undercover gay men who pretend to be straight but in actuality, are "brothers on the DOWN LOW" (Oprah voice.) 


I regularly call on my gay husband to "surprise" visit while I'm hanging out with my boo of the moment in an effort to determine what team he truly plays for. 


One night, a potential suitor admitted to my gay BF that he "hasn't hooked up with a man yet because he doesn't have the guts." See why a gay BF is necessary?


-SHARED LOVE OF FASHION/BEAUTY


Let's ditch the stereotypes: not all gay men are into Fashion and Beauty! But if yours is, there's no better friend to bounce your new clothing or makeup choices off of. 


Why? Because he knows as much about fashion and beauty as a woman does (if not more) but still includes the male perspective. (Trust me on this, gay men may not want "trout" but they still appreciate a woman's body (breasts, hips, butt and legs) and will tell you when you're looking HOT.)


-RELATIONSHIP ADVICE


I always get relationship advice from my gay BF because at the end of the day, he IS a man...which means he still approaches relationships in that direct, no-nonsense way that all men do. 


When it comes to dating, my gay bf gives me a fresh perspective and priceless advice that my women friends can't provide. And I love him for it.


-BEST OF BOTH WORLDS


Did you ever dream of a man who will fix things in your apartment and go shoe-shopping with you, without complaining, later that evening? I have that and more in my gay boyfriend.


We can go from watching sports to critiquing fashion to blasting Lil Kim seamlessly. He does all the things my man won't do, and some of the things my man does (like kill bugs, lol). It's the perfect relationship, without the sex of course.


----


Teen Vogue Editor, Amy Astley, feels that a reason to pick up a gay BF is because they aren't competitive and judgmental like most women via The Cut Blog:

Friendships with other girls — even the healthiest and most supportive of relationships — are always a teeny bit complicated. I hate to admit it, but I feel like a tiny troll next to one of my besties, who is as tall and stunning as a supermodel; another good pal is so outrageously successful that one can't help but seem a bit of an underachiever in comparison. And that's the problem: We girls compare ourselves to one another, and it can just get a bit ... intense. Thank goodness for gay best friends. I treasure my GBFs — I live in New York City; I have many, many! — because they are noncompetitive and nonjudgmental, and we make each other feel accepted and cherished.

Umm, some gay/straight men are competitive and some women aren't. And you can feel just as insecure around a fab model-looking girl as you can around a ridiculously handsome guy (like our gay boyfriends above, haha). I think insecurity has more to do with a person's self-esteem than whether she chills with gay men or straight women. But maybe that's just me.





Anyway: yes, Teen Vogue, gay best friends are amaazing but not close to an accessory, only there to make you feel more secure. Gay men aren't products you select off of a shelf---they're people...though I DO love them like my Louboutins (and that's a lot of love).


Kisses,


Coutura

10 Minutes With: David Lopez

In the 5 years that I've lived in NYC, one friend that consistently amazes me in the realm of REAL talent would definitely have to be hairstylist David Lopez [that's him pictured above]. We met while working in retail hell and bonded over a pile of knit tops. Since then, he's been my go-to guy when it comes to all things hair...more specifically weave. He's like, the weave master and manages to take the most amazing photos of me [see below for Exhibit A]. But, he can also give you a blow out, highlights or a haircut. The beauty about David is that he can do ALL hair types. He's THE next big thing in the world of hair, so you may as well get to know him better.

Yes, this is really me. Ferocia. [I know, I gasped when I saw it, too!] Hair & photography by David Lopez.

Ferocia: Tell us about yourself.

David: Well, what do you want to know?

Ferocia: Give us the PG rated version [laughing].

David: Well, I guess my hair background. I've always been involved with hair. My first involvement was my sister's Barbie. She used to have a life size Barbie and my mom used to get her hair blown out so I wanted to try it on my sister's Barbie. I tried blowing her hair out.

Ferocia: [laughing]

David: But I didn't know that you can't blow dry plastic. So, I tried to blow dry her hair and of course it just, melted. It just made like big circles. I didn't even use the attachment [to the blow dryer]. I just held it there for a little while and then pulled it and it just made a big circle of melted, synthetic hair.

Ferocia: [dying laughing]

David: It was really funny.

Ferocia: That is a hot mess!

David: When I was 12, my mom was like you need to learn how to blow out my hair. She knew I really wanted to do it, so she let me try. She said just try it and do like you see it. So I started blowing out my mom's hair and then I started blowing out my sister's hair. I'm Puerto Rican, so we have like really tough hair. So, that started my whole obsession with "difficult hair types." I'd never really worked with caucasian hair until I was in high school when I started doing my friends' hair. At the time, funny enough, I had a girlfriend and I did her hair for prom.

Ferocia: Why is that funny?

David: Because I'm a huge homo. [sidenote: yes, ladies this cutie pie is gay as glitter; and boys, pipe down because he's got a boyfriend]

Ferocia: [dying laughing]

David: So, I did my girlfriends hair for prom and I started doing haircuts because I would watch my mom get her hair cut and I would just copy whatever I saw the hairstylist doing on my friends. I started reading books about hair cutting and trying to do the diagrams.

I never really thought I wanted to get into hair. I thought it just be something that I'd do for fun. But then I came to NY for acting school and acting really wasn't cutting it because it doesn't pay the bills. I was like I want to do hair, but I don't want to be in a salon. Then, I quickly realized that you can do hair for celebrities, music videos, television and magazines. I was like that's what I want to do.

I want to do hair for fashion, celebrities, music videos.

I would go and buy weave when I was 16 and then go into my room and try to replicate what I saw on the music videos. I would try to glue hair into my sister's head. Poor girl.

Ferocia: So your sister was kind of like your guinea pig.

David: My mom and my sister were definitely my guinea pigs. On my mom's 38th birthday, she decided she wanted to do something really crazy and said let's do something with my hair. I said, oh let me bleach it. So, I bleached it. Well, tried. It didn't really get past orange. She had a big head of orange hair and started crying and was like you have to fix this. So, our power went out because there a storm and I was like, oh shit. I drove through a Tennessee storm to Wal-Mart to buy a box of hair dye to dye it back brown.

Ferocia: Well, at least it was on your mom and not some celebrity.

David: That's why you start early. When you're 16 and not when you're 20.

Ferocia: So, what's your favorite food?

David: I love sweets. Chocolate cake. When it comes to actual food, I love macaroni and cheese. I'm a really big cheese person even though I know it's really bad for you. I love hamburgers. Like a good juicy hamburger I die over. Delicatessen in SoHo has one of the best burgers I've ever had in my entire life. It's not too big or small and so juicy. Literally when you bite into it the grease is just like pouring out of it, which I know sounds really disgusting but is actually really good.

Ferocia: No, I agree with it! Mmmmm...what's your favorite fragrance?

David: Right now? I'm actually really into the Brooks Brothers latest fragrance. It's so masculine and I love it. If I smelled this on another guy I'd be like so turned on.

That's usually how I pick my fragrances. Like if I smelled on someone else I'd get so turned on and then I'm like I'm buying it for myself. Because I'm sure someone else will smell that from me.

Ferocia: When you're not doing hair, what are you doing?

David: I'm involved with alot of other things. I do music. I play guitar and I love to write music and play. Just for fun. I taught myself last year. I played clarinet in high school.

Ferocia: OMG! Me too!

David: Shut up! I work a lot with Devachan Salon. We're writing a book called Curly Girl 2 which is the sequel to the last book called Curly Girl. I'm kind of a production assistant for that right now. Otherwise, I like to play with my mannequins at home and just try different things. Different colors, styles and extension types. I recently started doing a lot of the tape extensions so I really want to start doing that on clientele now.

Ferocia: What else would you like people to know about you?

David: I recently really got into the freelance world of hair and I started working with this company HRS [Hair Room Service] and it's run by my friend Michael who is an agency stylist. Basically what he did was to create a business where you bring the experience of the hair salon to someone's home. Our target is really a higher end clientele that's visiting NYC and don't really know where to get their hair done. It's a really cool thing because I love cutting hair and your get to do it on so many people and make so many great contacts throughout the entire world. You work on so many people from all over the world. I'm pretty sure I'm THIS close to getting signed to an agency. Which should be really exciting! I'm really blessed that my friends have really been the ones that have been able to help me. I like to see their successes, too.

Ferocia: When you met me all those years ago, did you really think that I'd be as fabulous as I am now?

David: [laughing] Of course I did! One of the first things you said to me was "I'm going to be an editor at Vogue one day" and I was like "Oh, ok" and then you went back to folding shirts.

Ferocia: [laughing] Like it was normal, right?!

David: You were like "I'm going to be an editor at Vogue. Excuse me while I go and get the SKU for this shirt."

You can always tell who's driven and who's really going to go far; especially if you live in NY. Definitely you see that drive in you and hopefully you saw it in me, too.

Ferocia: Um, yeah!

David: All those nights folding knits. And re-doing the jean wall.

Ferocia: [laughing] The jean wall! Mess. Burning, hot mess. But, seriously I think it's amazing how now I'm past actually being an editor at Vogue. I'm more like going to be a contributor and write articles for them. Living in NY you never know what's going to happen.

David: NY is a very transient city. You never know who's going to last and who's going to be here. I have so many friends that moved back to Ohio. NY is like one of those places where you just have to stick with it. If you don't have the passion for what you're going after it's not going to happen because it takes a lot out of you to be here. If you're not here for a reason then you shouldn't be here because it's just not worth it; which is why I think so many people end up leaving because they're not really passionate about what it is they want to do.

I'm starting a blog! No name for it yet, but I want it to be all about hair. I'm really excited about it.

Check out David's website [click here] and follow him on twitter (@deadbeatdavid). Word.

xo

Ferocia

Join John Frieda's Sheer Blonde Entourage

Speaking of the fact that blondes have more fun, I recently attended an event hosted by John Frieda that featured a performance by one of my fave blonde bombshells Natasha Bedingfield! (That's me pictured above with a gang of fun beauty bloggers, Natasha B. and my superstar hairstylist friend David Lopez.)

The beauty brand is all about the blondes and (although they have love for all hair shades), created the Sheer Blonde Entourage. If you're a blonde, you should totally join to win fun prizes and free products. And (even if you aren't) still do it anyways just because John Frieda products rock! (Check out my most recent post on some of their new hair product launches for spring here).

xo

Ferocia

Bombshell Blonde: Ferocia Gets (Another) Makeover

It's true when they say that blondes have more fun. I dyed my hair blonde a couple of years ago after moving here to the concrete jungle and (despite a few lapses of the dark haired look) have pretty much stuck with it. The love of my life Adrian Wallace (senior hair colorist at the Rita Hazan Salon) is responsible for coloring my blonde tresses. (He also does my good friend Maura Lynch's from ELLE magazine; that's us pictured below juggling beers during her recent birthday activities haha)

With that said, I woke up one day and decided that I wanted to add more hair to my cropped 'do and called up my good friend David Lopez. He's an amazing hairstylist that I was lucky to meet while working in retail hell after first moving to NY and is THE next big thing. So, we bought some hair and then he went to work sewing it in.

David's tool box.

Almost done! (That's David pictured here.)

Just done!

The result? Beautiful, bouncy, blonde locks. I mean, I could EASILY fill in for a Victoria's Secret model, wouldn't you say? Ugh. L-O-V-E.

Wouldn't you agree that blondes have more fun? If not, why? What's your favorite haircolor?

AND (most importantly) what do you think of my fun, new look?!

xo

Ferocia