The Strategist Haul: What the Editors Bought in February

I, like many other Strategist staffers, have purchased these Wranglers at the convincing recommendation of Rio Viera-Newton. I’m curious about how they’ll fit my plus-size, thick-thighed frame (especially because they run notoriously small), but I’m excited about the prospect of adding cool-casual slacks to my wardrobe. I’ve already started dreaming up outfits.

I’ve loved Audre Lorde since college, and although I’ve read her other work, like Sister Outsider, I’ve been slow to dig into Zami, arguably one of her most popular books. It came up numerous times for a story I’m working on, and it feels like the right time to visit the text for myself.

Winter has not been kind to my hair. If it’s not completely dry when I leave the house in the morning, my curls collapse, completely deflated by the cold. But my very old drugstore blow dryer wasn’t cutting it. Not only did it take forever, it was also actively damaging my hair. That’s the only way I can explain how, one night after work, I walked into Sephora, blacked out, and walked out with a Dyson in my hand. (Don’t worry — I paid for it, according to the receipt and my very sad bank statement.) It really is unbelievably pricey, but I regret nothing. It dries my hair so fast, even using the low setting and a diffuser, and I swear it looks healthier.

Or maybe it looks better because I switched up my hair products. I’m not sure what to think about the recent DevaCurl backlash, but it scared me enough that I bought the highly-recommended Aveda’s Be Curly curl enhancer. As Strategist writer Hilary Reid explained in her roundup of expert-recommended products for curly hair, “The expanding effect of wheat protein adds body and volume to hair, and because wheat protein easily absorbs into the hair shaft, it can help repair damage to the follicle, as well.” After using the stuff for almost a month, I believe it.

Perhaps it is sacrilege for an editor at New York to have made this purchase. But I saw Luke O’Neil wearing a version of this Carhartt baseball cap when he was in town promoting his book Hell World, and I have not been able to stop thinking about it. He had the fitted version, and I went with the adjustable one, but in both cases, there’s something about the combination of the Red Sox logo on the front and the Carhartt tag on the back, all in that sturdy duck canvas, that’s so deeply and wholly New England, it sends shivers up my spine.

I don’t know what possessed me to buy a pair of Converse high-tops. Maybe it’s because my coworker said she was “kind of over” chunky sneakers, or maybe it’s because it feels like spring, or maybe it’s the fact that Green Day came out with a new album this month that I’ve been listening to compulsively, with the fervor of a teenager who carefully writes their favorite song lyrics on their sneakers in pen (one of my favorite pastimes back in the day). Whatever the case, I found these all-white ones at Journeys in SoHo, in case you needed more proof that I am 28 going on 14, and they scratched whatever itch I had. They’re admittedly hard to keep clean but have quickly become the only sneakers I want to wear because they work with everything, and I really like that they’re not broken up by the blue and red stripes.

I’m planning on moving into my first apartment at some point this year, so whenever I see an excellent deal on a possible apartment essential, I buy it. These were 50 percent off at HomeGoods, and while I’m not necessarily a great cook (yet), I figured this was too good of a deal to pass up because they’re utensils I should be able to have long after my first apartment.

Warm hats make my cold, winter morning runs much more bearable, but most of mine are several years old and looking a little worse for wear. I ordered a few replacements including this cozy (but still lightweight and moisture-wicking) Smartwool beanie. It covers my ears (a must), is super soft, and stays put while I’m running.

I also bought the climate-change book that everyone’s talking about and tore through it during an unseasonably warm weekend. It’s a very meditative — and hilarious — tome of doom.

I’m not really a T-shirt person, and I’m definitely not a graphic-tee person, but I came across this “Happy Endings” one from Ganni and couldn’t resist. I tossed it in my cart during one of the Outnet’s sales along with some super-sale Commando and Calvin Klein underwear. I’m happy with everything I received, but one thing that will always delight me the most about ordering from the Outnet is the quick delivery time. The free shipping option got my goodies to me in two days.

Earlier this year, I swapped my iPhone SE for an iPhone 11. (I refuse to say “upgraded” because I’m not exactly sure that’s what it was.) Anyway, as of February 21, I’d yet to get a case for the new phone, so when I saw there was an under-$20 style of handykette — the crossbody phone case that our friends at the Strategist U.K. have spotted on a set of fashionable Europeans — it seemed novel and different and cheap enough to give it a try. I’ve only had it for a few days, so I really can’t speak to how strong or durable the case is. (And to be honest, I’ve only worn it outside of the house once.) But I did wear it while cooking dinner one night, and was totally taken by how, well, handy it was to have my phone (a.k.a. cookbook) at arm’s length without occupying space on my counter near water or spices or other stuff that could damage it. For that reason alone, I think it was worth the modest investment.

An impulse buy for my Sphynx cat, Pebbles, while poking around the new Nordstrom in Midtown on a recent day off. After reading about all the sweaters Barbie Ferreira bought her Sphynx, Morty, I kind of felt like a bad cat dad. Pebbles is tiny — like, about 8 pounds — so I got the extra small and it fits her fine. (Alas that size has sold out, but many others remain available.) The sleeves are a bit long, but cuffing them solves that problem while also giving her some personal style.

I can’t stop buying nubby fleeces from Patagonia. After buying this last month in zip-up-vest form, in black, I recently saw the full-zip Retro Pile jacket on sale in cobalt, so I snagged that, too. Given that I also own the half-zip version in the oatmeal-ish color, I am hoping these very fuzzy times we are in stay that way for at least another winter.

I finally gave in and bought this thing when we ran it as a deal of the day a couple of weeks ago. Between the 25 percent mark down and Casey’s proselytizing, I’m surprised everyone in the office didn’t buy one, too. When I brought it home, my wife asked how much I paid for it, laughed at me, and called it ugly. But that just means it’s all mine. Unlike the foam roller in my closet or the Thera Cane that lives permanently under our bed, the Mynt requires exactly the same amount of effort I am willing to put into using it: none. Lately I’ve taken to propping it on my lower back while I’m on the computer at night, or letting it shift me around awkwardly (but so relaxed) on the couch while we watch McMillions and wonder why it wasn’t condensed into four perfect episodes.

I’m still pregnant, and I will tell you what: No bras are working for me these days. I have big boobs to begin with, and now, after ballooning up and down with my first pregnancy and filling way back up again in the second, they’re just … ugh. I tried this highly recommended True & Co. number but it only supported me for about the first two hours of the day, after which I was bulging and drooping all over the place. I longed to be back in my Hanes pullover bras that I discovered several years ago, after they were put on the free table by our fashion director. Nothing has ever held me in and lifted me up quite like them (and this is coming from someone who once dropped $700 on “investment” undergarments from a fancy Upper East Side lingerie store). The problem was that my usual size small no longer fit me in my prenatal state. But this month I had a revelation: I could just … go up to the next size. And so here I am, back in Hanes.

I’ve been wearing a pair of rimless glasses for the past few years, but they were starting to feel a little too 19th-century-antiquarian-bookseller, so I set out to find something new. After trying on a gazillion pairs of thick acetate frames and round wire frames, I finally landed on this basic Tom Ford pair. I like how nondescript they are, kind of like the glasses that Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson accidentally swap in Something’s Gotta Give.

Last month I interviewed the artist Shannon Cartier Lucy, who has a wonderful show of paintings up at Lubov gallery through the first week of March. In addition to her paintings, she makes some great and wry prints, a few of which happen to be surprisingly affordable. I went for this “Mine, All Mine” one, and can’t wait to hang it in my bedroom.

I also bought this tea tree oil floss, which has a sort of poisonous flavor, but in a good way? I’m not sure if it’s actually more effective than other flosses, but it does taste more medicinal and less sugary, which makes me believe it’s more effective.

Hands down the best purchase I made this month is the audiobook of Jessica Simpson’s new memoir, Open Book. It was the writer Elizabeth Holmes who planted the seed in my head with this tweet, so thank you, Elizabeth! To be honest, I didn’t have much of a relationship to Jessica other than having listened to her songs on Z100 in the ’90s, yet I’ve been finding it so moving and absorbing and just intimate that I even missed my subway stop the other day while Jessica was getting into it about her emotional affair with Johnny Knoxville. She’s a masterful reader and it’s both uncomfortable-making and also so compelling when you hear the tears in her voice when she talks about her relationship to alcohol, her body, her cousin Sarah, her dad, Nick Lachey, John Mayer … Plus, there’s just a lot of good late-90s/early-aughts gossip in it.

Augie is on the verge of walking, so his Zutanos weren’t going to cut it anymore. These have a flexible rubber sole that’s meant for new walkers. (We’re keeping the T-bars aside for special occasions.)

I have to re-up on this guy every four months or so, and February was one of them. I especially feel I have to include it here as I wasn’t able to contribute to the Strategist’s editors’ deodorants story and am horrified that there is no option on that list for rollerball fans. As a Brit, the decision of American men to drag a chalky rectangle across their armpits rather than an easy sphere will never make sense. Mitchum’s is fast-drying, has no smell, lasts forever, and can be easily replaced at any drugstore.

I’ve loved Jungmaven’s rough and stretchy tees and sweatshirts, which are made out of climate-friendly hemp, for years. I’ve always stuck to their solid designs, but couldn’t resist picking up the longsleeve, white option from their cozy new Earth Day shirt range when it was released this month. The design, which could honestly double as Father of the Bride album merch, is relaxed and playful enough to make me feel like I’m at summer camp, but restrained enough not to attract too much attention.

I simply couldn’t justify the price of this planner to myself throughout the months of November, December, and January — but that didn’t stop me wandering into Smythson stores whenever I passed by them to stroke it. But early in February, flying back from a quick trip home before starting my new job (at the Strategist), I came across a massively discounted version in the airport’s duty-free section. I really love the way the pages are balanced between a to-do page and the days of the week, an improvement to my 2019 planner where I had to shamefully re-write a task onto the next day of the week whenever I didn’t finish it. It’s not the only planner with this layout, but it’s the only one that makes me feel like a 1950s Italian banker when I use it. Plus, my Smythson wallet has lasted for six years so far, whereas my Moleskine planner didn’t make it to the end of 2019.

I have a ton of water bottles that I love, but I still can’t get myself to stick to carrying any of them with me on a regular basis. So two weekends ago after doing a makeup shift at the Park Slope Food Coop, I picked up this kid-sized Klean Kanteen Sports bottle in bright green. It was an easy decision because prices at the Coop are a lot cheaper, so I think I only paid $14 or $15. It’s smaller than my other water bottles which has so far made it easier to plop into my bag every day, and the color is really cheerful so I like looking at it on my desk. Who knows if the habit will stick, but so far I’m drinking more water.

This week I spent a few hours walking the aisles of NYC’s annual Toy Fair at the Javits Center. The fair is enormous and extremely fun, but every one of the over 6,000 brands exhibiting is vying for your attention. So it was also exhausting. But there was one booth that felt like an oasis from all the madness. The distributor told me that he focuses on open play style toys made with natural materials, including the German toy food brand Erzi. Erzi’s wooden fruits and vegetables are so beautiful I went online to buy a few for myself as soon as I got home that night. My favorites include this pair of wooden cherries with a suede stem, a tin box of wooden sugar cubes, and a set of wooden cured meats. I’d like to build a little curio cabinet to display them in my apartment, but they’d also be great as they were intended, as gifts for actual kids.

My friend Andrew recently started a company called Jambys that makes boxers with pockets. And though we are buds, and I trust that anything he makes would be great, I was a little skeptical about the need for such a product. Then this month he sent a few pairs to the office for us to try. Now I sleep in them every night. The surprising thing about Jambys, which are basically house shorts, is how insanely soft they are to the touch. A few of the other writers tried them and reported liking the way they feel and fit. And because they’re so comfortable, I’m sure I’ll be wearing them every weekend around the house this summer.