WOMEN’S FLAT TRACK ROLLER DERBY MAGAZINE ISSUE 27, SPRING 2015
proud partner of the WFTDA
fiveonfivemag.com
fiveonfive contents 34-37
4-5 advice ask ms d’fiant and suzy hotrod!
WFTDA As WFTDA turns ten, five of our pioneers reminisce about the early days and what it took to get started.
6-9 business social media the making of a roller derby league
10-16
health and fitness skin care product review agility ladders
46-49
18-22 games and coaching
Fast Girl Skates
strategy contested jam order of operations: control thyself
As derbyland’s first brick and mortar store, Fast Girl Skates continues to provide skaters with custom skates and unparalleled support and eduction.
26-31 38-40
junior derby coaching junior derby saved my skate
Gregory Baxley
gear knee gaskets wheel review
54-57 2014 World Cup
42-45 rookie
Team USA comes out on top of the World Cup again, but teams from other countries are gaining ground.
training true beginners to skate juking the hurdles
Dave Wood Photography
54-57 international derby 60-63 art and media
REVIVA LABS anti-aging night cream T R I P L E S H O T M I S T O, R O C K Y M O U N TA I N R O L L E R G I R L S
Glycolic acid, DMAE, parabens, freeradicals, antioxidants, Alpha lipoic acid, omega-3, peptides, hyaluronic acid, Retin-A, DHA... ahhhh! What the heck do all these scientific words and acronyms mean? And how in the world do I know what, and where, and when to use each of them? How much do I use, and for how long, and when will I see the difference? Will it make me breakout? Is it natural? Does it smell good or bad? Is it drying? Will it work? How much does it cost? OK, breathe... seriously... I’m constantly reminding myself that there are far more important things in life than picking effective beauty products, but I continually find myself wasting precious time perusing store aisles filled with a myriad of products promising me the perfect face-lift in a bottle. If only those gripping cliché claims were true-sigh! If there’s one thing I know to be true, it’s that consistent use of a decent facial moisturizer can stave years off a weathered face. Trust me, I’ve cross referenced many an elderly relative with their skin’s apparent age versus their use of daily moisturizer. The results are in and they’re undeniably in favor of moisturizer. Use it, and use it religiously, every day and start young, because there’s nothing like looking 70 years old when you’re really pushing 90! And so here we are, at the real point of my story, a review on
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a moisturizer/skin cream by Reviva Labs. It’s the Reviva Labs Alpha Lipoic Acid, Vitamin C Ester, & DMAE Cream (umm, that’s a tongue twister) to be exact. Reviva Labs is not a product line I have used in the past, nor something that caught my eye due to brilliant marketing and labeling. In fact, the whole product line’s labeling is rather nondescript. It is, however, a product line that perks my interest. The more I learn about the company history, mission, and design, the more I find myself becoming an instant fan of their products. Reviva Labs is an all natural, paraben free product line with a conscience. They donate to the Human Society, ASPCA, Habitat for Humanity, Marine Mammal Stranding Center, and cancer research just to name a few. Their products are targeted and varied, and perhaps most important, affordable. The company has been around for over four decades and they take extreme pride in their longevity and pioneering all natural culture. They’re a multicontinent brand and an innovator in skin care whose primary form of marketing is straight up word-ofmouth proof. I received Reviva Labs Alpha Lipoic Acid night cream a little over two months ago. The product is known as a powerful antioxidant that’s well tolerated by the skin. Alpha Lipoic Acid is a natural occurring product in our
skin cells. It helps cells with regeneration, texture, anti-aging, and inflammation. In fact, it does all the things stronger more potent creams and prescription retinoid creams do sans any of the irritation or side effects. In effect, it’s my dream cream; my skin has a propensity to be easily irritated and highly prone to breakouts, despite my age. I also worshipped the sun throughout my teens and twenties and have ample fine lines, wrinkles, and age spots to contend with. On paper, this Reviva Labs night cream is the perfect solution to my skin care problems-so here we go... The Reviva Alpha Lipoic Acid cream is surprisingly light, airy, and moisturizing. I was expecting a pasty drying cream and instead my skin feels soft, cool, and refreshed after each and every use. The cream has absolutely zero scent, which I’m surprised to find that I adore. Normally I’m besieged by the allure of sophisticated scent and design, but with Reviva I adore that it’s not trying to pretend to be something it’s not. Reviva isn’t pretentious, fancy, or convincingly sweet smelling, it just is what it is, a plain white cream promising to help your skin fight aging, without aggravation, without parabens, naturally. I’m delighted to say; from as far as I can tell, Reviva Labs delivers as promised. In my two plus months of use, I have yet to break out in a single
blemish, my skin seems to thirst less in the arid mountain climate where I live, my smile lines are slowly softening, my skin feels firmer in a relaxed sort of way, and perhaps best yet, whether real or imagined, my age spots are slightly less pronounced. I think I love this cream and let me tell you, I’ve tried hundreds of creams and spent thousands of dollars on products that I end up absolutely detesting. Reviva Labs Alpha Lipoic Acid Vitamin C Ester & DMAE Cream is
a winner in my book and a product I personally recommend. Moreover, the company has something for every skin care need from skin brighteners, to make-up, day creams and night creams targeted to various skin tendencies, cleansers, supplements, protectants, soaps, and masks. I can’t wait to test more of the Reviva Labs product line. Perhaps best yet, Reviva Labs is intent on consumer education. They send beauty tips and informative
material with all of their products and have further educational tools on their website revivalabs.com. In all my years of beauty product use, I love getting informative tidbits from the Reviva Labs supplemental guide. If you’re a beauty junky like me, scratch that, if you are a human with skin, check out the Reviva Labs product line. At only $23 a jar, I’d wager you’d end up with a similar opinion – refreshed, smooth, and firm!H
Helpful tidbits: • Massaging the face before applying cream stimulates circulation and aids product absorption. • Changing up your product rotation ensures skin doesn’t build immunity to a product and stop responding. • Keep your skin moisturized, even if you think it’s oily. Moisture loss is one of the quickest accelerators of skin aging. • Day creams remain “on top” of the skin and provide a barrier to pollutants while protecting from moisture loss. Night creams are formulated to actually penetrate the surface of the skin and correct skin flaws. Don’t assume that day and night creams are interchangeable.
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Atom Wheels Juke (Green 95a Alloy hubcap), Boom (hollow core FIRM black), Boom (alloy hubcap X-Firm gray), DNA (black, no durometer info). All the Atom wheels we tried were both low profile (59mm) and narrow (38mm). Both Juke and Boom models come in a LOT of colors, hardness and sizes. We were excited to give these head to head comparisons because we’ve always been curious about the alloy hubcaps. After testing, however, we agreed that the hubcap did not significantly change the performance of these wheels; it’s the equivalent of fancy (standard sized) rims for your car. They just look super fly. That said, what was surprising to us was that the Jukes (at 95) were harder than the X-Firm Booms! In fact, both Boom models we tried (Firm and X-Firm) were among the grippiest wheels we tried out of all the different brands and wheels. So if you’re looking for superior grip, Boom might be a great place to start. The Boom Firm felt comparable to a 92 in other brands, while the X-Firm was grippier even than the 93 Juice wheels. The Firm black Boom was also super hot looking. The Boom wheel has a small but functional lip, and I think that helps it perform great around the turns. This wheel has a lot of rebound to help with acceleration, as well. If you like hard wheels, I would steer you toward the Juke. But if you love good grip or you skate on a slippery floor, the Boom wheel is great. The DNA was also black (with a pink hub) and performed outstanding on the wood floor. In fact, the DNA was one of our favorite grippy wheels at the Dollhouse. It had a wicked loud plow screech and stopped on a dime, and had the best combo of speed and grip for juking on the slippery floor, as well. We argued over who would get to test it outdoors for durability. Testing is still in progress!
Spring 2015 | fiveonfivemag.com
Jules Doyle
Radar Presto (gray/purple 97) At 97 durometer, the narrow, lipless Presto is obviously not ideal for a super slippery floor, but these have been Trish’s favorite wheels on our cement track for months so we added them to our list, as well. They’re outstanding on our grippy track and deliver fast, loud plows and great grip and control. They are also super durable; after more than six months of skating, they still haven’t coned. For obvious reasons, the 97 didn’t perform quite as well in the slippery Dollhouse, though I feel certain that the 91s or 93s would have been amazing, and the special edition Vagine Regime 94s were about as close to perfect as you can get on the Skate Court at RollerCon. Even though they were too firm for the fast wood floor, they still had outstanding screech when plowing, and they were awesome on the (slightly grippier) banked track.
GRN MNSTR Morph (88/93) OH MY GOD, THESE WHEELS ARE BEAUTIFUL. These are, without question, the prettiest wheels ever – assuming that you like loud neon colors, of course. I DO. The purple hub ones make me wish I skated on a slippery floor every day – they’re that beautiful. Fortunately, we tried a white/off white prototype, otherwise I probably would have been unable to skate at all for staring at my feet with giant hearts shooting out of my eyes! The 88 (lip) 93 (body) prototype had great speed and fantastic grip when you dig, especially on the turns and for lateral juking. They were fantastic for jumping and had really good acceleration, as well. However, they slid out on plow stops on the slippery Dollhouse floor, and had zero screech – but we tried the firmest combo, so I bet the incredibly beautiful other choices of durometer would be fantastic. I might have dreams about how pretty these are tonight. Did I mention most beautiful wheels ever?
For more information on wheel durometer and other performance features, please check out this 2009 article. I prefer harder wheels now, but the science is still accurate! sincityskates.com/images/downloads/sincity_wheels_grippiness_and_durometer.pdfH
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