As you all may or may not know, I fuck up people's hair and get money for it. The people that I meet on my dreadventures range from greasy balding pockmarked old acid heads who want desperately to rub my shoulders and to show me their "Portal to Another Dimension" (a.k.a. greasy pockmarked old folks orgy), to leather shop owning couples trying to get me into a threesome (Thanks for the spiked bracelet! By the way, your dog's muzzle gets the job done AND scares me in a strange sexually weird way. That's what you're going for right? So...kudos...I guess...), to fresh-out-of-high-school white girls with three inch hair (ignoring my four inch minimum rule) who want to know why they look like fucking Coolio when I'm done with them. It's not my fault that you can't live up to your idealized rastafarian, vegetarian, minimalist, stick-eating animal-humping lifestyle on your way into college! Get a job and maybe your dreads won't look so shitty. Anyway, Naudia Boyd is on the opposite side of the spectrum from these people. Like a needle in a fucking haystack, she is a rare gem of a normal person in my dreadscapades. And by normal I mean I don't suspect her of being a serial murderer, or a raper, or a coprapheliac, or an animal hoarder. Naudia and her husband Steve own a business called Mad Hatter Hoops in which they make all sorts of hula hoops. Hoops that sparkle, light up, shine and bedazzle their way right onto your hips, and can actually be a fantastic form of exercise. Since I found Mad Hatter Hoops a subject of interest, I knew you guys would want to hear about it, so on your behalf, Naudia and Steve agreed to answer a few questions about hooping the light fantastic.
-Alex
1) So how old were you when you first started hooping, and how did you
get into it?
I work for a college, and a couple of years ago one of our students came in with hula hoops one day. They weren't fancy, but they were nice and heavy, and it was so easy to keep it going. I remembered playing with hula hoops as a kid, but I never actually had one. I ended up buying three hoops from her. And was pretty much hooked instantly. Not even a month after buying her hoops, I set out to make my own, so I could spread the love.
2) You told me that you were able to lose a lot of weight hula hooping
and you are very fit and fine if I do say so myself. What makes
hooping a superior form of exercise? Tell me a little bit about that
whole period of time, how much you hooped, when you discovered hooping
was a good way to lose weight.
I have never been active. Ever. Even as a kid, I preferred books and art over going outside to play. I hated gym class with a passion(ate rage). I remember one summer, my mom forced me to join a baseball team. It was a disaster. I loathed every single boring minute of it. And it wasn't just the activity, I was appalled by the competitive attitudes. I just didn't "get" sports. When I got those first hoops, I didn't even think about it being exercise. It was just fun, and silly, and goofy, and sexy... The whole time I was hooping, I was grinning. Ear to ear. Like a kid, playing with her favorite toy! Then, I realized one day that my heart was pumping, and I was a little out of breath. And I realized that this "toy" was a workout. I started looking up hula hooping, and realized there was whole hoop movement going on, and I had no idea.
3) How/When did Mad Hatter Hoops come to be?
I got Naudia into it too, and we started hooping together a lot, and making hoops for friends. We half-heartedly joked about taking a batch of hoops down to the river and just selling them out of our cars. But we didn't. We got distracted by life, and paying bills. But we were still hooping, and losing weight. We love hooping so much, that it started consuming our consciousness. I was distracted at work with the tons of hoop tutorial videos on youtube. Meanwhile Naudia was out committing random acts of hooping all over Portland. In February of this year, we decided we were ready to try being professional hoop makers. We had honed our skills. We had wicked cool tape. We got the best tubing. And we were starting to play around with LEDs. Our hoops were plain kickin ass. We got our biz license, and we are ready to hoop the light fantastic.
4) Give me a low down of your fanciest schmanciest hoops.
Where do I start? I love love love my polypro hoops. They are so versatile for tricks. They have perfect bounce back for doing killer breaks. Since they're lighter, you have to work harder to keep them up which makes for a better cardio workout. And we can add a button to them to make them collapsible, which was a huge plus for me, for traveling. Although, I suppose the fanciest would have be our LED hoops. I'm a photographer and I absolutely love taking long exposure shots of the LED hoops in action. I love seeing the shapes and patterns unfold. But mostly I love losing myself in a galaxy of swirling lights.
5) What's your favorite song or artist to hoop to?
It really depends on my mood. In no particular order I enjoy, Beats Antique, Bassnectar, Silversun Pickups, Tool, Dirty Vegas, Goldfish, Feist, Massive Attack... I could go on and on.
6) Any tips for the hoop-tarded such as myself? Is there a special
key or secret to becoming a world-class hula hooper?
The biggest hurdle is yourself. If you set out to do something with an "I can't do this" attitude, you will start to believe yourself after awhile. If you set out to have fun, and you enjoy being silly, and are willing to keep trying, you WILL get it. Nobody is perfect, and you won't be able to bust out mad tricks until you've been hooping awhile. My single biggest piece of advice is Youtube baby! Search for "how to hula hoop". Once you've got the basics down, try searching for "hoop dance tutorial". You can thank me later :)
My favorite YouTube hoopers in no particular order;
http://www.youtube.com/user/seer5
http://www.youtube.com/user/babzrobinson
http://www.youtube.com/user/Groovinmegzz
http://www.youtube.com/user/ShpongledHoops
7)What are a few awesome tricks that you've learned?
I love the three beat weave, and threading the needle. Both are done with two hoops, large or small. They look so fancy, people are super impressed by them, and they're pretty easy. (Ok, so the three beat weave took me about three days to master... but it was so worth it.)
8) Contact information for people who wanna buy hoops from you guys?
Mad Hatter Hoops World Domination Headquarters is located in sunny (HA!) Portland, OR. We can be reached at 503-774-0512 or email us at [email protected]
9) What are your cats' names, and which one do you love the most?
I have two kittens, Biz Markie and Zed. And while I love them both, Biz is my homie. And Naudia has two step cats, Marbles (a.k.a chubs) and Bruce. She never liked cats until she meet Bruce… He really has softened that bitch up!
-Alex
1) So how old were you when you first started hooping, and how did you
get into it?
I work for a college, and a couple of years ago one of our students came in with hula hoops one day. They weren't fancy, but they were nice and heavy, and it was so easy to keep it going. I remembered playing with hula hoops as a kid, but I never actually had one. I ended up buying three hoops from her. And was pretty much hooked instantly. Not even a month after buying her hoops, I set out to make my own, so I could spread the love.
2) You told me that you were able to lose a lot of weight hula hooping
and you are very fit and fine if I do say so myself. What makes
hooping a superior form of exercise? Tell me a little bit about that
whole period of time, how much you hooped, when you discovered hooping
was a good way to lose weight.
I have never been active. Ever. Even as a kid, I preferred books and art over going outside to play. I hated gym class with a passion(ate rage). I remember one summer, my mom forced me to join a baseball team. It was a disaster. I loathed every single boring minute of it. And it wasn't just the activity, I was appalled by the competitive attitudes. I just didn't "get" sports. When I got those first hoops, I didn't even think about it being exercise. It was just fun, and silly, and goofy, and sexy... The whole time I was hooping, I was grinning. Ear to ear. Like a kid, playing with her favorite toy! Then, I realized one day that my heart was pumping, and I was a little out of breath. And I realized that this "toy" was a workout. I started looking up hula hooping, and realized there was whole hoop movement going on, and I had no idea.
3) How/When did Mad Hatter Hoops come to be?
I got Naudia into it too, and we started hooping together a lot, and making hoops for friends. We half-heartedly joked about taking a batch of hoops down to the river and just selling them out of our cars. But we didn't. We got distracted by life, and paying bills. But we were still hooping, and losing weight. We love hooping so much, that it started consuming our consciousness. I was distracted at work with the tons of hoop tutorial videos on youtube. Meanwhile Naudia was out committing random acts of hooping all over Portland. In February of this year, we decided we were ready to try being professional hoop makers. We had honed our skills. We had wicked cool tape. We got the best tubing. And we were starting to play around with LEDs. Our hoops were plain kickin ass. We got our biz license, and we are ready to hoop the light fantastic.
4) Give me a low down of your fanciest schmanciest hoops.
Where do I start? I love love love my polypro hoops. They are so versatile for tricks. They have perfect bounce back for doing killer breaks. Since they're lighter, you have to work harder to keep them up which makes for a better cardio workout. And we can add a button to them to make them collapsible, which was a huge plus for me, for traveling. Although, I suppose the fanciest would have be our LED hoops. I'm a photographer and I absolutely love taking long exposure shots of the LED hoops in action. I love seeing the shapes and patterns unfold. But mostly I love losing myself in a galaxy of swirling lights.
5) What's your favorite song or artist to hoop to?
It really depends on my mood. In no particular order I enjoy, Beats Antique, Bassnectar, Silversun Pickups, Tool, Dirty Vegas, Goldfish, Feist, Massive Attack... I could go on and on.
6) Any tips for the hoop-tarded such as myself? Is there a special
key or secret to becoming a world-class hula hooper?
The biggest hurdle is yourself. If you set out to do something with an "I can't do this" attitude, you will start to believe yourself after awhile. If you set out to have fun, and you enjoy being silly, and are willing to keep trying, you WILL get it. Nobody is perfect, and you won't be able to bust out mad tricks until you've been hooping awhile. My single biggest piece of advice is Youtube baby! Search for "how to hula hoop". Once you've got the basics down, try searching for "hoop dance tutorial". You can thank me later :)
My favorite YouTube hoopers in no particular order;
http://www.youtube.com/user/seer5
http://www.youtube.com/user/babzrobinson
http://www.youtube.com/user/Groovinmegzz
http://www.youtube.com/user/ShpongledHoops
7)What are a few awesome tricks that you've learned?
I love the three beat weave, and threading the needle. Both are done with two hoops, large or small. They look so fancy, people are super impressed by them, and they're pretty easy. (Ok, so the three beat weave took me about three days to master... but it was so worth it.)
8) Contact information for people who wanna buy hoops from you guys?
Mad Hatter Hoops World Domination Headquarters is located in sunny (HA!) Portland, OR. We can be reached at 503-774-0512 or email us at [email protected]
9) What are your cats' names, and which one do you love the most?
I have two kittens, Biz Markie and Zed. And while I love them both, Biz is my homie. And Naudia has two step cats, Marbles (a.k.a chubs) and Bruce. She never liked cats until she meet Bruce… He really has softened that bitch up!
