WATCH: Braided Beauties At Essence Festival
Senior Beauty Editor Akili King talks to attendees at Essence Festival about their braided hairstyles.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hey, y'all.
00:01My name is Akili King, the senior beauty
00:03editor at Essence Magazine.
00:05And I'm here at Essence Festival, which is
00:07known for the best braided looks.
00:09And I'm going to chat with some of them about their inspiration
00:12today for braided beauties.
00:14Let's get into it.
00:15I just feel like it's black women's legacy
00:17and our tradition and our birthright
00:18to be able to be creative with our hair.
00:20So I'm just always looking for new and fun things to do.
00:23And when people see the pink, it really
00:24makes them happy and makes them smile.
00:25So I'm always just trying to do something fun with my hair now.
00:28So I am a gym rat.
00:29So I needed something that was going to be pretty and free,
00:32but also let me be sexy at the same time.
00:35So I wanted something that was going
00:36to be comfortable for the summer, something
00:39that I can do that was going to spice up my style.
00:41So the braided bob was the look I went with.
00:44And I used human hair this time.
00:45So I can also get that real feminine touch.
00:47Inspiration really is all like browns and nudes,
00:50because we know brown is beautiful.
00:53Let's get into these brown braids.
00:55Let's touch the floor.
00:57I really loved all the braids I saw in the streets.
01:02And one day, I saw this girl.
01:03And she was wearing these beautiful blue long braids.
01:06And I was like, hey, maybe I could do that.
01:09And add some pink in there, too.
01:11So my inspiration was, I don't know, it was Giving Mermaid.
01:14You know, Chloe with the little mermaid.
01:16She's very in.
01:17So it was Giving Mermaid, you know,
01:19like hippie, essence-fest, you know, a little versatile,
01:23like so in with the braids almost, very versatile.
01:27I love the color.
01:28I just also do a half up and down,
01:31little edges, little together.
01:33And yeah, for me, it's just like, I love wearing braids,
01:36because one, you just see the face.
01:38You know, you don't hide.
01:39Everything's like pulled back.
01:41Very empowered, very girly, very beautiful.
01:44And I think I'm going to keep her for some time.
01:46I have brothers that are younger than me,
01:47but they're going bald.
01:48So that was kind of my inspiration.
01:50I do it for them.
01:51I was going to lock it.
01:52But then I was like, nah, I just kind of
01:53want to keep the braids, because I could do so much with it.
01:55I'm blossoming.
01:56I'm in a bit of a transformation.
01:58And I wanted to come and make a statement.
02:00I wanted to represent black beauty.
02:02I wanted to represent transformation.
02:04And my name also means beautiful flower.
02:07So here you go.