WATCH: Braided Beauties At Essence Festival

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Senior Beauty Editor Akili King talks to attendees at Essence Festival about their braided hairstyles.

Transcript

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.

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