redefining beauty

Vogue recently released ‘Braids’ – a new mini-documentary featuring Lupita Nyong’o.

In June, Lupita, gathered six of her closest friends for the day so that she could braid their hair. Yes, you read that correctly. Lupita did not enjoy the experience of having her hair braided while she lived in the states and returned home that summer to have her aunt teach her how to braid the right way. Lupita returned to school ready to engage in a “side hustle” but in the end used braiding hair as an opportunity to connect with good friends, swap stories, laugh and spend time together. The joy and beauty of braiding is what she shares in this great mini-documentary.

I just can’t get enough of Lupita. She is just an actress – right. Her words, speeches, mini-documentaries would be widely embraced and loved without her conscientious acknowledgement and tribute to the Black experience. And yet this actress continues to breathe the politics and empowerment of Black Beauty in countless ways. She went above and beyond in her acceptance speech. Her speech at the 7th Annual Essence Black Women in Hollywood.

I’m touched by the recent Vogue documentary because I too braid hair. Like Lupita I did not learn to braid as a small child. I didn’t grow up with siblings and my mother refused to let me play in her hair. But when I had my beautiful babies I was inspired to share this “special” time with them – braiding their hair. It’s not my side hustle. I have never charged to braid. I’ve even twisted hair for a couple girlfriends. It is a bonding experience that is consistently undervalued. It’s a moment to sit with your daughter/friend – sometimes for hours – and engage, listen and learn while creating something together.

Lupita mentions in her mini-doc that she only braids hair for women where there is trust. Braiding hair is like fine dining. Similarly, as you would not pay top dollar for an inferior meal your child will not elect to sit with you for hours if she does not trust that she will look adorable/stunning when she hops off your stool.

My girls love having their hair braided. And while it is hard to find the time I love it too. It’s fun when we are out and see another little girl and I ask my daughters “Do you like that style” and one of them pipes in “Yes mommy. Can you braid my hair like that next time.” But to my daughters this is our world, our limited experience.

At our Mandarin Immersion school site my two daughters belong to a cohort of three little girls (in a large campus of more than 500 students) that wear box braids, barrettes and the occasional knocker. So it is breathtaking to see the experience of braiding hair and connecting through sisterhood shared in the mainstream media and produced by Vogue.

Thank you Lupita for continuing to force the mainstream media to redefine what is beautiful – my daughters deserve it!!

 
Here are pictures of her friends after receiving braiding at what affectionately was referred to as Lu’s Do’s!!

The women pictured are Jennifer Odera, a graduate student and childhood friend who, like Nyong’o, started having her hair braided when she was “itsy bitsy” in Kenya (where there were hairdressers “on every street corner”) in order to adhere to their primary school uniform dress code; Tashal Brown, an educator and Nyong’o’s roommate from Hampshire College; Yale classmates Miriam Hyman and Hallie Cooper-Novack, as well as Stacey Sargeant, an actress whom she met while at the university; and Nontsikelelo Mutiti, a professor and artist who is currently hosting an art show revolving around the culture of braiding at New York City’s…