{"id":176439421,"date":"2014-07-02T02:21:38","date_gmt":"2014-07-02T07:21:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/?p=176439421"},"modified":"2014-07-02T02:26:39","modified_gmt":"2014-07-02T07:26:39","slug":"fashion-video-lupita-nyongo-knows-how-to-braid-hair-like-a-pro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/2014\/07\/02\/fashion-video-lupita-nyongo-knows-how-to-braid-hair-like-a-pro\/","title":{"rendered":"FASHION + VIDEO: Lupita Nyong&#8217;o Knows How To Braid Hair Like A Pro"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/vogue.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-176439425\" alt=\"vogue\" src=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/vogue.jpg\" width=\"100\" height=\"28\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>June 30, 2014<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<header>\n<h1><a href=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/lupita-02.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-176439423\" alt=\"lupita 02\" src=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/lupita-02.jpg\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/lupita-02.jpg 800w, https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/lupita-02-300x168.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">On a recent Monday afternoon in June,\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.vogue.com\/magazine\/article\/lupita-nyongo-first-vogue-cover\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Lupita Nyong\u2019o<\/span><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0is hovering above six of her closest friends, who are swiveling atop the black leather barber style chairs inside New York City\u2019s sunlit\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/ludlowblunt.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Ludlow Blunt<\/span><\/a>\u00a0salon. They have come from all over the Eastern seaboard for the day to have Nyong\u2019o braid their hair. \u201cLu\u2019s \u2018Do\u2019s,\u2019\u201d they call out, referencing the Oscar-winning actress\u2019s hidden talent for professional-level plaiting, before breaking into peels of laughter. \u201cFour and a half stars on Yelp!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">As Nyong\u2019o sets to twisting Bantu knots, sculpting dookie braids, and meticulously sectioning hair into cornrows, her friends close their eyes and lean to her will. It\u2019s a ritual they\u2019ve been taking part of together for over a decade, since the Kenya-bred actress made a vow to master the skill while attending Amherst\u2019s Hampshire College after finding herself \u201cmorbidly disappointed\u201d with braiding salons stateside. She vowed to learn how to style her own and held hopes of turning it into a money-making \u201cside hustle\u201d at drama school.\u00a0It turned out to be neither; holding her arms above her own head for such a long time felt like \u201can act of madness,\u201d she laughingly admits, and she didn\u2019t have the heart to charge her friends.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><div style='text-align:center'>\r\n<script type='text\/javascript' src='http:\/\/pshared.5min.com\/Scripts\/PlayerSeed.js?sid=281&width=560&height=345&playList=518293859'><\/script>\r\n<br\/>\r\n<\/div><\/b><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">What braiding did become was an unlikely asset for acting training\u2014she credits the skill with keeping her awake during hours long classes at Hampshire and, later the Yale School of Drama, and for forging lasting, intimate relationships with the \u201cgenuine,\u201d \u201chonest,\u201d \u201ccreative\u201d friends who continue to \u201cchallenge me and require me to grow as a human being.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">The women in question are\u00a0<strong>Jennifer Odera,<\/strong>\u00a0a graduate student and childhood friend who, like Nyong\u2019o, started having her hair braided when she was \u201citsy bitsy\u201d in Kenya (where there were hairdressers \u201con every street corner\u201d) in order to adhere to their primary school uniform dress code;\u00a0<strong>Tashal Brown,<\/strong>\u00a0an educator and Nyong\u2019o\u2019s roommate from Hampshire College; Yale classmates<strong>\u00a0Miriam Hyman<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<strong>Hallie Cooper-Novack,<\/strong>\u00a0 as well as\u00a0<strong>Stacey Sargeant,<\/strong>\u00a0an actress whom she met while at the university; and\u00a0<strong>Nontsikelelo Mutiti,<\/strong>\u00a0a professor and artist who is currently hosting an art show revolving around the culture of braiding at New York City\u2019s Recess gallery.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Upon seeing each other reunited for the occasion, their voices jump an octave and Nyong\u2019o exclaims in excitement, \u201cI\u2019m going to cry!\u201d They hug, they sing, they dance across the salon\u2019s white tiled floor, but now that the braiding has commenced, they move into more meditative catch-ups, occasionally breaking for laughter when topics turn to Da Brat and Kris Kross\u2014\u201cI definitely wore my jeans backwards,\u201d admits Nyong\u2019o. When she finishes a friend\u2019s twists, she brushes off her shoulders in jest.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Joking aside, it\u2019s a painstaking process that Nyong\u2019o takes seriously. \u201cYour hair is your frame\u2014it\u2019s so important,\u201d she says. And, she emphasizes, \u201cbraiding tells a story,\u201d marking the body with a symbol of communal affection. As Mutiti says simply, \u201cbraiding connects.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">These days, as the growing responsibilities of life, family, and career take hold, the ritual remains precious between friends. \u201cI\u2019m really hoping the acting thing\u00a0<em>does<\/em>\u00a0work out,\u201d says Nyong\u2019o with a smile. \u201cThen this can remain a hobby for those lucky few.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&gt;via:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vogue.com\/vogue-daily\/article\/lupita-nyongo-hair-braiding-video\/#1\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.vogue.com\/vogue-daily\/article\/lupita-nyongo-hair-braiding-video\/#1<\/a><\/p>\n<\/header>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; June 30, 2014 &nbsp; &nbsp; On a recent Monday afternoon in June,\u00a0Lupita Nyong\u2019o\u00a0is hovering above six of her closest friends, who are swiveling atop the black leather barber style chairs inside New York City\u2019s sunlit\u00a0Ludlow Blunt\u00a0salon. They have come from all over the Eastern seaboard for the day to have Nyong\u2019o braid their hair. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[6],"tags":[4,12,11],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176439421"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176439421"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176439421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":176439464,"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176439421\/revisions\/176439464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176439421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176439421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176439421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}