A braided response to a classic voluminous blowout, those part of generations past might have been able to spot the obvious influence of Moesha in the feathery ends and microbraid. The undeniable face of this style in the late 90s and early 00s, Brandy popularised a variety of layered looks both on screen and off and as such deserves her flowers.
Fast forward a decade or two and, as we know, virality in the social media age has become a well oiled machine feeding off snapshots and seconds of filming. We had a look into the original viral video posted on Tik Tok by Lagos-raised Solange Phillips, @solangephillips, that caused the style to land back into the hearts and onto the heads of many. We sat down with the content creator and her real life inspo, childhood friend Eliya Koshoni, to chat about inspiration in the age of social media - from Y2K to Nollywood and all online and offline roads in between.
EK: I wanted to do something different and I was obsessed with @nollybabes on Instagram at the time. They always have these cool ‘90s and 2000s wigs with the flicks and I was just obsessed with it. Then Netflix just flashed the cover of Moesha and that was it. I’m not really a wig person but I really wanted to join in the whole Y2K thing so I wanted to find something that worked for black girls but still kept us trendy.
SP: I think what surprised me the most was Tik Tok’s response to the hairstyle. That was quite shocking. I posted a video, woke up the next day and had thousands of comments, thousands of views. I just did not expect that. It was also the moment I came back to Lagos in December and everybody had the hairstyle. That was crazy. We went to an event and, I swear, there was a line of girls and they all had the hairstyle but different colours.
EK: When I went out [in Lagos] that was just the hairstyle, like a new pick and drop. And everyone had it in different colours and tied it up differently. I thought it was growing within Lagos but at some point we had people from America, Angola messaging me, “do you know who can do these braids?” With a lot of people, I had to send videos of how they tonged it. A lot of people thought it was a special hair but its important that people know that it’s blow dried Xpression.
EK: I think everything’s on Tik Tok at this point. There are so many new ways of growing your hair or wearing protective hairstyles, so much so that they really do influence me and have an effect on what I do with my hair. But, for braids, I don’t think before the feathered braids I had ever seen a braids style that was a proper trend. I feel like we’ve been doing the same [braided] hairstyles for a while. But now, particularly Gen Z and from what I’ve seen in Lagos, people really love a good trend.
SP: I agree with Eliya, I just see it as the power of Tik Tok. Tik Tok has a way of influencing people without having to do too much. It’s just the fact that it’ll pop up on your “for you” page and it’s kind of specific to you based on the algorithm and what your feed is. Things will come up and I’ll be like “oh that’s interesting” and then you see the amount of views and comments and that sort of influences you to learn more about it based on the fact that there are people reposting it and loads of people commenting.
EK: I wouldn’t really say I have a go-to at all. Now there are more instagram pages growing specifically for braids but I never really had to go on there to find a hairstyle. Recently, like I said, @nollybabes or finding a wig or weave hairstyle and trying to do that with braids.
SP: I think I get my inspiration from Eliya to be very honest. She comes up with all sorts every year and they’re the most creative styles you will ever see. Pinterest as well - I see things on there and think, ok maybe I can try and recreate it.
EK: I’d have to say Lagos. I feel a lot more at peace and comfortable when I get my hair done by Lagos braiders. Even if it goes wrong and it might be a hassle to do it again, they will. You can also challenge a Lagos braider, they don't mind going out of their comfort zone and they’re excited to do that. In London, getting my braids done is like booking an appointment for the doctor’s.
SP: I agree, Lagos braiders love a challenge. They’re not being paid enough but they’re so creative. They’re actually one of the most creative human beings I know. It’s art, what they do and how they’re able to do that. But people don’t see it that way, they think it’s just hairstyles and braiding. Even the layered braids, what it took to create that. Eliya, I want you to tell the story-
EK: There was a lot of trial and error and tears. The first time I showed the braiders they were like “what the hell?”. First, I did pick and drop and I had to find an old-school oven tong on the island which was impossible. Got in contact with someone in Surulere and they were looking at me like “I don’t know if we can do this,” but they ended up doing my braids three times before we got it.
EK: Solange knows because we went to school together but I don’t really try to style my braids. I’m really scarred because I used to do that a lot in prep school and my hairline just finished. Ever since then I’ve just left my hair.
SP: I was just about to say, I don’t know why our parents let us do all those all-back ponytails. But once you get older you kind of know how to do it without breaking your hair. My go-to now is sort of half-up-half-down, a few strands in the front - it depends on the look I’m going for. I’ve also gotten into using hair clips.
EK: I think people are seeing that you can do a lot more with braids and attachment [extensions]. So maybe more creative and exciting hairstyles, probably more complicated. Maybe a lot of weaving, I’ve been seeing a lot of detailed weaving. And everyone still really likes the flick of the tongs so more of that.
SP: Colours! People are experimenting with all sorts of colours and mixing colours I didn’t even know could be mixed. I know recently everyone’s been doing ginger.
EK: Even Xpression and Darling hair are moving with that trend. They have like three shades of pink, three shades of purple so there’s a lot to experiment with.
EK: Gummy hair gel. Done, that’s it. That’s the only hair gel that’s ever worked for me. But, I don’t know, castor oil and water are also the best.
SP: Recently, I’m going to say it’s been holding spray. Eliya put me on like a year ago and it actually changed the game. With the feathered ends of braids, they keep it in that tonged shape.
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