Jay-Z’s performance at the Roots Picnic earlier this month made headlines for a few reasons: Not only was it the first time in seven years the rapper performed live, but he also did so while showcasing a refreshing new African sound.
For nearly a decade, Jay had been grooming locs, as described by his hairstylist Leticia “Letty” Ravello. gq It took six days to fix it with the help of a ton of products from Sacred, Beyoncé’s haircare line earlier this month. Over the weekend, we found out more about the work done in Hove’s African region thanks for a video This story, narrated by Beyoncé, takes an in-depth look at the process and inspiration for the hairstyle.
The clip, which was posted on Sacred YouTube, reveals that the most drastic changes to Jay-Z’s hairstyle were inspired by his family. She first got the idea to grow her hair out eight years ago thanks to her five-year-old daughter, Blue. “The real reason Jay grew his hair out was to show Blue that his hair was like her hair,” Beyoncé recalls in the video. “We really wanted her to love and embrace every inch of her beautiful curly hair.” As Beyoncé explains, this sentiment later inspired Blue to illustrate Matthew Cherry’s best-selling children’s book. child love About a black father doing his daughter’s hair.
Fast forward to this year. A few months before her new African debut, Beyoncé says Jay-Z shared that she wanted to make the change to emulate her father Adenis Reeves. Beyoncé says, “Her dad used to rock the ‘fro, so she wanted to rock the ‘fro in his honor.”
She further explains that Jai exclusively used Sacred products in the process, including the brand detangling spray, Moisturizing Deep ConditionerAnd Moisture Sealing Lotion. This effort required the support of many hands. But perhaps the most heartwarming detail about the process was the steps that both Beyoncé and Blue took to open the lock. According to Bay, it took about one to two hours to detangle each wick and he used a combination of combs and his hands. The process taught her that “you don’t have to be as aggressive (with the hair) and you can just let the products do some of the work.” This meant giving up some of the sacred (especially at the roots, she notes) to help the process.
After trimming the ends and washing Jay’s hair, Ravelo gave Jay a ponytail, resulting in a wavy texture to his hair. As Beyoncé said, “I was so obsessed with Jay’s legs. To be honest, I really didn’t want him to cut them off.” But “on the day of the show, his ‘From’ was beautiful from start to finish.”
