- What's up, y'all.
My name is Ebonee Davis.
I just hopped off my time machine from the '70s,
I had to go holler at Diana Ross,
ask her if I could borrow this shirt
so I could show y'all
how I do this luscious, luscious Afro.
(instrumental hip hop music)
Today, I'm gonna be doing double strand twists
after I wash this hair.
Hoo, it's a process.
I really love my hair.
I have a lot of love for my hair.
That wasn't always the case,
I definitely resented it growing up,
but I'm so glad to be in this place
where I truly appreciate my DNA, my genetics,
everything that's been passed down to me.
My hair holds codes,
it downloads information,
it lets me know what's good in the universe,
and I'm super grateful for that.
But to get started
because it is a process,
I'm going to light a little incense
and take a couple deep breaths.
(Ebonee laughs)
Right now, my hair is obviously in a fro state.
When I wash it, you're gonna be able to see
my natural texture is kind of a kinky curl.
It's a little bit different
throughout different parts of my head.
In the front, it's a little less tight of a curl.
In the back, it's a little less tight of a curl.
It's usually like that for most black people
that I've encountered around the perimeter,
just from like being styled more.
And then in the center,
(Ebonee sighs)
that's where it gets fun.
(Ebonee laughs)
That's where it takes a lot of self-love, okay?
A lot of patience
because that's when it gets a little bit more coarse,
but that's okay.
My hair is strong and I love that
because I'm strong and my hair represents me.
So for my tutorial today,
as I go from my luscious fro
into some two-strand twists.
I'm gonna be using Kerastase's line
specifically for curly hair.
It's called Curl Manifesto,
which I love the name of it.
If you know me, you know I'm a magical being,
and I love all things magical,
so manifestation really speaks to my soul.
(Ebonee chuckles)
I'm gonna be starting with the shampoo
and the rinse out conditioner.
And then I'm gonna come back
and show you some of the other products
and how I use them in my hair.
I'll be right back.
All right, I'm back.
I used the shampoo,
I used the conditioner,
and I applied this moisture mask,
which is super important because as a model,
I'm always getting my hair styled,
always getting it manipulated in different ways.
So really taking some extra time to pour love into it
and put a mask on really helps to bring it back to life.
And as you can see,
I have super curly hair,
and I think it's so beautiful.
It's curly, it's kinky.
There are a couple different textures,
but through and through, it's just really curly,
and I love it.
I think it's so beautiful.
The fact that I can look at myself right now
and say I love my hair makes me so emotional
because that definitely wasn't the case
even just a few years ago.
Even when I made the decision to go natural,
it wasn't like I made that choice,
and then right away, I was like,
I'm some Nubian queen.
Like, yes, queen.
Like I feel good about myself.
That's the most important thing to remember
when it comes to natural hair is not only
having patience during the styling process,
but having patience with your emotional process.
Before I get too carried away,
I'm gonna get into my styling process.
First, I'm gonna start by sectioning off
the back part of my hair.
I'm gonna use this satin covered ponytail holder
to hold up the rest of my hair.
This is so great
because other ponytail holders can snag your hair.
(feel good music)
Even though I just washed my hair
and I dried it with this amazing microfiber towel,
Vernon Francois, the hair god,
the hair genius makes this one.
I still actually like to add back in
a little moisture as I'm styling
because it just makes my hair a lot easier to comb through.
And I love when my twists are super juicy in the end,
I just love a good, juicy, thick twist before it dries
and I have my fabulous twist out.
So I have my handy-dandy water bottle here,
and I'm just gonna spray a little bit
on this back section.
And then I'm gonna work with
the Curl Manifesto leave-in conditioner
as a styling product.
Just take a little bit like that.
Nothing too crazy.
And I'm gonna work that through with my fingers.
I detangled in the shower,
so it's pretty easy at this point to use my fingers.
I actually detangled with my fingers in the shower too
because with combs and brushes,
you just can't be as attuned to your hair.
When you come against a snag
and you're using your fingers,
you can pause, work it out as needed,
and it's really gonna help
maintain the length of your hair
because it's gonna prevent breakage.
And that's truly the name of the game.
After I move that product through with my fingers,
I'm gonna go in with my Tangle Teezer brush.
This brush is truly a godsend.
I've used a lot of detangling brushes,
and this right here is the truth.
I've been stuck on this one for a minute.
So I'm gonna go through and brush
just to get that back part really, really sleek and smooth,
so that when it goes into this two-strand twist,
they're really smooth
and all the hair is in the same direction.
That's gonna help with the end result too
when you take the twist out.
Your twist out is popping.
Okay, I'm gonna break this section about half,
and then I'm gonna break it in another half.
And so begins the two-strand twist.
One over top the other
from the root all the way down to the tip.
You might have to stop, brush
because I like to make sure
the tips are really, really smooth.
It just looks better in the end.
And then keep going all the way down.
And then when I get to the end
where I can't really twist it over each other anymore,
I like to just use my finger to create a nice coil.
And that way, when you take the twist out,
there's like a cute little curl at the bottom,
but look, you can see, my juicy twist.
Ooh. I'm excited.
(Ebonee giggles)
(instrumental hip hop music)
Listen to that sound.
Ugh.
It's giving juicy...
Oop.
Look, I was so busy,
I was caught up in the ASMR.
(Ebonee laughs)
I messed up on my twist.
Hold on. (Ebonee chuckles)
I was too caught up in the moment.
And don't worry about the excess products.
If you're a black girl,
you know that that's just conditioner.
It'll soak into the hair after a while,
and it's just gonna keep your hair protected.
So it's not anything to worry about.
Just make sure you don't use
a rinse-out conditioner as a leave-in.
I got to give kudos to Beyonce
because man, LA has changed my life,
but just the way she has affirmed blackness,
especially with the "Lemonade" album like,
♪ I like my baby heir with baby hair and Afros ♪
Like what?
She really gave me the confidence
to step into this new person.
Speaking of Beyonce,
I thought "Black Is King" was so cool
because I feel like it really illuminates
this moment that we're in,
this moment that I was talking about
as far as black people coming into consciousness
of who we are.
And I also thought it was cool because in 2019,
I started my own nonprofit organization called Daughter,
which provides birthright scholarships
to descendants of the diasporas
return back to Ghana for two weeks at a time.
And I did that because I went back myself in 2018,
and it was just such a life-changing experience for me
that I thought that everyone,
everyone who descended from the motherland
needed the opportunity to return.
And it's so funny because... Oop.
It's so funny because it truly came about
because of my hair.
My hair really started this journey
of self exploration for me
in really wanting to get back to the root,
(Ebonee chuckles)
get back to the truth of who I am,
and that's what took me to Ghana.
If I wanted this hairstyle to last
like a few more extra days,
I would use this gel on top of the leave-in conditioner.
But since I'm going to take it out and wear my fro
and just have a twist out style,
I'm not gonna use the gel.
I want my hair to be a little bit more flexible.
So now I'm just gonna go in with my edge control
and my edge brush.
I know you know what this is, okay, sisters.
(Ebonee chuckles)
And I'm just gonna smooth out my edges a little bit,
get my baby hairs together so that they're nice and smooth.
I just love the way it looks, like, damn.
Yes.
Boom. I love to give myself...
Let me try and give myself a little swirl.
Hold on.
I'm giving myself a little swirl.
You got to pull it out.
Trust the process. (Ebonee chuckles)
Okay, so boom.
We got our edges done.
Baby hair is acting right.
Everything is slick.
Everything is super juicy, super healthy.
I'm so happy y'all came to rock with me,
came to listen to me talk about my hair,
and so grateful I got the opportunity
to share my journey with you.
I'm excited to see what this looks like in a couple days
when I take these twists out
because I know it's gonna be a fabulous twist out.
But thank you for staying tuned,
and I'll see y'all soon.
Thank you for watching how I do.
(Ebonee chuckles)