- Growing up, especially for me,
I would always just see people with straight hair
and I would just always want my hair straight.
I didn't see a lot of curly haired women
in magazines or on TV.
So I think for me,
it was kind of like something I didn't even realize.
And I just wanted straight hair.
Cause I think you just think
that that makes you prettier, quote unquote.
But nowadays I think being natural
is so much more appreciated.
[soft music]
- Hey Vogue, I'm Ella Mai.
- And I'm Kahh, and today we're gonna be recreating
one of Beyonce's iconic looks from her B-day era.
And so we're just gonna play in that vibe.
[Ella laughs]
[upbeat music]
- So step one,
we're gonna start off with a blow dry cream.
And I like to use this to really coat
and protect her hair before I start blow drying.
You know, just to make sure
the strands are extra, extra juicy.
[laughing] - Moisturized.
[upbeat music]
How did we meet, Kahh?
- Well... [laughs]
- He loves to tell this story so I'll let him tell it.
- We were on Kehlani's, SweetSexySavage tour,
and I was working with Kehlani
on that tour
and we were in London
- Background story.
I didn't have a hair stylist back then.
I was doing my hair myself.
Which is a terrible idea but you know,
you make it work when you have to.
So yeah, go on. Keep going.
- Her tour manager came upstairs and asked me
if I could do her hair.
And you know,
when I had first saw her on the tour
I kept saying to Kelly, like, who is this girl?
Like, what is happening here like?
- He's rude.
- Why is she here like? [Ella laughs]
just asks a ton of questions.
And then the tour manager came and asked that.
And before I could even give a response
I turned around and Ella was standing
right behind me - I was ready!
- From that moment,
we've been working together since it's, that was 2017.
It's been five years.
So the reason I like to section hair before blow drying is
because I feel like it's an easier way to blow dry hair.
Just so it doesn't get tangled or caught up.
[soft jazzy music]
I like to use a flat brush
just because I feel like
it's a bit quicker and easier for me,
depending on the style.
- I feel like round brushes get tangled in my head.
If I'm doing my hair, personally,
my signature hairstyle is a bun
because it's the easiest thing to do and I'm lazy.
And I just, - For sure
- Don't like to spend a lot of time doing my hair.
Why are the Beyonce B-day updo, Kahh?
Because he's part of the Beyhive
and I'm part of the Beyhive
- That, and I just really like that era of Beyonce.
I mean, I've liked every era
but I think that one specifically
- The best one.
- It was so clean, so effortless, so like, beautiful.
And it was a great time for music.
It was a great time for fashion.
It was a great time to have fun
and play around and experiment.
And I've always loved that.
And it's such a trendy hairstyle right now.
And I feel like everyone's attempting to do,
but not doing it right.
- I'm not a super, super experimental girl.
So a lot of the time he wants to do a bunch of stuff
and I'm like, yeah, let's just do a bun.
Let's just do a ponytail.
Let's just play it safe.
But actually, as I'm getting a little bit older
I like to play around a little bit more
giving me credit here.
- [high-pitched] Uh huh.
So, now we are exploring stuff and doing stuff
[blow drying] That's a lot funner
I would say one of my hair heroes
is Alicia Keys
because when I was young,
I just always wanted to be her
with her braids and her beads.
And I look up to her a lot.
What about you?
- I really like Aaliyah, Diana Ross, Diahann Carroll
like that entire era.
I think that was really pretty
the Farrah Fawcetts of the world.
- Mm hm. [blow drying]
- When I was growing up, my mom always did my hair
so I have so many pictures of me
as a child with like, big, fluffy elephants
as like hair bands in my hair.
And there is one school picture that I always tell my mom
she was really, really messed up for
because my hair was not done at all.
She knew it was picture day too,
so I think that was very cruel of her.
But hey, we're here.
As a child,
I hated to sit still and get my hair done.
I used to go to the hair salon and get braids
but my hair would always really be in like
parted into four
and be in like twists or plaits
with big baubles at the end.
My eighth grade prom,
I had flat twists into a ponytail
which was like my first time doing flat twists,
so that was like really exciting for me as a 13-year-old.
And then when I went to high school,
I started experimenting with color.
It was really supposed to be like a burgundy color
but it came out damn near orange.
- It was like Rihanna's Loud era.
- No, that was red.
- But I mean,
- Well it was kind of - Insert picture here.
- Yeah, it was kind of reddish.
It was, it was a mess.
Let's just say that.
And then yeah, I got my friend to cut my fringe.
We call it fringe, you guys call it bangs.
Probably very uneven
but I was definitely,
I was definitely a straight bang,
curly hair girl.
Which now when I look back is really embarrassing.
- So embarrassing.
- Yeah. Like that's
- So glad I didn't know you back then. [laughs]
- We should insert a picture here
of you in high school.
What was it giving?
- Next question, please. [Ella laughs]
[soft music]
- Now I'm gonna put a little bit of oil in her hair.
[chill music]
I part it in three different sections when I'm flat ironing
especially for something like this,
just because
I don't want it to be too straight
because for the style I'm doing
I do want there to be like a little bit of texture in there.
[music continues]
- Growing up, especially for me,
I would always just see people with straight hair
and I would just always want my hair straight.
I didn't see a lot of curly haired women
in magazines or on TV.
So I think for me,
it was kind of like something I didn't even realize.
And I just wanted straight hair.
Cause I think you just think that that
makes you prettier, quote unquote.
But nowadays I think being natural
and really coming in your natural state
is so much more appreciated.
[soft music]
- So now we're gonna go into the real styling portion
and we're gonna get ready for the updo.
So I'm gonna section the hair off again
like I did before.
And so the front I'm gonna section off
because we wanna create those faux bangs.
So now I'm just braiding it
to section it off
just cause it's easier for me.
Some of the ways I do hair
are pretty unconventional sometimes.
I just make it up as I go like whatever works for me
like some of this stuff
but some would just section this in a little clip
but I like to braid it off just cause it's easier.
Trying to perfect my British accent.
[using British accent] So when go back to London
and the boys want to talk to me,
I would easily be able to be like,
'ello mate. [both laughing]
- It's actually so annoying.
[soft music]
- And so I'm gonna
brush this up
just to create that right here
as we have the top sectioned off already.
So right now I'm just gonna be using a butter cream.
And what that'll do is it'll just, again,
add a bit more moisture to the hair
but also it just,
it's really fun.
I'm gonna be using a few elastics
cause I wanted to sit a little higher
because I'm gonna add some extensions.
And I have this trick where I like to just
glue the extensions around the elastics
so that it doesn't touch her hair
but it's not super duper bulky and I don't have to use pins.
So I'm using some extensions
just because I want to add a bit more length.
And if you notice these extensions have
a bit of dimension in them.
So they're, you know, they have some shades of blonde,
they have some shades of her exact color,
they have some low lights in here,
you know I like to play around,
give the girls a new cut, a new color.
Then I'm gonna take a little bit of glue,
throw it on the track
and then just wrap it around.
And I like to do this versus use pins
just because
for me it's a bit quicker, a bit easier,
a bit more efficient.
[blow drying]
Dry it a little first
so it's not too moist, too wet.
And then put the track around the elastic.
[music continues]
And then also for a style like this
you're gonna want to tease the heck out of it.
Just to get it to that,
to that shape you want it.
[music continues]
You mind holding these for me?
You know, sometimes we like to help each other out
even though sometimes she doesn't like to help me out.
You're gonna keep your hand just like this, like a statue.
- [chuckles] That's a lie.
I always help you out.
- And so now I'm gonna go in and begin to pin it up
but I'm gonna tease some of it as well
in the backy back.
So I'm gonna take a little hairspray
and not necessarily to make it flat,
but to comb it together
just cause some of hair is a bit shorter up top.
But to comb that with those longer pieces.
- Do you need these?
- No. Thanks, you're a great assistant.
- Why thank you. I try.
[upbeat music]
- We're just gonna section it in the center
create a nice clean center part
and then just curl away.
And then these, we can kind of pin wherever
just to create a different shape.
So now we're just perfecting these front pieces
just to get them, you know, exactly like how Bey's was.
Or close to how hers were.
- I love Beyonce.
I don't think I've ever met anyone that doesn't.
I think it's impossible not to.
I think she's just so inspirational.
Not even just music wise.
Just if you look up the legacy of her career.
And obviously it's still going.
I think, like, we are speaking about the B-day era.
When you look at Beyonce, she's definitely someone
where you look at in eras,
and I think that's so important as an artist.
Especially when you start from young
and people grow with you.
She's incredible at what she does.
- I'm gonna have to
agree with you, like - Yes.
Beyonce can do
no wrong in my eyes.
I think it's absolutely perfect.
I think everything she touches is gold.
So now I'm just gonna spray some hairspray
over it and
we are pretty much done.
- Well, thank ya.
I appreciate you cause I love this.
- Of course.
So here's the final look.
Very Beyonce-esque, very B-day era.
Not too clean, not too messy.
Just right in the middle.
What do you think?
- I love it.
I feel like I'm living my best Beyonce life,
which I always wanna live every day of my life.
I feel like I can get on stage now and sing,
♪ Let's go a little kitty cat ♪
- Preferably upgrade you
- No! Kitty cat.
- I'll be Jay-Z. - Yeah! [laughs]
- But, thank you Vogue so much for having us.
Thank you Kahh for - Course.
- this amazing look.
[soft music]
[music ends]