Natural Hair Inspo from a Celebrity Hair Stylist: Lacy Redway
As a natural haired black woman, I find my relationship with my hair to be quite tumultuous.
On one end, I am relieved - even five years later - that I no longer have to keep getting touch ups of perm on my new growth and bracing myself while my sensitive scalped burned. On the other hand, I do sometimes miss the autonomy I had over my overall appearance and how easily I could give myself a certain overall look or aura. While I navigate and learn more about my hair, I find myself just doing the easiest style I can - a puff or two cornrows. These work for me and the life that I lead, but sometimes I need something fresh, something that makes me feel like a brand new woman. I love my hair texture, but it can be challenging to find a style that's both socially “acceptable,” embraces the hair pattern, and is actually cute! It’s at these moments that I consult my pinned, saved and screen capped hairstyles I’ve seen across the internet, for some inspiration.
Lately, I’ve found myself extremely enamored and covetous of the beautifully executed creations of Lacy Redway, stylist to the stars. She’s worked with women of varying races and hair types, but for me, her work with brown skinned beauties Tessa Thompson, Yara Shahidi and Zazie Beetz is really a standout among the masses. All women have different hair types, yet Lacy manages to create looks that I think any girl would look great in, including the black woman with tightly coiled strands. Her creations double as artwork and protective styles, which I especially love.
Here are some of her especially gorgeous styles of late. Perhaps you’ll see something you too would like to try this fall. Please also be sure to check out her feed on Instagram for an even wider range of her work and styles she's done on so many other beautiful women, including Kiki Layne, Jourdan Dunn, Amandla Stenberg, Tracee Ellis Ross, Angela Bassett, Lupita Nyongo and Ruth Negga!
BRAIDS
Source: Lacy’s Instagram
Source: Instagram
Lacy excels at braiding in an assortment of styles and lengths. On Zazie (left) we see thicker, very natural looking braids with loose wavy ends. They’ve been styled in an elegant updo with the loose pieces tumbling down on one side. On the right, we see a more eclectic look on Tessa, with waist-length brown and blonde braids that have been braided again, and embellished with pearls! I honestly don’t know which I love more.
BUNS
I used to think that once my mom stopped doing my hair, I’d never wear buns or pigtails of any sort again. But Lacy proves to us that buns and knots can be just as grown and sexy as any other style. Be it oversized bantu knots as we see on the left, asymmetrical buns like we see in the middle, or the sleek triple bun mohawk like we see on the right - this style is for everyone.
CURLY UPDO
Source: StyleBistro
Source: StyleBistro
This up-do is a much sleeker and more intentional version of my wash-n-go puff that I wear every day. On the left, it looks like Lacy took a fresh twist-out or braid out and shaped them into curls, while on the right, it looks like the same style might have been blow-dried out or something. I’m not a stylist, but whatever the technique, I’d wear both of these. Who says natural hair can’t be glam or elegant?
FROS
Source: StyleBistro
I rarely wear my fro out and about, mainly because I don’t like wearing my hair down in any form. It has something to do with not being able to control it in case the wind blows or it rains - I’m crazy. In spite of this, I’m totally in love with both versions of Zazie’s fros, as styled by Lacy. On the left we have a blown out version , and on the right, it just seems to have been moisturized and plucked out in all its glory. A reminder that our hair IS and CAN be red-carpet worthy.
CORNROWS
They say that trends just keep recycling themselves, and in this case, I am so happy they do. Growing up, cornrows were an everyday style, not designed to be cute, but just to keep my hair presentable until the next wash. I remember begging my mom for the ones with all the twists and turns like everyone else had at school. Well both of these styles are so much cooler than the ones I grew up wanting, simply from execution. The baby hairs and the mohawk fusion are a great way to freshen up and turn the classic cornrow on its head.
