Now that you've canceled your meetings for the day, called out of work, and sat in your stylist's chair for more than six hours, your box braids are complete and you can give your Instagram-feed the Poetic Justice vibes it's been needing; but we all know that after a week or two, we're ready to free our tresses from their shackles and move on to a new style. To remedy this problem, we've searched the internet far and wide and compiled a list of ways to upgrade your traditional box braids into a whole masterpiece.
Nothing is more sacred to a Black woman than a fresh set of individuals and xoNecole is here to provide you with the perfect guide to how you can hook yours up just in time for the holiday season.
Here's a list of some of our favorite celebrity-inspired box braid styles that gives this old school hairstyle a modern makeover.
1.Ashley Blaine Featherson
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Ashley Blaine Featherson gave her box braid style a throwback feel by opting to put it into a half ponytail styled to the side.
2.Yvonne Orji
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Yvonne Orji achieved full queen status at ESSENCE's Black Women in Hollywood Awards this year and adorned her braided crown with a gold headband.
3.Teyonah Parris
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Teyonah Parris rocked this embellished box braid look in 2016 and it still hasn't gone out of style. Level up your look from simple to sophisticated by adding a floral element to your braided ponytail.
4.Skai Jackson
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This braided bow makes 17-year-old actress Skai Jackson look wise beyond her years, so it's sure to help you get your grown and sexy energy all the way together and you can learn exactly how to accomplish this style here.
5.Amandla Stenberg
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Amandla Stenberg gave her braids the ultimate upgrade by implementing different hues of blue braiding hair.
6.Jessica Williams
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Jessica Williams is a pro at box braids and proves that this look is perfect for days when you're prepared to let your jewelry and makeup be the stars of the show.
7.Danai Gurira
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Danai Gurira is always giving us the natural hair inspo we didn't know we needed, and this threaded box braid up-do is no exception.
8.Tessa Thompson
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Tessa Thompson can do no wrong, and her braids are everything that's right in this world.
9.Amandla Stenberg
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Queen of rocking braids on the red carpet, Amandla Stenberg stuns again, this time with an asymmetrical box braid bob. We couldn't help but add sis to the line-up.
10.Bantu Braids
Jessica Williams came through with the come through yet again with this Bantu braided style that we can't wait to try this winter.
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Featured image by Randy Shropshire/Getty Images for InStyle.
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Skylar sees things differently. At the time, she was shooting content on her iPhone. Temi came into the picture with a new perspective, an understanding of tech, and, eventually, a camera. “He doesn't give himself enough credit,” Skylar says. “He wasn't just my tripod. He wasn't just standing behind the camera and going ‘click.’ He was giving advice. He was giving me insight to how I could look at things from a different perspective. And I was like, 'Oh, he’s an artist.' I think it was maybe a heartbeat of that kind of energy of like, ‘Baby, can you take this picture?’ And it turned so quickly into, we're partners. We can work together in a way where we're advancing each other's creative thinking.”
The pair often says they’re two sides of the same coin. Skylar is an Aquarius. She attended art school, paints, and loves poetry. She’s more than happy to let the couple’s management firm and agency, Kensington Grey, handle their admin work. And, she loves to sleep in. Temi, on the other hand, wakes up early. He’s a Virgo. He loves a to-do list and regularly checks in on the couple’s brand partnerships spreadsheet to make sure everything is on track.
Because his storytelling was steeped in his love of technology, he didn’t always think of himself as a creative person. “Where I [am] the dreamer who wants to pluck things out of the sky and spend all day with my head in the clouds, Temi [is] so good at grounding me and helping me figure out how to make things make sense on paper. We just work together in such a complimentary way,” Skylar says.
It’s been more than six years since Brooklyn-based couple Temi and Skylar started dating, and nearly four since they cemented their working relationship. On TikTok and Instagram, the couple’s travel, fashion, and home content regularly rack up hundreds of thousands of views. They’ve worked with brands such as Coach, Aesop, Away, and Liquid IV, bringing their vibrant perspectives to every campaign they execute. Still, nearly two years since both Temi and Skylar committed to full-time content creation and creative directing, the couple says their romantic connection remains their priority.
“We told each other we would much rather go back to full-time jobs and preserve our relationship than to be full-time freelancers, barely getting a night's rest [and] barely kissing each other because we're so busy shooting,” Skylar says.
Working from home can make it hard to separate work from personal life for any entrepreneur. It can be even more challenging when your business partner is also your lover. Temi and Skylar had already used couples therapy as a tool to help them effectively communicate with one another. When they ran into challenges while working together, their therapist helped them set physical boundaries to help combat the issues.
"We told each other we would much rather go back to full-time jobs and preserve our relationship than to be full-time freelancers, barely getting a night's rest [and] barely kissing each other because we're so busy shooting."
“It actually took us doing very specific physical things to create boundaries between work and play in our relationship,” Skylar says. “So, for instance, we will only have conversations about work when we're out of bed or we're at the table or in the office. Initially, when we started, we had to light a candle to say that, 'Okay, this is a space where we're connecting, we’re not talking about work.' We needed really hard boundaries at the top. And then it became a little bit more organic.”
The boundaries have been crucial to implement, especially because the couple began working together so naturally. When the pair first met, Skylar was NY-based a social strategist for BuzzFeed and was using content creation to drive business to her lingerie company. She was shooting her own content. Temi was working for Microsoft in D.C. He’d recently traded in his DJing equipment for a camera. “I've always loved taking pictures,” he says. “Even when I was a kid, my African mother would wake me up at 3:00 a.m. [during a] party, and be like, 'Come take the family picture.'”
Growing up, Temi says he watched his parents support each other and be the true definition of partners. He knew he wanted the same for his own relationship. But, the couple also wanted to make sure they were being financially responsible. The pair didn’t quit their traditional jobs until they’d saved up two years' worth of their cost of living. And, Temi received his Master of Business Administration from New York University with the knowledge that it could either help him advance in his corporate career or be applicable to his business with Skylar.
Temi and SkylarCj Hart @hartbreakToday, they say their working relationship is more of a “quiet dance.” They still implement some of the boundaries they learned in therapy, but they also lean into their natural strengths and deep love for one another. When we speak, Temi has planned a date for the couple to see Princess Mononoke in 4K IMAX and added it to their Notion so they can factor it into their busy schedules. “I fully plan to date for the rest of my life,” he says.
Skylar says the couple doesn’t just wait for date nights to check in with one another, though. This often happens in the mornings, after Temi has made her peppermint tea and poured himself a cup of coffee. When they ask each other how they slept, she says, it’s not just a “nicety.” It’s a genuine question meant to foster connection.
“A lot of it happens during the day in the midst of work. We'll stop and we'll hug. Or we’ll slow dance in the kitchen,” she says. “Sometimes it's hard to set a whole date night when you have 7,000 things going on. So, we must grasp these moments and check in when we can. And I think it's become so organic to us that I actually didn't even realize how often we do it. But all day long, we're like, 'Are you good? I felt like your energy shifted,' because we're best friends, we just know. We just feel it happen.”
What’s better than being in love? Building wealth while doing it. Watch Making Cents here for real stories of couples who make money moves together.
Featured image by Cj Hart @hartbreak