Saturday, May 4, 2024

Interview: Jocelyn Bioh on the Success of JAJA'S AFRICAN HAIR BRAIDING & Broadway Representation

african hair braiding shop

I think most of us that work in the theatre, onstage, behind the scenes, or around it in any sort of way, know what the typical Broadway theatre audience is, and Jaja’s African Hair Braiding did not have the typical Broadway audience. We were able to reach so many people I think because, like me, they also shared and had some sort of ownership of this story. They related to it in some way, whether they’ve been a customer at a hair braiding shop as many times as myself, or just once, or they knew people affiliated with one, or knew people like the characters in the play.

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Book your touch up once your style is complete, touch ups must be done within 4 weeks no later. Touch ups can only be done 1 time, you should book a new style once book opens. Bioh discusses how Jaja's African Hair Braiding impacted audiences, and much more. Ahead, everything you need to know about this technique, including what kind of hair to buy and how much it costs.

Feeding cornrows

We have so many organizations that do so much to uplift our community, and we saw a boom of them in 2020 when our country was really face on with a racial reckoning. Our mission is to celebrate black women in theatre, and any sort of events that we have, they’re all free, and all women can feel accepted and loved in this community. Dermatologists recommend spritzing your scalp every four to seven days when your hair is in a protective style.

The Broadway Review: ‘Mother Play’ — Paula Vogel’s mother of a memory play

This style can last six to eight weeks, which is customary for braids. “The great thing about this technique is that once the middle starts getting old, you can take the middle [sew-in] out and just braid the rest, and you get a two-in-one style,” says Kamara. If you find that your braids are looking frizzy sooner than the sew-in pieces are, you can redo the braids around the perimeter to refresh the look without getting a whole new style. It’s important to cleanse whichever section you remove before reinstalling to avoid buildup and make sure your scalp stays clean and healthy. African braiding is a labor intensive and beautiful style of braiding!

african hair braiding shop

Kids Style

It was not the typical Broadway audiences, it was people who had heard about the show, and wanted to come. And there was not one night that I sat in the audience that I wasn’t completely moved by how many people this play had reached. We would have extended again, we could have extended all the way to the new year with the way ticket sales were going, but because of how MTC has their season structured we just couldn’t. Today we’re in a day and age in which we see so many Broadway shows struggling to stay open, that was not the case with us. We really hit a magical mark in terms of audience, and cultivating an audience that wanted to come see the show.

The comedy chronicles a single day in a Harlem braid spot, populated by the stylists (many of whom are African immigrants) and their assorted clientele. The production marked Bioh’s Broadway debut, though she has been an acclaimed and decorated playwright since the premiere of her “School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play” in 2017. Copyright © 2020 Chez Fidele African hair braiding - All Rights Reserved.

We offer a wide range of services to meet your hair care needs. Tribal braids originated from the Fulani tribe in West Africa and were a way to celebrate the culture. The look traditionally consisted of middle-parted cornrow braids that go straight back against the head, decorated with beads. Like many styles, this look evolved and changed over the years. We offer a wide variety of services, focusing on personal aesthetics. We also offer bridal and special occasion styling to make sure you look your best on your big day.

african hair braiding shop

The good news is that you can reuse the weft bundles up to four times with proper maintenance (washing, conditioning, and brushing the extensions as needed). The look is so convincing that some commenters under Kamara’s video labeled this technique, which works best with boho braids, the fakeout. I’ve been a hair stylist for many years, I love to create beautiful hair styles.

A tribute to my knotless braids - University of Virginia The Cavalier Daily

A tribute to my knotless braids.

Posted: Tue, 05 Sep 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

And I grew up going to hair braiding shops, I’ve probably been getting my hair braided since I was four or five years old. And that’s a universal thing, I think, for a lot of people, going to the hair salon, or maybe there’s a tradition of getting their nails done with their sister, or their mom. A hair braiding salon is truly like a second home to me. So, I’ve always known how ripe it was with story and characters, the people coming in and out, the people who work there. They’re rich, vibrant places, and being able to write a story about it felt like a really exciting one.

I had so many of these artists who I really looked up to, Charlayne Woodard, and Sarah Jones, and Anna Deavere Smith, even Whoopi Goldberg, her show from the 80s, I just loved these shows, and I really thought that was what I was going to do. We are thrilled to be in our fourth year operational, third year doing the awards celebration, and we hope that people will continue to donate to us so we can keep having all of these events and mentorship programs. It just goes to show that we really need voices like yours, and more diversity, more representation, because people will come. It’s important, and it must feel incredible to know that you are a part of that.

This will activate the curls for a vacation-ready look. Brooklyn-based braider Shanna St. Cyr always finishes off her boho braids with the Lotta Body Coconut Oil and Shea Foaming Curl Mousse, which adds a soft hold and a beautiful sheen to the hair, plus it smells like a tropical vacation. At Haja's Hair Braiding Salon, we've been helping our clients look and feel their best for over 10 years. Our founder, Haja, started the salon with a vision of creating a space where clients could come to relax and receive top-quality hair care.

Stitch braids are a type of protective style that is made using the feed-in technique that is, you continue to add more extension to your natural hair as you braid. To make stitch braids, you have to section the natural hair into thick or thin horizontal lines and then braid the natural hair with the hair extension. I wish I had one of those practices that other writers I admire have, where maybe they wake up at 8am, and they make a tea, and they write their inspirations down, they watch the sunrise or something like that. I kind of throw together a bowl of cereal, I sit down, and I’m like, ‘Let’s see what comes out today,’ and if that’s one page or 50, that’s what it is until the next time I sit down to write. I think only in the case of me having a hard deadline to follow is when I’m the most disciplined [laughs]. Once the braids and sew-in are complete, it’s important to zhuzh the hair with an allover mist of water or leave-in conditioner (or a mixture of both).

The attention to detail and the precision in their work left me feeling like a queen. I will definitely be returning to Afi Hair Salon for all my future hair needs. I’ve been on Broadway before as an actor in a show that was very successful, and it moved people in a way that was surprising to some. People walked in expecting the story to be one way and walked out having experienced something else. And I was glad that Jaja’s was a small part of someone else’s Broadway excitement.

Knotless braids are single extension braids where the client's hair is braided first and [extension hair] is added to the braid,” Foster says. “It gives the appearance of a natural braid coming out of the scalp.” She notes that they generally lay flat to the scalp and aren't big and bulky. I’m also an actor, and it was when I was in my senior year of college that I started writing. I think I’m going to study playwriting,” I got into Columbia, and I knew I wanted to come back home to New York. The things I’m passionate about writing are very specific in terms of my plays, and even my own films or pilots of television shows.

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