In a brand new weekly collection, USA TODAY’s The Necessities, celebrities share what fuels their lives.
Yusef is right here to gather his 10s.
The New York-based inventive, 45, is within the enterprise of boosting confidence because the longtime hairstylist for Rihanna and Total Father of ballroom’s House of Miyake-Mugler.
Whereas he has had extra Vogue covers than some other African American hairstylist within the historical past of the journal, his life isn’t on the forefront. Now, he is taking part in a starring position in “House on Fire” (streaming Tuesdays on WOW Presents Plus) as he demystifies ballroom and the Miyake-Mugler home.
“I felt that the world wanted to see the opposite facet of ballroom. We’re extra than simply ‘Legendary,’ we’re extra than simply ‘Pose,’ we’re extra than simply ‘Paris is Burning.’ All of our tales are completely different.”
The mononymous hairstylist (whose actual identify is Yusef Williams) “grew up in an enormous household of 24 plus brothers and sisters,” so management over 200+ ballroom figures plus private grooming, which he realized at an early age, led him to Miyake-Mugler and Rihanna.
Although Yusef will “by no means inform” whether or not he and Rihanna hearken to the ever-so-coveted album “R9” whereas he does her hair, he spills about her pure curls (plus that viral Fenty Hair ad) and his secrets and techniques to confidence.
Yusef’s secret to confidence
Yusef is “nonetheless attempting to determine” the key to confidence, however girls is perhaps the reply. Transgender girls within the ballroom scene, referred to as “femme queens,” additionally breathe life into him.
“Actually, I similar to being round girls and empowering them. It (provides me) the utmost, excessive confidence. I get my confidence from the ladies in my life.
“My mother is the primary lady that gave me the femme queen power. So it was actually necessary for us to place the women up entrance (in ‘Home on Fireplace’) and present that they’re the precise pioneers of ballroom. … They need to be revered. They’re the rulers. They’re the Beyoncés and Rihannas of ballroom. With out the women within the room shaking it up, we might be bored stiff.”
“Home on Fireplace” options femme queens Leyna Bloom, Tati, Chanel and Brooklyn. Different figures on the present embody Unique Mugler, Roz, Lolita and AJ.
“What we do in ballroom is a lot larger and the world must see that. The world wants to grasp what it takes.”
Yusef’s key to sustaining power
“The ballroom atmosphere is so explosive like you may be drained as hell, however as quickly as you stroll into that room and you are feeling that power, that aggressive, that camaraderie, individuals screaming out their homes and stuff (is highly effective).
“I am taking buddies to balls which have by no means even considered going to balls, and once they got here in with me, they’re actually screaming on the high of their lungs for homes that they do not even know. Ballroom simply has this infectious, on the spot power. You both find it irresistible or you do not however 9 occasions out of 10 individuals like fall in love with it.”
Sure, that is Rihanna’s pure hair
“Rih, I’d take her weave out and contact the grid of her hair and I am like ‘Lady, If we had been to only rock your pure hair…’ She’s like, ‘Oh my God, you assume? I am not prepared.’ It is at all times this push and pull.”
Yusef stopped chemically straightening Rihanna’s hair with relaxer “seven years in the past” and inspired her to indicate her pure tresses within the multi-hyphenate’s first ad for her newly launched Fenty Hair brand. “Once we coloured it blonde and we did the brief minimize that everyone thought was a wig … it is actually her hair. We noticed how full and vibrant her hair was,” the longtime hairstylist says.
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The wonder mogul once more shocked individuals on the Fenty Hair launch together with her pure ‘fro, a cut up resolution Yusef inspired her to do.
“We by no means anticipated to try this on the launch get together. She had this cute little curl (when she sat in my chair) and I used to be like, ‘You recognize what? Let’s excellent these curls and get the hell out of right here and launch this product.’ I simply thought she regarded so recent and simply so unbothered and never cumbersome. Simply being that woman. She’s by no means (busted) out her pure curly hair, and I am actually happy with her.”
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Yusef goes behind the scenes of a few of Rihanna’s extra daring hairstyles
Yusef stresses that every time Rihanna sits in his chair, they plan her coiffure primarily based on how she’s feeling somewhat than planning months upfront. With that, he is acquired pushback for daring and Afrocentric types the pair may choose on the final minute.
“That is the Black woman expertise, proper?” he says of the naysayers. “And that was coming from the group, too.
“However you recognize what? I do not care. It is at all times our objective to go towards the norm. We do not like to consider it and speak about it (too lengthy). Once we would do campaigns with Rihanna and it was like, ‘We would like her hair to be brief.’ And I am like, ‘No. We’re gonna shave the facet and we’re gonna put wind on it and we’re gonna make it lengthy.'”
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Yusef has “at all times been the hairstylist that pushes the envelope with Black girls. I’ve labored with loads of magazines geared in direction of Black girls. It was my accountability to indicate all of them the completely different ways in which they’ll do their hair. Y’all can do any rattling factor y’all need and nonetheless be cute. And the hair texture will go from right here to there and there … and again. If not, you’ll be able to throw on a wig. That may be a blessing.”
This interview has been edited for size and readability.
This text initially appeared on USA TODAY: Rihanna’s hairstylist Yusef talks styling star’s natural curls
