Alicia Keys's "So Done" Music Video Features an Epic Hair Moment

Nicola Dall'Asen
·3 min read

There's a lot going on in Alicia Keys's new music video for "So Done." In a high school gym, rowdy teenagers drink and dance while dressed to the nines in their best retro outfits. Cameras hone in on one girl in particular who isn't keen to join in... that is, until a hyper-cool biker gang breaks up the party to steal her away and ride into the night. Like I said, there's a lot going on — and yet all I can focus on is Keys and her full head of lengthy twists in the distance.

Those twists are the work of hairstylist Larry Sims, who tells Allure that the look was directly inspired by the song and video. "[Keys and I] had extensive conversations about the vibe of the song; It's a very moody, dope vibe and we wanted the hair to resemble that," he recalls. "So we did jumbo double twists, and the parts were done in mid-sections that are triangular."

As Sims explains, Keys arrived on set with freshly washed hair, so most of the prep work was done for him. From there, he sprayed her hair with a leave-in conditioner, gave her a blowout, then began the most time-consuming part of the styling process: parting her hair in precise, graphic sections. "We started with doing a straight line at the nape of her neck and splitting in even sides, straight lines," he says. "As we worked our way up her head, the parting became more intricate — we started making triangle shapes throughout her head."

Throughout the parting process, Sims smoothed sections of hair into small ponytails using Flawless by Gabrielle Union Defining Curl Hair Cream. "Then I took curly pre-stretched extension hair and attached them to the bases of each section," he explains. "I double-strength twisted, then braided down the tip to secure each twist so they would not unravel."

To finish off the look, Sims "enhanced her hairline" with Flawless by Gabrielle Union Edge Control Gel before setting the entire style with L'Orèal Paris Elnett Satin Hairspray.

If there's one thing Sims wants you to know about this hairstyle, it's that you should be very careful should you decide to recreate it. "The absolute must-know tip that you should know is that the hairstyle is very fragile and sensitive because it looks so beautiful," he explains. "It's a gorgeous, soft look, but it's not intended to swing around. You have to be very conservative and delicate with this hairstyle."

The other thing? If you've got a kinky or curly hair texture, follow Keys's lead and don't be afraid to embrace it. "Some people, when they're born with curly hair, they want to fight against it; Alicia leans into what she's born with, which is a ton of natural beauty," Sims says. "Her texture is naturally beautiful, so we don't manipulate it to the point where it's opposite of what she wakes up with. I think that's super refreshing as an artist, for me to be able to enhance somebody's natural beauty versus trying to cover it up and make it something that it isn't."

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Originally Appeared on Allure