If Yara Shahidi is our hair #goals, then who does her glam squad look to for her curl-spiration? None other than Diana Ross, according to Shahidi's stylist Nai'vasha Johnson.
We should've known that greatness was coming when the pro Instagrammed a throwback photo of Tracee Ellis Ross' mom right before the 2018 Screen Actors' Guild Awards. Then, on the carpet, Shahidi stunned with her magnificent head of blown-out, center parted curls. "I wanted her beautiful texture delicately brushed out," Johnson tells Refinery29. To get the look, Johnson moisturized Shahidi's hair with the Taliah Waajid Green Apple and Aloe Nutrition Leave-In Conditioner, misting from root to tip before brushing it through with a Mason Pearson. She dried the star's hair with a diffuser and used the brand's Curly Curl Cream for definition and shine.
Anyone who has curly and coily hair knows that shrinkage is the devil, especially in humid temps (the awards were held in Los Angeles). Johnson's tip for curl preservation? "If you diffuse, don't let the dryer touch your hair," she's told us before. "You need to keep it like an inch or an inch-and-a-half distance between your hair and the dryer. The whole idea is for it to dry in place, not to smash it or burn your hair with direct heat." Hell, we'd dry our hair with a torch-blower if that'd give us Shahidi's results.