Rihanna's hairstylist said she personally requested dreadlocks for 'Ocean's 8': 'We thought it would be strong'
Rihanna fans are praising the singer for bringing a diverse representation of a black woman to the big screen in the upcoming heist film, "Ocean's 8."
It was Rihanna's idea to wear dreadlocks to portray tech genius, Nine Ball, in the "Ocean's 11" spin-off, according to hairstylist Yusef Williams.
"We thought it would be strong," Williams told the fashion website Refinery29. "Her locs would maintain that tie to Africa. She'd keep her accent. She wasn't just going to be some American girl in this movie. Nine Ball is still a Caribbean girl that just happens to be in America."
"All in all, the locs are just really bad---,” using a colorful phrase to describe his enthusiasm. “I couldn't imagine her character without them.”
“Locs” is a more contemporary and interchangeable term for dreadlocks.
Before filming began, Williams met with Rihanna, 30, and "Ocean's 8" director Gary Ross "so we could all figure out who this girl is, what she looks like, what she dresses like, and how she wears her hair.”
“We had a lot of references, and dreadlocks were something that we always wanted to do," Williams explained.
"Production gave us a lot of freedom to create her character visually and play with her look," Williams continued. "Gary and wardrobe trusted that we would just nail it.”
“We wanted this girl to be cool, chill, and very minimal,” he said. “She would wear the same things over and over again. But I think the one thing she probably cared about the most was her hair."
"Hair played a really big part in who Nine Ball came to be," the celebrity hairstylist added.
So how did Williams achieve the iconic look?
Williams told R29 that he had to fly three "assistants to Paris, and all four of us were putting in locs, because we needed to get her done within three hours. That is really a lot of work that would probably take 10 hours for one person to do."
"We didn't use Marley hair, which is a little bit more refined, pretty," he explained. "Instead, we went with a kinkier, looser textured hair for a reggae feel. We didn't do too much parting, either; when you start to part and make sections, the hair becomes a little bit unrealistic.
“We haven't relaxed Rih's hair for years now, so we wanted a lighter, natural-textured hair to match," he said.
To achieve the look, Williams used "tons of Shea butter and black seed oil" along with olive oil," he said.
"For her edges, I used a lot of black seed oil. I'll mix that with a little bit of gel or pomade and then smooth them up," he said.
"After the hair is braided, I like to soften it up by soaking it in apple cider vinegar, hot water, and then drying it so it can have a little bit of movement to it."
"Ocean's 8" follows Sandra Bullock's Debbie Ocean, a relative of "Ocean's 11" star George Clooney's Danny Ocean, as she recruits a team of women thieves to help her rob the Met Ball.
The star-studded cast includes Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Sarah Paulson, Mindy Kaling and Helena Bonham Carter as a fashion designer. It hits theaters June 8.
