How Amandla Stenberg Does Her Box Braids, Signature Smoky Eyes, and TikTok Brows

[mellow music]

Hi y'all, my name is Amandla Stenberg,

and today I'm gonna be showing you

how I do my box braids.

I learned how to do it in quarantine,

I never did this before, but here we go.

[laughs] And I also am gonna show you my skincare routine

and also just do like a basic makeup look.

So the first thing that I'm gonna do

is plunge my face into the chilling depths of this bowl.

[laughs]

I am very basic with my skincare.

I pretty much only use CeraVe,

this one in particular, Hydrating Facial Cleanser.

Something that I use like every other day or so,

whenever I just feel like I need it,

is like an exfoliating pad.

They look like this.

Gets rid of any buildup or gunk.

And I like to exfoliate my lips,

it makes them really soft,

and that was my cat meowing in the background, ignore that.

I love Biore Pore Strips, 'cause I love to see

what's coming out of my nose.

So I will continue on my basic journey [laughs]

which includes CeraVe Daily Moisturizing Lotion.

So that's my skincare routine, it is very basic.

I'm very excited to get into the box braids.

I've been doing this like bigger braid.

I've been trying to figure out a braid look

that feels kind of gender neutral but still femme.

This gray ombre,

this blue ombre color.

And generally I like to mix my own colors

'cause I like my shades to be like super specific.

My hair is dyed blonde right now

so I figure like it might be cool to play

with the way that this could play with like my roots

and then the color of my hair right now.

So yeah, it's time for me to start parting my hair.

The parts that I'm gonna be going for,

I think it's gonna be kinda like a triangle-inspired part.

I'm starting by creating a triangle

that's kinda gonna be at the like center of my head,

and I'm gonna work out from there,

making kind of a star kind of shape.

I like to have this little like two mirror setup

when I'm doing this, so I have like one mirror

in front of me and then like one mirror to the side,

so that I can see the angles that I'm hitting.

So basically I'm gonna go do that [laughs]

and return and show you guys kind of where I'm at

with [mumbles].

Aight, so here we go.

I got my initial star done.

This is kind of how I like usually start things off,

is I get this hexagon star in the middle

of my head completed, and then I just like follow

the parts out to the rest of my head.

Okay, we are making progress.

It's happening.

I've probably been doing this for about

two and a half to three hours now,

so it is a process.

My neck hurts a little bit,

but I'm excited about these parts.

Ta-da [laughs].

Look at this,

look at this, do you see these parts?

Do you see them?

[laughs]

All right, that was the hardest part,

I'm gonna say a little bit wiped,

but I'm excited, I'm excited

'cause we can keep it moving now.

I have my hair.

I'm gonna undo my little Bantu knots

that I've got going here,

and usually when I'm braiding my hair,

I'm like locking it away for a solid amount of time,

so I, I'm definitely gonna moisturize it,

and I'm gonna use Deva Curl Supercream.

And then, I'm gonna use, so I like this vibe,

it's kinda cute.

I'm gonna use an edge control just to keep it all

sealed and locked in, this one.

I'm really getting my edges in there.

Yeah, the wisest actors that I've talked to

have all been proponents of wearing wigs or weaves

for projects, just because as an actor,

you will destroy your hair trying to get it

to look like whatever character you're playing.

I mean, you'd have to manipulate it constantly

just to like fit the bill.

Gorgeous little bundle of Kanekalon.

I'm gonna take a section.

I don't want these braids to be too thick.

I'm not looking for something that feels super feminine.

I'm looking for something with like a little bit more

of like a tomboy vibe to it.

Okay so I'm looping the Kanekalon around my strand of hair.

I like to take the top section

and pull it under, like so.

And I grab this section and I've pulled

my own hair underneath, and I start braiding.

And when I get to around this point,

I don't want my hair to slip out,

so I put some more edge control on there.

There's a few different methods of doing this part.

I can't say that I'm the best at it,

and the part that I'm talking about is just

getting the final part of your hair to like stick

into the braid, but generally what I do

is [mumbles], I take it like this

so that I combine my hair with the strand,

I split it in half,

and I might put some more edge control on there

just to seal it together.

I know there's gonna be some professional braiders

on YouTube like, What the hell you doing, girl?

But this is what I be doing.

And then I continue braiding.

My mom has dreadlocks, she has like a tight,

like 4C curl, and she has always had dreadlocks,

and that's [mumbles] and natural,

and so when I was a kid, she wasn't really about

like dealing with my hair on a day-to-day basis,

and so she would give me twists all the time

which I really loved, but it wasn't until later,

like maybe when I was about the ninth or tenth grade

that I started playing with individuals

and trying out different braid styles and stuff,

and it was actually because of my best friend.

She would switch up her braids like very week

and Hallie would be rocking like a really fresh

like new hairstyle, and so she's the one

who took me to the braid shop for the first time,

and remember getting these like long, silver braids

and it just changed my whole life,

like I just, I looked in the mirror

and everything was changed.

I think there's just something so beautiful

about the versatility of individuals

and how you can really decide what color you wanna have,

you can like express yourself so many different ways

through individuals and their braids,

there's just so much freedom in terms of color

and style, whatever it may be.

And I'm just gonna tie off my braids with rubber bands,

especially since these are on the thicker side,

I'm looking kind of for like a,

I really like when I have pompoms on the end,

the ends of my braids, like I like when it flares out.

I think I like this length.

Looks cute.

My single braid.

[laughs]

Okay, I was feeling kind of salty earlier

when I was parting my hair, 'cause I was getting mad tired,

but now that I see it coming to fruition, I'm happy.

I like this vibe.

Two, three, four,

five, six.

This part I like.

I did it!

[laughs]

It took a million hours, but here we are,

proud as hell of these parts,

feeling the ombre,

like that it's hitting that nice steel blue.

Yes, okay.

I'm gonna start with my Milk Stick.

Sometimes I'll use two colors,

like a lighter one and a darker one,

I'm just gonna, I'm gonna keep it pretty simple right now,

and use this lighter one, this is in medium tan.

Not everybody likes to look like a glazed donut,

but that's my vibe.

I'm using this like Natural Minerals eyeliner right now.

As I've gotten older, like my relationship

with makeup has shifted,

and I like to, depending on, I don't know,

how I'm feeling in my body,

like how often I'm having to wear it for work,

like so many things [mutters]

but I feel like I have a relationship with it now

that there's way less about covering up flaws

or having insecurities around myself,

but more just about like having fun.

I like to smudge it all over my eye,

and then I go back and like rehighlight the lash line.

After I do the little smoky eye vibe fingertip smudge,

I clean it up a little bit with a concealer,

so using this Milk one.

Y'all are getting the real basic rundown,

this is like the, Aight, I'm headed out the house.

I actually am feeling kind of like all right,

let's go with this energy now, so I'm gonna use

my other Milk Stick which is in a darker shade

and apply it to my cheekbone.

A little somethin'-somethin'.

And then, okay, I'm gonna get into brows.

Sunnies Lifebrow.

It has this, it has this brush

that is like really fine and specific,

don't know if you can see it.

I just did that thing

that everyone's doing now,

where I shaved off the ends of my eyebrows

because of goddamn TikTok.

[laughs]

So I have a different eyebrow shape than usual,

but honestly, loving it, absolutely loving it.

I like to take Eco Gel that I use on my edges

and put it on my eyebrows.

I'm about to take my brush [laughs]

and I'm gonna just brush 'em up.

Basically I'm just brushing straight up

at the beginning of the brow, kinda brushing

the whole thing up and then at the end,

just following the way that it naturally goes.

And I already know people gonna be in the comments like,

What the hell is she doing?

[laughs]

But I don't know, just like it.

This is just a really basic L'Oreal.

This is a Milk Holographic Stick.

And then I also like to put it on my cupid's bow, there.

Yeah.

[hums]

I like to moisturize my lips with Baby Lips.

[laughs]

I just wanna play around with the Sunnies color that I have.

It's like a Sunnies, this one is Obsessed,

this one is Femme Bod.

That one's really red.

I think I'm gonna use this really red one

and do like a Korean-inspired lip,

which sounds a lot fancier than it is,

so I'm just gonna apply it in the inside of my lip.

[laughs]

I think I'm actually gonna make myself a little blushy.

Just a little somethin'-somethin'.

That is pretty much it.

Take down my hair for the full look.

Like a little half-up half-down situation.

I hope you all have a blessed, blessed day,

night, wherever you may be, wishing you the best.