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I grew up watching a butt-length Indian braid with a mix of admiration and disdain.
Allure/Channing Smith
My aunt Bapsy’s chunky plait was a thing of beauty.
To my grade school mind, however, thebraidwas a superpower that was wasted on her.
This style of braid turned uncool overnight, plagued by association with my cringy regulation uniform and enforced authority.
Bapsy’s braid.
I never wore it willingly for 20 years after that.
Closer to home, a particularly fine specimen grew from Josh’s mother’s head.
Despite these seminal influences, it was years before he put braids on one of his celebrity clients.
Shaz Rajashekar during her dancing days.
It was the first time he did so in his celebrity hairstyling career, which began in 2002.
It had been an inextricable part of her and her sister, Shaz Rajashekar’s, childhood.
The sisters' hair brand is directly inspired by therituals and recipesfrom their relatives.
Kiku Chaudhuri during her dancing days.
“Braids are incorporated into the dances themselves,” Chaudhuri says.
Shaz Rajashekar during her dancing days.
Kiku Chaudhuri during her dancing days.
It also signals marital status.
It’s time we reclaim this style from patriarchal control.
Will these accurate, yet alarming, analyses stop me from recommending you plait up?
If anything, it’s time we reclaim this style from patriarchal control.
For that reason alone, I’m spurred to braid till my fingers cramp up.
For starters, the braid is the perfect covert vehicle for both hair careandfragrance.
It’s the centuries-old predecessor to theOlaplexbun.
Another major advantage of this braid is its function as a sponge for scent.
The closest I’ve come to replicating that heady olfactory melody isSoma Ayurvedic’s Body Oil.
I rub a few drops into the tips of my hair and get a bonusaromatherapysession.
(The veryshort-haired, unfortunately, must sit this one out.)
“I think the most important thing is to be imaginative,” says Josh.
“No braid is the right or wrong way.
It can be anything.
You could have curly hair that’s wild and still do a braid without brushing the curls.
You don’t need to do anything.
It’ll just be a different look.”
“No braid is the right or wrong way.
It can be anything.”
Flyaways are welcome, and often a natural side-effect.
For maximalists, this plait is a dream come true.
Dancers pay as much attention to decorating their braid as they put into their makeup and costume.
Fresh flowers,jeweled clips, and hair accessories all sound decadent and princess-y in a good way.
Josh loves that our foremothers were repping a prototype of colored extensions.
Tell everyone your friends, your followers, your mom even, that you’re wearing the Indian braid.
Show them this mad cute variation worn byBridgertonstarCharithra ChandranonTeen Vogue’s April cover.
No clearer signal can exist to go forth and (respectfully) flex the Indian braid.
Read more about South Asian beauty:
And now, watch Maitreyi Ramakrishnan’s winged liner hack:
