Nara Smith is known for making Coca-Cola and bubblegum from scratch for her kids and elaborate breakfasts, lunches, and dinners (plus snacks) as much as the outfits she dons for all that time spent in the kitchen. Catch her making cookies in sculptural Rodarte silks, or searing steak in a slinky pink Miu Miu set. Sometimes, she’s combining all that, and baking a Marc Jacobs bag. (From scratch.) For her kids, for her husband Lucky Blue Smith, for her 12.4 million TikTok followers.
Smith also has a now-signature bob: jaw-skimming, usually glossy and slick to her head, and flicked out flapper style, maybe with a singular, sweet little kiss curl on the forehead. She’ll also wear her hair in waist-length braids. In her most recent video, Smith joined forces with Kayra Theodore to execute one of the gravity-defying, architectural, artful hair looks Theodore has become known for.
Theodore, a Haitian-American model and hair artist, graduated college three years ago with a biology degree, and signed soon after with a modeling agency. “While I was building my portfolio, I offered to do my hair for the shoots which led to me creating more unique hairstyles,” she tells Vogue. Her practice is totally self-taught, inspired by what she sees online and from watching YouTube videos. “I was 15 when a hair salon wouldn’t recreate a style I found on Instagram, so I went home and did it on myself. I never looked back!”
On Theodore’s feed, you’ll find looks she’s fashioned on herself and others that luxuriate in the textures of Black hair to make strong silhouettes. There’s halo-like bantu knots and braids that swirl like jeweled pendants, and intricate curtains of cornrows.
Early this year, Theodore noticed Smith and followed her, so she messaged her asking to do her hair. They finally came together this week to make it happen. “Because it was her first creative hairstyle, I created a moodboard with various creative styles to see what she gravitated towards,” Theodore explains. “She sent me an inspiration photo she fell in love with of a gorgeous updo Skylar Marshai did on herself. From there, I reimagined the style through my point of view.”
The process took about an hour—though sometimes it can take up to four or five. Smith has been open with her struggles with eczema on her scalp, and so Theodore came prepared with some pre-braided hair. To work on Smith and create the fluid, spherical shapes, she used hair gel, a lot of hairspray, and countless hair ties and bobby pins. “I already sculpted the prototype hairstyle, and once I transferred the pieces to her head, we added the finishing touches,” she says. “We talked about our lives, and shared so much excitement over how beautiful the style was coming together.” The finished look for Smith? Thick, undulating braids waving across the crown of her head and a swirled, slicked down baby curl, with finer braids fanning out like interconnecting halos.
Then, Nara Smith did what Nara Smith does: she donned a dramatic dress adorned with white and black blooms (which matched the vibe of her hair) to make her own festive, Gingerbread men-shaped Oreo ice-cream sandwiches.
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For Theodore, hairstyling is an art, and art is a healing process. “I used to be super shy, and didn t feel like I had a voice,” she shares. “Creative hairstyling has given me a voice, and I want my art to exist in every conventional and unconventional space possible so that it can visually articulate what I want to express.”
This year, she appeared in a video with Tyler the Creator for Instagram, and styled hair for a short film featuring SUKII. Next year, she’ll be curating hair art shows, and collaborating on a hair project series inspired by Solange Knowles called “DTM…” She’s also writing a comic book about a Black girl whose hair is her superpower, aiming to release it in 2026. Theodore says, astutely: “I truly want to help tell stories through my hair art.”
