Yara Shahidi Talks About The Boxer Braid Phenom: 'Embrace The Fact That Black Culture Contributed To Things'

Yara Shahidi wears an oversized lace top that we all want in our closets while arriving at the Pilot Pen & GBK Pre-Emmy Luxury Lounge at L’Ermitage Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles on Friday (September 15).

The 16-year-old black-ish actress also stopped by Kari Feinstein’s Style Lounge at Siren Studios along with Marsai Martin, Lance Lim, AnnaLynne McCord, Emma Kenney, model Hailee Lautenbach, Diego Boneta and Joey Pollari.

“I have natural hair and have always embraced it,” Yara recently shared with NYTimes’ The Cut about cultural appropriation. “The first time I straightened my hair I was 11, and it was only because I was getting a haircut. And I thought, ‘Oh, I like this! I’ll keep it this way’, and did until I washed my hair.”

She continued, “I know how culturally significant hair is because curls are representative of my people, but I’m also a teenager who wants to experiment with hair and see what it looks like in a different way without being viewed as a sellout.”

Yara added, “I was explaining to someone the other day, we’re not complaining about this ‘boxer braid’ term for the sake of being sticklers. Just can you please embrace the fact that black culture contributed to things?”

40+ pics inside of Yara Shahidi, Joey Pollari, AnnaLynne McCord and more…