Angel Reese’s hairstylist explains the WNBA superstar’s look

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Angel Reese has always known the power of an image.

For as long as the basketball star has been in the public eye — as the LSU “Bayou Barbie” and now as the “Queen of the South” for the Atlanta Dream — she has always glammed up for games: nails done, face beat, edges laid, and long hair pulled back and secured with a headband. (“I have a hair stylist in every city,” she once said .)

While Reese has played with her look over the course of the season — see her bright pink wig during this year’s All-Star weekend, or her braids during September’s FIBA World Cup — her ever-changing hair has become a signature, enough to make headlines on its own .

During Reese’s first two years in the league, while playing with the Chicago Sky, she’d graced magazine covers and rubbed elbows with A-listers at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show and the Met Gala. On the court, though, despite her leading the league in rebounds per game, the Sky had two losing seasons and zero playoff appearances, and her exit from the team wasn’t exactly on the best terms .

But in her debut season with Atlanta, she’s won Defensive Player of the Year, a career-defining honor, and led her team to the WNBA Finals against the Golden State Valkyries. Her work at both ends of the court — including dropping a shocking 30 points in Game 2 against the league’s best defense — has led the Dream to a dominant start in the series.

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And even as she bullies the Valkyries, her hair remains soft. When she runs, the locks bounce against her back, floating behind her when she kicks up the speed. When she jumps for a block or rebound, her hair jumps, too, momentarily creating a wavy halo around her head. Even when she briefly lost her headband during Game 3 in Atlanta, giving the top of her head a slight pouf, the result was less messy Elizabeth Holmes and more a statement of her hair’s power. It can’t — shouldn’t! — be tamed.

A month ago, the Atlanta-based stylist Jamal Brice installed her current look: a black, wavy sew-in with raw Cambodian hair, from a hair brand owned by one of her close friends. (For sew-ins, the natural hair is braided down against the scalp and the added hair is sewn into the braids.) “She wanted to keep it in the playoffs,” said Brice. He added, “And the Finals.”

Styling hair for athletes comes with challenges. In a scramble for the ball, opponents might pull hair. Players fling themselves across the floor or are hit in the head. Wigs have fallen off mid-game. On Thursday, between Game 3 and Game 4, Brice explained how he got Reese ready for the sport’s biggest stage.

This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

How does the way you style Reese’s hair for the season differ from non-basketball events?

Different events call for different things. For basketball season — whether she’s getting a ponytail or whether she’s getting a traditional sew-in — she always gets the sew-in for security purposes. She rarely wears wigs during the season. She has worn wigs, like the pink one for the Barbie game, that one was a wig. But she doesn’t really keep those in as long as she would wear a sew-in.

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Most of the collabs that we’ve done, as far as Reebok, the CFDAs, the Met Gala, most of those were wigs.

What makes a sew-in better for athletes?

A wig is held down by an adhesive, so with sweat and makeup and whatever else, it’s more likely for a wig to slide back or move or readjust. That can be tricky. Typically, people who work out don’t wear wigs. They typically wear sew-ins or braids, because it’s not likely for a sew-in to just come out of your head because you’re sweating or anything like that.

With Angel playing games, a wig probably would last maybe two or three days, because of sweat, oils and things like that, which doesn’t really work well with the glue.

When’s the last time you guys did a touch-up?

Typically, Angel gets her hair touched up weekly or maybe three times a month. I just touched up her hair today.

She does not get her hair done on game days. I know a lot of athletes that want to stick to a certain routine so that they’re focused during the game or on game days. I think it’s just one of those rituals where she doesn’t want to do anything. She wants to chill and just be focused.

What do you do during these touch-ups?

She can change the style sometimes. Sew-ins do get loose, the threading could get loose, so sometimes you can get a touch-up and you can get it tightened back up. That’s what we did today.

She has this loose wavy hair in right now, so she could either wear it wet or she could wear it blown out and curled or pressed, whatever she decides. So it’s changing the style, and fixing things about it, like if it needs to be tightened, or her roots or something like that need to be cleaned.

And how long does that take?

In the WNBA, I see a lot of locs, a lot of braids, but I don’t see as many sew-ins. Have you noticed that, too?

Yes, for sure. People have personal preferences, so whatever fits the player, I feel like that’s what they go with.

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For Angel, I would say she has more of this feminine energy, this super girly energy, on and off the court. She loves her weaves. She loves to keep her hair done. She also takes very good care of her natural hair. Angel has always been a hair girl, even before me. I think that that’s why she loves her sew-ins, or quick weaves, or weaves, or ponytails.

I’ve noticed during the playoffs, she has her ends tied a lot. Why?

It’s mainly so that the hair doesn’t go into her face. That’s also why she wears the headbands, so that the hair isn’t in her face. Because ideally, if she took her hair out of the hair tie, or if she took the headband off, it does lay toward her face.

You mentioned she embraces this super girly energy. With her look now, what do you think it says about where she is as a player or in her career?

I feel like she always gave this feminine energy. She always felt like she’s that girl, because she is. I feel like she exudes that, on and off the court. Angel knows exactly who she is, and that’s something that I love about her. Hair is always evolving, so I feel like she’s always evolving. She’s always growing.

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安吉尔·里斯一直深知形象的力量。

这位篮球明星一直以来都备受瞩目——从路易斯安那州立大学的“河口芭比”，到如今亚特兰大梦想队的“南方女王”——她每次比赛都会精心打扮：美甲精致，妆容完美，发际线一丝不苟，长发束起并用发带固定。（她曾说过：“我在每个城市都有自己的发型师。”）

虽然瑞茜在本赛季尝试了多种造型——比如今年全明星周末她戴着亮粉色假发，或者在九月份的国际篮联世界杯上梳着辫子——但她不断变化的发型已经成为她的标志，足以成为头条新闻。

瑞茜在联盟的前两年效力于芝加哥天空队期间，曾多次登上杂志封面，并在维多利亚的秘密时装秀和纽约大都会艺术博物馆慈善晚宴上与一线明星们亲密接触。然而，在球场上，尽管她场均篮板数领跑全联盟，天空队却经历了两个赛季的失利，并且无缘季后赛，而她离开球队的方式也并不友好。

但在她加盟亚特兰大梦想队的首个赛季，她就荣膺年度最佳防守球员，这是她职业生涯的一项里程碑式荣誉，并带领球队杀入WNBA总决赛，与金州女武神队展开对决。她在攻防两端的出色表现——包括在第二场比赛中面对联盟最佳防守球队砍下惊人的30分——帮助梦想队在系列赛中取得了压倒性的开局。

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即使她像个恶霸一样欺负女武神队，她的头发依然柔软顺滑。奔跑时，发丝在她身后轻盈弹跳，加速时更是飘逸飞舞。当她跃起盖帽或抢篮板时，头发也随之舞动，瞬间在她头顶形成一圈波浪光环。即使在亚特兰大第三场比赛中，她的发带短暂脱落，让头顶略微蓬松，也丝毫没有展现出伊丽莎白·霍姆斯以往凌乱不堪的形象，反而更凸显了她头发的强大力量。它无法——也不应该！——被驯服。

一个月前，亚特兰大的造型师贾马尔·布莱斯为她做了现在的发型：一头黑色波浪卷发，接发使用的是她一位好友名下的柬埔寨原生发。（接发是将真发编成辫子贴近头皮，然后将接发缝入辫子中。）“她想在季后赛期间保持这个发型，”布莱斯说。他补充道，“还有总决赛。”

为运动员设计发型充满挑战。争抢球时，对手可能会扯到头发。球员们在场上飞身扑救，或者头部遭到撞击。假发甚至可能在比赛中途脱落。周四，在第三场和第四场比赛的间隙，布莱斯解释了他是如何为里斯在这项运动的最高舞台上做好准备的。

为了清晰起见，这段对话经过编辑和精简。

在篮球赛季期间，你为瑞茜设计的发型与非篮球赛事期间的发型有何不同？

不同的场合需要不同的发型。篮球赛季期间，无论是扎马尾辫还是做传统的接发，她总是选择接发，以确保安全。赛季期间她很少戴假发。她也戴过假发，比如芭比娃娃比赛时戴的那顶粉色假发，那确实是假发。但她戴假发的时间远不如接发那么长。

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我们做过的合作，比如与锐步、美国时装设计师协会奖、Met Gala 等的合作，大部分都是关于假发的。

为什么缝合式假体对运动员更有利？

假发是用粘合剂固定的，所以出汗、化妆或其他因素都可能导致假发滑落、移位或重新调整位置。这可能会很麻烦。通常，健身人士不会戴假发。他们一般会选择缝合式假发或编发，因为缝合式假发不太可能因为出汗或其他原因而脱落。

Angel玩游戏时，假发可能只能维持两三天，因为汗水、油脂之类的东西会影响胶水的粘合效果。

你们上次做修图是什么时候？

通常情况下，Angel每周或每月会修剪一次头发，最多三次。我今天刚帮她修剪过。

她比赛日不做头发。我知道很多运动员都想坚持某种固定的作息，这样才能在比赛日或比赛期间保持专注。我觉得这只是她不想做任何事的一种习惯。她只想放松，专心比赛。

在这些修补工作中你会做什么？

她有时会改变发型。接发确实会松动，线头可能会松脱，所以有时可以进行修补，把它重新固定好。我们今天就是这么做的。

她现在的头发是蓬松的波浪卷，所以她可以湿着头发，也可以吹干后卷曲或拉直，随她自己决定。所以，这既是改变发型，也是对头发进行一些调整，比如是否需要把头发扎紧，或者发根之类的需要清理。

那需要多长时间？

在WNBA，我看到很多球员梳脏辫，很多球员扎辫子，但很少看到接发。你也注意到这一点了吗？

当然。每个人都有自己的喜好，所以我觉得只要适合球员，他们就会选择那样的。

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我觉得安吉尔无论场上场下都散发着更浓厚的女性魅力，一种超级少女的气质。她喜欢接发，喜欢把头发打理得漂漂亮亮的。她也很注重保养自己的天然头发。安吉尔一直都很爱美，甚至在我认识她之前就是如此。我想这就是为什么她喜欢接发、快速接发、各种接发或者扎马尾辫的原因吧。

我注意到季后赛期间，她经常把头发的发尾扎起来。为什么呢？

主要是为了防止头发遮住脸。这也是她戴发带的原因，这样头发就不会垂到脸上。因为理想情况下，如果她把头发从发圈里解开，或者摘掉发带，头发就会垂到脸上。

你提到她很享受这种超级少女的感觉。你觉得她现在的形象，反映了她作为球员或职业生涯的什么阶段？

我觉得她总是散发着一种女性魅力。她一直都觉得自己就是那种女孩，因为她本来就是。我觉得无论场上场下，她都散发着这种气质。安吉尔非常清楚自己是谁，这也是我喜欢她的原因之一。她的发型一直在变化，我觉得她也在不断变化，一直在成长。