February 20, 2016

Forget 2Chainz, Now Presenting 2Keys – Inglewood’s Top Braidologist

Local Stories

Two weeks ago, Sandra, the receptionist in our office had a hot date and needed to get her hair and makeup done, but she also wanted to buy a new dress – so she made the rounds asking some of us what we thought she should do: buy the new dress or get her hair and makeup done? The suggestions were pretty creative – from renting a dress on Rent the Runway to using youtube tutorials and doing hair and makeup at home (shout out to our girl, youtube sensation Michelle Phan).

Then someone mentioned how hard it is to find good, affordable hair and makeup professionals online. At first we thought maybe we just hadn’t discovered a good source yet, but after spending the entire afternoon looking for quality, affordable beauty professionals we gave up. The next morning we assembled in the conference room and started mapping out a strategy to create the best beauty professional guide Los Angeles has ever seen. First we had to decide on the evaluation criteria, then we had to develop a semi-scientific method of finding and ranking the professionals. As a team we decided on a multi-factor approach that gave the most weight to the following factors: quality of work, reputation, affordability. After researching thousands of beauty professionals from all over the city and spending scores of hours debating the merits of various professionals we’ve built a list of the best options in LA. We will introduce many of these talented professionals to you over the next few months.

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ricquish Hackett (Aka 2Keys or Ki-Ki).

2Keys is the best braidologist we’ve found in Inglewood. She learned her craft at the age of 12. Her mom was sick and her hair was a mess so she went in the restroom one day, tried to braid her own hair in the front and it took a million tries but in the end she succeeded. She wore cornrows in the front of her hair and slicked the back up into a ponytail. That was her favorite style for the rest of 7th grade because she was good at braiding and she was practicing on perfecting her craft.

She had a younger sister that needed her hair done and since she was quite the ponytail perfectionist, she was her first trial doll. When she turned 16, she moved to Riverside because Los Angeles was becoming too dangerous and expensive. Her mom was ill due to 5 aneurysm surgeries, a mild stroke and epilepsy so she took on home study so that she could be home with her. She tells us:

“I can say that was the time that I went the hardest in my life. I had nothing to do but look over my mom, do homework and braid hair. She was/is my motivation to never give up on anything. My cousin Tarrance would come visit from San Diego often and every time he came, I had to do his hair. He eventually moved to Riverside and I did his every 2 weeks, faithfully. He was the best hair dummy ever and I thank him for helping me perfect my craft. My mom was and still is my worst critic to this day, from every crooked part to a strand of hair sticking out, she made sure to inform me of it. I thank her for that.”

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