Beyoncé just gave the world the story behind one of the most talked about hair moments of the year, and the reason behind JAY-Z’s locs coming down is even deeper than fans imagined. On Sunday night, June 21, her haircare brand Cécred closed out Father’s Day by releasing a seven minute documentary titled “The Blueprint,” narrated by Beyoncé herself, that walks through the entire journey of JAY-Z combing out eight years of locs and debuting a full afro at the 2026 Roots Picnic.
The afro was the talk of Philadelphia when JAY-Z headlined the first night of Roots Picnic on May 30, his first solo headlining set in years and a celebration of the 30th anniversary of his debut album Reasonable Doubt. Fans who watched him step out without his signature wicks wondered if he had cut them off. He had not. As Beyoncé explains in the vlog, the look was the result of a careful, days long process to comb the locs out and preserve the hair, and the decision carried real weight. JAY-Z wanted the afro as a tribute to his late father, Adnis Reeves, who wore a fro and was a Philadelphia sports fan, which made debuting it on a Philly stage a full circle moment.The backstory of why JAY-Z’s locs existed at all is the part that has people emotional. Beyoncé shared that JAY-Z first grew his hair out years ago for their daughter Blue Ivy. When Blue was around five, she was not feeling confident about her hair, and when she told her father, it moved him to grow out his own natural texture so she could see that her curls looked just like his. “We really wanted her to love and embrace every inch of her gorgeous hair,” Beyoncé said. That act of solidarity rippled outward in a big way. Blue went on to narrate Matthew A. Cherry’s award winning Hair Love audiobook, even picking up a voice arts award for it, appeared with her natural hair in the “Formation” video, and lent guest vocals to “Brown Skin Girl.” The Carters even used a photo of a Black woman picking out a Black man’s afro for the cover of their 2018 album Everything Is Love.
Removing JAY-Z’s locs was not a quick chair appointment. It took six full days to comb them out, with another full day dedicated to detangling and deep conditioning, and Beyoncé made clear it was a family affair. She, Blue Ivy, Tina Knowles, and other family members and friends all pitched in, using only Cécred products throughout. Credit also went to JAY-Z’s longtime hairstylist Nakia Collins, who had kept his hair healthy on Cécred for years, and Houston loctician Letisia “Lety” Ravelo, who helped lead the takedown. Beyoncé pointed to JAY-Z’s consistency, washing his hair religiously and sticking with the same products, as the reason his hair stayed in immaculate condition and held onto its fullness, length, and thickness even after combing out nearly nine years of locked hair.
The technique was its own labor of love. The team started at the bottom of each lock and worked slowly up to the base, which was the hardest part to detangle. They reached for the Cécred parting tail comb, mixed the detangling spray with the moisturizing deep conditioner and a moisture sealing lotion to get the right slip, and used a hair and scalp balm to break down years of buildup. There were stretches where Beyoncé massaged a single wick by hand for an hour or two until she could finally separate it with her fingers. On the toughest nights, they left product in overnight, especially at the roots, and used a steamer to help everything penetrate deeper. After six days of removal, they detangled and deep conditioned again, then blow dried his hair, trimmed his ends, washed it, and braided it into cornrows using the brand’s Wrap and Set Foam before sealing everything with oil, balm, and lotion.
Beyoncé did not hide how emotional letting go of JAY-Z’s locs felt. She admitted she was obsessed with them and did not really want him to cut them, calling them a place where a lot of memories were stored. “Locks can be like antennas, connecting us to frequencies and energies,” she said. “Hair grows. People grow. So the transformation can be emotional.” The documentary is stitched together with intimate family footage, including rare clips of the couple’s nine year old son Sir, who tends to stay out of the spotlight, and moments of Rumi shadowing her father at rehearsal. The clear scene stealer, though, was Blue Ivy, who at one point looks into the camera while detangling and declares, “I’m gonna be an influencer,” already understanding the assignment.
The timing made it land even harder. Dropping on Father’s Day, “The Blueprint” doubled as a tribute on every level, from JAY-Z to his own dad, and from Beyoncé to her husband, with the title itself nodding to JAY-Z’s 2001 album of the same name. It caps a banner stretch for him as he celebrates 30 years of Reasonable Doubt, after a Roots Picnic freestyle where he took aim at names from Dame Dash to Nicki Minaj, and after The New York Times named him one of the 30 greatest living American songwriters. He has three Yankee Stadium shows coming July 10 through 12, one of them honoring the 25th anniversary of The Blueprint. Beyoncé closed the vlog the only way that fit. “I wanna thank Jay for trusting Cécred on his hair journey,” she said. “He is forever the blueprint.”
