Yusef Williams is a celebrity hairstylist who was born and raised in Miami, starting out originally in the music industry.
His mom had clients and styled hair during the weekends so he would always watch her doing hair, just looking and learning. He developed his talent like that, just doing his sisters’ and cousins’ hair.
He gets inspired by his family because growing up, his father was a big music producer and his mother was a singer, so he grew up in a pretty musical household. His dad produced music for Bob Marley, his mom sung background for The Wailers.
He left Miami and went to Paris for a year and that was when he realized he wanted to do hair. Because a lot of his friends were models, he would do their hair for castings. He wanted to do fashion shows and to be the best at it.
He was friends with a fashion designer who lived in Paris and who was willing to introduce him to people; he eventually got pulled into the fashion world.
When he left Paris and went to New York he realized that in New York you have to assist the best people in order to build a resume, and for people to actually respect you in the industry. So he worked with Lisa Mitchell, who had the opportunity to work with Naomi Campbell and Tyra Banks, to name a few. He assisted her, and then he went back to Paris to do fashion.
He also connected with Odile Gilbert and he assisted her for about two years.
Yusef has styled many celebrities some of which have included Kerry Washington, Tyra Banks and former First Lady Michelle Obama for the cover of Essence.
Yusef is also known for being Rihanna‘s hairstylist.
He recently launched a hair kit line called The Y by Yusef, a collection of hair tools that includes combs, brushes, edge tamers, and pretty much anything you need to style any hair type.
He is represented by The Wall Group and you can find his portfolio HERE (coming soon)
