Aveda Cuts 2 Feet of Hair From Influencer's Famous Long Locks

Sophia Roe is a chef, wellbeing advocate and television host/producer, and she recently debuted her new haircut on her Instagram. The cut, handled by Renee Gadar, Aveda’s Global Artistic Director of Texture, removed 2 feet of hair, and the gorgeous outcome is going viral. Countless celebrities and personalities are raving in her comments, including Gigi Hadid.

The first thing to know is that this isn’t just any makeover.

"There’s a lot of trauma stored in one’s hair," Roe told Vogue, sharing that this was her first-ever haircut. "It’s something that’s on your head for a long time; it’s seen it all—especially if you’ve never cut it before, like me." As a Black woman, she never felt like she found a safe space with people who could care for her textured hair. That all changed when she connected with Gadar.

The two women went on a journey together and the end result is a box bob with baby bangs and tendrils, and the kind of safe space Sophia had been looking for for years. 

It took the pair some planning to reach this funky, fun cut.  “She sent me some inspiration pictures, then she came in and we had an in-person consult that lasted an hour," Gadar tells MODERN SALON. "We connected on a Black woman level, and interwoven in that conversation was hair. We hadn’t even finalized a plan when she left, but what we did have was trust! One week before her cut, she showed me inspiration photos with longer hair – bob length – as opposed to the pixies she showed me earlier. And that’s when it hit me. I knew exactly what I wanted to do, I just had to sell her on it once the day came.”

The final cut is essentially a one-length bob sitting over an undercut. "Below the occipital, there is no hair. I added slight horizontal graduation in the back, and I left out her fringe area and a few tendrils in the front,” Gadar explains.

This transformational cut reinforces the need for safe spaces for textured hair, so clients like Roe can reframe the experience so many Black women have when they go to the salon. 

"To @reneesrh, thank you for completely changing my life for the better. Your support, patience, and ability to really understand that for me, for women, and most notably for Black women, that this is not 'just hair' truly blew me away. I put all of my trust in you, and the only thing I am upset about...is that I didn’t do it sooner," Roe wrote on Instagram. 

“Stylists can create a safe space by becoming confident and proficient with texture, practicing and taking lots of classes. Don’t treat texture like a niche," Gadar says. "Follow lots of Black women on social, be inspired by the hair, and learn the culture and meaning behind the things we say. Elevate your own consciousness.”