Teyana Taylor Surprises Woman with Glam Tutorial After She ‘Failed’ to Replicate the Actress’ Hairstyle in Viral Video (Exclusive)
- - Teyana Taylor Surprises Woman with Glam Tutorial After She ‘Failed’ to Replicate the Actress’ Hairstyle in Viral Video (Exclusive)
Bailey RichardsFebruary 12, 2026 at 1:45 AM
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Chanell Sykes' first attempt at Teyana Taylor's hairstyle; Teyana Taylor with Sykes
lovechanellenje/instagram
A woman went viral in January for attempting to recreate Teyana Taylor's signature cropped hairstyle and failing
Taylor later gave the woman, Dallas-based creator Chanell Sykes, a private tutorial and glam session with her team
"It’s a moment I’ll always hold close," Sykes tells PEOPLE of the experience
Teyana Taylor has no time for gatekeeping!
After a woman went viral for trying and — in her words — failing to recreate Taylor’s look, the singer and Oscar-nominated One Battle After Another actress, 35, took things into her own hands, surprising the woman with an intimate tutorial and glam session.
Dallas-based social media creator Chanell Sykes, who tells PEOPLE Taylor is one of her "biggest hair inspirations," went viral for the "epic fail" in January — even landing a feature on Sherri — after attempting to recreate the star's signature, cropped hairstyle in a TikTok and inspiring an undesired reaction.
Laughing with tears in her eyes, Sykes asks a man in the background of the Jan. 7 TikTok, “What do you think? I was going for Teyana Taylor.”
Chanell Sykes in her viral video
lovechanellenje/instagram
“Teyana who? When did you do this? Was she in, uh, Hidden Figures?” he then asks, before saying that Sykes' new look with the hairstyle makes her look “like an extra on Stranger Things” and is “giving Bruce Lee.”
Recalling the "epic fail" experience, Sykes tells PEOPLE that her audience "knows I show up in all my forms. Sometimes I’m fully in my dainty era, other times I’m in a whole mumu. So showing the real, unfiltered attempt felt natural. I hit record, shared the moment, and let it be what it was."
Sykes ended the viral video by asking anyone in the Dallas area for assistance in achieving the desired look — but she got something even better.
Over a month later, on Tuesday, Feb. 10, Sykes revealed in a video shared on Instagram and TikTok that perhaps the best person for the job answered her post-“hair fail” cry for help: Taylor herself.
After Taylor saw (and commented on) the viral fail, the actress' team "reached out," the creator tells PEOPLE, recalling that the gesture left her "completely floored." Or, as Sykes says in new video with Taylor, “The girls called and Teyana answered, because we all know I tried Teyana’s hairstyle, and baby, I failed.”
“Alright, so what you going for today?” Taylor asks the content creator in the video. “You,” she replies.
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Over clips of the stylish star and her glam team helping Sykes to achieve the star’s signature curly pixie, the social media creator reflected on the experience.
“And you know, usually this is the time where I’m teaching y'all something, but I had to sit back and be the student today. And Teyana was not playing,” she says in the video. “When she said she and her glam squad were gonna come in and teach me how to do it themselves.”
“And y'all, the whole time she was teaching me, I could not stop thinking about how cute I was gonna be,” she continues over footage of the transformation. “Teyana’s glam squad is top tier, okay? Every hair was in place, the makeup was done to perfection, and her coming in to do the finishing touch just felt like chef's kiss.”
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The video, which she and Taylor shared in a joint post, ends with the latter's “blind reaction” to her completed hair and makeup look.
Teyana Taylor and Chanell Sykes during Sykes' blind reaction to her new look
lovechanellenje/instagram
Upon seeing her full, Taylor-inspired glam and hair, she gasps as the actress smiles and ducks off-camera.
"I will never forget this moment in my life,” Sykes says, before thanking Taylor and her glam squad. And, over a clip of her and the Golden Globe winner doing peace signs side by side, she concludes, “Remember, girls, two scoops is all you need."
In a statement to PEOPLE, the creator says Taylor taking "time out of her busy schedule and showed me that level of care meant more than I can explain."
"It’s a moment I’ll always hold close," she continues. "She and her entire team were so gracious and welcoming, even taking the time to give me tips on how to maintain the style when I want to wear my natural hair on my own.
"Full-circle moments like this remind me why I love and will continue to show up as myself, every version of me."
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
