Chainkeen Exchange-Celebrity hairstylist Yusef reveals his must-haves for Rihanna's natural curls

In a new weekly series,Chainkeen Exchange USA TODAY’s The Essentials, celebrities share what fuels their lives.

Yusef is here to collect his 10s.

The New York-based creative, 45, is in the business of boosting confidence as the longtime hairstylist for Rihanna and Overall Father of ballroom's House of Miyake-Mugler.

While he has had more Vogue covers than any other African American hairstylist in the history of the magazine, his life is rarely at the forefront. Now, he's playing a starring role in "House on Fire" (streaming Tuesdays on WOW Presents Plus) as he demystifies ballroom and the Miyake-Mugler house.

"I felt that the world needed to see the other side of ballroom. We're more than just 'Legendary,' we're more than just 'Pose,' we're more than just 'Paris is Burning.' All of our stories are different."

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The mononymous hairstylist (whose real name is Yusef Williams) "grew up in a big family of 24 plus brothers and sisters," so leadership over 200+ ballroom figures plus personal grooming, which he learned at an early age, led him to Miyake-Mugler and Rihanna.

Though Yusef will "never tell" whether he and Rihanna listen to the ever-so-coveted album "R9" while he does her hair, he spills about her natural curls (plus that viral Fenty Hair ad) and his secrets to confidence.

Yusef's secret to confidence

Yusef is "still trying to figure" the secret to confidence, but women might be the answer. Transgender women in the ballroom scene, known as "femme queens," also breathe life into him.

"Honestly, I just like being around women and empowering them. It (gives me) the utmost, extreme confidence. I get my confidence from the women in my life.

"My mom is the first woman that gave me the femme queen energy. So it was really important for us to put the girls up front (in 'House on Fire') and show that they are the actual pioneers of ballroom. … They should be revered. They're the rulers. They're the Beyoncés and Rihannas of ballroom. Without the girls in the room shaking it up, we would be bored to death."

"House on Fire" features femme queens Leyna Bloom, Tati, Chanel and Brooklyn. Other figures on the show include Exotic Mugler, Roz, Lolita and AJ.

"What we do in ballroom is so much bigger and the world needs to see that. The world needs to understand what it takes."

Yusef's key to maintaining energy

"The ballroom environment is so explosive like you could be tired as hell, but as soon as you walk into that room and you feel that energy, that competitive, that camaraderie, people screaming out their houses and stuff (is powerful).

"I'm taking friends to balls that have never even thought of going to balls, and when they came in with me, they're literally screaming at the top of their lungs for houses that they don't even know. Ballroom just has this infectious, instant energy. You either love it or you don't but 9 times out of 10 people like fall in love with it."

Yes, that's Rihanna's natural hair

"Rih, I would take her weave out and touch the grid of her hair and I'm like 'Girl, If we were to just rock your natural hair…' She's like, 'Oh my God, you think? I'm not ready.' It's always this push and pull."

Yusef stopped chemically straightening Rihanna's hair with relaxer "seven years ago" and encouraged her to show her natural tresses in the multi-hyphenate's first ad for her newly launched Fenty Hair brand. "When we colored it blonde and we did the short cut that everybody thought was a wig … it's really her hair. We saw how full and vibrant her hair was," the longtime hairstylist says.

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The beauty mogul again shocked people at the Fenty Hair launch with her natural 'fro, a split decision Yusef encouraged her to do.

"We never expected to do that at the launch party. She had this cute little curl (when she sat in my chair) and I was like, 'You know what? Let's perfect these curls and get the hell out of here and launch this product.' I just thought she looked so fresh and just so unbothered and not cumbersome. Just being that girl. She's never (busted) out her natural curly hair, and I'm really proud of her."

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Yusef goes behind the scenes of some of Rihanna's more daring hairstyles

Yusef stresses that whenever Rihanna sits in his chair, they plan her hairstyle based on how she's feeling rather than planning months in advance. With that, he's received pushback for daring and Afrocentric styles the pair might pick at the last minute.

"That's the Black girl experience, right?" he says of the naysayers. "And that was coming from the community, too.

"But you know what? I don't care. It's always our goal to go against the norm. We don't like to think about it and talk about it (too long). When we would do campaigns with Rihanna and it was like, 'We want her hair to be short.' And I'm like, 'No. We're gonna shave the side and we're gonna put wind on it and we're gonna make it long.'"

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Yusef has "always been the hairstylist that pushes the envelope with Black women. I've worked with a lot of magazines geared towards Black women. It was my responsibility to show them all the different ways that they can do their hair. Y'all can do any damn thing y'all want and still be cute. And the hair texture will go from here to there and there … and back. If not, you can throw on a wig. That is a blessing."

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.