The Hair Piercing Trend Is the Coolest Thing We've Seen in a While

Over the past few months, we've forecasted heavy metal hair accessories—and hair hoops specifically—as one of the major beauty trends of 2016. Now, we've reached peak chrome-adorned 'dos with the induction of the hair piercing technique.

Two of the biggest players in the game are Jessy and Taiba of @KeashBraids, who have been "piercing" many of their mesmerizing plaits with hoops, charms, spikes, and even paper clips.

"When I was younger, I had beads in my hair all the time so jazzing up braids has always been a thing to me," Taiba tells us. "When I started to get into braiding again, I decided to adapt and use rings in braids. I am obsessed with piercings—I have quite a few—and braids, so why not combine the two together?!"

The looks range from badass to '90s kitschy (especially in tandem with glitter roots), plus you get all the aesthetic payoff of regular piercings *without* the pain or commitment. In other words, we're obsessed. As for how to adorn your braids...

"Be creative," advises Jessy. "Play around with different hair ring sizes and colors, you can get so many variations. For example, we like to add gold and silver beads to a hair ring to create a barbell-style addition."

Check out some of favorite pierced plaits below:

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Lauren Valenti is Vogue’s former senior beauty editor. Her work has also appeared on ELLE.com, MarieClaire.com, and in In Style. She graduated with a liberal arts degree from Eugene Lang College, The New School for Liberal Arts, with a concentration on Culture and Media Studies and a minor in Journalism.