Simone Biles’ Jumbo Goddess Braids Make Me Want to Book a Flight to Miami
Her hair is my dream vacation look.
Simone Biles is in peak vacation mode. On Feb. 6, the gymnast was spotted in Miami dressed in an all-white ensemble. Draping the jacket of what looks to be a three-piece suit over her arm, Biles was clad in a halter-neck vest and flowy pants. Finishing off her look? Boho goddess braids that are making me want to get on a flight to the Caribbean immediately.
Biles opted for jumbo plaits instead of the traditional smaller sizes recently seen on other celebrities like Meagan Good and Precious Lee. Staying true to the trend, she incorporated a few curly pieces of hair throughout each braid as well as toward the ends for a more laid-back and versatile style that looks stunning for all occasions.
I’m a particularly big fan of jumbo braids because not only are you not relegated to spending upward of six hours in a hair salon to get them installed, but you’re also not forced to spend that same amount of time taking them down either. The style is the epitome of low-maintenance, while still being extremely cute, and if you’re anything like me, then that is nothing short of a winning combination.
Post-Olympics, Biles has been having quite a bit of fun with her hairstyles, trying out everything from a flipped bob to gorgeous curls with platinum highlights. This comes after she has faced years of unwarranted (and frankly, rude) criticism about the way that her hair looks when she competes. "People hate my hair for meet days,” the gymnast recalled in her 2024 Documentary series Simone Biles Rising. At one point in the film, disparaging tweets—all about her hair’s appearance—are all shown on the screen. "The beauty standards—everything is just too much," she goes on to say.
I, for one, am deeply obsessed with Biles’s latest 2025 hairstyle and if you are too, there are a few items you’ll need to have on hand to keep your jumbo braids in tip-top shape.
One of the most important products to use when maintaining braids is mousse. This one from The Doux helps to keep flyaways to a minimum and help your hair look fresh for longer.
I, personally, am not a 'lay my edges everyday' kind of person; however for those of you who are, you know the longer you have braids in the more unruly your edges become. This one from Kiss has incredible hold for long-lasting edge control.
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Ariel Baker is the Beauty Writer at Marie Claire. Previously the associate beauty editor at PS and briefly freelance, she has bylines in InStyle, Forbes Vetted, Women's Health, and more.
Since she started out in the non-profit sector, Ariel enjoys looking at beauty from a sociocultural lens, looking to avenues like politics, music, and the arts, to inform her views on the space. That being said, as a true beauty-product obsessive, testing the latest items to hit the market, keeping up with trends, and meeting industry icons, will always be her favorite part of working in the beauty space.
When she's not working, Ariel can be found hanging out with her fiancé and loving on their two cat daughters: Cow and Chicken.
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