A set of fresh braids means something. Black women don’t get them only because they’re cute, although of course they are that, too. We get them because we’re preparing for rest, romance, adventure, and reinvention. They’re a protective style but also an act of proactive beauty.

I still remember being a kid, sitting on the floor between my Aunt Elaine’s legs as she braided my hair and we laughed at a TV comedy marathon to pass the time. Many hours later, I stood up with waist-length box braids swinging down my back like I’d unlocked a new level of fly. I can now see this experience for what it really was: a lesson on patience and love that I didn’t even know I was learning. Braids are about endurance, care, and tradition. Somebody taking the time.

Braids also carry so much history, so many crucial reminders. Cornrow designs once mapped escape routes during slavery. Women braided grains of rice into their hair for sustenance on their journeys, literally weaving in what we needed to survive. Today, the stakes are different, but the symbolism remains.

Even in a bustling braid shop packed with busy hands tethered to countless crowns of hair, there is an overwhelming sense of being part of something special. And I love the rituals behind each look. There are vacation braids, for which the appointment on your calendar is basically a boarding pass. There are birth braids that let you focus on contractions and cuddles instead of wash day. There are back-to-school braids, prom braids, breakup braids, new-job braids…the list goes on and on. There isn’t a milestone that wouldn’t benefit from—or be made better by—some badass plaits, be they cornrows, box braids, knotless braids, Fulani braids, goddess braids, or stitch braids.

Each style speaks its own language and tells its own story, something our pop culture icons know well. Living rent-free in my head are Janet Jackson’s iconic jumbo box braids in the movie Poetic Justice. Alicia Keys’ signature micro straightbacks. Serena Williams and Venus Williams serving braids, beads, and backhands. Lina Bonet’s boho-chic installs. And Beyoncé leaning backward out of a car window in her Lemonade-era honey-hued sideswept plaits.

Braids are art and ancestry, a love letter to where we’ve been and where we’re going. They’re also a fuss-free flex, and the products below will help get you ready for whatever comes next.