A pinned updo marked a new chapter for rapper Cardi B, who announced both a pregnancy and divorce in the same week. “With every ending comes a new beginning,” she wrote on Instagram, cradling her third baby bump with a set of sharp red stilettos. The 31-year-old swapped her middle part wig for an extra-long pin-up, holding the weight of her hair at the top.
Cardi has been seen in a similar updo before, just as rumors first started to speculate about her pregnancy. She attended the Marc Jacobs Fall 2024 show back in July wearing a bouffant custom gown (assumed to hide her new bump) with her dark hair cropped with sideburns and bangs. Then, a week later, she was sighted in Paris hiding her stomach with an oversized Chanel bag and her usual thigh-length wig. Now, she returned to the mommy-ish pin-up for the official announcement of her third child.
With any big transformation––marriage, divorce, or pregnancy––an updo can take any necessary weight off your shoulders. However, Cardi left a strand to unravel from the top as she hung her head towards her exposed bump. “It’s so much easier taking life’s twists, turns and test laying down,” she wrote, which translated into the intertwined strands in her hair. “But you, your brother and your sister have shown me why it’s worth it to push through.”
While she’s not new to the updo (see: her tulle mound headwrap at the 2024 Met Gala), she returned to the mom-approved style at the right time. We’ve seen celebrities like Teyana Taylor, Kelly Rowland, and Zendaya, lean into short hair with the trending bob cut. However, Cardi B turns to the updo to break up her knee-length hair moments––and pulls it off every time.
