View Full Version : Braiding what the!?
thistledown
May 28th, 2013, 03:44 AM
Hi all,
So after years of trying I've finally managed to learn to braid (this is the video I used and it just clicked: http://sevenclowncircus.com/2012/07/french-braid.html) so now to the 'what the!?' part....when I braid someone else's hair its a french braid, when I do mine it's a dutch braid! I really prefer the look of the french so it's a bit frustrating! Ideally I'd like to be able to do both but one thing at a time I guess.......anyone else had this problem? How do I learn to do it? I love braided hair dos and I'm hoping to add quiet a few to my repertoire :D Also check out this webpage: http://www.cutegirlshairstyles.com/ heaps of cute hair styles there :)
Vanessa
PS I can manage a standard 3 strand plait easily, although it took me a while!
lapushka
May 28th, 2013, 05:25 AM
Hi all,
So after years of trying I've finally managed to learn to braid (this is the video I used and it just clicked: http://sevenclowncircus.com/2012/07/french-braid.html) so now to the 'what the!?' part....when I braid someone else's hair its a french braid, when I do mine it's a dutch braid! I really prefer the look of the french so it's a bit frustrating! Ideally I'd like to be able to do both but one thing at a time I guess.......anyone else had this problem? How do I learn to do it? I love braided hair dos and I'm hoping to add quiet a few to my repertoire :D Also check out this webpage: http://www.cutegirlshairstyles.com/ heaps of cute hair styles there :)
Vanessa
PS I can manage a standard 3 strand plait easily, although it took me a while!
Don't go under the middle strand, go over the middle strand, both ways, then you'll have a French braid instead of a Dutch braid. It takes a while to be able to position your fingers quite right, you just have to think at first.
thistledown
May 28th, 2013, 06:05 AM
Eh I just seem to get a tangled mess when I try to do that...... obviously I'm doing it wrong! I'll just have to keep trying I guess. I even tried to do someone else's and ended up with one french and one dutch without any conscious difference on my part :rolleyes:
Vanessa
torrilin
May 28th, 2013, 06:46 AM
Braids are a little weird. If you look closely, one side is always a V shape, and the other is upside down Vs. This goes for all 3 strand braids. (braids with more strands follow a similar pattern, but not exactly the same) So the same movements make both French (right side up V) and Dutch (upside down V) braiding patterns, at the same time, always. So the trick isn't so much working out how to do the one or the other, it's working out which one you're doing and getting it straight in your head.
Once you're clear on the one you can get to work reliably, it's (comparatively) easy to work out how to do the moves to get the other side of the braid to face out instead. There's a lot of ways to put it into words, but if you're not clear on how the braid you usually do works to make the pattern, verbal descriptions can wind up being really confusing.
Anje
May 28th, 2013, 08:26 AM
Instead of thinking of it in terms of under/over, think of it as near the head and farther from the head. For a dutch braid, you cross the braid strands in close to the head. For a french braid, you cross further out, outside of the forming braid instead of inside. And I agree, on my own head, especially when I'm doing something trickier like a crown braid, french seems more easily tangled than dutch.
You'll get the hang of it. It just takes some practice.
thistledown
May 28th, 2013, 05:05 PM
I'm going to keep trying.........for a long time it seems :)
Vanessa
teal
May 28th, 2013, 08:11 PM
Ha! Can we trade problems?? I can French braid no problem, but Dutch braids elude me.
nicolezoie
May 28th, 2013, 08:40 PM
When I first taught myself how to french braid, it was a dutch braid as well. I could also only do french on others, but not dutch. One day, I'm not sure what happened, but I did it the other way around, and now I can do both ways. But, Dutch still comes more naturally to me.
Not Lynn Merely
May 28th, 2013, 09:53 PM
Take three pieces of ribbon. Braid them as you would a French braid (left side over middle, right side over middle, repeat). Now, flip it over. The front side looks like a french braid (downward V-shapes) and the back side looks like a Dutch braid (upward V-shapes).
French braids are sides over middle. Dutch braids are sides under middle.
If it helps, girls in my area called Dutch braids "inside-out/backwards French braids" when I was little.
If you do not get it after reading all the comments, don't worry. Eventually, it will click, and you will never have trouble with it again.
spirals
May 28th, 2013, 10:04 PM
I learned to french braid first. It seems a natural progression from an english braid because they both involve crossing the side strands over the middle. When I was first learning dutch, a friend told me to think of it as "middle over." In that case you're crossing the middle strand over the right or left strand.
thistledown
May 29th, 2013, 02:08 AM
I can read instructions all day but I can never figure it out, I'll just keep practising........maybe I'll get my sister to do it in front of me so I can watch :) Wow that sounds bad LOL
Vanessa
Libbylou
May 29th, 2013, 02:44 AM
I wonder what kind of braids I have been doing. I always added hair to the closest section, not the middle. I prefer mine under, holds the layers better.
lazuliblue
May 29th, 2013, 04:15 AM
Hi all,
So after years of trying I've finally managed to learn to braid (this is the video I used and it just clicked: http://sevenclowncircus.com/2012/07/french-braid.html) so now to the 'what the!?' part....when I braid someone else's hair its a french braid, when I do mine it's a dutch braid! I really prefer the look of the french so it's a bit frustrating! Ideally I'd like to be able to do both but one thing at a time I guess.......anyone else had this problem? How do I learn to do it? I love braided hair dos and I'm hoping to add quiet a few to my repertoire :D Also check out this webpage: http://www.cutegirlshairstyles.com/ heaps of cute hair styles there :)
Vanessa
PS I can manage a standard 3 strand plait easily, although it took me a while!
I only realised the other day I have been doing a Dutch braid instead of a French! Haven't attempted a French yet :confused:
thistledown
May 29th, 2013, 04:26 AM
I know right! So many braids, so confusing LOL
Vanessa
Intransigentia
May 29th, 2013, 10:21 AM
I have the exact same thing happen to me - French on others, Dutch on me. It has to do with how your hands are positioned on somebody else's head vs your own - they're kindof backwards. It feels like there's a stage in crossing the strands, where doing your own dutch braid is way easier because the braid-strand naturally sticks out a bit, rather than tries to get mixed in with the hair you haven't braided yet.
For me the key to French braids on myself is mindfulness, especially at that point where the strand can get lost in the rest of the hair. Just really paying attention to where the hair is going. ANd practice. I wish there was a quick trick but I haven't found one.
browneyedsusan
May 29th, 2013, 05:39 PM
I can read instructions all day but I can never figure it out, I'll just keep practising........maybe I'll get my sister to do it in front of me so I can watch :) Wow that sounds bad LOL
Vanessa
:spitting:
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