a 50% faster way of getting the fishtail braid! Pretty cool :)

[stachelbeere]

I stumbled across this video showing a new way of doing a fishtail braid where you work on two strands at the same time thus cutting the braiding time in half. So awesome. This is going to be the only way I'll do fishtail braids from now on :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTa4EA3qxrQ

[PrincessIdril]

Ohh I'll have to give that a try. Fishtails defeat me as I just get so bored doing them, this looks so much more efficient!

[stachelbeere]

I braided my hair with this method today and yesterday and it's amazing how fast I got the look. Even though my hair is only at APL+ ;)
I agree that fishtail braids are so boring to do normally... ain't nobody got time for that! :D

[velorutionista]

oh that is genius! so trying this tonight when I get home.

[Tini'sNewHair]

Thats neat as!!! Will have to give it a try soon. Thanks :)

[Scarlet_Heart]

Thanks for sharing that! I will definitely try that next time.

[PixieLinds]

Trying this now!!

[Rio040113]

Definitely need to have a go at this now! Thanks for sharing :D

[PixieLinds]

It is super easy! Just took me a couple of tries to remeber to twist my wrists the proper way and I got it. I love this!

[stachelbeere]

PixieLinds right, right?? :)

[Tini'sNewHair]

It is super easy! Just took me a couple of tries to remeber to twist my wrists the proper way and I got it. I love this!

Yeah same here and it worked - I promise to NEVER to fish tails in any other way - You changed my LIFE stachelbeere!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! haha (no kidding tho) :happydance:

[stachelbeere]

hehe Tini, bebexo changed my life too :D (but only this once so far :P)

[Snorman]

Seriously? That's how I thought you did the regular fishtail braid...
That's how I do it, and it only takes about 20 seconds.
I never realized people only cross over one at a time.
I put my index fingers through from the back and just cross them over at the same time.

ETA; I like the reversed, too! Neat style :)

[Misschilly]

Thanks, absolutley life changeing!=)

[Mellybee]

wow, fishbraids usually take me so long.
I'm guessing this will take a while to get the hang of, but the future time saving will be worth it :)

[Johannah]

Thanks for sharing!! I'm going to practice on this for sure!!

[Federica]

Thank you for sharing this! I love fishtail braids but it takes ages to do them normally.
This way is a lot quicker, I'll try it today.

[Monkshood]

Nice. I've always been put off by how time consuming this braid is, so I never even took the time to learn it. I no longer have an excuse!

[millyaulait]

Really nifty, I'll be trying this out soon!

[PixieKitten]

*Squees* I'm so happy to find this! I love fishtails but I can never be bothered to do them! This so much quicker! Gah! Thank you SO much for the link!

[Snorman]

Wow... I'm the only one already does this? :P
Here I was, thinking that this was the only way to do it. So weird :P
I wonder how I learned it. I don't really know anybody else who does it this way, either.

[Misschilly]

Just tried this, made milk maid braids but with two fishtails=)

[Nebulae]

I just tried this out.. awesome! It went much faster and my braid looks much neater with this method compared to braiding one strand at a time. Thanks for posting this! :D

[Stiria]

Thanks for posting!

Snorman: I used to cross both strands at the same time, like you do. But I find this method even quicker, because I can use the thumbs to help.

[Soltimus]

I will SO be trying this! So far I haven't had great success with the fishtail plait. It just kept pissing me off :D Maybe it being less time consuming will help with that ;) Thanks for posting the link!

[PixieLinds]

I will SO be trying this! So far I haven't had great success with the fishtail plait. It just kept pissing me off :D Maybe it being less time consuming will help with that ;) Thanks for posting the link!

It will be much easier! Ive done it a few times now.

[Chiquita Banana]

Sweet! Thanks for posting - I'm going to try this right away. I wear a braid at least once per week, my favorite being the fishtail. This looks way, way faster.

[ravenreed]

Very clever! Thanks for posting this.

[LMB]

I have been a long time lurker, have just joined and this is the thread that made me want to 'break my cherry' post!
I love the look of the fishtail but it's one of those braids that I do at night when I'm watching a movie or something as it takes too long for me to do in the mornings so i never actually leave the house wearing one!
I tried this once, and although it'll take me a few more tries to get the technique just right it already takes a lot less time.
On a side note: does anyone else find that if they don't use a hair tie at the top of the 'ponytail' that they get a hole/split in their hair at the top of the braid?

[panffle]

I used to do something similar to this before, but this inverted one for some reason feels better on my scalp (less tugging) and more comfortable to wear to sleep. I like it.

[Komao]

Thanks, that does look easier. :)

[Nebulae]

On a side note: does anyone else find that if they don't use a hair tie at the top of the 'ponytail' that they get a hole/split in their hair at the top of the braid?

I got that too when I tried this technique out today.. I was too lazy to redo it since I was just staying at home anyway but I think I recall that if you cross the two strands you create before you start the actual braiding, you won't get a hole at the top of the braid.
Also, welcome! :D

[Monkshood]

I tried this... and failed miserably! I'm having a hard time separating the strands with just one finger... Anyone else? It's faster for me to do it one strand at a time, but barely. I could probably manage it with practice, but meh, it seems like a lot of work for a braid that I don't particularly care for. I might try this technique again on wet hair, though.

[redredrobin]

I find that the time consuming part of this braid is based on the amount of hair I take each time, rather than the process itself. Maybe I'm just quick at fishtails. Worth a go anyway, thanks for posting.

[shutterpillar]

Thank for this! It's much easier.

On a side note... am I the only one that calls this type of braid a fishBONE braid instead of a fishTAIL? That's just what my mom called it when I was growing up, so that name is what I held onto.

[MeganE]

She has always had great tutorials, but this one blew me away. I have long loved fishtails and never ever been able to do them, and look!! This was only my second try!


http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=9113&d=1391705492

(Sorry for the crazy contrast, I have about a quart of oil in my hair and it photographed so dark that I had to boost the exposure to get it visible)

My favorite part is that you don't have to guess at the size of the previous strand, you can make sure the two pieces are the same size, which makes it sooooo even. Before I would always get vastly different strand sizes no matter how I tried and it came out looking like poop.

That, and it's not half the time, it's about one thirtieth of the time. At least for me. I seriously struggled with one for over an hour when I first tried them, and I never was able to do it any faster and gave up. I just did this in about two minutes.

YAY! Thanks for sharing!! Now she just needs to post a tutorial for a superfast french fishtail down the back and my life will be complete!

I've also heard it called a herringbone, fishbone seems fine as well. :)

[Nebulae]

On a side note... am I the only one that calls this type of braid a fishBONE braid instead of a fishTAIL? That's just what my mom called it when I was growing up, so that name is what I held onto.

Fishbone actually makes so much more sense.. it looks like the bones of a fish, not the tail. I might have to start calling it that, instead! :)
(Thinking about it, fishbone is actually what it's called in swedish if translated directly!)
End of side note ;)

[Stiria]

So beautiful MeganE!!


Fishbone actually makes so much more sense.. it looks like the bones of a fish, not the tail. I might have to start calling it that, instead! :)
(Thinking about it, fishbone is actually what it's called in swedish if translated directly!)
End of side note ;)

It is called fishbone in Norwegian and Swedish. Danish too if I am not mistaken. Makes much more sense.

[sarahramen]

This is really cool! I just did it and it is so much faster. I will be using this method from now on! The only thing is it is "upside-down", like instead of the lines being shaped like this V they are shaped like this ^ . Do you think there is a way to reverse the steps somehow to fix it? As for the post before me, yes, it does look more like the bones than the tail, I hadn't thought of that.

[alishaxmarie]

I tried this... and failed miserably! I'm having a hard time separating the strands with just one finger... Anyone else? It's faster for me to do it one strand at a time, but barely. I could probably manage it with practice, but meh, it seems like a lot of work for a braid that I don't particularly care for. I might try this technique again on wet hair, though.

Oh thank you, I thought I was the only one who couldn't do this properly! But I was aiming for a regular one instead of the inverted look...


This is really cool! I just did it and it is so much faster. I will be using this method from now on! The only thing is it is "upside-down", like instead of the lines being shaped like this V they are shaped like this ^ . Do you think there is a way to reverse the steps somehow to fix it? As for the post before me, yes, it does look more like the bones than the tail, I hadn't thought of that.

Just put the pieces over the front instead of around to the back of the braid, you could try use your thumbs instead of index fingers for the separating part but it may be more difficult that way. Honestly though, I haven't been able to manage grabbing two pieces and crossing them over with this method. I ended up doing the braid the regular way and it didn't feel like it took as long as it did the last time I did a fishbone (I too will call it fishbone instead of fishtail from now on) so maybe someone else can give us both some advice :)