French Braid vs English Braid - Pics welcome!

[FallingDarkness]

Basically, my French braid is a lot thinner than my English braid. Which bugs me, because I like my thick hair and it's a bummer that one of my fave hair styles doesn't broadcast how thick my hair is :P I was curious if that happened to anybody else, so I was hoping that some of you LHCers could post pictures of your French braids in comparison to your English braids so I could see if I'm either doing it wrong or if it's just my hair that's this strange. :/ Thanks!

[dulce]

I have the same problem..I suspect it is due to the french braid starting higher up on the head where the thicker hair is ..

[Stray_mind]

Same here. My french braid looks only about half as thick as my english braid. But what you gonna do.. I guess that's how it works. I think it has something to do with sectioning also. If you take larger sections it should look thicker. I saw a little girl once in the theater who had a french braid. The upper part looked soo thin, but the lower part was Huge...

[spidermom]

I've never noticed this.
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c79/spidermom/b28564a0-0231-46ec-8304-4a141fc7b209_zps775217df.jpg (http://s25.photobucket.com/user/spidermom/media/b28564a0-0231-46ec-8304-4a141fc7b209_zps775217df.jpg.html)
My sig is an English braid, but only using half my hair (obviously). Oh, and hair is shorter since the first picture was taken.

I think the trick is don't pull the braid sections so tight.

[urs]

Hi guys

I have the very same problem, whereby my french braid looks thin.

:rolleyes:

[FallingDarkness]

Well Spidermom, you start your braid lower than I do. I start my French braid right at my forehead, whereas you started yours at the back of your head.

I'll try to see if taking larger chunks of hair will make my braid look thicker, but I guess that having a gorgeous, thinner French braid is worth it, seeing how it looks soooo much prettier than an English braid does. :P

[Anje]

I've noticed my french braids taper more.... They're not thinner on top, but they get skinnier at the bottom.

No pics, though... I'm awful at pics, and I'm growing bangs (that I should have known better than to cut...) and they don't quite make it into an English braid yet. I'm still celebrating that they go into a bun, though!

ETA: How much it tapers definitely depends on where the French braid starts.

[Duchess Fuzzy Buns]

I also think starting lower would help. Also, as your hair gets longer maybe it will be less of a problem. If you start higher up and/or have shorter hair, then by the time you get to the nape of the neck you might be running out of the hair you originally started with. If that makes any sense? You're adding to the sections, but at some point they're not getting thicker because you're coming to the end of the hairs you started out with. This can also be made worse if you have layers.

[Arwenlily]

I've never noticed this.
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c79/spidermom/b28564a0-0231-46ec-8304-4a141fc7b209_zps775217df.jpg (http://s25.photobucket.com/user/spidermom/media/b28564a0-0231-46ec-8304-4a141fc7b209_zps775217df.jpg.html)
My sig is an English braid, but only using half my hair (obviously). Oh, and hair is shorter since the first picture was taken.

I think the trick is don't pull the braid sections so tight.

Ughh spidermom your hair is unbelievably gorgeous. Your braid is so thick! I think once my hair grows longer and I get rid of layers, my hair will be similar thickness. But currently my thickness ends at about shoulder length and gets thinner because of layers.

[Anabell]

It has to be that way because you cooperate hairs gradually instead all at once. So the new hairs you grabbed in the last stitch is still has full length while the hairs from the top has already pass threw some braid stitches that made them shorter. So the whole braid will look a little thinner but also longer, because you distribute the length and thickness differently than in english braid.
I'll see if I have some pictures of english braid vs french braid so you can see the difference on my hair.

My ends are thin anyway and that braid is too good to give up because of this. It really look great from the front and from the side. Lots of hairstyles look all the same from the front but not this one.

[jupiterinleo]

Wow, this thread is so reassuring. I thought it was just me! I don't have any pics of English braids to share for comparison, though.

[spidermom]

Ughh spidermom your hair is unbelievably gorgeous. Your braid is so thick! I think once my hair grows longer and I get rid of layers, my hair will be similar thickness. But currently my thickness ends at about shoulder length and gets thinner because of layers.

I have layers now too, Arwenlily. It's a nice change in spite of the sacrifice to braid thickness. I pin braids up now. It's good; the escaping hairs don't tangle up so much this way.

[Larki]

This bothers me so much! I'll see if I can take some comparison photos soon.

[Singing Bird]

Hmm ... on my hair there are no big differences between a french or a english braid. On the left english braid, on the right french braid.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/320x240q90/913/8dc6ce.jpghttp://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/320x240q90/35/bild4561.jpg

[Zebra Fish]

Singing Bird you are nor fair :bow: My french braid is thinner than english braid, but my english braid is also thin, so... :shrug: Usually when I french braid, I fold the braid so the ends come at the nape hidden, and clip them there, so it is not so obvious how thin it is :o

[PerkyCurlz]

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/320x240q90/913/8dc6ce.jpghttp://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/320x240q90/35/bild4561.jpg

Beautiful!

[Arwenlily]

I have layers now too, Arwenlily. It's a nice change in spite of the sacrifice to braid thickness. I pin braids up now. It's good; the escaping hairs don't tangle up so much this way.

How much would you say it sacrificed your thickness?

[Madora]

Hmm ... on my hair there are no big differences between a french or a english braid. On the left english braid, on the right french braid.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/320x240q90/913/8dc6ce.jpghttp://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/320x240q90/35/bild4561.jpg

What a beautiful set of braids, Singing Bird!

[1nuitblanche]

I don't have the wondrously thick hair that some of you here have, but I also haven't noticed that my English braids look thinner than my French braids - if anything, I would say the opposite is true for me. Maybe it's because the part at the top where the thickest hair is is longer when I French braid? Or maybe I do English braids tighter than French ones? If I had pictures, I'd post them.

[PerkyCurlz]

When I had layers, my braids (especially French and Dutch) would taper. Now that I have a blunt hemline, I don't get much taper.

Here are quick English and French braids.

http://i1311.photobucket.com/albums/s669/PerkyCurlz/0b3fb922-8669-4aca-becd-f11767ecc661_zps19984c9e.jpg http://i1311.photobucket.com/albums/s669/PerkyCurlz/83472394-b76b-4944-9123-cbfb517fb891_zps3f8d661f.jpg