Beautiful fresh looking braidstyle for thick hair

[Arctic]

OMG, just look at the first photo of this blog post: http://blogit.kaksplus.fi/jennishairdays/2015/06/03/kesaaamut/

If my hair would be thick, I'd love to wear it like that! It looks amazingly beautiful, and would take weight off from the braid too!

[alexis917]

Wow, that's beautiful! I'm a bit jealous of the Elsa-esque color, too, as someone with nearly-black hair.

[meteor]

It looks amazing! :thudpile: Thanks so much for sharing, Arctic! :D

Unfortunately, my braiding skills are nowhere near good enough to be able to pull something like that off and my hair is way too grabby. :(

By the way, I'm not so sure it requires extremely thick hair: it will work well with "pancaking" the braid(s), for example, or giving it texture with hair powder/spray/etc.

[Arctic]

I think my whole hair would go into 3 of those flowers :D Well that could be nice style too!

[lapushka]

Yes, that would work with ii thickness just fine! :)

[Arctic]

Hmm, maybe if there was lot of length to make the flowers from (so only little thickness would be used for the flowers). Mine's so short I think I really could only do 3 of the blossoms. Maybe I'll have to give it a try, the style without the braid started to tickle my creative braiding fingers :D

[MsBubbles]

That's adorable!

[meteor]

Hmm, maybe if there was lot of length to make the flowers from (so only little thickness would be used for the flowers). Mine's so short I think I really could only do 3 of the blossoms. Maybe I'll have to give it a try, the style without the braid started to tickle my creative braiding fingers :D

I think the key is to sort of roll the braids into "rosettes" making sure all of the braid knobs are as visible and flattened/spread out as possible. So "pancaking" will really make it look good and more like "flowers" rather than braided buns. I think this video shows how to do 3 rosettes and make them big well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KATjQ3-FLb8

[Lolino]

Oooh, pretty! My arms would probably kill me if I attempted any of that though :D

[Arctic]

I'm glad you all liked it! Now I'm waiting for someone to try it :D

Thank you for the links and ideas, Meteor! I personally do know how to use hair products, pancake and make hair flowers (rosettes), I'm quite skilled/experienced braider (or at least I'm enthusiastic, love to braid and braid a lot) - but the links are no doubt useful for those who are not familiar with them. :)


What I would like to know is how the hair was sectioned for this style, that I can't figure out. The Finnish text only says the braid is regular French braid and the roses (as she calls them) are, well, decorations. I wonder where the hair for the flowers is sectioned, right under where the flowers are places, I guess. Now how and in what order would the braiding as a whole go. Does she first braid the accent braids, then the french braid and makes sure the accent braids are brought on top of the french and not gotten intertwined with the french. Then she makes the flowers. Now that I started to think about it methodically, that's the way it has to be. Does someone else have more/different/better ideas? I also wonder how thick the accent braids each are.


About the thickness. The ii-category is very wide, and I'm sure someone who has dense hair and/or is on the thicker side of ii could do this very well. I never said extremely thick, and didn't necessarily even mean iii, I personally consider upper ii to be thick too. The problem with thinner hair - at least my hair, and maybe others who have hair of my thickness and denseness (lower side of ii, not dense) is that there would be lot of scalp cleavage if trying this exact style. A french braid alone can cause scalp cleavage, add those flowers to the mix and it's inevitable. It would not be visually pleasing, at least on my hair and I am ii, even if I technically could do the style. My hair's also so short I would need more thickness to the flowers compared to someone who has longer hair (and can make more "petals" that way), but that's another issue.

I'm still pretty sure that one would need thick hair (compared to my own, for example) for this. The braider whose blog that is, uses her DD as a model, and always writes how unusually thick hair her DD has (and as braider she has lot to compare to). Ofcourse what's considered thick varies from culture to culture, but here in Finland (where the blogger lives) the pictured hair is quite thick. I can't see how the style would look the same with thinner (lower side of ii?), maybe sparser, maybe scalp cleavage-prone hair - but I would be happy to be proven wrong!


Anyway, I'll stop splitting hairs now :D

I might just try some sort of variation fo this style tomorrow or sometime in the near future. (too bad my short hair doesn't make such petal-ly flowers, mine will be like a childs drawing of a flower: 5 petals :D LOL!

[Arctic]

I tried this last night, and I'll have to take my words back - I was able to do a french braid and 3 flowers without scalp cleavage with my lower side of ii hair.

Although, unfortunately, the end results were not that great. I didn't even take a photo. (might just need more practice???)

My hair is, I think, a bit too short for a nice looking rosettes/flowers, like I suspected. I also had a "colour issue", the flowers just were not visible in my brown hair like they were in the photo of blonde hair, and just looked messy mistakes of french braided hair. My rosette skills also were rusty, it's been years since I've done them the last time, and they ended up messy. Part of the problem is probably the length of my hair (too many ends poking out). Plus I didn't use any hair products, those would help to keep the flowers and their "petals" together better (I was just going to sleep so didn't feel like using products).

My sectioning method also needs honing. I did it this way: started making normal french braid, and at 3 spots as I took more hair for the braid, I didn't actually incorporate it into the braid, but sort of left it hang on top of the braid while I continued french braiding. After tyeing off the french braid (I make a tucked under version), I had 3 strands of hair coming from the middle of the french braid at 3 different spots. I braided them and tried to make the rosettes, with the not so great results I wrote about above.

All and all I need to practice the sectioning and flower making more, but I am inspired and feel like I want to make this work :D

[MidnightMoon]

I might be wrong but her hair doesnt seem that thick to me, specially in the photo where its loose. Id say its medium thickness, and probably you can flatten up the braid a bit so it looks thicker from the back, by grabbing it by both sides and gently pulling, the skills required to do such styles might be a problem, at least to me, though :P!

[Arctic]

Well maybe I was wrong this is the braider's thick haired DD. She has 3 DDs of which one, according to the braider's words, had considerably thick hair. I assumed this is the daughter, but might have been mistaken. She seems to use the thick haired DD most in her photos and turorials usually.

It does seem the hair of this girl is very dense though, and depending on the context, I often feel a very dense hair can be also considered thick, again maybe more in the realms outside categorizing hair forum boxes, where denseness is not really considered in the hair typing at all.

In any case, I originally did not mean necessarily iii thickness when I said "thick hair". I meant more like muggle thick, not LHC terminology thick. Here were I live hair that would be counted iii is very rare, and upper ii is considered thick, and that's what I go by. (The blogger is also Finnish, like me.)

I also compare thickness to my own hair, and the girl in the pic has thicker hair than me, so I see it as thick. I also probably over estimated how much thickness those flowers would eat.

AND I still think this would be an amazing style for thick hair (but also for any thickness of hair, who can make it work).


In addition, I was convinced I personally couldn't do the style, that I don't have enough hair, but like I just wrote in my post above, I proved this wrong myself last night (even if my results were not that impressive).


Never the less, it's a lovely style, and I'd love to learn it propelly! I do hope someone else will give it a whirl, so we could talk about the techical stuff (ha ha, braiding is very technical!) and get tried and true tips from eachother about how to make this style work!

And I also hope someone would share ideas how they think the sectioning was done.

[JamieLeigh]

That's so beautiful! All of the photos are, really, but yes there is just something eye catching about the first one. My braiding skills are "meh" on my own head, but I could probably pull this off with my daughter's hair. My eldest one is who I mean, of course, the one who has the braid as thick as my wrist. My middle daughter has very fine hair, but it is creeping towards waist length finally.

[lapushka]

If your hair is not as thick, try 1 rosette instead of 2 or 3. You'll keep much more thickness in your endbraid that way.

[FallingDarkness]

Watching this thread for ideas on how to do all 3 of those hairstyles.
I have decided that I NEED them in my hair :P

[Arctic]

I've been practicing all evening today. Like Lapushka, I had also thought of trying different number of flowers. 3 doesn't work well for me (too short hair), 2 looks silly (I like uneven numbers), so one is most likely best number for me at this length.

I've come to a conclusion, that on my short, brown hair, for the flowers to really show, I need a smooth background (not french braiding, more like a regular 3 strand braid at the nape) and I need 2 accent braids to make 1 decent sized flower. The flowers can eat up quite a bit of my thickness too.

Gel helps a lot, as does making the flowers from damp hair. (but since I am re-practicing several times, I don't like to use product now, knowing I take my hair down again and re-try again. I usually use products when I'm going somewhere.

Other problem with very small flowers (from one of my short accent braid) in addition of it being difficult to see, is that bobby pins, even the mini ones I have, are hard to hide. Same with the mini silicone hair elastics. The small flowers also turn into hairy, untidy looking very easily when pancaked. My hair also gets tangly and frizzy from these small braids that are pancaked.

And one more thought about the flowers: If the hair section I make one with is too big, the flower turn to look more like bun, no matter how much it's pancaked. If the section is too small, the results are messy, and to my eye ugly (like I wrote above).

The biggest problem in addition to my hair being a bit too short for the flowers, is the sectioning (especially when making a french braid base). I have now tried several ways, and non of them have been very successful. There are to my understanding 2 ways (might be more?) to approach the sectioning (again when talking about a french braid base).

1) pre-section the accent braids before making the french braid. The pre-sectioned hair can be either braided right there, or pinned out of the way while french braiding, and make the accent braid after that. (With the latter, you'll probably need to move the pinned section(s) at least once, out of the way of french braiding.)

2) start first by french braiding, and (say you want 3 flowers) at three different spots as you take more hair, you don't incorporate into the french braid but sort of let the strands hang loose on top of the frenc braid, while you continue it. When frenchie is finished, braid these accent strands into the accent braids.


The problem is to work around these accent braids, whether you braid them before of after french braiding, and that is a bit difficult. If pre-braided, it makes it more difficult to for example comb and gather your hair neatly for french braid. If not pre-braided, the loose sections will try to tangle into the french braid and easily cause a messy look.

I also noticed that the placement of the flowers is not easy. The photo of the girl, the flowers look so elegantly and effortlessly placed. On my hair, it very difficult to find a good place for them. The placement issue is even more difficult because you kind of have to know the placement beforehands.


I've been taking some snaps of some of my attempts, but am not going to share them here yet, I need more practicing. I'm still inspired though, so I keep practicing.

[lapushka]

Arctic, like you said, you can make your braid at the nape, section a tiny piece off for a flower, then braid a nape (English) braid, then roll your flower to be placed next to where the braid starts, or on top of where it starts. Could be a cute style!

[Arctic]

Great mids think alike, Lapushka, that's the version I am wearing right now :D (on top of where the braid starts.)

I made a big flower, used 2 accent braids. It's sort of cool looking! For longer hair, only 1 accent braid would be enough to make an impressive flower, but I need two.

[Ava Ruu]

Could one use two-stranded braids for the accent flowers? In my hair vortex buns made with rope braids (or one rope braid + one English) look a lot more flowery than ones made with only English braids. The rope braids tend to loosen on their own which creates a sort of pancaked look without the actual pancaking, and the outer layers are always looser which creates a tight centre and larger surrounding petals.

[Arctic]

Sure, I love how rope braid flowers (or buns too) look. I've been testing those out myself too today! You can also gently pull them more bumby looking, a bit like pancaking, but you need to ba careful as they can't take as much manipulation as 3-strand braids.

[Unicorn]

That's lovely. I'm wondering if I could manage something similar with my 9" thickness... Locs don't compress down very much

Unicorn

[Arctic]

Unicorn, I'd love to hear how this works for you, if you give it a try! Oh my, I can already imagine what beautiful, impressive flowers you could make!

[Arctic]

My biggest problem, as I've been practicing and trying different things is, apart from my hair being a bit too short for nice looking flowers, is the sectioning off the hair I'll use for the flowers. I am repeating myself, but this keeps happening.

If I pre-section a strand but don't braid it right there, it gets tangled with the rest of my hair or accidently re-braided. Same with seperating a section while french braiding (=f.b.) (as if taking more hair for f.b but not actually braiding it in).

If I presection and braid the accent braids before f.b:ing, my loose hairs tend to get tangled and braided accidently into the small braid and it's difficult to manage, no matter what I try. It's also difficult to smooth out the canopy hair if there are pre-sectioned and pre-braided accents braids.

If I make a variation of this style without f.b:ing, it's not much better. The most easy and manageable place to section off hair for the accent braid is from the hair line. Alas my short hair is again working against me, and if, say, I make the accents from hair from my front hair line, the flower will need to placed more towards my temples than the back of my head. And this style would need the flowers at the back.

If I want nice sized flower, I need 2 accent braids to make it, which complicated this even more.


So, technically I know how to do this, but in practice the small braids are really hard to manage for me, and make look good and placed nicely. An extra hand or two would be helpful, ha ha. Add that on brown hair the flowers, especially small ones, are not very visible. And the small ones are difficult to secure so that the pins and elastics wouldn't show.


Good thing I've been starting to get a hang of the flower/rosette making again, after years of not doing them. And also I consider a good thing when I find a style that inspires me, like this one has done.


I've taken some photos of few of my attempts. None of them is what I would be happy with, but I might post few photos in my blog later on. Most of the photos are of variations of some kind, just experimenting with different elements.

I've been thinking about braiding a thin ribbon into my accent braids, maybe it would help make the flowers pop?



ETA: I'd love to hear how others who have tried this, have solved the sectioning problem?

[missrandie]

I think the thin ribbon idea sounds like a good plan! Heck, put one in each strand! Though that might look a touch busy.

What about using a small paranda-type thing to give you some extra length and color to fiddle with?

[FallingDarkness]

Does anyone have a tutorial on how to make the hair flowers?

[Arctic]

Does anyone have a tutorial on how to make the hair flowers?

Meteor posted one earlier, probably on page 1.

[Arctic]

I think the thin ribbon idea sounds like a good plan! Heck, put one in each strand! Though that might look a touch busy.

What about using a small paranda-type thing to give you some extra length and color to fiddle with?


Thanks for giving thumbs up to the ribbon idea! I probably don't have ribbon at home, and need to remember to buy it. Might take a while :D I agree having ribbon on every strand would be busy. If there would be a way of keeping the ribbon on the other side of the braid only, the side that would form the petals of the flower.

I'll have to see about the mini-mini-parandas, they would solve most of my problems. I actually have some fake hair I could use.




ETA: Posted some bad photos of some of my many practice attempts in my blog. I've been practising mostly the flower making (testing different things), the sectioning and placement, and trying to figure out a version of this for my hair. The photos are so bad I won't even put a direct link here; you have been warned :D

[FallingDarkness]

Oh thanks! Yeah I'm definitely going to try to at least get the flowers in my hair... Maybe at least one? Just start off simple.

[FallingDarkness]

Except her flowers seem so much more...compact. Flat. IDK. Either way both flower types are beautiful and I can't wait to have hair flowers!!!

[Alien Girl]

LOVE the second one

[Arctic]

Except her flowers seem so much more...compact. Flat. IDK. Either way both flower types are beautiful and I can't wait to have hair flowers!!!

Have a look at this video, I like this one myself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfaRPoOiCq8

You will need to play around with how much you pancake your rosettes/flowers to get the look you want. Some product helps with the pancaking, at least on me (most of my practice versions are without products).

I think the pinning also affects how flat or 3-D the hair looks. Too much pinning with big bobby pins leads to flat flower. Mini bobby pins at strategic places leads to more 3-D effect, where the outer petals can be lifted a little. This again takes some practice, and the shorter the hair (like mine) the more difficult the pinning is, even with mini bobby pins.

I've also seen flowers where there has been no pancaking, just tight rolling. Those looked kind of nice too.

[Arctic]

LOVE the second one


I hope I translate this corrently. She doesn't give actual how to, but says the second picture is


"2 hair bows and 2 four-part (probably 4-strand) half-french (probably lace french?) braids."

[stachelbeere]

hey guys, sooo I actually made hair flowers on my hair a while back when my hair was about BSL long. I have pretty averagely thick hair btw. Here is a photo:

http://i1299.photobucket.com/albums/ag76/stachelbeere/spontaneous%20hair%20pics/flowerbuns_500px_zps243972e5.jpg

and here is the link to the tutorial (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb8wGVCLjes) I followed. it is doable, you just need to practice, pull the braids out and use lots of bobby pins in strategic places :)

[Arctic]

hey guys, sooo I actually made hair flowers on my hair a while back when my hair was about BSL long. I have pretty averagely thick hair btw. Here is a photo:

http://i1299.photobucket.com/albums/ag76/stachelbeere/spontaneous%20hair%20pics/flowerbuns_500px_zps243972e5.jpg

and here is the link to the tutorial (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb8wGVCLjes) I followed. it is doable, you just need to practice, pull the braids out and use lots of bobby pins in strategic places :)


Very pretty! Encouraging that you could make 3 nice sized flowers with avarage thickness hair!

(Mine is less than avarage, and as mine's also so short, I need double the thickness to make nice sized flower (I need 2 accent braids per flower of that size). If following the original photo of the hairstyle, there should be also enough hair for a braid, which in my hair is pushing it currently.)

If you try the pictured style do let me know how you best managed to keep the flower hair seperated from the french braid hair as you make the style, it would be very helpful to hear how others deal with those steps.

[stachelbeere]

Very pretty! Encouraging that you could 3 nice sized flowers with avarage thickness hair!

(Mine is less than avarage, and as mine's also so short, I need double the thickness to make nice sized flower (I need 2 accent braids per flower of that size). If following the original photo of the hairstyle, there should be also enough hair for a braid, which in my hair is pushing it currently.)

If you try the pictured style do let me know how you best managed to keep the flower hair seperated from the french braid hair as you make the style, it would be very helpful to hear how others deal with those steps.

Challenge accepted! I will try it and post a picture :) I think with CBL hair you can make the flowers smaller (they will be nicely proportionate to the length) - or just pull them out a lot more to make them bigger - it takes time to pull the braids out to achieve the thickness but it might be worth it. A couple of months ago I pulled out a tiny braid into quiet a big one for a braided half-up do. It was super flat but wide :)

[Arctic]

Sure I can make them smaller, but then it's not the same look. :) The small ones do not look like flowers, they look like braiding mistakes, on my hair anyway (I have some photos in my blog of some of my attempts). What I loved in this style is the exact look of big flowers, the placement of them... :D

With short (and layered) hair like mine, the pancaking is also limited, the flowers become untidy and hairy very easily.

Well at any case I've gotten lot of ideas, practice, and I have something to look forward when my hair is longer. :D


And in any case, I get to admire thi style on others! It would be awesome if you would try it! :joy:

I've learned from my tries that the flowers are easy to do when the hair for them is sectioned from the hairline. But when the hair needs to be sectioned from the middle of my head while french braiding and working around the accent braids/hair that is going to be accent braid, it has been difficult to me :( I'm not used to being so all thumbs like I've been with this style, especially as the elements of this style are easy and something I already knew how to do, and do well at that. Maybe I just need more practice or more length :D Or both :D

[stachelbeere]

Sure I can make them smaller, but then it's not the same look. :) The small ones do not look like flowers, they look like braiding mistakes, on my hair anyway (I have some photos in my blog of some of my attempts). What I loved in this style is the exact look of big flowers, the placement of them... :D

With short (and layered) hair like mine, the pancaking is also limited, the flowers become untidy and hairy very easily.

Well at any case I've gotten lot of ideas, practice, and I have something to look forward when my hair is longer. :D


And in any case, I get to admire thi style on others! It would be awesome if you would try it! :joy:

I've learned from my tries that the flowers are easy to do when the hair for them is sectioned from the hairline. But when the hair needs to be sectioned from the middle of my head while french braiding and working around the accent braids/hair that is going to be accent braid, it has been difficult to me :( I'm not used to being so all thumbs like I've been with this style, especially as the elements of this style are easy and something I already knew how to do, and do well at that. Maybe I just need more practice or more length :D Or both :D

hmmm... I'm going to try do the style tomorrow or so but I think I'll try do three 'waterfall' sections for the flowers which I'll then braid... let's see how it goes :)

oh and if you reaaaally want to do the rose flowers why not try three clip in extensions? you braid in your hair and voila! :)

[Arctic]

Clip ins are a good idea, yes. I probably don't want the flowers that much that I'd buy clip ins for that :D
I have some fake hair at home, though, but even that doesn't feel like "my thing", but who knows, maybe I'll try to use the fake hair for these flowers. One of the idea was also something similar: to braid in a thin ribbon to the flowers, so they would be more visible. I'll just need to a) buy ribbon b) learn to braid with ribbon and c) figure out how to keep the ribbon on those braid bumbs that will make the outer petals.

I'll probably just have to admit my hair just doesn't quite have what it takes for this specific hair style (yet?). I thought so in the beginning when I posted this, then got my hopes up, but now after trying different versions and techniques probably something like 20 times, I need to accept this is not working for me yet.

I might come up with a nice version of the original, that works with my hair stats. There was just something truly macigal to my eyes in the original, all the elements were just so harmonious and balanced, and I feel a compromized version doesn't be so satisfying (if one can say that about a hairstyle).


I'm really happy you'll try it though!!! I'll send you good braiding energies, and live vigorously though your awesome flowers :D The ones you posted earlier were extremely nicely done!

[Arctic]

<snip> couple of months ago I pulled out a tiny braid into quiet a big one for a braided half-up do. It was super flat but wide :)


Did you use products with this, and if so, what type?

I find hair powder gives most oomph to my braids, but it also makes it difficult to re-braid if needed (especially small accent braids like these), and hair looses some of its shine (temporarily ofcourse). I have tried gel and some sort of fibre paste too. I have tried to use the gel and paste both before braiding (on the strands) and after braiding (smoothing the braid). Both seem fine, the paste is more re-workable, so better for practicing. (I usually avoid using products unless I'm going somewhere due to my sensitive scalp.)

[FallingDarkness]

Okay, I'm going to try to do at least one flower on my hair by the end of tomorrow, and will post my results here. The whole flower-into-braid still might be a little much for me to handle, but I look forward to the challenge! :D

[stachelbeere]

Clip ins are a good idea, yes. I probably don't want the flowers that much that I'd buy clip ins for that :D
I have some fake hair at home, though, but even that doesn't feel like "my thing", but who knows, maybe I'll try to use the fake hair for these flowers. One of the idea was also something similar: to braid in a thin ribbon to the flowers, so they would be more visible. I'll just need to a) buy ribbon b) learn to braid with ribbon and c) figure out how to keep the ribbon on those braid bumbs that will make the outer petals.

I'll probably just have to admit my hair just doesn't quite have what it takes for this specific hair style (yet?). I thought so in the beginning when I posted this, then got my hopes up, but now after trying different versions and techniques probably something like 20 times, I need to accept this is not working for me yet.

I might come up with a nice version of the original, that works with my hair stats. There was just something truly macigal to my eyes in the original, all the elements were just so harmonious and balanced, and I feel a compromized version doesn't be so satisfying (if one can say that about a hairstyle).


I'm really happy you'll try it though!!! I'll send you good braiding energies, and live vigorously though your awesome flowers :D The ones you posted earlier were extremely nicely done!

yes! a ribbon would be a nice alternative - or just try the fake hair you have :)

tbh it also took me quiet a while to master these flowers and I must have tried making them...a bunch of times until I succeeded. The problems for medium thick hair are:
1. not using too much hair for the flowers so you have some length left, but enough to get the thickness
2. where to start braiding so the flowers sit in the right spot
3. what the front looks like
...so it was a challenge, I must admit. The thing is that the flowers and the braid are made by some one else and it's much harder to do it on yourself because you don't see the back of your head. Maybe you have a braiding enthusiast who lives around and would try this style out - I would if I lived in Finland hehe :D


Did you use products with this, and if so, what type?

I find hair powder gives most oomph to my braids, but it also makes it difficult to re-braid if needed (especially small accent braids like these), and hair looses some of its shine (temporarily ofcourse). I have tried gel and some sort of fibre paste too. I have tried to use the gel and paste both before braiding (on the strands) and after braiding (smoothing the braid). Both seem fine, the paste is more re-workable, so better for practicing. (I usually avoid using products unless I'm going somewhere due to my sensitive scalp.)

well... no products at all :D it took my about 30 minutes or even longer to achieve the effect though and it was on day 1 hair so it can't be 'greasy' at all. it was worth it! I'll try find pictures, it was for a friend's wedding :)

[Ava Ruu]

Ok, to avoid cleaning I tried this braid today. I do not usually braid that much, just plain English ones, so this was messy. I found it easiest to section the hair for the accent braids from the hairline. I sectioned the two from the front before braiding (and clipped them), and left out some hair closer to my neck for the third one while braiding. After the French braid was finished I pulled the (not braided) accent sections through the French braid (with a plastic loop), pinned them in place, braided and rolled into flowers one by one. This way the front hairline was reasonably neat (considering my braiding skills) and it was easy to find good positions for the accent flowers. They ended up on the braid like in the inspiration photo.

[Arctic]

Ok, to avoid cleaning I tried this braid today. I do not usually braid that much, just plain English ones, so this was messy. I found it easiest to section the hair for the accent braids from the hairline. I sectioned the two from the front before braiding (and clipped them), and left out some hair closer to my neck for the third one while braiding. After the French braid was finished I pulled the (not braided) accent sections through the French braid (with a plastic loop), pinned them in place, braided and rolled into flowers one by one. This way the front hairline was reasonably neat (considering my braiding skills) and it was easy to find good positions for the accent flowers. They ended up on the braid like in the inspiration photo.

Sounds like a brilliant technique! That's probably how I'd end up doing it too, if my hair would be longer, as I have noticed the hairline sectioning is much easier to manage. Clever idea to use topsy tail, I hadn't thought that!

[TrapperCreekD]

Wow, gorgeous styles! :crush:

[Arctic]

yes! a ribbon would be a nice alternative - or just try the fake hair you have :)

tbh it also took me quiet a while to master these flowers and I must have tried making them...a bunch of times until I succeeded. The problems for medium thick hair are:
1. not using too much hair for the flowers so you have some length left, but enough to get the thickness
2. where to start braiding so the flowers sit in the right spot
3. what the front looks like
...so it was a challenge, I must admit. The thing is that the flowers and the braid are made by some one else and it's much harder to do it on yourself because you don't see the back of your head. Maybe you have a braiding enthusiast who lives around and would try this style out - I would if I lived in Finland hehe :D



well... no products at all :D it took my about 30 minutes or even longer to achieve the effect though and it was on day 1 hair so it can't be 'greasy' at all. it was worth it! I'll try find pictures, it was for a friend's wedding :)


I can't claim I mastered the flowers, but I did learn to make them yars ago when I first grew out my hair. Now I've been rusty with them. True, the thickness needs to be just so: too thin and too thick both end up looking - if not bad, then at least not quite right either.

I also like to work on clean hair, it's always the easiest to manage for me (opposite of how most people seem to experience it).

It would be great to have a braiding buddy here! My friends, who both have long hair, are visiting me in August, maybe they'll let me practice on them :D

[Unicorn]

Unicorn, I'd love to hear how this works for you, if you give it a try! Oh my, I can already imagine what beautiful, impressive flowers you could make!

I'll certainly try it out. Locs can be a tad unpredictable when trying to copy styles from loose hair, so it'll be an interesting experiment.Unic

Unicorn

[stachelbeere]

Ok, to avoid cleaning I tried this braid today. I do not usually braid that much, just plain English ones, so this was messy. I found it easiest to section the hair for the accent braids from the hairline. I sectioned the two from the front before braiding (and clipped them), and left out some hair closer to my neck for the third one while braiding. After the French braid was finished I pulled the (not braided) accent sections through the French braid (with a plastic loop), pinned them in place, braided and rolled into flowers one by one. This way the front hairline was reasonably neat (considering my braiding skills) and it was easy to find good positions for the accent flowers. They ended up on the braid like in the inspiration photo.

brilliant! way better than waterfall braiding it as I initially planned :D

[Arctic]

I did one last try just now. I think I will take a break from this style for a while.

Link to my latest version: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/entry.php?b=122467

It's getting better, I used fake hair (totally colour matched! ;) ) which helped the flowers be more visible. I also tried the Ava Ruu technique of using topsy tail, and it worked beautifully! Much better than one of the ways I tested, where I tooks hair as I braided french braid, but didn't add it to the strands, just left it hanging (or pinned aside) untill I finished french braid. Then I braided the hanging out strands into flowers. It's basically same way of sectioning, but with Ava Ruu's method much easier and neater. My own hair is too short for that method, but with the help of fake hair I got small flowers.

[stachelbeere]

I did one last try just now. I think I will take a break from this style for a while.

Link to my latest version: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/entry.php?b=122467

It's getting better, I used fake hair (totally colour matched! ;) ) which helped the flowers be more visible. I also tried the Ava Ruu technique of using topsy tail, and it worked beautifully! Much better than one of the ways I tested, where I tooks hair as I braided french braid, but didn't add it to the strands, just left it hanging (or pinned aside) untill I finished french braid. Then I braided the hanging out strands into flowers. It's basically same way of sectioning, but with Ava Ruu's method much easier and neater. My own hair is too short for that method, but with the help of fake hair I got small flowers.

well done, it looks beautiful! I'm loving the pink extensions, they add some interest to the style hehe :D I'll attempt doing the style tomorrow morning, let's see how it goes...

[Ava Ruu]

I did one last try just now. I think I will take a break from this style for a while. Link to my latest version: http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/entry.php?b=122467 It's getting better, I used fake hair (totally colour matched! ;) ) which helped the flowers be more visible. I also tried the Ava Ruu technique of using topsy tail, and it worked beautifully! Much better than one of the ways I tested, where I tooks hair as I braided french braid, but didn't add it to the strands, just left it hanging (or pinned aside) untill I finished french braid. Then I braided the hanging out strands into flowers. It's basically same way of sectioning, but with Ava Ruu's method much easier and neater. My own hair is too short for that method, but with the help of fake hair I got small flowers. Nice to hear that it worked! Your braid is pretty. I'm wondering if a diagonal braid would work better for short hair. That way the accent sections would be closer to the main braid, and more length could be saved for the flowers. Or maybe if one would braid from ear to ear, one could have a rose headband?

[stachelbeere]

alright. here is my attempt. tbh I didn't do my best, I should have spent more time. But this is my 4th day after a wash heh (dry shampoo day, I fear) but I think I got the technique right. all it needs is good sectioning (the two top flowers are a good thickness whereas the third one is barely a microbraid!) as well as neat braiding and pulling the braids. oh, and fresh hair ;) but I can see that this little girl is blessed with nice, thick hair, her braid is so much thicker! oh and sorry about the horrible picture quality :/

http://i1299.photobucket.com/albums/ag76/stachelbeere/Photo20on202015-07-0320at2010.15202_zps0kxlsewl.jpg

[Arctic]

I'll certainly try it out. Locs can be a tad unpredictable when trying to copy styles from loose hair, so it'll be an interesting experiment.Unic

Unicorn


Good luck with trying! I have a feeling the flowers will turn out amazing with locks!



well done, it looks beautiful! I'm loving the pink extensions, they add some interest to the style hehe :D I'll attempt doing the style tomorrow morning, let's see how it goes...

Thank you! Yes the extension hair made the flowers pop, imagine my photo without the pink: the flowers would be barely visible :)



Nice to hear that it worked! Your braid is pretty. I'm wondering if a diagonal braid would work better for short hair. That way the accent sections would be closer to the main braid, and more length could be saved for the flowers. Or maybe if one would braid from ear to ear, one could have a rose headband?

These are great ideas, thank you!



alright. here is my attempt. tbh I didn't do my best, I should have spent more time. But this is my 4th day after a wash heh (dry shampoo day, I fear) but I think I got the technique right. all it needs is good sectioning (the two top flowers are a good thickness whereas the third one is barely a microbraid!) as well as neat braiding and pulling the braids. oh, and fresh hair ;) but I can see that this little girl is blessed with nice, thick hair, her braid is so much thicker! oh and sorry about the horrible picture quality :/

http://i1299.photobucket.com/albums/ag76/stachelbeere/Photo20on202015-07-0320at2010.15202_zps0kxlsewl.jpg


I love it, it looks great! Your hair colour and the size of the flowers allows them to be visible and look like flowers (unlike mine!)! Very nicely done! I agree these need a planned, good sectioning, which is the hardest part at least to me. (Though the topsy tail trick made it easier!) Did you try the topsy tail? Where did you section off the hair for flowers; from the hair line or near where your flowers start? And how exactly did you manage the steps? Did you braid the accent braids before or after french braiding, and how did you keep the accent braid hair from tangling into the rest of the hair?

Also, thank you for saying the girl pictured has thick hair, I was made to feel like I was wrong about my opinion, and the whole thread steered from "wow nice braid" to "her hair isn't that thick and any ii can achieve that" for a while, and that made me a bit defensive. You are probably the first one who agrees with me about her hair being thick.

One way to get around the braid thickness of the french braid, would be to make as big accent braids as needed, and tuck the tail of the french braid under itself, so there wouldn't be tail hanging down, yet there would be the nice texture play between the french braided canopy and the flowers.

[stachelbeere]

I love it, it looks great! Your hair colour and the size of the flowers allows them to be visible and look like flowers (unlike mine!)! Very nicely done! I agree these need a planned, good sectioning, which is the hardest part at least to me. (Though the topsy tail trick made it easier!) Did you try the topsy tail? Where did you section off the hair for flowers; from the hair line or near where your flowers start? And how exactly did you manage the steps? Did you braid the accent braids before or after french braiding, and how did you keep the accent braid hair from tangling into the rest of the hair?

Also, thank you for saying the girl pictured has thick hair, I was made to feel like I was wrong about my opinion, and the whole thread steered from "wow nice braid" to "her hair isn't that thick and any ii can achieve that" for a while, and that made me a bit defensive. You are probably the first one who agrees with me about her hair being thick.

One way to get around the braid thickness of the french braid, would be to make as big accent braids as needed, and tuck the tail of the french braid under itself, so there wouldn't be tail hanging down, yet there would be the nice texture play between the french braided canopy and the flowers.

hmm I think for now you're right, the colour makes the flowers more visible but that is only because I've got henna growing out and the demarcation line is at shoulder length. I have a green strand which also helps :) but once the henna grows out the flowers won't be as visible...unless I get highlights!

So here is how I did it: before braiding I sectioned out three sectione - two on the left side, a little above the ear and one below, one on the right . It's best to clip them away... which is something I didn't do and made everything so much harder...jk, it wasn't that bad. Then I frenchbraided the rest. Then I pulled each section through braid loops (didn't have a topsy tail so I just used my fingers - positioning the section upwards where I like it, stretching out a loop and pulling through, then braiding) - this is when a mirror would have been handy. Then I pulled out the braids, ran around to find bobby pins, found them, arranged the flowers, pinned with said bobby pins.

As for the thickness of the girl's hair - yes! in my opinion it is thick and the hairstyle is doable on ii hair but the main braid won't be as thick as hers - which is ok. I mean it'd be great to have thicker hair for styles like this one but oh well...I don't so I have to deal with it :shrug:

really good idea with the tucked french braid! then you don't have to be stingy about the amount of hair in the sections! ooor... if you like to use parandas that could also be an option I think for making the braid thicker :) and you could also make mini parandas for the roses... hmmm

[lapushka]

alright. here is my attempt. tbh I didn't do my best, I should have spent more time. But this is my 4th day after a wash heh (dry shampoo day, I fear) but I think I got the technique right. all it needs is good sectioning (the two top flowers are a good thickness whereas the third one is barely a microbraid!) as well as neat braiding and pulling the braids. oh, and fresh hair ;) but I can see that this little girl is blessed with nice, thick hair, her braid is so much thicker! oh and sorry about the horrible picture quality :/

http://i1299.photobucket.com/albums/ag76/stachelbeere/Photo20on202015-07-0320at2010.15202_zps0kxlsewl.jpg

That is *really* pretty, and well done! :)

[cat11]

it's beautiful, I especially like the ones with the bows.

I clicked on this cause I have thick hair, but I think it would become a tangled mess if I tried to create so many sections!! It hates seperating

[Johannah]

alright. here is my attempt. tbh I didn't do my best, I should have spent more time. But this is my 4th day after a wash heh (dry shampoo day, I fear) but I think I got the technique right. all it needs is good sectioning (the two top flowers are a good thickness whereas the third one is barely a microbraid!) as well as neat braiding and pulling the braids. oh, and fresh hair ;) but I can see that this little girl is blessed with nice, thick hair, her braid is so much thicker! oh and sorry about the horrible picture quality :/

http://i1299.photobucket.com/albums/ag76/stachelbeere/Photo20on202015-07-0320at2010.15202_zps0kxlsewl.jpg

Wow this looks amazing!!

[meteor]

Stachelbeere and Arctic, wow, your braided flowers are absolutely stunning! :applause You guys are incredibly skillful braiders! :bowtome:

[stachelbeere]

thank you lapushka and meteor! :blossom: :flower: