French braid woes

[AJNinami]

I seem to be having an issue with my French braids. Whenever I wear one, I end up with a large number of nape hairs pulled taut and painful. I eventually pull these out angrily and have one or two 1/4 inch sections and a great many individual strands hanging free. Does anyone else have this problem? I love the look of this style and I would hate to give it up over a simple fix.

[neko_kawaii]

I seem to recall that the potentially easy fix to this is to combine the last sections of hair that include the nape area as a Dutch braid (under instead of over). Give that a shot and see if it helps.

[lapis_lazuli]

I'm still mastering the art of french braiding but please be gentle with your hairs! Don't pull them out! :tmi:
Maybe keep it tight as you're working your way down your head and loosely braid at the nape? I don't wear this style enough to know what would be best.
Someone else will chime in I'm sure! :flower:

[Belle Paix]

I'm sorry! This sounds awful, ugh! I can, oddly enough, only do a Dutch braid on myself. I never have this particular problem with a Dutch.

[AJNinami]

I seem to recall that the potentially easy fix to this is to combine the last sections of hair that include the nape area as a Dutch braid (under instead of over). Give that a shot and see if it helps.

Do you mean switching from a french to a dutch at the nape? Or gathering the nape hair into a dutch and blending that with the "normal" braid?


I'm still mastering the art of french braiding but please be gentle with your hairs! Don't pull them out! :tmi:
Maybe keep it tight as you're working your way down your head and loosely braid at the nape? I don't wear this style enough to know what would be best.
Someone else will chime in I'm sure! :flower:

Oh, I'm not pulling them out of my head, just out of the braid! That would be very bad. shudder: It seems to happen when I pull the braid over my shoulder to finish it off without a long tassle, as that's the side that gets the most concentrated tight hairs.

[neko_kawaii]

Switch from French to Dutch when you add the nape sections.

[lapis_lazuli]

Oh, I'm not pulling them out of my head, just out of the braid! That would be very bad. shudder: It seems to happen when I pull the braid over my shoulder to finish it off without a long tassle, as that's the side that gets the most concentrated tight hairs.

Oh I'm glad! Sorry I misinterpreted :)


Switch from French to Dutch when you add the nape sections.

Seconding this. Good luck :flower:

[MandyBeth]

I can't French braid my own hair. Dutch braid is easy, but my fingers get confused crossing over on my head. My hair sticks better crossing under, plus no pulling.

But when DH braids my hair, if he's not centered, my nape pulls. He also typically holds the braid slightly away from my head so it's looser and less likely to pull.

So my votes are repeats of above

1 - Try Dutch braiding the nape section in.

2 - Looser crossing over or hold it out a bit.

3 - Keep the braid centered at least until all the hair is in the braid.

[AJNinami]

Alright, I've tried all of the suggestions. Dutch braiding at the nape was better, but not perfect. It also ended up looking a bit wonky when I switched. Then I tried braiding loosely and up and that helped a lot. I still have some issues but I think that's my damaged hair grabbing onto hairs it shouldn't be going with, so I'll have to see if it gets better as my healthy hair gets longer. Thank you for all of the suggestions! :)

[lapushka]

When you reach the nape, braid away from the nape... how to explain this? Don't braid tight to the head at the nape. Oh God, I'm terrible at this... wish I could find a how-to... Darn.

[AJNinami]

When you reach the nape, braid away from the nape... how to explain this? Don't braid tight to the head at the nape. Oh God, I'm terrible at this... wish I could find a how-to... Darn.

I think I understand your meaning. Are you saying to hold the braid up off of the nape as I move down instead of letting it lay there?

[lunasea]

I'm confused about the whole switching to a dutch braid at the bottom. Are you folks talking about something like this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YC_unKDz_JA&feature=player_embedded