Rope braid success!

[Stevy]

I love the look of rope braids, but they often seem to unravel quickly when I do them, probably because I have fine, thin, slippy hair.

Today I was doing a rope braid and thought 'Hey, I didn't get these two halves of the braid very equal - one is twice the size of the other' and then 'Hmm, I wonder what would happen if I changed to a three-strand braid at the very bottom before tying it off?'

So I tried that and it worked - no more rope braids untwisting themselves!

I expect this is one of those things everyone else already knew, but I thought I'd share in case anyone else was as clueless as me. :)

[Shiranshoku]

Clueless here :D do you have a picture?

I often do a french rope braid to twist away my bangs, and I finish that of as an english braid to by adding the final section of hair as a third strand. But what you're describing sounds different.

[Nique1202]

I don't know of anyone who finishes rope braids by making them into english braids at the ends, but I also don't know of a lot of people whose braids don't need any tying off either. I know I certainly need an elastic no matter what kind of braid I make or how I make it.

[Kajzh]

Here's an excellent tutorial for making rope braids that don't unravel. :) It uses extension hair, but it works just the same with all natural hair too!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=23OoNG0BCzo

[Stevy]

Hey, thank you for the useful tips! I do tie it off, but it unravels anyway. I'll try and do a picture later.

[lapushka]

Do you twist in the right direction? It sometimes helps to tighten the rope, tie it off, let it go (it will loosen but shouldn't unravel).

[pailin]

I'll have to try this. I twist them tight and tie them off, and they still unravel. I know some people sleep in rope braids, but I can't, they unravel too much.