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View Full Version : Are you pancaking braids and how's that working for you?



spidermom
February 14th, 2019, 11:13 AM
While my hair was shoulder length through APL and layered, I was very limited in the number of styles I could do. Now that my layers vary between APL and solidly BSL, I'm eager to wear new styles.

There are so many pretty styles around my length demonstrated on YouTube where the braid is pancaked, but when I do that, it looks good for about a minute (o.k., about 30 minutes). After that, I've got so many ends popping out of the braid, some of them as long as 6 to 8 inches hanging free, that it looks like I braided my hair in bed without combing it. No matter how neatly I try to braid it or how carefully I do the pancaking pull, somehow hundreds of ends just squiggle out and stand up or hang loose all over!

Here's an example of the kind of style I'm talking about (tried it this morning):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtxK2jpKjfU

What's the secret? Lots of hair spray? Different hair than I have?

AmaryllisRed
February 14th, 2019, 11:18 AM
I wish I knew the secret. All the braided styles I love on IG are pancaked but it just falls out on me. The only exception is something like a crown braid where it's all pinned anyway.
I am a person who has a TON of braid shred anyway, so even without pancaking, my braids look a mess almost immediately. Plus I'm growing out bangs and they're about collarbone length so they poke out of everything.

Maybe hairspray would help but I don't use it. Or maybe braiding damp?

ETA: A lot of the people I see doing these styles have dry-ish blond hair... Maybe their texture is grippier than mine. My hair is super slippery.

Groovy Granny
February 14th, 2019, 11:20 AM
I can't do that at all....it just looks thin and flat and falls apart :p

My hair is too fine and wispy I guess :hmm:

Anything but a simple english braid using all my hair = a horror show of tangles :tmi:

Sadly those pretty braided styles are beyond me at this point....but I wish you good luck :cheer:

spitfire511
February 14th, 2019, 11:27 AM
I am a person who has a TON of braid shred anyway, so even without pancaking, my braids look a mess almost immediately. Plus I'm growing out bangs and they're about collarbone length so they poke out of everything.



This - my layers are longer than CB - but same happens - my braids look pretty for like 10 minutes - then I move and they look like they've been chewed on by a cat for at least a decade.

I can do this on DD to some extent though - it doesn't last all day but longer than mine does. Noooo idea but I'll be following!

Hairkay
February 14th, 2019, 11:58 AM
I call that fluffing the hair out. I do that with flat twists sometimes. It works great with my hair texture. Frizz is to be expected.

MusicalSpoons
February 14th, 2019, 12:14 PM
Another member of the braid shred crowd here! I mean, it's shredded before I've even finished.

I remember trying to do an intentionally loose braid for a scalp wash once, and after a little while the crossovers just sank to the end, so I had no braid left at the top for a few inches, and a usually tight braid the rest of the way to the end :shrug: needless to say, I've never bothered attempting to pancake anything!

spidermom
February 14th, 2019, 12:33 PM
I remember trying to do an intentionally loose braid for a scalp wash once, and after a little while the crossovers just sank to the end

I thought I was the only person this happened to. I would start french-braiding at the top of my head, and by midday the braid would have slithered down and compacted until it looked like I started it at the middle of the back of my head. I've discovered that it stays in place better if I cross one more time before I start adding hair, so it's right under center, left under center, then right under center again, and start adding hair when I cross left under center.

I get pretty impressive braid shred without trying to pancake, but my style will usually look passable for the day, especially if it's 2 days or more since washing and I spritz a little dry shampoo into it before I start. Bonus - when I comb out the braid later, my hair looks less oily than it did when I started.

Katsura
February 14th, 2019, 12:36 PM
I haven't had success with pancaking braids, they just seem to look bad and fall apart. I think I lack hair.

Pamberpestana
February 14th, 2019, 01:08 PM
I think the only way to keep it together is lots of product, like mousse or hair spray or something. Those styles are cute, I keep reminding myself that Pinterest isn't very realistic haha. I have trouble with braids in general because my hair has too much slip and slips out. I'm hoping this problem goes away the longer my hair gets haha

ursaV
February 14th, 2019, 01:31 PM
I can't do that at all....it just looks thin and flat and falls apart :p

My hair is too fine and wispy I guess :hmm:


This is me! My braid pancakes are more like sad, floppy crepes.

Ylva
February 14th, 2019, 01:39 PM
My braids pancake themselves and I hate it. They start to look so shredded and messy and matted. Blah! I don't do it on purpose, I would much rather they stayed neat and tight.

spidermom
February 14th, 2019, 02:43 PM
Ylva, I can't do tight; it hurts my head.

Cinnamonagouti
February 14th, 2019, 03:27 PM
I often pancake but just enough to fluff up the braid a little and make it look thicker, not so it really looks flat. Works very well. My braid is always a little frizzy at the end of the days anyway. I have no layers and a slightly U-shaped hemline. But I think my hair is pretty good for braiding, I mean I can make a braid and not put in a hair tie, and it will stay in the whole day (maybe not on 2nd day when it's always kind of slippery), except for maybe the last three to four inches that will make a tassel. The smaller the braids (i.e two instead of one, or accent braids instead of a single braid) the better they will stay. A tight french braid can stay in for several days if I want it to (it does get a little messy) without getting loose, pancaked or not. It might depend on the texture and slippery-ness of your hair? I have a friend who has really slippery 1a/b hair, which will just undo itself all the way to the roots if I braid it and then let it go without tying it off. Even at MBL. That always fascinated me ;)

Edit: when I've used silicones my hair gets a lot more slippery and the braids get loose and frizzy and messy much faster. I never noticed a correlation to it being pancaked or nor, though.

Edit 2: And what do you all mean by shredded? Individual strands poking out and making the braid frizzy (that's what happens to me) or whole bunches of hairs falling out from the braid (that never happens to me)?

lithostoic
February 14th, 2019, 03:35 PM
I only pancake the bottom part because I have a lot of taper ^-^ Most of the time I leave it regular though.

lapushka
February 14th, 2019, 03:38 PM
While my hair was shoulder length through APL and layered, I was very limited in the number of styles I could do. Now that my layers vary between APL and solidly BSL, I'm eager to wear new styles.

There are so many pretty styles around my length demonstrated on YouTube where the braid is pancaked, but when I do that, it looks good for about a minute (o.k., about 30 minutes). After that, I've got so many ends popping out of the braid, some of them as long as 6 to 8 inches hanging free, that it looks like I braided my hair in bed without combing it. No matter how neatly I try to braid it or how carefully I do the pancaking pull, somehow hundreds of ends just squiggle out and stand up or hang loose all over!

Here's an example of the kind of style I'm talking about (tried it this morning):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtxK2jpKjfU

What's the secret? Lots of hair spray? Different hair than I have?

Is your hair all one length? If it's in layers that might very well explain it.

Other than that, I have no idea.

Maybe you need more length, or you're pancaking too much?

AmaryllisRed
February 14th, 2019, 03:46 PM
I often pancake but just enough to fluff up the braid a little and make it look thicker, not so it really looks flat. Works very well. My braid is always a little frizzy at the end of the days anyway. I have no layers and a slightly U-shaped hemline. But I think my hair is pretty good for braiding, I mean I can make a braid and not put in a hair tie, and it will stay in the whole day (maybe not on 2nd day when it's always kind of slippery), except for maybe the last three to four inches that will make a tassel. The smaller the braids (i.e two instead of one, or accent braids instead of a single braid) the better they will stay. A tight french braid can stay in for several days if I want it to (it does get a little messy) without getting loose, pancaked or not. It might depend on the texture and slippery-ness of your hair? I have a friend who has really slippery 1a/b hair, which will just undo itself all the way to the roots if I braid it and then let it go without tying it off. Even at MBL. That always fascinated me ;)

Edit: when I've used silicones my hair gets a lot more slippery and the braids get loose and frizzy and messy much faster. I never noticed a correlation to it being pancaked or nor, though.

Edit 2: And what do you all mean by shredded? Individual strands poking out and making the braid frizzy (that's what happens to me) or whole bunches of hairs falling out from the braid (that never happens to me)?

What is this sorcery?
Mine falls out if I take longer than ten seconds to tie it off! And that's with holding the ends tight!

Cinnamonagouti
February 14th, 2019, 03:54 PM
What is this sorcery?
Mine falls out if I take longer than ten seconds to tie it off! And that's with holding the ends tight!

Haha! I guess it's my texture that makes it stay in pretty well; especially when it's newly washed and still curly. And my tassel always make a little curl so I think that's helping for holding it together, too. But it's weird that the 2nd day always is the most slippery - 3rd and 4th is fine but 2nd it's really smooth. I think fine hair (like mine) generally are more slippery than coarser but as I said it must be the texture :) Anyway It's very handy when I need to put away my hair but don't have a tie. And in some ways I guess it makes it a lot easier doing hairstyles and braids as I don't need to hold as tight as with slippery hair. Sometimes I can even let go of my hair to rest my arms and the just pick it up and continue... The downside is that it tangles really easily at the bottom when braiding (especially with more than three strands), it makes a braid from the bottom and upwards.

Groovy Granny
February 14th, 2019, 05:13 PM
This is me! My braid pancakes are more like sad, floppy crepes.

LOL good one :thumbsup:

spidermom
February 14th, 2019, 05:41 PM
Is your hair all one length? If it's in layers that might very well explain it.


My answer is in the second sentence of my original post.

By shredding, I mean all of the above. Individual hairs poke out of the braid and make them look frizzy. Plus strands of hair work their way out of the braid and hang down. These strands probably include 20 hairs, more or less. I had this back when my hair was "all one length", although "all one length" does not exist because old long hairs are constantly shedding out and new short hairs are constantly growing in. I've posted in the past that sometimes my hairs seem like snakes that consciously decide they will not tolerate being confined and slither loose.

sophia_
February 14th, 2019, 06:56 PM
My hair is too slippery to pancake- they just fall back down in a few minutes.

school of fish
February 14th, 2019, 08:32 PM
I have a different but related fail issue with pancaked braids - super-compressable Houdini hair... my hair is so slippery that no matter how much I pancake the bumps, the braid slithers back to its original state within 5min. Just too slipsy to hold any 'do really, haha!!

I really believe texture factors heavily in pancaking success. I think those with some natural grip to the hair have the avantage, as well as those who can successfully use texturizing sprays, powders, etc.

If your hair can take a little spray or dry shampoo or somesuch, perhaps that might help a bit to keep shorter strands tucked in? If you try the hairspray route maybe experiment with applying either before
braiding to give the strands some grip and/or after braiding to give some hold.

Good luck - would love to hear results and success stories from anyone who's conquered the pancake!!

AutobotsAttack
February 14th, 2019, 10:35 PM
I tried it the first time I saw it, on the rare occasion I’m doing two big cornrow braids down the back, and i pancake, it’ll last all day. My hair texture is very cotton-like, so it just stays put.

Only reason I’m not really a fan of the pancake braids is because they cause unnecessary tangling.

Eishe
February 14th, 2019, 11:43 PM
My hair is fine and slippery, so If I do hairstyles that require or look better with pancaked braids (and with my hair, it's most braided hairstyles), I have to use a lot of hair products. I find that dry shampoo helps to make the hair less slippery and hairspray is really needed to keep it in place (or if it's a pinned up style, I can get by with individually bobby-pinning every other braid loop). They do look quite nice, but only if they stay the way they were made.

Rowdy
February 15th, 2019, 01:50 AM
I have a different but related fail issue with pancaked braids - super-compressable Houdini hair... my hair is so slippery that no matter how much I pancake the bumps, the braid slithers back to its original state within 5min. Just too slipsy to hold any 'do really, haha!!

I really believe texture factors heavily in pancaking success. I think those with some natural grip to the hair have the avantage, as well as those who can successfully use texturizing sprays, powders, etc.

If your hair can take a little spray or dry shampoo or somesuch, perhaps that might help a bit to keep shorter strands tucked in? If you try the hairspray route maybe experiment with applying either before
braiding to give the strands some grip and/or after braiding to give some hold.

Good luck - would love to hear results and success stories from anyone who's conquered the pancake!!

I have this issue too! Dry shampoo is the BEST I have found for grip with these kinds of styles. It's even great for keeping my high ponytails from sagging. I use the unscented tresseme kind.

ravenheather
February 15th, 2019, 08:21 AM
I'm not a fan. Too messy on my fine hair.

val.
February 15th, 2019, 08:44 AM
I've only had success pancaking when my hair is very long. Dreaming of those days again...:sleep:

Stray_mind
February 15th, 2019, 09:21 AM
I usually don't pancake or do it Very minimaly, so my braid would look just slightly bigger.

Joules
February 15th, 2019, 10:11 AM
I don't pancake. I think it causes friction and damage. Maybe once in while for a very special occasion...:hmm:

About shredding: guys, don't forget that those heavily pancaked braids are usually hairsprayed into oblivion. Otherwise they will inevitably shred like crazy. That youtuber didn't show her hairstyle after 8+ hours of wearing, soo...

spidermom
February 15th, 2019, 11:54 AM
I don't pancake. I think it causes friction and damage. Maybe once in while for a very special occasion...:hmm:

About shredding: guys, don't forget that those heavily pancaked braids are usually hairsprayed into oblivion. Otherwise they will inevitably shred like crazy. That youtuber didn't show her hairstyle after 8+ hours of wearing, soo...

So true! I also notice that these braids are often done on bleached hair, which I imagine has a little bit more of a rough surface than unbleached hair. I've been thinking about doing a braid and taking a photo immediately, an hour later, and at the end of a day. I don't use hairspray very often but I usually do have some sort of styling product in my hair and still get a lot of braid shredding.

AmaryllisRed
February 15th, 2019, 02:53 PM
Yeah, my braid pictures that I post here are always taken immediately after braiding! Ten minutes later would be totally different.

lapushka
February 15th, 2019, 03:20 PM
My answer is in the second sentence of my original post.

By shredding, I mean all of the above. Individual hairs poke out of the braid and make them look frizzy. Plus strands of hair work their way out of the braid and hang down. These strands probably include 20 hairs, more or less. I had this back when my hair was "all one length", although "all one length" does not exist because old long hairs are constantly shedding out and new short hairs are constantly growing in. I've posted in the past that sometimes my hairs seem like snakes that consciously decide they will not tolerate being confined and slither loose.

Yes I see now. Wonder how I could have missed that. Sorry, spidermom.

I think if you've got layers, it's the easy answer and they are pretty much to blame. I can't loosely braid or pancake for the life of me (I went to try after this). Even though my layers only start at hip and go on until FTL, I still get hairs that want to pry loose. I think it's because of the braiding technique itself, you "pull" your hair up due to braiding and when you've got layers, it doesn't help matters.