How do you start your braids?

[Kyamo]

When making an ordinary single braid, how do you start?
A) How do you make the three sections? Vertical parts, pie shaped pieces, something else?
B) Do you bring the sides over the middle (as in a french braid) or the sides under the middle (as in a dutch braid)?
C) Does the braid start at the nape or higher up?
D) And why?

The last time I had long hair I always brought the sides over the middle, I didn't know there was another way. There was always some loose nape hair doing it that way. Now I am growing my hair out again and I have learned to dutch braid. I noticed it made for much neater nape hair and tried doing a plain braid sides under middle. Indeed, the nape hair is much neater this way. But I often get a funny lump at the top right where the braid starts when I do it sides under middle. I am wondering if sectioning the hair differently would help. I usually start my braids higher on the head.

[Mlarmour]

A) vertical parts
B) depends what I’m doing and the look I’m going for.
C) again depends what I’m doing. Every day I just pull my hair back at the nape of my neck and braid down. If I want a loose sleep style I’ll bring my hair up like I was doing a high pony and then I’ll braid. If I want something that will stay all day then I’ll do a braid from my hair line or a little further back.

[foreveryours]

A) Vertical parts. I "learned" to read the bumps on my head (no, not a phrenologist) with my fingertips so I can get fairly straight and "even" sections straight back from the crown
B) Over at the nape, under after getting it over my shoulder, and over again after neck wrapping :p. Otherwise I face horrible twisting. Both hand transitions were milestones for me to learn.
C) A few stitches higher than the nape to get all (or mostly all) of the side hairs in as they are not or ever will be knee length
D) Why not?

[tuanyiji]

A) Vertical
B) Depends on which braid I intentionally make, if it's out of conscious, it's always a dutch one.
C) nape
D) nowadays I mostly braid before I put on my longtail silk bonnet and go to sleep, so I actually alternate between a left-side braid and a right-side braid. And loosely starting from the nape or lower than that is more comfortable for me to lie on the pillow and it's gentler on my new growth.
If I braid in the morning, it's usually used as a base for my bun, then I would go much higher up and start from my crown.
During the day or for any everyday activity, I never really let my braid down, and definitely never have loose hair unless I'm preparing to fingercomb, oil or shampoo it and let it air dry in front of an electric fan (or to take a picture/video for length measure-in), as the swinging motions and frictions are causing too much mechanical damage, not to mention I have to wrap my hair around my neck when I use the facilities, that is such a hassle.

[lapis_lazuli]

A) I separate the three sections vertically, to all be starting next to each other. I've heard of other methods of sectioning (like one on top, two on bottom) but I find it harder to make it even. That may be worth trying though.

B) For regular braids, I usually pass the strands under. I also find that method keeps it tighter at the nape.

C) For certain styles, I'll pull the sections up to try to start as high as I can (like if I'm knotting two braids together and I don't want my neck to show through the top), but usually it's at the nape.

D) A combination of what feels natural and what feels most secure.

[shelomit]

A) I grab the hair in my fist right at the nape and then separate it more or less vertically. There's almost always some fiddling around necessary to get them even after the first try.
B) Typically over the middle, though I also like how it looks under the middle so I do that occasionally.
C) At the nape, unless I already have it in mind that I'll want to turn the braid into a (comparatively) high braided bun. In that instance, I start it about midway up the back of my head.
D) No more compelling reason than habit for most of these, except that it's very fussy for me to try and section my hair other than at the nape of my neck. My hair reaaaaaaaaaaally wants to have a center part in it, so trying to start the sectioning from the crown like foreveryours does necessitates a whole lot of combing back, and the part usually falls in within a matter of minutes anyway.

I think much more about B) when I'm putting in double braids than a single braid. Because both the "French" and "Dutch" style of starting and whether you start from the section closest to the back of your head or the front of your head makes the braids lie much differently. I find that starting them Dutch-style from the backmost section is easiest to wear a headscarf over, but starting them Dutch-style from the frontmost section is (imo) a prettier effect.

[Lady Stardust]

I’m glad you started this thread because it made me think about how I plait my daughter’s hair. It’s not usually in a single English braid though, it’s double plaits, same concept applies.

A) Vertical parts
B) I usually go over the middle but the nape was going baggy so today I tried going under, like a Dutch braid, and the nape was lovely and neat. Also, I had to concentrate because I’ve been doing plaits the other way around all my life, so the resulting plaits looked like they’d been done more carefully (because they had!)
C) At the nape
D) As explained for B :)

[ReiHino]

How do you make the three sections?
Vertical parts, I usually adjust my hair near the end because they won´t be the same length.
Do you bring the sides over the middle (as in a french braid) or the sides under the middle (as in a dutch braid)?
I prefer sides under the middle. It looks like flipped over :hmm:
Does the braid start at the nape or higher up?
Depends? I either make them low or very high (which end up in a bun).
And why?
I usually start braids with a pony tail, I´ll remove the tie later or tie it again if it´s too loose and I can´t be bothered to do another or undoing it. It depends.
I prefer a stricter? look and I feel like if I go under side while braiding I can make it tighter.
Overall I prefer dutch braids.

[spidermom]

I do all kinds of braids all kinds of ways. I have an aversion to doing the same thing the same way twice in a row.

[Bri-Chan]

A) vertical
B) over the middle
C) nape
D) I've a sensitive scalp and at the nape is more comfortable and I get less pulling strands here and there.

[rosenester]

:rolling: I had to think hard about this. I take vertical pieces because I never thought about another way, and go under the middle section because that’s all I can get my hands to do! I start the braid in a different place every time, one side of the other, centered at nape, or a few inches up started with a ponytail then braided!

[spidermom]

After thinking about this for a couple of days, for a single braid in the back, I take all the crown hair as one section, then divide the remaining hair into two. I cross over center most often.

[rosenester]

After thinking about this for a couple of days, for a single braid in the back, I take all the crown hair as one section, then divide the remaining hair into two. I cross over center most often.

Ooooh interesting…. My crown hairs are very short compared to my WL ends, due to a shag cut last summer. I actually love the cut and it’s growing out nicely too, but I am growing out the layers a bit to experiment. Once they are longer I may try this method, right now that would give me a middle section of shoulder length and side sections of waist length. :lol:

[eresh]

After thinking about this for a couple of days, for a single braid in the back, I take all the crown hair as one section, then divide the remaining hair into two. I cross over center most often.

I do this more often too, it is sturdier to keep the hairstick for a pinless braided bun :)
Wasn't this called the Dianyla braid?
https://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=153537