How to keep an English braid straight?

[Curlsgirl]

I love braiding my hair in a regular braid down my back. I have a good and bad problem recently though. This morning I started braiding and took the braid up over my head like I always do and my arms barely reached up to the end of the braid to finish it! That's good because that means my hair really is growing but soon I won't be able to do it this way. I have tried bringing it over my shoulder but it always ends up wanting to turn about 2/3 of the way down the braid when I put it back behind my back. When I braid bent over at the waist it works okay but it seems to pull my hair on my scalp when I stand back up and tie it off and gives me a headache.

I know I am being difficult. I would really appreciate any help on this from people with waist length hair or longer who wear braids on how you keep the braid straight and without pulling scalp hair. :confused:

[Heidi_234]

You'd have to learn to braid it over your shoulder. :)
When you bring it over your shoulder, do you try to continue braiding it as usual, or do you braid it backwards? I'm not sure how to call it, when you braid, you bring the strand on top of the other stands, overlap them. When you bring it over your shoulder, the back of the braid because the front for you, so you need to bring the strand behind the other strands. I hope I'm clear in my explanation.
Practice makes perfect.. I usually braid as little as i can on my back and then bring it over my shoulder.

[Tabitha]

I'll keep an eye on this thread because I need help too! haven't mastered the "over the shoulder" bit. Also I need to braid really tightly to minimise my layers escaping and it takes longer, trying to do it behind my back/above my head makes my arms ache.

ETA this isn't an anti-layer post ... I like my layers, intend to keep them so need to work with them not grow them out.

[Jessikinz]

I'm gonna keep an eye on this thread too! My hair is waist length, and whenever I braid over my shoulder it twists near the bottom of my braid. :confused:

[HairColoredHair]

My guess is when you're braiding over the shoulder you're reversing the direction of the braid either immediately when you begin braiding over the shoulder or a ways down (when you cease concentrating). I generally bring the braid over and unbraid a couple sections to check which direction the braid is facing (French or Dutch) and then remake those sections. Doesn't always work, sometimes I fool myself and braid French when I ought to braid Dutch, but I don't really mind if it twists...

[noelgirl]

My hair isn't waist-length yet, but what I find helpful is turning my head when I begin braiding over the shoulder, so that the displacement is minimal.

[.Amanaka.]

My guess is when you're braiding over the shoulder you're reversing the direction of the braid either immediately when you begin braiding over the shoulder or a ways down (when you cease concentrating). I generally bring the braid over and unbraid a couple sections to check which direction the braid is facing (French or Dutch) and then remake those sections. Doesn't always work, sometimes I fool myself and braid French when I ought to braid Dutch, but I don't really mind if it twists...

Same here!

[KatKeRo]

I bring my braid over my right shoulder. While doing that I turn my head to the left without losing tension in my beraid. Then I feel how the strands go and continu braiding in that direction.

[wolf girl]

Teach DH to do it! :D

[Haith]

I have the same problem too! I usually just live with the twist (ugh) or tie it off when I can't braid over my head anymore and leave a long tassel.

I can't bring the braid over my shoulder, because as soon as I readjust my hands I can't keep doing it the same way as I was down by back... it twists. Maybe just practise, practise, practise...

[Curlsgirl]

You'd have to learn to braid it over your shoulder. :)
When you bring it over your shoulder, do you try to continue braiding it as usual, or do you braid it backwards? I'm not sure how to call it, when you braid, you bring the strand on top of the other stands, overlap them. When you bring it over your shoulder, the back of the braid because the front for you, so you need to bring the strand behind the other strands. I hope I'm clear in my explanation.
Practice makes perfect.. I usually braid as little as i can on my back and then bring it over my shoulder.
Hmmmmmmmmmmm I'll pay attention to this next time. Makes sense. I do tend to be in a hurry so maybe if I slow down it will help too.

[Vivien']

I generally bend my whole head and body to braid when my arms become too "short" :). You should try to braid it over your head; maybe it sounds ridiculous but, this way, it will stay straight.

[EchoAudra]

It's just one of those things that takes practice for me. I've never really had a problem with it twisting but the tension gets all messed up when I switch to over the shoulder and it looks funny but it's getting better with practice.

[DelynofRhondda]

Sometimes, when in a hurry, I'll do a front plait. Part the hair over the outer corner of the iris. Brush / comb hair to the side opposite the part. Plait down the front. It will swing to the back, too.

You may like to give it a try for "those days" when there just isn't enough time to fiddle with it. Keeping an even tension / torque for a back plait, is truly a matter of practice and patience. More patience from my own experience.

p.s. Never thought of an over-the-head technique. That's intriguing!

[Lisa-Maria]

Lots of practise. Strand tension is important because if the tension between the strands becomes unevenly divided the braid will twist

[AprilElf]

It's just practice. I'm right-handed and pull my braid over my left shoulder. After I've pulled it around I look in the mirror and un-twist the hair, and kind of at the same time move my hands so that I can grasp the strands properly to start braiding again. I still have to think about whether the strands go over or under at this point, because if I just do it without thinking, I always get a twist.

As for not pulling scalp hair, I'm not sure about that, although I know this often happens to me if I'm in a hurry or not paying attention to what I'm doing. Depending on the situation, I'll either redo the braid, or just loosen the hair at the top of the braid with my hand once I've finished.

[Jessikinz]

Ok, well I've finally managed to braid without having the not-so-nice twist!

I start braiding my hair, and then once I was ready I brought it over my left shoulder and from there I went by feel. It's hard to explain. But I think the reason I was getting the twist in my hair was because I kept looking in the mirror and that just messed me up. So as soon as I start braiding over my shoulder I look away from the mirror. This has worked for me and now I don't have a problem with this anymore. Just go by the feel of it, and braid snuggly, not too tight.

HTH :)