Teach me about Braids

[LittleOrca]

Alright, so I know the basic simple braid, and I am learning to do (and struggling with) a herringbone braid and rope braid. I am having problems both learning other braids and just finding other braids to learn. What braids to you love and recommend? Do you have tutorials (in and out of our articles section) that I could make use of?

I know there are some amazing braids on this forum. :) I'd like to learn some more to keep my hair more protected and maybe enhance my waves without always having to turn to a simple braid.

[KatKeRo]

I love Dutch and French braids: beautiful and easy to do.

[demitasse]

I love Dutch braids. I can't do a rope braid unless it's twisted into a bun. It just comes unwound and I have a two strand ponytail. Not sure how to get it to stay put.

[swanns]

I have a (not very good) French braid tutorial on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iBOBzrzljg I've learned to love French braids, they keep all of your hair away from your face perfectly and also protect your hair really well :)

I also had a French rope braid tutorial, but it included me talking which was a bit, well, annoying. Will try and upload a speech-free version sometime soon :D

[bunnii]

I have the style distionary saved in my favourites

Here's the link to part one - http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/blog.php?b=20139

And part two - http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/blog.php?b=20423

there's loads of braids and some buns (I still can't do most of them :lol: )

[Longlocks3]

I love the rope braid, torrinpaige has a youtube that I learned on! Simple and easy. I'm even updo challenged.


http://www.youtube.com/user/torrinpaige?blend=1&ob=4#play/uploads/39/ImcPuruQMAw

[danacc]

I love Dutch braids. I can't do a rope braid unless it's twisted into a bun. It just comes unwound and I have a two strand ponytail. Not sure how to get it to stay put.

The trick to the rope braid staying wound is the direction of the twists. Each section should be twisted in the same direction. So, if one is twisted clockwise, twist them both clockwise. Then when you twist the two sections together, you must twist in the opposite direction. Staying with this example, you would twist them together counter-clockwise.

[AnneAdeline]

Dutch braids are a favorite of mine. Once you're feeling more comfortable, you could also try a crown braid. Torrin Paige did a tutorial here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tjLWkfiHvE).

For the herringbone, it's much easier to start with a pony tail than not. Have you been working from a pony? If not, that may help.

[plainjanegirl]

I love the french braid. You can jazz up the simple braid by adding a ribbon or scarf into the braid.
Also on youtube torrinpaige has a video for a hawser braid.

[eresh]

I like the herringbonebraid (http://hairstyling.suite101.com/article.cfm/how_to_plait_a_herringbone_braid) (2 strands) but it's a pain to take it out again ;)
It makes for an interesting snakelike bun (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=38&pictureid=6111&page=2).
And ropebraids, simple and elegant looking.

[demitasse]

The trick to the rope braid staying wound is the direction of the twists. Each section should be twisted in the same direction. So, if one is twisted clockwise, twist them both clockwise. Then when you twist the two sections together, you must twist in the opposite direction. Staying with this example, you would twist them together counter-clockwise.

Eureka! It worked! Thank you so much. :cheese:

[Teazel]

I'm currently trying to work up the courage to try a five-strand French braid, like this one (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=884&pictureid=36322) of Ramona_Fosca's. It's beautiful, but a bit daunting. :bigeyes:

[LittleOrca]

How did you get the braid in your siggy, Teazel? Was it two rope braids coiled around?

[Teazel]

It's actually three rope braids, but the top one is a bit obsured in that pic. The instructions are here (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=34). Good luck! :)

[Aditi]

Would anyone help me by giving me tips to just do a simple braid coz when it comes to do braids i pretty much suck.

[LittleOrca]

Thanks to some links on here I have managed to get my first rope braid ever to stay! :D The ends still need some work, but not bad for the first one I managed to get looking almost decent. :)

http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff176/Little_Orca/Long%20Hair%20Gallery/Braids/IMG_7139.jpg

[LittleOrca]

It's actually three rope braids, but the top one is a bit obsured in that pic. The instructions are here (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=34). Good luck! :)

Thanks! This will give me something to practice when my fiancé takes the Playstation 2 away to play his games. :D

[DotDotDot]

I'm currently trying to work up the courage to try a five-strand French braid, like this one of Ramona_Fosca's. It's beautiful, but a bit daunting.

Five strand French braids aren't that bad! I'm sure you can do them if you try. :)

Have you seen Dreamweaver braiding (http://www.dreamweaverbraiding.com)? It's full of wonderful examples and tutorials. I'm sure you'll find plenty to try there.

[thankyousir74]

Five strand French braids aren't that bad! I'm sure you can do them if you try. :)

Have you seen Dreamweaver braiding (http://www.dreamweaverbraiding.com)? It's full of wonderful examples and tutorials. I'm sure you'll find plenty to try there.

Oh man, I saw that link a year or so ago, right before I joined LHC. Some of those are pretty much my reasoning for wanting long healthy hair :D

[camirra555]

I need braid lessons too. I've tried a french braid but since my hair is so curly it gets a bit tangled part way through, I plan on trying it on wet hair soon

[Amara]

Something important to try is just different do's with your different braids as you master them! Like braided buns, twin braided buns, rope buns, a ponytail with three braids in it, tiny accent braids in other kinds of updos...

[Atlantic]

Thank you for starting this thread! I have long understood the theory of multi-strand flat braiding and 4-strand box braiding - I learned as a child to do those with cords, but the trick of doing it with badly-behaving hair, back where I can't see what I'm doing, had eluded me.

After reading this thread last night, I printed out the 5-strand instructions from the Dreamweaver site and, even though they are not self-braid instructions, I read them carefully and meditated on them all the way home, thinkign about modifications for self-braiding (mostly how to hold my fingers going into the hair from the top rather than the bottom).

And THEN, I tried it...and what do you know, it WORKED! More or less. I still need to work on neatness, but somehow the fingers have figured out what they are doing.

What is even more amazing is that I then tried a flat 4-strand braid, which had previously eluded me. And even though the technique I used seems very different from the 5-strand technique I'd just learned, somehow I managed it easily this time! Clearly the fingers now know better than I do.