Braiding question

[eezepeeze]

After seeing some of the amazing double Dutch braids on the hairstyle of the month thread for December, I have a few questions:

1. How do you keep too much scalp from showing when you are taking your pieces from the inside (non-hairline side). I can do double lace dutch braids because you only add in from the hairline, but when I do the regular kind, I always get odd parts in my hair where the scalp shows through. How can I prevent this?

2. How do I minimize "braid shread"? You know, all those itty-bitty hairs sticking out that are growing at a different rate? Are there any products you put on your dry hair before braiding to help them stick together in the braid better?

3. When doing a combination braid (combining double braids into one) how do you keep the intersection centered in the middle? Mine always veer off to one side or the other.

4. Will someone direct me to a tutorial for the crossed over one that Arc### did?

Thanks a million! :cheese:

[Pierre]

4. When both braids arrive at the back of my head, I have three strands on each side. I take two strands of the left side, one strand from each side, and two strands from the right side, merge them respectively into three strands, and keep braiding down my neck. Then I fold the braid up on top of my head and hold it with a tiny Flexi. I hope that's what you meant; it's been a while since I've done this.

[Intransigentia]

Even though I have a reasonable amount of hair, I do end up with bits of scalp showing when I do double dutch braids. My solution is to pin the ends up so they cover the scalp showing spots!

[Mirsha]

After seeing some of the amazing double Dutch braids on the hairstyle of the month thread for December, I have a few questions:

1. How do you keep too much scalp from showing when you are taking your pieces from the inside (non-hairline side). I can do double lace dutch braids because you only add in from the hairline, but when I do the regular kind, I always get odd parts in my hair where the scalp shows through. How can I prevent this?

2. How do I minimize "braid shread"? You know, all those itty-bitty hairs sticking out that are growing at a different rate? Are there any products you put on your dry hair before braiding to help them stick together in the braid better?

3. When doing a combination braid (combining double braids into one) how do you keep the intersection centered in the middle? Mine always veer off to one side or the other.

4. Will someone direct me to a tutorial for the crossed over one that Arc### did?

Thanks a million! :cheese:

4. do you mean this one? http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=183

3. I tie mine off together first, braid that and slide of the elastic, they've always come out centered cause I braid pulling my hair up.

2. Wet braiding helps for me.

1. Maybe try and make the inbraided sections looser so they fall over eachother?

[cataphract]

1) Braiding more losely while going about it has helped me in this area. If I still have weird scalp bits showing I'll take a fine toothed comb to it after wards and if that doesn't help I'll use some pins. Both combing and pinning work better if you have fairly gently braided it in the first place.

2) Braiding wet, or oiled has helped me with braid shred, though there is a certain amount that I am unable to get rid of and will be until my odd layer thing is fixed.

3) When my two braid bits meet in the middle, I braid them together in the back of my head for a while with my arms overhead instead of pulling to one side of the other, that usually keeps me from pulling predominately to one side or the other.

[eezepeeze]

4. do you mean this one? http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=183

3. I tie mine off together first, braid that and slide of the elastic, they've always come out centered cause I braid pulling my hair up.

2. Wet braiding helps for me.

1. Maybe try and make the inbraided sections looser so they fall over eachother?


Ah, I bet this is the tutorial arc691 used for her crossed over braids in the Hairstlyle of the Month Dutch Braid thread. But instead of adding the accent braids, she simply wrapped the tails of the crossed dutch braids around her head, I think.

Thank you for the link :) I'll have to read it through several times before i give it a try!

[eezepeeze]

Even though I have a reasonable amount of hair, I do end up with bits of scalp showing when I do double dutch braids. My solution is to pin the ends up so they cover the scalp showing spots!


1) Braiding more losely while going about it has helped me in this area. If I still have weird scalp bits showing I'll take a fine toothed comb to it after wards and if that doesn't help I'll use some pins. Both combing and pinning work better if you have fairly gently braided it in the first place.

I'm glad to know it isn't just me. I have thick hair and could not understand why my scalp was showing through! Plus, my hair is so dark that the scalp shows up really well :rolleyes:

Thanks for the tips!

[eezepeeze]

3) When my two braid bits meet in the middle, I braid them together in the back of my head for a while with my arms overhead instead of pulling to one side of the other, that usually keeps me from pulling predominately to one side or the other.


3. I tie mine off together first, braid that and slide of the elastic, they've always come out centered cause I braid pulling my hair up.



4. When both braids arrive at the back of my head, I have three strands on each side. I take two strands of the left side, one strand from each side, and two strands from the right side, merge them respectively into three strands, and keep braiding down my neck. Then I fold the braid up on top of my head and hold it with a tiny Flexi. I hope that's what you meant; it's been a while since I've done this.

Also all good tips. I will try a couple of these out and see if I can improve my combo braids. :)

Thanks everyone for your help! :D

[arc691]

Hi everybody, Happy New Year! Mirsha is right, that is where I got the idea for cross-over braids; there are also step-by-step instructions on the Dressy Tresses website. They call it the X over O braid, I think, or something like that. I could have wrapped the ends around my head once more, but I liked the look of pigtails so I only wrapped them around once and then let them hang over my shoulders. I did something similar on my thread about my first-time attempt at a rose bun. Only there I lace-braided two Dutch braids, one on each side of my head; wrapped the ends around until I ran out of hair; and made a rose bun in the middle with my left-over hair. You all are so much better at explaining than I am, maybe you can translate what I am trying to say into simple English! :) :p