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Aleria
March 10th, 2011, 01:36 AM
Hi everyone! I've been trying to figure out this style on my own for quite some time, and I can't get it to look right. Basically, a braided headband, looks like a french braid but is one continuous braid over the top of the head, and with shoulder length hair (so I don't think it's like a crown braid) . I thought I'd ask for help from all you style gurus out there ^o^

Link (http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h318/Kylarra_CatClaws/Hair/KameiEriRivalSurvival.jpg)
Posted as a link, since it's a very large picture. I can take more screencaps if necessary, but it's hard since it's from a concert and they're very bouncy, which makes the video blur too much to see detail often.

milagro
March 10th, 2011, 04:46 AM
What's exactly your problem with it? I wear this rather often, it's easy and comfortable and keeps the front layers out from the face :) My front and side layers are a little past shoulders now but I had no trouble doing it when they were 2 inches shorter, either. If you're curious to look, I have a pic of Dutch lace braid headband in my album.
I usually start with the section of hair close to one ear and add strands from the hairline while braiding, then fix it with two small jaw-clips behind the other ear. The principle it exactly the same as lace crown braid where you take additional strands from one side of the braid only. To make it more even in its length I take more hair in the beginning and just very thin, quite transparent strands closer to the end of the band. The excess gets smoothed under the braid. Also, with me Dutch holds better than French, for some reason. HTH

Aleria
March 10th, 2011, 04:49 AM
Thank you, milagro - my main problem is I had no idea what it was supposed to be XD I couldn't figure out how to make it go smoothly over the top of my head, and I was doing french, not dutch braids. The one in your album looks like exactly the style I'm looking at... I'll have to give it a try, never done a dutch braid before.
Also, a major problem I had with the lace braid was it would lean to the side I was taking the hair from, so rather than lying flat against my head like in the style, it would be sort of standing up (if that makes sense, hard to describe what I mean)

milagro
March 10th, 2011, 04:56 AM
You're very welcome :) I think if you try braiding Dutch your problem will be solved since the strands first go under the braid instead of over it, if that makes sense. It just needs a little practice, I'm sure you will make it very soon.

arc691
March 10th, 2011, 05:10 AM
A really simple and quick way to do a braided headband is to take a small section of hair from the nape of your neck and English braid it. Then wrap it around the top of your head like a headband and pin in place underneath your hair. I did this not too long ago~ here's a picture:

http://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x472/andrearcolson/My%20different%20hairstyles%20album%202/meandWimseyedited.jpg


I put the rest of my hair in a braided bun, but you could wear it down. I used to, before my hair got too long to wear down! :)

Aleria
March 10th, 2011, 05:14 AM
^ Would be an excellent idea for those with hair long enough to reach over the head. However, currently my hair is quite short - my nape hairs are only about an inch and a half long, and my front, longest hairs reach collarbone.
By the way, your hair colour is gorgeous :thud:

milagro
March 10th, 2011, 05:16 AM
Arc, neither of us yet has your length to wind a single English braid around the head :)
Also, a lace braid holds loose hair from shifting under it better and stays exactly in place without pins, IME.

MandyBeth
March 10th, 2011, 06:49 AM
Do you want to lace braid (pick up from one side of the braid) or French/Dutch braid?

Lace braid is simple enough to just pick up from the front of your hair line, but it takes the practice to make the lace braiding look nice and not go at some weird angle or such.

French/Dutch braiding - I prefer Dutch, it stays better for me - section out your area you want to braid, pull the rest back into a pony tail/stub or piggy tails/stubs so you don't have to worry about them. Then, how I go about it is I tip my head to one side, comb/brush all my hair in that direction and Dutch braid as normal. For me, I have to tip my head or I get lost on what my fingers are supposed to do to braid. Get to the end of your section, either braid to the end or pin the braid where you want it to stop. Release the pony or piggy tail/stub(s), and work the tassle or braid into your hair.

Oh, and why Dutch stays better than French - at least as far as I can tell. There is less length to cross to capture the hair. So any ends are caught sooner, so it's less fuzzy and with short hair, the more the ends are caught, the more the braid in general stays put.

QMacrocarpa
March 10th, 2011, 01:59 PM
A video tutorial (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1IetR-h6nw) which might help. I want to try it myself!

Lianna
March 10th, 2011, 02:29 PM
If you wanna do a little dutch braid, they're also called cornrows, there's tutorials on youtube (search cornrows there).

Yozhik
March 10th, 2011, 02:37 PM
I've done this style a couple times before when I had a bit more time than I usually do before class -- I do a lace dutch, which seems to work fine. I learned to do it from a video tutorial on youtube. :)

Thanks milagro for the suggestion of taking thicker chunks at the beginning -- I was afraid mine looked a bit awkward because it gradually got thicker further across. :flower:

Aleria
March 13th, 2011, 11:10 PM
Hm, having some trouble. It looks pretty good on the end side, but the beginning doesn't really look like a braid at all, just a mess. One of the issues I'm having is dutch braiding - this means it crosses over close to your head, right? Then once I get over to the other side, I have a tough time transitioning it to still be on the side near my head. I don't know if that's where the messyness is coming from though.
Here's (http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h318/Kylarra_CatClaws/Hair/braidfail.jpg) a picture to show what I mean. Help?

selderon
March 13th, 2011, 11:35 PM
If you're starting all the way over next to your right ear and braiding across the head, I can see why that would be difficult. You're essentially braiding upside down for a bit.

If you practiced from the part over, that would get the "how do I do this lace braid thing" out of the way. When you're comfortable with the lace braid skill, you can move the starting point farther right.

I have to do three lace braids on myself tomorrow. This should be interesting! LOL