Tips for French Braids

[dhoekstra78]

Hi All,

I am desperately trying to learn to french braid my daughters hair. However, I am really struggling. While I understand the basic technique of a french braid, I have trouble getting to the end of the braid without losing control. I also have trouble tying the rubber band at the end without letting the braid fall out. Do any of you have tips or tricks that might help me? Thanks!

[endlessly]

My best advice is practice, practice, practice. Watching a lot of YouTube videos helped me out in the beginning when I was first learning, but otherwise, just continue to practice and take your time with it. It takes time to learn how your hands should be placed and to find what positions work or don't work, so don't rush anything. Eventually, courtesy of 'muscle memory', you'll have no problems braiding. One year ago, I could barely French braid and now I can do it without even thinking about it, but like I said, it takes time and a lot of practice.

[Madora]

Are you trying to do an English variation of the French braid or the Dutch version? The English variation forms a sort of weave on the scalp. The Dutch French Braid forms a ridge.

That being said, practice makes perfect.

Tips:

1 Be sure all the hair is thoroughly detangled before starting
2 Try holding the hair as close to the scalp as possible
3 Try different angles (slightly up, slightly outwards)
4 Try to keep the tension the same as you braid down (not too tightly!)
5 Be sure and rake your fingers through all the strands after EACH crossover. Keeping the strands separate as you braid is imperative to prevent hairs self-braiding at the ends
6 Stay away from rubberbands. They're terrible on your hair. Use a covered band (no metal on it). Perhaps the following will help:

Tip for doing a French braid (using a one piece barrette or clip):
1) Detangle hair thoroughly
2) Make a horizontal part from the top of one ear, around the back of the head, to the top of the other ear.
3) Take all hair ABOVE the part, comb out gently. CLIP with a one piece barrette.
Now start the actual French braiding:
1) Make one complete cross over. Hold the braid with one hand
2) Take a thin section of hair from right and join it to the hair strands on the Right. Pinch the section. Then take it over and JOIN with the middle section. Pinch. Rake the strands!
3) Take a thin section of hair from the LEFT. Join with LEFT section. PINCH. Rake!
4) Repeat steps 2-3. Remember to Pinch and Rake each time you add a section
5) Braid to end. Fasten w/hair friendly elastic
Tips: Tension - don't braid too tightly
Angle - hold your hands up when braiding
Head angle - sometimes it helps to either lower your head or tilting your head back
Once you feel comfortable with braiding French and Dutch, try to do it w/o the CLIP

Good luck!

[yahirwaO.o]

Excelente tips Madora!. Im also improving my french-dutch braid skills in general. One little adive would be to sort texturize the hair with the product of your desire. This gives nice grip without tangling and makes it stay so much better. I dont have any fancy stuff for this job, just plain cocoa powder gives my super slipery hair enough grip and hold. I also spray plain lemmon juice and works just fine.

Rubber bands maybe ok for special ocaccions, but try to get something way more gentle. Cotton small kids ones are really great. Practicing with yarns or dolls hair is a good idea as well. Watch youtube videos and try to pat attention to those who have similar hair type or those made by people without someone else helping.

If it helps im a guy and Im now able to dream weave other people hair, so yeah this gives an idea that you can totally do it!

[Arctic]

You could use a mini claw clip or a bobble hair tie (which were popular when I was a kid) for temporarily holding the braid/tassel while you put on an elastic (or what ever you use). Then remove the temp. help.

[Panth]

It'll also depend on your daughter's hairtype and haircut. Layered cuts tend not to play nicely with braids, especially french and dutch ones. Straighter hair tends to slip out during braiding moreso than wavier hair.

I agree that practicing on "texturised" hair is easier. Personally, I'd not use lemon juice (can bleach over time). Instead, just try it on "dirty" (i.e. wash day) hair, on damp hair or between a deep oiling and a wash. All of those will be grippier and easier to work with.

[Rosetta]

Are you trying to do an English variation of the French braid or the Dutch version? The English variation forms a sort of weave on the scalp. The Dutch French Braid forms a ridge.

To my knowledge, French, Dutch and English are all different (independent) braid styles...? So you can't have a "Dutch French" braid.

[Saproxylic]

What kind of haircut does your daughter have? On my short layered hair I can managa a French braid only when it's damp.

I also use thumb and index finger on the strand that has to be manipulated (hair added) and hold the middle strand with my middle finger and the opposite side strand with pinky and ring finger, that way I get firm grip on all three strands and have the other hand free for sectioning hair and smoothing strands (kinda hard to explain) and instead of trying to cross the side strand over the middle strand, pull the middle strand under the side strand.

[spidermom]

To my knowledge, French, Dutch and English are all different (independent) braid styles...? So you can't have a "Dutch French" braid.

Well, yes, but the English braid divides into 3 strands only, and each side crosses over the center strand (right over center, left over center, and so forth), which is like the French braid, except that the French braid starts higher on the head, and you add new strands of hair to each side as you proceed. Some people cross over the center strand first, then add a new strand, and others (like me) add the new strand, then cross over the center.

I think people misuse Dutch braid. To my knowledge, it is like the English braid in that it starts by dividing all the hair into 3 strands, but instead of each side crossing OVER the center, each side crosses UNDER the center strand. If you start high, like in the French braid, except you're crossing each side strand under the center strand, it's called an underhand projected braid, but around the Internet people are calling that a Dutch braid, too.

[Betazed]

As everyone has already given great advice, I'll only second Panth on braiding with damp hair, especially if the hair in question is slippery. Whenever my gramma braids my hair (I always go to her when I want 2 french braids because she does them much quicker and tidier than I can do myself), she wets her hands and rubs them on my hair 2 or 3 times. Also, she has me sit on a stool that's pretty low to the ground and tilt my head way back.

I've recently started trying to improve my own french/dutch braiding skills and I've found the old adage "practice makes perfect" is very apt when it comes to learning any new hairstyles. Good luck!