Braids

Braids…Also known as ‘plaits’ in England, mainly.

…Are so cool to me, it hurts!…(sometimes literally it does actually hurt if you pull too tight! Sheesh).

I’ve been looking up on different kinds of braids and I had no idea there were so many!
I’ve been sporting a side braid to work recently, and it’s great as it’s starting to really hot up here now, so it pulls the hair away from your face. Thus a la sweatfree hair.
Just the normal; braid I’ve been doing – a bit like Lauren Conran’s side-parting front braid, but with a ponytail, and a bit of a bouffant at the back.
It’s fine, but would look nicer with lighter hair I think.

I wanted to know how to get the whole of the front hair scraped up into the braid, but had no idea; all I knew was the simple braid. So I Googled, and my oh my – what a selection! And easy step-by-step instructions, videos, still-shots, photos and diagrams on how to do them.

Now as I sit here typing this, I am sporting a French Braid (front, side-parting). It’s very similar to the first one, but neater and picks up more hair along the way and keeps it out of your face.

I thought once my hair was longer (“Hellooo clip-ins!”), I’d definitely try to create a ‘Fish Tail’ braid AKA: Herringbone braid (long, ponytail)! They look amazing, have you seen them? No?? Google them immediately! If you can’t really be bothered right now, I’ve popped some pictures below!

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…Well, I tried…I tried again. I unplaited, unraveled, untangled and then, even tried again…It just didn’t look great.
My fella, a bit of a perfectionist, I may have to ask him to help me out and give it a bash becuase I am too inpatient and once I thought I’d got it…I took a step back and realised, no…That’s just a regular plait, but more tangled-looking, grr.

So I’ve been wearing a long regular plait every now and again, it’s almost casual-enough like weraing your hair down, but without the hassle of having to brush out tangles all of the time.

Below is an extract from: http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/types-of-braids-4182.html, where we can learn about different types of braids:

English Braid
English braid is a traditional hairstyle, popular amongst the women in the Great Britain since a very long time. This is a very simple, three-strand plait hairdo. After combing the hair toward the nape of the neck, it is divided into three equal segments. A simple left-over-middle and right-over-middle action is used to make the braid.
Tribe of Mannequins V.O: This is the easy one that I do all the time!

French Braid
French braid makes use of an extra segment of hair. In this popular hairstyle, a technique similar to the English braid is used to stylize the hair. While doing the French braid, one section of hair is taken from the hairline at the forehead and two sections are taken from either side of the head, to make the braid. When you make the plaits, make sure that the hair is not braided too tightly.
Tribe of Mannequins V.O: I feel ashamed but I only taught myself how to do this one 2 days ago, and it’s also quite simple.

Dutch Braid
Dutch braid is the inverted form of the popular French braid. The Dutch braid is made by crossing the outside strand of hair under the center strand, which is known as the left-under-middle and right-under-middle technique. This hairdo should also be done by taking strands from either side of the head.
Tribe of Mannequins V.O: Hmm, can’t say I’ve tried this one before; although it sounds like it would look pretty much the same as the English braid really; but…Inverted?

Swiss Braid
While making the Swiss braid, the hair is divided into two halves, by parting it centre, right down to the nape of the neck. The left-hand side segment of the hair is braided into simple three-strand plaits. After securing the ends with an elastic band, the braid is taken on to the left side and curled around the head, up past the right ear and back to where it started. The right-hand hair segment is braided in the same form and is curled in the opposite direction. They are then joined around the head and pinned to form a kind of crown.
Tribe of Mannequins V.O: I have to say I have tried this…And it’s not a look that I wish to wear out of the house…In public…In view of peoples eyeballs :s

Rope Braid
It is very simple to make rope braids, although the hairstyle looks complicated. The braids are made with wet hair, preferably. To start with, the hair is pulled back into a ponytail. After securing it with an elastic band, the ponytail is divided into two strands. Now, each of the segment is twisted clockwise to give the appearance of a rope. The right section of the hair is wrapped counter clockwise over the left hair segment, tightly. You repeat the process until the end of the ponytail is reached.

Multi-Strand Braid
The number of strands used in multi-strand braid hairstyle ranges from five to nine. The complicated hairstyle should be done with a lot of patience, since it is hard to keep the hairdo neat. The technique used to make multi-strand braid is the simple left-over-middle and right-over-middle.
Tribe of Mannequins V.O: I haven’t tried the last two, but I’m liking the messier ones more at the moment.

So I’ll ‘be sure as eggs is eggs’, to post an update on the braidyness.
But these are the easypeasy lemon squeezy ones I’ve tested out and they’re pretty simple to do:

And here’s a close-up of my awesome dude!:

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