When it comes to styling hair with a braid, you have a number of options. In addition to making a single braid, two braids or many small braids to cover your head, you can choose between the basic three-strand braid and more elaborate braids, such as the fishtail braid, French braid, Dutch braid and so on.
The Regular Three-Strand Braid
It’s the baseline of braids. Taking three sections of hair, you alternate passing on section from either side over a center strand. For the first time, it might make your eyes spin, but you’ll soon find that it’s the simplest way to get your hair out of your face and can be completed in less than a few minutes. To get more control of your tresses, dampen your hair before starting the technique. You can also try a braid paste which gives hair more of a pliable texture.
The Fishtail Braid
This look is created by separating your hair into two sections. The technique consists of taking one strand from underneath one of the sections, and passing it over to the other. You repeat this on both sides continuously to get the pattern demonstrated in the picture above. It helps to tie your hair off in a ponytail first so that you can practice with controlled sections of hair. Worn by celebs like Blake Lively and Lauren Conrad, this braid is meant to be “pancaked” out after being created to take on a loose, deconstructed feel.
The French Braid
The French braid is the first braid you’ll probably try that continuously incorporates strands of hair into a three-strand braid. Each time you pass hair over the center strand, you’re going to grab more hair and add it in. That’s why you get that patterned appearance where the hair looks like it’s been pulled from the sides. It takes a while to learn how to start a French braid from the crown of the head.
The Upside Down Braid
The French braiding technique is used here again, except this time, you’re going to do it so that it starts at the nape of your neck and works its way up. If you’re doing it on yourself, it might be easier to flip your head over completely. For the pattern to really show, you’ll have to keep the strands taunt while passing them over one another.
The Dutch braid is basically a French braid, but instead of passing the hair over each strand, you’re doing it underneath. This allows the braid to sit on top of the head, as opposed to weaving in towards the head in an inverted fashion. It can be used to create a headband braid, pigtails, and a single Dutch braid.
The absolute easiest way to create a milkmaid braid is to create two regular braid pigtails and pull them up to pin them over the crown of the head like a headband. This halo braids can be constructed by French braiding and pining them around the head, and most Ukrainian women like wearing this hairstyle, including their former premier.
The Four Strand Braid
If twisting three sections of hair wasn’t enough, you’ll be intrigued to know that four and five-strand braids exist. Because you’re dealing with a quadrant of tresses, turning to the hairstylists is key to see how they pass the sections without tangling them up in some knotted mess.
