The Ultimate Guide to Braiding.

 The braid, when you really consider it, is an ingenious invention.

Every girl once had a braided hairstyle before in their childhood, especially during the time going to kindergarten. Thinking back those vivid old days that waking up in the morning, sitting in front of a mirror table watching your mum weaving your long hair into a perfectly tight braided hair. But as growing up, a mindset of braided hair is meant for little girls starting to rooting in your mind. Well, no doubt that braided hair would make a girl looks cuter and younger. But at the same time, it could also change one's appearance into a gorgeous lady, depends on what kind of braided hairstyle. 

It is truly not an easy task to braid your hair by yourself in the first place. And it's often that we're left either with a tangled mess or end up settling into a sad ponytail. Below are some of the EASY ways to braid different kind of hairstyle that you could learn within few minutes, but still, PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT. 

1. Regular Three-Strand Braid

A three-strand braid can be one of the most versatile components of the different braided style but it is also the easiest one. You could probably spotted this classic braided hairstyle everywhere, from casual, school time, over-the-shoulder braids at the beach to glossy braids crowning updos on the Ball Night. Now comes the question, how to do? Just remember these 3 simple steps, and there you go with your pretty 3-strand braid. 

1. Comb your hair to smooth and detangle it. 

2. Divide your hair into 3 equal sections.

3. Weave your hair starting by grab two strands in your left hand, and one in your right. Begin by crossing the leftmost strand over the other in your hand, then place it below the strand in your right. Then take the rightmost strand and cross it over the strand you just placed in your right hand, and place it in your left hand underneath the other strand. Repeat this process until you have reached the desired length.

2. Fishtail Braid

If you think that 3-strand braid is too common and easily found, and you want to look slightly different with the others, the fishtail braid is your choice then. The fishtail braid looks elaborate and will become a favorite for rushed mornings, especially if you have long hair. Besides. It is also a hairstyle that tends to look better the messier, which makes it ideal for a long day at outdoor. The braiding technique is quite similar to the 3-strand braid, just that you need to be more careful and skillful to do this. Just follow these few simple steps will do. 

1. Divide your hair equally into 2 sections. 

2. Take a thin strand of hair from the left section. Hold it and gather it from the outside. It is advised to grab it with a thin portion so that the outcome will look nicer.

3. Pull the thin strand up and across the left section. Move it towards the right one and tuck it into the right section so that it will become part of it. 

4. Take a thin strand of hair from the right section and pull it across right section moving to the left and tuck it into left section.

5. Repeat the steps until you reach the end of your hair and wrap a hair tie around it. 

6. Create a tousled braid by rubbing it between your hands so that it won't looks over-tighten and more natural for your looks.

3. French Braid 

The French braid is actually same as the 3-strand braid, but it starts with three small sections of hair near the crown of the head, which are then braided together toward the nape of the neck, gradually adding more hair to each section as it crosses in from the side into the center of the braid structure. While for some people they might think it somehow looks like fishtail braid. Yes, it indeed looks like fishtail braid, I would rather say that french braid is like a combination of 3-strand braid and fishtail braid. Sometimes you may think that it is better to go with french braid as it offers some advantages, for example, it restrains hair from the top of the head that is too short to reach the nape of the neck. Besides, its sleeker appearance is also sometimes viewed as more elegant and sophisticated. Of course, the more elegant the braid is, the more difficult it is due to the greater complexity. Below are the steps that you could follow to braid this hairstyle. 

1. Take some hair at the top and separate it into three equal sections.

2. Take the left section, cross it over the middle one and combine it with the right section.

3. Take the right section, cross it over the middle and combine it with the left section.

4. Repeat it as the steps are pretty similar to 3-strand braid ( just remember to gradually add more hair to each section after each 1-3steps is done).

5. Once you reach the nape of your neck, bring your hair to one side and finish off with a three-strand braid. It may be confusing at first, but once you mastered it after few times of practice, you could be done it within 2 minutes!

4. Waterfall Braid

If you prefer to put your hair down yet want to have a more interesting hairstyle, no doubt waterfall braid is your savior. The waterfall braid is a gorgeous way to wear a braid because it is as though your hair becomes it’s own hair accessory, like wearing a braided hairband over your head. If you want to attend any wedding dinner or Balls Night, definitely this braided hairstyle is the most suitable as it would create a Greek Goddess kind of appearance. Below is the tutorial video on how to do a waterfall braid. 

Upon finishing up your braid, you can either secure the bottom of the braid with a small elastic band or with a bobby pin or clip. Or maybe spray your braid with a small amount of hairspray to keep strands in place.

5. Braid to Bun

If you already mastered those braided hairstyles that mentioned above, you can try to challenge yourself to the next level using the technique that you learned, which is braided it into a bun. You can either choose any types of braids that you like (3-strand, fishtail, French) and twisted it into a bun. Braided buns are versatile and fun to play around with as it doesn’t need to be sleek and perfect. In fact, it turns up to look nicer when is a bit messed up, so you definitely will probably never go out of style. Hence, it is suitable for all kinds of occasion neither you want to hit up the gym or attend wedding dinner. Like if you just want to go for some workout in the gym, you could just simply twist your braid that ends in a high bun as it keeps all of your hair in place.

And when you want to attend wedding dinner or any ceremony, then you could go for something more elegant, twisting your braid into a messy low bun. This works well as a pretty, soft updo. 

There are still a lot of kinds of braided hairstyle that you could look for it once you had mastered these types. Perhaps you can try to weave and twist your hair when you free and create your own kind of braided hairstyle, it's actually fun to do so!