Hair Braids

Hi everyone! I hope you have been enjoying hair week as much as I have!

Today I'm going to be talking about hair braids, as it is something I have been following a lot in Instagram recently! 

Now my hair is much longer, I want to experiment with different hairstyles more, so expect to see a lot more in the future. I always thought braids were kind of childish, but some of the braid gurus I follow have proved that if done well, braids can be a fashion accessory, and look really sophisticated and pretty.

That said, I need a bit more practice with my braids to make them look as good as the people I follow, and maybe a hair cut to rid those fly always! You'll have to bear with me for picture quality because I only have my phone, and I had to take them all myself so back of head shots are a pain! But here we go!

French Plaits

This is a style I used to don a lot as a child, so wearing these got me a little self conscious about looking 4. However working in a restaurant means my hair has to be away, and my annoying baby hairs go mad in the heat and stress, so this style works perfectly to tuck them away.

I did two variations of this, one braid going into a normal plait and the other into a fishtail.

Middle parting Braid

If you follow my Instagram you'll see that I did this a while ago when Perrie Edwards (soon to be Malik) did a braid down the middle of her hair.

Her braid is very small and intricate, and quite difficult to recreate, so I've done mine much chunkier, and I think it looks better with my thick hair

Fish tail pony

Any pony with a braid always reminds me of Blake Lively as she is a lover of a stylish pony on the red carpet

Obviously her hair is styled with much longer hair, but I love the messiness of the braid but also how cool it looks. It's so easy to do and can be worn night or day.

Tumbledown Braid

I completely made up the name for this one but saw it somewhere on Instagram and can't for the life of me find the picture now! This braid is actually really easy to do, but I think it looks quite sophisticated. You start by French braiding the front of your hair and pulling more hair round from the back to create the look. It's a braid to be worn on the side so a few clips at the back to make sure nothing falls out may be necessary.

Milkmaid braids

Milkmaid braids often seen on the likes of Zoella, are a really simple way to make a pretty up do.

I'm using all my real hair in this post, so unfortunately my hair isn't long enough to wrap around my head, so I've done a smaller variation of it.

To achieve this look, I simply put my hair in a half pony, split the remaining hair into two equal sections and then wrapped around to the top of my head and pinned down.

If I'd picture myself head on you'd see the tufted ends sticking up in the middle of my hair, because it still isn't long enough to tuck under the opposite braid, but when it is long enough, I think this is a style I will wear a lot as it is a kind of natural hair band!

Wrap around fishtail

This is one that I still need to work on, as braiding around your head is very fiddly as you have to swap your hands around. I got inspiration to do this from the super mum I montaged up above, instagrammer and blogger Amber Fillerup.

She is a dream when it comes to braiding, and once she's braided, she always pulls it out to mess it up and look like she just threw it together.

I can't do the Dutch style or French style fishtail so I did a normal French plait and wrapped it around into a fish tail

This is a really pretty braid and is quite Elsa (from Frozen of course) so would be a great one for kids!

I am definitely going to be doing more braids, and practicing different styles of braids, so keep and eye out on my Instagram in the future!

Hope you enjoyed!