Posted in Fun Stuff

L's hair is now past her waist and it can't be left down anymore. It's either in her food or flying in her eyes and just generally in the way *grin*. So with all of this hot weather we have been having I've been playing around with it and practicing my french braiding :)

Normally I just do a plain french braid straight down her back but I adore the old fashioned crown or coronet french braiding that braids the hair in a circle on top of the head. At first I didn't realize that there was a trick to getting a perfect circle around the top of her head so I french braided it like normal, taking hair from both sides of the braid and just making sure that I continued around the perimeter of her head to keep it pretty circular like in the top photo.

But then I did some digging around on YouTube and found some great videos on coronet braiding  and learned the secret trick! *grin*. It's called a Lace Braid. Instead of taking hair from both sides of the french braid like you normally do you only take hair from the bottom side of the braid and leave the hair in the center of the head alone. Where you would normally grab an additional chunk of hair from the center of the head you just take that strand and cross it over while trying to keep the center hair nice and smooth. As you can see in my photos above and below I need to work on the neatness factor. LOL



It creates a beautiful braid that pops up slightly and creates a perfect pocket along the inside so that when you have finished your braid you can swirl it around the original braid and tuck it nicely in underneath :) I tacked it in with a few bobby pins so that it wouldn't come loose and it held beautifully for her all day and she's pretty tough to keep looking tidy with all of the princess and fairy costume changes she makes in a day!

I've linked to a couple of the videos that I found helpful below in case you are new to lace braiding like me and you really have to check out this site called Dreamweaver Braiding!! It has some of the most gorgeous braids and instructions to :)

This one shows the difference between French Braiding & Dutch Braiding. French braids blend into your hair and Dutch braids actually pop out of the hair for an entirely different look.




This one shows how to do a Coronet Braid using the lace braid technique. She actually does it in a Dutch braid but I used the regular french braid method for the lace braid I did on L in the above photo and it helped immensely to see it in action.





And this last one is a fun one showing an Elizabethan hair taping hair style :) I'm going to try this one next as it's super cute with the ribbon wound around the braid.



Happy braiding!

� Post A Comment! � Send to a Friend!

Comments

Posted by foxvalleyfamily

Oh...thank you SO much for posting this!
My DD's hair is also down to her waist. We just do a plain braid (and occasionally a french braid - so this will give us some fun/pretty options.)

Blessings,
Michelle

� Permanent Link

Posted by ThreeLittleLadies

I didn't know that the underbraid with a french braid was called a dutch braid. I've never heard of sewing your hair either. Thanks for sharing them! My little girl's hair is getting longer. Soon I will be able to do some fun things with her hair. Have you seen this website: www.girlydohairstyles.com ? I have tried this one (easy and cute): http://www.girlydohairstyles.com/2009/05/perfect-updo.html Some day I will post pics of my little one with it.

ttyl!
Carol

� Permanent Link

Posted by kimalita

I love the first picture of L's hair. That is BEAUTIFUL! I can not french braid for nothin, I wish I could. I know I could learn, but just havent made myself. My girls would appreciate me learning.
Do you and your daughter not cut your hair? I know a few family's that follow that as well.

� Permanent Link