Poof-Proof Hairstyles: The Fishtail Braid Ponytail

Got a hair style you think is poof-proof? Submit it to emily@zelocare.com and we’ll post your submission and give you credit for the style!

I love little ways to jazz up ponytails – and here is a great one. If you know how to do a fishtail braid, this is easy to create.

In this tutorial, I pull back half the hair first, start my fishtail braid, and then tie it off at the top of the neck for a sleek ponytail look. However, if you play around with this, you can loosen it up, making your crisscrosses more dramatic for a more casual ‘do. Read through our tutorial and try it out for yourself!

Step One: Tie back even sections of hair from each side. This is where your braided portion will begin.

Step Two: From both sides, separate out two inch-thick sections  from behind each ear.

Step Three: Divide your rubber banded pulled back section into two even sections. Criss cross your inch-thick strands, and add the strands to the opposite divide in the pulled back section, as you would when you start a fishtail braid.

Step Four: Repeat this process about four or five times, taking inch-thick sections from each side and crisscrossing them, continuing to fishtail braid downwards. Tip: Braid a little further down than you actually want it to be in the end. Fishtail braids easily come undone when you secure them.

Step Five: Now, pull all your hair back into a ponytail right at the base of your scalp. Tip: if you find your braid undoes itself, secure it separately before combining it with the rest of your hair. Once you pull all your hair back, then remove the band securing the braid for a consistent look without having your braid come undone!

Hair How-To: Waterfall and Double Waterfall Braid

Have a hairstyle you’ve seen in pictures and would like a tutorial on? Send it to me at emily@zelocare.com and I will do my best to crack it! 

In an older post on shaking up your typical braid, I shared a video on the wonderful waterfall braid – a bohemian-looking twist on the typical french braid. I found this picture floating around of two waterfall braids in a row, and instantly knew I needed to figure out how to recreate. Thus, a new blog series has been born. I am excited to share this little side-ponytail with pizzazz.

The inspiration, found on Tumblr

The waterfall braid is easy enough to create, it just takes a little practice.

Within my tutorial I have provided the brief steps to forming the waterfall braid in steps 2-5, which can be used a variety of ways outside of today’s hairstyle recreation. If you want a video on the waterfall braid for a better look, check out the older post. If you already know how to do the waterfall braid, feel free to skip through steps 2-5.

Note: the pictures in this tutorial were all taken by me. I love sharing, but if you do want to use them, please give me credit and link back to my blog. 

Step 1: To begin, separate out a chunk of hair above your ear and begin doing a simple french braid downwards. This gives a clean start to the style before we start the waterfall braid.

Step 2: Once you have braided down to right at your ear, we will move into the waterfall braid. You will start this by taking more hair into your braid, as if you were continuing a french braid (red piece).

Step 3: You will then drop the front most piece of the braid, highlighted in blue.

Step 4: In order to replace to piece you dropped and continue the braid, now pick up a chunk of hair from directly behind where you want the braid to lie. Make this piece an even size with the others in your braid.

Step 5: Continue the braid like you would’ve normally, had you not dropped the blue piece, replacing it with the green piece, as shown. You will now continue steps 2-4, replacing the blue piece with the red/pink piece, adding hair to the yellow piece, and eventually dropping the yellow piece in the next succession. Get it? This technique takes practice, but after a few tries you will be able to create this consistently.

Step 6: Now that you’ve got the hang of the waterfall braid, braid using this drop technique all the way across the head until you reach the other side. I like to leave a little chunk free in the front, but it’s optional. You’ll see how this plays in later.

Step 7: Before moving onto the second braid, braid you first one down a few inches, french braiding in about half of the front chunk we left free in the last step. Secure with a rubber band or clip for now.

Step 8: Now we are ready to start the second braid. Going back to the initial side of the head, french braid down another inch or so, creating a little bit of space between the first braid and the soon-to-be second one.

Step 9: Begin another waterfall braid, feeding the dropped pieces from the first waterfall into the second. To make this look really woven, try to feed the dropped pieces from the first braid straight into the sections that will be dropped in the second braid, as shown. Braid all the way across, maintaining an inch or two gap between the two braids.

Step 10: Now we need to connect the top braid and the bottom braid, and this is simple. Un-secure the top braid and combine it with the end of the bottom braid, braiding downwards. As you do this, french braid in the rest of the front strands we left free earlier (this gives a cascading, smooth look to the front).

Step 11: Almost there! Just gather the rest of the hair and sweep it to the side of the braided ends, securing it it a low side ponytail. All done!

Poof-Proof Hairstyles: Braided Headband

Some days are just bound to be filled with frizz, but it doesn’t mean we just give up on styling our hair right off the bat. When I think there’s a possibility that my hair will get the best of me, but still want to give style a try, I go for anything that gets my hair slicked back and out of my face. Even if my best attempt to straighten my hair goes haywire throughout the day, my look will remain strong because I have my face neatly framed.

A Braided headband is a perfect technique to pull your hair back, maintaining a put together look no matter what chaos your hair ensues.

Kate Hudson wearing a french braided headband, photo courtesy of the Examiner

There are two basic ways to get this look. The first, which is a french braided headband, works with any length of hair.

You can choose to braid of one side of your part, down both sides, or simply do a french braid all the way across – all you need to do to vary this style is start the braid in a different place. Simply use a comb to separate and inch to an inch and a half band of hair along your forehead hairline, and tie the rest of your hair back to keep it out of the braid. Start the braid wherever you prefer – at your part, or back behind your ear – and french braid all the way along your hairline. Secure the end with a thin hairband or hair pins, and let down the rest. Voila! You have a french braided hairband.

Check out this video for a visual, especially if you have short hair:

The second way to create this look is by braiding one or two three strand braid(s) and wrapping them across your head for a single or double headband.

To do this, you will need long enough hair that it will wrap all the way across your head. For a single braided head band, separate a chunk of hair from down behind your ear at the base of your scalp – how much hair you separate out is determined by how thick or thin you want your headband braid to be. Braid the entire section all the way down and secure at the end with a hair tie. Then, cross the piece over your forehead, and secure under the opposite ear with hair pins. For a double braided head band, separate out and braid two sections of hair from behind each ear. Cross-cross them across your forehead, and secure on either side behind opposite ears with hair pins.

And again for a visual, check out this video from LuxyHair:

Also, if you hair becomes too rebellious throughout the day for even the braided headband to keep in check, you can always pull the rest of your hair up into an undone bun or ponytail, and still maintain the super classy look.