Hair How-To: Five Stranded French Braid

As you may or may not have realized by now, I am obsessed with braids – and who can blame me, they are not only fun to create and so versatile, but they are all the rage right now.

So, I came across a picture of someone with this elaborate braid incorporated into a ponytail – braided down the side of her head – and it had FIVE count ‘em FIVE strands.

I was in awe. Have you ever seen something this cool? It reminds me of those friendship bracelets me and my friends used to make each other when we were little! Definitely unique.

I have tried it out, and it does take a little practice to master.

You start your braid wherever you want it in typical braid fashion – with three pieces. Then, you draw in to extra pieces from each side, winding them into your braid. Next, you continue to add in pieces, winding them back and forth down the braid as  you add into it. The step-by-step is complicated, so instead of trying to get this by reading, check out this video how to:

Image Source: Glamour.com

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!

Add a New Twist to Your Braided Hairstyle

Braided hairstyles are all the rage, and the reasons are obvious. Braids are simple, they are easy to make look amazing, and you can do so much with one technique that suits any style, outfit, or occasion. However there is a downside to this hair makeover miracle: braids can get boring. There’s only so many times you can do a simple braid until you feel like it has lost its luster and worse, it’s style. The good thing is, you can always teach an old dog new tricks.

I have found a few braided hairstyles in my travels that have unique touches – so if you have lost interest in braiding your hair – don’t give up until you’ve tried these ‘dos!

Waterfall Braid

This is a seldom used variety of the french braid, which is a shame because it is a great option for a half-up do without taking the volume out of the lower part of your hair by pulling it all the back. This works with straight hair, but I have also used this braid with my hair curled and it has turned out great since I’m not pulling all of my curled layers back and hiding them. Check out this video tutorial from Cute Girls Hairstyles for the how-to:

French Braid Up Do

If you are looking for a fancy braid for a nice night, this up do braid by Andrea at Beauty and the Blog might just do the trick! I love how simple this style is to create, but how complex and intricate the end result looks. Click here to get the step by step on her blog.

Braided Headband with Flower

I found the following tutorial right after posting our Poof-Proof Braided Headband style last week.  This is a super cute and easy way to finish off a french braided headband with a little flair.