Hair Tutorial: Simple French Braid

So today I am presenting to you a slightly 'easier' hair tutorial - well, easy if you're a hair whiz! I've only been able to french braid for a few years, and I would have really appreciated a tutorial like this when I was first starting out in the 'hair do-ing' world. If you're already a hair ninja, sit back, relax, and enjoy the photos (just be glad you didn't see me trying to hold the hair and take the photos at the same time... now that, my friend, was a real balancing act!). If you don't think you could be classed as a hair ninja (that's my camp, friends), sit back and relax as well, but take notice, because this is a really cool hairstyle that is versatile and great for any occasion.

Skills required

If you can do a regular three strand braid, you'll be fine on this. 

Materials required:

See photo above. One hairbrush, a hairtie or two depending on what you're hoping to do, a couple of bobby pins (disregard the ton I've got in the photo, I photographed my entire pin collection just randomly) and that's it. 

Optional: an alligator clip (that blue thingy) and a spray bottle of water (not pictured), if your hair is majorly frizzy and you can't keep it down.

Seat your victim subject in a comfortable chair and brush their hair.

Starting with the top right section, take a biggish section of hair. 

Separate the section into three smaller sections. It's hard to tell in the photo because I was struggling to hold it and take the photo, but there's actually three sections not three and another quarter of one.

Cross the rightmost strand over the middle section, and leftmost section over the now-middle section. This is a regular braid 'stitch'.

Pick up a piece of hair from the top of the head, next to where your left most strand is coming out. 

'Scuse the blurry photo. Add that bit into your middle strand.

As shown, add it into the middle bit.

Tighten everything up a wee bit, nice and neat.

Do another stitch, this time using the right most strand, and this time pick up a section on the right side of the head, over by the forehead. 

 Continue on in such a manner, doing a stitch on the left and adding a section of hair from the left side, then doing a stitch on the right adding a section from the right.

Keep going. It should begin to look like a braid is 'running' through the hair. 

When you reach a point that you're happy with, stop adding in sections of fresh hair and just keep doing an ordinary three strand braid. We're going to bobby pin it in place, but for now you'll need to do some ordinary stitches to keep it all from helpfully undoing itself.

Bobby pin it in place, then 'undo' the braid underneath the pins. That was just there to stop it unraveling. 

 You can do the same on the other side if you like, to give a sort of 'half up half down' look. Personally I quite like the look of one side french braided and then the rest out long. It's quite elegant and feminine, great for all occasions.

Variation possibilities:
There are a ton of possibilities with the french braid, but I'm showcasing two simple ones here today.

Variation 1: Instead of stopping the braid and bobby pinning it, this is what it will look like if you just continue french braiding right down to the end. When you run out of hair to french braid, continue regular braiding, and tie it off at the end with a hairtie.

This is what that will look like. I haven't completed the left side yet.

Variation 2: Start at the very top of the head with no part line. French braid, using the whole head of hair. This will end you up with something that looks somewhat similar to this.

So there you have it. A french braid tutorial. I'm hoping to have a slightly more complicated tutorial next time, only, I'm stuck with what that will actually be. Any ideas? Suggestions? :)

Sorry about the dark photos. I took them in the evening, when the lights probably weren't quite as good as daylight would have been!

Many thanks to Sophie for agreeing to be my model. :)

PS. I'm going to be away on camp for all of next week, so any posts between now and next Saturday have been scheduled. I'd love prayer for my week at camp if you happen to think of me. Hope you guys have a wonderful week!