The title of this post should probably be ‘Hey look at this knot that I’ve created in my hair’, but instead I’m going to try and pass it off as a French braid. Yeah? Sorta? I mean it’s more of a plait, but you see where I’m trying to go with this. It’s become a bit of a regular thing that when I’ve got a spare half an hour at the weekend, I set up shop in front of the mirror with a plaiting YouTube how-to, a bunch of bands and my nimble fingers at the ready in a desperate attempt to master all things twisted. My obsession with a bit of side-swept braid action began way back in my Hills-viewing days, L.C always rocked a good one and since moving out my chief plaiter, a.k.a) my sister, is no longer about to do her thang so I’ve got to get down to it.
It almost always ends up with me spending 10 minutes trying to rake out a gigantic self-inflicted knot and giving up through to lack of fingertip energy, but sometimes I do end up with something that slightly resembles the desired result and I’ve found a few products in my toiletry tower that help to make the process a wee bit easier. Firstly Bumble and Bumble’s Prep; it’s one of those ‘can’t quite put my finger on it‘ products, but spritzed through the lengths post-wash and pre-blow dry my locks just tend to be a bit more obedient when this is in use. When everything’s dried off you got to give it a good comb – hello TangleTeezer – and of course you have to have your bands on hand, these cheapie elastics from Boots do the trick. Now a step I’ve found really helps to stop the strands slipping through my fingers is a blast of dry-shampoo, it may seem a little counter intuitive to apply it on freshly washed tresses, but it just gives the whole thing a bit more grip. Oscar Blandi’s Volumising one is my current go-to. Braiding-done (an hour later), I like to make sure it’s going to stay there and whack out the hairspray to set it all before giving my digits a rest.
Video-wise there’s a few I like to watch out of one eye while the other looks on confused at what my hands are creating. The Beauty Department’s offering is probably the easiest and clearest to follow and I like their whole clear band trick, but the next one I want to master is this – a feather waterfall braid. It’s just asking to be pinned, right? But until then I’ll stick to the basics….and the untangling.
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