2 hacks for a front braid on dark + straight hair

next
The Beauty Tool I Will Never Stray From

Just look at this beauty.

View More: http://jordanmaunder.pass.us/small-things

This is Nicole, my friend + asset for the blog (you can read more about her here)! She’s expecting her third baby in June, which will mean she’ll have a 3 year old, a 1 year old and then this little baby.

Girlfriend is going to be a little bit busy, but I have a strong feeling she’ll thrive.

Anyway, we were talking about hair + motherhood, and how the ponytail is just the easiest thing when you are playing with your kids. I’m the same way, I want my hair out of my face too!

But I wanted to give her another option of wearing her hair down without it being in her face. AND I wanted to share a few tips for braids in dark and straight hair.

The first step in braiding your hair is texture spray. Don’t you dare skip this. It will help so dramatically that you’ll wonder how you ever braided before it.

View More: http://jordanmaunder.pass.us/small-things

Start with small pieces, close to your part. If a video tutorial would be helpful for you, you can watch me create this same look here.

View More: http://jordanmaunder.pass.us/small-things

I always like to keep the braids a little bit off the face versus pulling them forward so they “live” right against your skin. I think it looks a little strange that way. So, continue braiding until you hit the temple area, then just finish the braid without adding more hair in.

Use a clip or clear elastic to hold the braid, and eyeball where you think you’ll be inserting the bobby pins. Once you figure that out, tease the hair in that section. This will help the bobby pins hold and is a great tip for those with straight hair.
View More: http://jordanmaunder.pass.us/small-things

Braids and other intricate hair styles can sometimes get lost in dark hair, so make sure you stretch it out to thicken it up a bit!
View More: http://jordanmaunder.pass.us/small-things

Slip pins into the braid, as many as you need, right overtop of the teased section. They should feel secure.

View More: http://jordanmaunder.pass.us/small-things

View More: http://jordanmaunder.pass.us/small-things

Smooth some hair over top of the pins, to hide them, and finish with a flexible hairspray if you need it!

View More: http://jordanmaunder.pass.us/small-things

What I love about this style is that the hair is still down, but you won’t have to worry about any of it falling into your face. And it could easily be thrown back into a ponytail or a messy bun (like I did here) if you end up needing to pull it all up!

The biggest take away, for those of you with dark hair whose braids get “lost”, work with smaller sections that allow you to stretch the braid out a bit more than usual! Really chunky braids on dark hair don’t give the same impact as when they are done on lighter hair. So, use smaller sections so the braid itself is more detailed, and then stretch it out for width and dimension!

For another easy braided hairstyle, check out this low halo braid or these travel braids!

comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Anne says · 05.03.16

Beautiful!! Little ones are so fun 🙂

Reply
Rachel Z. Aka Zazzy says · 05.03.16

What a great blog post! I always think your hair looks so beautiful braided but my dark hair never stands out the same way with a braid. Thanks for the tips I’m going to try braiding my hair again today. I just love you Kate I’ve been a long time reader of your blog, viewer on Youtube and periscope, and in your snapchat fam, keep up the great work?

Reply
Bethany says · 05.03.16

I’ve always struggled with this because my hair is dark and straight too. This looks amazing 🙂 Texture really is the key!

Reply
Amanda says · 05.03.16

I have really fine, straight hair and my braids always look puny and skinny. Any ideas or hints?

Reply
Kathleen says · 05.03.16

OOOh I want to try this. I wonder if dry shampoo would add enough texture, I don’t have texture spray yet! Thanks for this!

Reply
Caty says · 05.03.16

Unless you have super fine hair, I think dry shampoo would add great texture and grip. Second day hair with dry shampoo would probably work really well to get a good result with this braid.

Reply
Amy says · 05.03.16

YAY! Thanks for a tutorial for dark hair. I do have long, dark, straight hair so this is perfect. I always feel like my hair never looks as good as blond hair braided, but I can always keep trying. Thanks for this tutorial!

Reply
Sabrina says · 05.03.16

Could you let us know which texture spray you are using here?

Thanks!

Reply
Aleeha says · 05.03.16

Ooh thanks for these tips! I have really dark hair and do braids frequently, I’ll be using much smaller sections of hair from now on!
Aleeha xXx
http://www.halesaaw.com/

Reply
Jasmin says · 05.03.16

Any tips for those of us with super fine hair that is sparse around the hairline? I can make a braid look like that starting 2″ behind my hairline, but if I’m trying right near the hairline I’ve got seemingly nothing to work with! 🙁

Reply
Bettye says · 05.03.16

Yeah, I’ll NEVER be able to do this, but I still enjoy watching someone else do it!

Bettye

Reply
Lindsay says · 05.03.16

Love love love the dark hair perspective!! I read your blog everyday and it’s great to see the longer, dark hair in rotation, having dark hair myself 🙂

Thank you!

Reply
Ashli says · 05.03.16

Love this!! Cannot wait to try.

http://www.backwardsnhighheels.com

Reply
Serein says · 05.03.16

Actually, not is that really clever and a good point, it looks really good! Thanks for the tip!

Xoxo
Serein
https://sereinwu.com/

Reply
Beth says · 05.05.16

This looks hard to do alone–and
next to impossible with 3 little kids
clamoring for attention.

Reply
blog beauté says · 05.05.16

I love it I love it <3 <3

Take a look here : http://www.beautychik.com/tuto-coiffure-comment-faire-des-tresses/
and told me what do you think

I love you

Reply
Kristen says · 05.05.16

Oh I just love this idea!

Reply
Adrienne says · 05.09.16

I will be doing this everyday from now until the end of summer! 🙂

Reply
Laurel says · 05.10.16

Thank you for doing this!! My hair is all but EXACTLY like Nicole’s. And I literally stood in the bathroom last fall going minute by minute through your braid-softening tutorial, and ended up frustrated because it just didn’t look like yours (on top of being a Dutch-braiding novice). Well, duh. I’m not you! lol
Even with doing Nicole’s hair with your own professional hands it can’t be exactly the same because she’s got different texture, thickness, color, face shape, forehead height, all of it. A style will have a different personality on every single person that wears it.
I think I can appreciate my own efforts with less criticism now. Thank you!

Reply
Mary says · 08.23.16

What texture spray do you use here?

Reply