Braided Beauty: The French Braid Hairstyle

Braids have been around for centuries, and are a style of hair that women still wear today. The popularity of braids among women has been on and off throughout history, because, in some cultures (1800s), it was considered beautiful. While, in the modern era (1990s), it was a fashion for only young girls, and women hardly wore braids in their hair. It is unknown where the term “French braid” came from and why the English-speaking world started calling it that, because the French called the same braid the “African braid.” The first time the word “French braid” was used in history was in 1871 when a short story in Arthur’s Home Magazine depicted it as a new hairstyle.

Today there are many variations of the simple plaited braid and the French braid is one of these, which some of the other variations include the fishtail braid and the Dutch braid. The French braid can be worn various ways, such as straight down the back, a double French braid, a side French braid, a half-up French braid, and so many more. For the last couple of years, women usually thought that only small girls wore braids like the French braid, so it was unpopular to wear braids as a woman. Recently though, the French braid has come into style once again as many starlets have adopted a French side braid, and have worn them to special occasions. Creating a French braid is simple and quick (depending on the length of your hair), and many women know how to create this braid because they learned it in grade school when it was popular among girls.

To create the French braid you first need to brush and detangle your hair so that it is free of all knots, and then decide on the type of French braid you want. You can either do a French braid that starts at the very top of the head or you can start towards the crown of the head. Also, if you want two French braids then you need to part the hair down the middle and do one side while you tie back the other. When you know what type of braid you want to do, you then need to brush the hair back and gather a section of the hair on top of the head (it can be at the very top or more towards the crown of the head). Then make three sections out of that one section, and hold the three sections with one hand with the other hand you grab a portion of the free hair. You add that portion to the right section of hair and then pull it over the middle section, and you do the same to the other side. When there is no more free hair to add to the braid then you braid the hair in the normal plaited braid and then tie it off at the end.