French braid is braided type of hairstyle which origin is, as the name suggests, in France. It consists of at least three mutually braided hair sections. It differs from simple braid in fact, that each “cross” is accompanied by adding a new strand of hair into a braid resulting in braid firmly connected with the head. It can be ended by an elastic band, bow or other hair accessories with protective and decorative functions. The creation is not difficult. You can find below how to French braid.

French braid

When you want to French braid, you need to have long hair at least shoulder length, better yet more to manipulate them easily.

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French braid – guide, instructions steb by step, video

First, comb your hair with brush (flat or regular) to detangle, aerate, remove knotted hair or whatever you have in your hair and is not yours. Then gather your hair from the sides and top of your head and put them together, you can use an elastic band to secure them (this makes starting the French braid much easier). Go on and take one strand from each side and cross them over the center section, which you have secured with elastic. After crossing, add more sections of hair from each side (there is no need to immediately add all your hair to the French braid, smaller sections are better). These additional strands always connect with closest parts of the braid, so left one section alone in the middle. Repeat the steps and continue all the way down to the neckline. The rest finish with a regular braid and secure with another elastic. Do not forget to remove the top elastic band or tuck it down into your French braid.

The whole process you can watch in the following video by thebeautydepartment.com:

French braid can be started right at the root of your hair or even further to have looser hairstyle.

French braid variations differing in the way of braiding

Dutch braid (inverted French braid)

Process of creating a Dutch braid is similar to a French braid, but the hair sections are crossed underneath the braid. This is why Dutch braid is also called inverted French braid. Watch the following video guide (if you want to skip the “talk” rewind to 2.00):

Reverse French braid

This type of French braid lies in the fact that the braid is started from the bottom upwards. Lean forward so that your hair will hinder you. Comb them and follow the instructions on the classic French braid above. This type of braid is usually ended with high bun. In the following video you can see the whole process and method of creating a bun with a sock (cut off the bottom of sock where you have your fingers and roll it, then put your hair into and over it so that the sock will not be visible and secure the bun with hair clips – unfold the clips and place them around the bottom of bun).

French braid variations differing in the place on your head

• Over your neck – classic French braid, start to braid from the top of your head, you can find how to braid in the first video.
• On the side – start to braid over your ear.
• From forehead to side – start to braid from forehead and continue sideways. Illustration in the second video.
• One French braid on each side – braid on each side. Watch out for the distribution of your hair in the middle and evenly devide hair sections into two braids.

French braid recap (classic and dutch braid too) + other braids (video guide):

See the full French braid gallery within this article:

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