Hair Series: Ladder Braid

This style is really nice for summer, and it's also great for disguising second day hair. I'll be in Uganda when this is published and will probably be wearing this quite a lot!

In order to recreate this, you do need to be able to do a simple French braid. If you can Dutch braid, then that will work too, though it will give a slightly different look.

start with a small section of hair over one temple. Braid/plait it normally through 2 cycles.

Start French braiding along the hair line, untill you reach the ear.

Once you get to the ear, the braid will be converted into what's called a half laced French braid, but very loosely. The way you do this is by adding hair as you normally would in a French braid to the side of the braid opposite the ear, but braiding normally and not adding any hair to the side nearest the ear. It's important to keep the sections loose as you add them, or the braid will start to wrap around the head, and you are aiming for the braid to fall straight down over the shoulder.  

Secure the end of the braid with a clear elastic, and then use your fingers to pull it outwards, making it wider and a bit messy. You can do this all the way up the head, back to the start point, for a really dressed-down look.

Casual Fat Plait

ok, so this is a follow on from my beach waves tuorial, which this uses as a base style.

strt with your beachy waves. use my technique or any other, as long as your hair has some texture!

roughly gather your hair on one side and split it into two sections. keep some small wispy bits at the front to frame your face.

start the fishtail plait. take a small setion from the outside of one of the large bunches, and add it to the inside of the other one. repeat each side untill you run out of hair.

i'm really bad at explaining how to do this, but just have a go, and if your really cant make sense of my instructions then there are lots of tutorials for fishtails on youtube!

tug at the finished braid to make it really fat and messy. you can use a tail comb to pull out random strands if you want, or just use your fingers.

use some grips or clips to secure any loose strands at the back

And you're done!

click on any of the pictures to view full size

Lucy xx