How To Do Hair Braiding in 5 Easy Steps

Learning a hair braiding technique can be a great stress reliever. There are so many different types of hair braids to choose from, so you can tailor your hair braiding session to your style and mood. A simple French braid is gorgeous and looks chic for everyday wear, a Fishtail braid provides an intricate and glamorous look that’s perfect for a night out, and a Waterfall braid adds an extra level of elegance for any occasion.

More reading:

I won’t lie – hair braiding is difficult to learn!

But practice makes perfect, and braiding looks great, it is a terrific deterrent for nits! Braiding looks so neat and tidy and there are so many variations on how to do a standard braid. Here are our step by step instructions on how to do a basic french braid in 5 easy steps.

Step 1

Run a brush through the hair to remove all tangles and if you have it, spray the hair with a little conditioning treatment (to make, add a tablespoon of hair conditioner to a bottle of water and shake). Having ever so slightly damp hair makes braiding a lot easier!.

Step 2

Gather a small amount of hair from the front crown. You can gather as much or as little as you like, a smaller amount will mean a longer braid, gathering the whole top half of the hair will result in just a half head braid.

Step 3

Divide gathered hair into 3 sections, as you would a normal plait. Cross the right piece over the middle piece, bringing the middle piece to be the right side piece, and the right hand side piece to be the middle piece. Repeat with the left-hand side piece.

Step 4

Gathering from the side of the head, pick up a section of hair and place it with that side of your plait. Cross this now bigger piece over into the middle. Gather from the other side of the head and repeat cross over.

The bigger the pieces of gathered hair, the thicker the braid will be, the smaller the pieces, the tighter and smaller the braid. Only pickup hair from the side you need, make sure you do not gather hair that may have strayed from the other side of the head. This will result in an uneven braid.

Step 5

Continue picking up and crossing over the hair until you reach the bottom of the scalp. When there is no more hair to pick up, just continue with a standard plait and secure with a hair tie.

Don’t be discouraged if your braids start off with “bubbles”, are uneven or there are gaps, as long as they look vaguely like the above pictures, you are on your way!

Happy braiding!