4 strand French / Dutch braid

When you've mastered the 4 strand braid, you can try adding in hair. You'll get a French / Dutch braid, because you're adding in hair and crossing it over on one side (like a French braid) and under on the other side (like a Dutch braid).
There's also a way to do a full Dutch braided version, but I'll explain that in another article.

The technique:
4 strand French / Dutch braid tutorial

Ideas:

The 4 strand French / Dutch braid, as explained in my tutorial. The French braided section is on the left, the Dutch braided section on the right.

A variation, in which not all of the hair has been added. Great to combine with a bun.

The same variation as above, only pancaked. The braid has been finished as a fishtail.

In this variation the strand you don't add hair to (the third strand, counted from the side where you start braiding) has been turned into a rope braid before doing the 4 strand French / Dutch braid. Of course, instead of a rope braid you can also use loads of different braiding techniques...

... like a 4 strand ribbon braid!

How to: Box fishtail headband braid with braided bun

Helpful tutorials:
Dutch 3D splitbraid (the technique is similair)
3 strand braid

You'll need:
2 small elastics
2 or 3 bigger elastics
Bobby pins
If desired, a flower or bow hair clip

How to do this hairstyle?

1. Part the hair just off center. Create a second part starting at the first part and going down to the ear, so you have a section of hair at the front of the head. Make sure to have this section on the side with the most hair.
2. Comb the rest of the hair backwards and tie it into a ponytail.
3. Now take a small strand of hair close to the part and divide this strand into two: a left strand (far away from the forehead) and a right strand (close to the forehead).
4. Take a small strand of hair from the left strand and divide it into two. Cross half over the left strand and cross half under the left strand. Then add both strands to the right strand.
5. Take a small strand of hair from the right strand and divide it into two. Cross half over the right strand and cross half under the right strand. Then add both strands to the left strand.
6. Repeat step 4.
7. Take some hair on the left side of the left strand, cross it under the left strand and add it to the right strand.
8. Repeat step 5.
9. Take some hair on the right side of the right strand, cross it under the right strand and add it to the left strand.
10. Repeat steps 6 through 9 until you've added in all of the hair.
11. Then repeat step 4 and 5 until you've gone past the ear and finish off with a small elastic.
12. Add the braid to the ponytail. You can do this by using another elastic or by lifting up the old ponytail elastic a little bit and pulling the end of the braid through.
13. Divide the hair from the ponytail (so including the end of the braid) into three and do a regular braid with this hair. Finish off with a small elastic.
14. Twist the braid around the ponytail elastic, so you'll get a bun. Put another elastic around the bun and use bobby pins to keep the bun in place.
15. If you like, you can hide the elastic from the braid with a flower or bow.

Good luck!

How to: 6 strand ribbon braid with bubble fishtail braid

Today it's the Dutch King's birthday, so a special hairstyle with our Dutch colors: orange and red-white-blue!

Helpful tutorials:
6 strand ribbon braid (continues as slide up braid)
Fishtail braid
Pancaking

You'll need:
1 big elastic
1 ribbon
Small elastics (how many depends on the length of the hair)

How to do this hairstyle?

1. Attach a ribbon to a small elastic. The ribbon can be the length of the hair (a little shorter is fine as well).
2. Comb all of the hair backwards and take a small section from the front. Bring this section forwards.
3. Take a small strand of hair below this section and attach the elastic with the ribbon to this. Then bring the front section back.
4. Divide this section of hair into 5 strands. The ribbon is your sixth strand. Arrange the hair like this: hair - hair - hair - ribbon - hair - hair.
5. Now start a 6 strand ribbon braid: cross the left strand under - over - under and then cross the right strand over - under - over.
6. Repeat step 5 until your braid reaches the neck.
7. Put an elastic around all of the hair. Do you have ribbon left? Then you can - after you've done the fishtail braid - tie it into a bow around the elastic (tip: do this after braiding the fishtail, or your bow may get loose again).
8. Now divide the hair from the ponytail into two and start a fishtail braid.
9. Braid about 6 or 8 pieces and then put elastics around the two strands you have. If you like, you can pancake the braid.
10. Continue step 9 until you've reached the end of the hair. Of course you can also choose not to braid until the end of the hair, like in the photo: step 9 has been done three times in total there.

Good luck!

Travel braids

The summer months are always ideal months to travel. Travelling means a lot of planning, though: where are you going to go, how are you going to get there, where are you going to sleep, what are you going to bring, but most importantly (at least for me!) - how are you going to wear your hair?

For me, there's two kinds of travel braids:

• the braid you want to wear because you're going to go some place nice and you're hoping for a beautiful photo;
• the braid you want to wear because you've got a long day of travelling and you still want to look presentable when you arrive.

My vacations usually have both braids: the second braid for the flights to and from the destination and the first braid for the other days. I do always plan the first braids as I don't want to waste my time on the destination thinking about what kind of braid I want to do. If I have to think about it once I'm there, I usually end up doing a braid I've done a million times before and I just don't want to do that when I've got a chance of a special background. This 4 strand slide up braid made out of braids, for example, is a braid I had planned before we went on vacation and one I could never have thought of in the morning. It's actually really easy (you create 4 braids, you make a 4 strand braid out of those 4 braids and then you slide it up), but yet I love how intricate it looks.

For the second type of braids (the 'have to stay in all day' braids) I usually go to simple styles. That way you can easily do the braid again if it doesn't look the way you want anymore. Great styles would be a side ponytail with a rope braid or a 4 strand braid. I never go for a ponytail in the back as I find it's not comfortable when you want to lean back in your seat. That's why I never wear buns either when I have to travel a long time.

Other great styles would be two French or Dutch braids or, if you've got more time in the morning before you travel, a fishtail braid. I love fishtail braids for travelling for my hair as I tend to have quite a bit of flyaways and I find them staying in better with a fishtail braid.

Travel photo from 2016: the fishtail braid on the left was for a long day in the car and the French fishtail braid on the right was for the flight from Los Angeles to Amsterdam.

Another great travel braid is a pull through braid. The elastics help to keep the braid in all day, better than a regular braid. For my recent flight from Amsterdam to Vancouver I did this side pull through braid and when I arrived in Vancouver I did of course have some flyaways, but it still looked nice.

Of course now I'm curious if you have any favorite travel braids. What kind of braids do you usually do during your vacation? Easy styles because you want to have time to enjoy your day? Or new braids as you've got time to try them out now? And what are your favorite braids for long flights / car rides? I'd love to hear from you, so please leave a reply below this post or on Facebook!

30 days new braids

June is always a special month on Instagram for the braiding community - it's the 30 days new braids month!

30 days new braids is a challenge for braiders to try and do as many different braiding techniques as possible. Each day of the month June is about a certain braiding technique. It's up to you to create a hairstyle using this technique. Of course there's loads of possibilities, because with a technique as (for example) French braiding, you can do a thousand different hairstyles.

The challenge is not so much about trying to join in every day, but about challenging yourself to try new braiding techniques. The challenge of course has the standard French and Dutch braid, but also techniques like space buns, crown braids, feathered braids and heart braids. The idea behind the challenge is to get you out of your comfort zone: as you braid more often, you often also find yourself doing the same kind of braid. 30 days new braids tries to show you there's so many more techniques than the ones you already do so often.

If you'd like to know more about the 30 days new braids challenge: Jenni Petänen is hosting the challenge this year on Instagram. She has taken over the challenge from Hair by Lori, who has loads of information and ideas on her website.

If you want to see my styles for this year's 30 days new braids challenge, then please head over to my Instagram account. The collage below is from two years ago, when I joined in every day.

4 strand waterfall braid

When you've mastered the regular waterfall braid and when you've leaned the 4 strand braid, then this 4 strand waterfall braid is easy for you. It's a super fun braid, that's easy and beautiful. Tip: make sure you're always going under on the side closest to the part line, this gives the best result.

The technique:
4 strand waterfall braid tutorial

Ideas:

A 4 strand waterfall braid on the right side, combined with a French braid on the left side.

Two 4 strand waterfall braids

Again two 4 strand waterfall braids, finished off with a bubble braid

A double 4 strand waterfall braid

A 4 strand waterfall braid, combined with a braid that's a combination of a regular braid and a fishtail braid

Two 4 strand waterfall braids, finished off as a flower, with a mermaid braid below.

Topsy tail hairstyles

In my article Hair helping items from December 12, 2015 I already explained a few things on the topsy tail: a sort of stick with a circle on top of it that you can use to easily do a hair wrapped ponytail or a flipped ponytail. These kind of accents are always fun to give a hairstyle a little extra thing, but even with just a topsy tail you can already create a fun hairstyle!

The technique:
Hair wrapped ponytail tutorial (continues as Bubble braid)
Variation on the hair wrapped ponytail tutorial

Ideas:

The flipped ponytail, created by putting the topsy tail just behind the elastic and then putting the ponytail through the circle and pulling the topsy tail down. Tip: don't tighten the elastic until after you've done the flip!

A French braid into a hair wrapped ponytail, as explained at the beginning of my tutorial Bubble braid.

A bun created with a topsy tail - first do a ponytail and then divide the hair into three. Put your topsy tail from top to bottom first, then from the left to the right and then from the right to the left. Don't pull the hair tightly through the ponytail, but create loops, making the bun look like a shamrock.

This faux fishtail was created by putting an elastic around the hair, then flipped it with a topsy tail and then repeating these steps all the way down the hair.

This French flipped ponytail started with a small ponytail on top. After each flip you add hair and put a new elastic around the hair. The last part was done the same way as the faux fishtail above, only with more space in between the elastics.

Ladder braid

The ladder braid is a combination of a waterfall braid / waterfall twist (or a feathered braid) and another braid. This other braid can be any braid you like: a twist, a lace braid, a 5 strand braid, a knotted braid... For the waterfall braid you can also use any technique you like: a regular waterfall braid, a fishtail waterfall braid, a 5 strand waterfall braid... The most important thing for a ladder braid is to add the waterfall strands to a new braid. This creates an effect that looks like a ladder and gives the braid the name ladder braid!

The technique:
Ladder headband braid tutorial
Waterfall snake braid tutorial

Ideas:

The ladder headband braid as explained in my tutorial.

Two ladder braids, both made out of a waterfall twist and a lace braid. Combined with a small fishtail braid.

A ladder braid made out of a knotted waterfall braid and a lace braid.

A ladder braid made out of a 4 strand waterfall braid and a lace braid.

A ladder braid made out of two 4 strand ribbon waterfall braids.

A fun variation: a crossed ladder braid. For this effect first add waterfall strand 2 to the lace braid, then waterfall strand 1. Then waterfall strand 4 and then waterfall strand 3, and so on.

Heart braid

Around Valentine's Day heart braids are always populair, especially for younger girls. There's different way to create a heart braid in the hair for which you can of course use different techniques. On my YouTube channel Miriam's Vlecht Lessen you can find two tutorials on heart braids and below you can find some more ideas.

The technique:
Heart braid with ribbon tutorial
Heart braid from fishtails tutorial

Ideas:

Loop a braid around another braid and you've already got a heart!

A fun accent heart, done as explained in my tutorial, only done with twists instead of with fishtails.

If you look closely, you can see how this heart was created with elastics and braids!

This heart was created with ribbon braids, but also done the same way as explained in my tutorial!

You can find the instructions for this heart braid under 'How to' here on the blog!

3 strand braid

The 3 strand braid is the base of all braided hairstyles. The left strand over the middle one, the right strand over the middle one and repeat this until the end. Or - as alternative - the left strand under the middle one and the right strand under the middle one.
This is a technique you absolutely must master before trying other braiding techniques. And is this technique all you can manage to do? No worries, even with just a 3 strand braid you can create enough fun and beautiful hairstyles!

The technique:
3 strand braid tutorial

Ideas:

Bundled braids, which means: create a ponytail, do six 3 strand braids (or more or fewer) and fold them up!

A regular 3 strand braid with one of the strands being a small 3 strand braid.

A braided bun: create a ponytail, create three 3 strand braids in that ponytail and pin them into place with bobby pins.

A 3 strand braid with two micro 3 strand braids crossed around it.

Four crossed 3 strand braids, pulled through a twist (rope braid).

Create a knot out of two strands of hair and create a 3 strand braid in each strand. Use bobby pins to secure the knot. Here a fishtail has been done first.

Started as four 3 strand braids, crossed and combined into two. Below a bubble ponytail has been done.

Suspended infinity braid + zipper braid

The suspended infinity braid is a braid that's very similair to a zipper braid, a braid that looks like a zipper on a jacket or sweater. The difference between these two braids is that the suspended infinity braid is slightly easier and looks more like a Dutch braided braid, while the zipper braid is a little trickier to do and looks more like a French braided braid.
On my YouTube channel you can find a tutorial on the Suspended infinity braid, done as a lace braid - making it more of a half suspended infinity braid. You can find the link below under 'The technique'. I've also linked to a Suspended infinity braid and a Zipper braid tutorial that aren't from my own channel.

The technique:
Lace suspended infinity braid tutorial
Suspended infinity braid tutorial (from HairNailsInspiration)
Zipper braid tutorial (from YiyaYellow)

Ideas:

The lace suspended infinity braid, as explained in my tutorial.

A full suspended infinity braid

This braid looks like a suspended infinity braid, but has been done with the zipper braid technique. Combined with a fishtail braid.

Another zipper braid, now combined with a donut bun.

The zipper braid with a braided bun.

An advanced version: a zipper braid with two ribbons!

For questions about this technique: feel free to leave a comment below or write me a message on the Facebook page Miriam's Vlecht Lessen or on Instagram - @miriamtogether!

Waterfall braid

One of the most populair braids is the waterfall braid: a braid in which you're dropping a strand of hair and replacing it with a new strand. This may sound complicated, but if you can do a French braid, you'll get the hang of this technique in no time!
There's all kinds of variation on the waterfall braid (with 4 or 5 strands, with ribbon, knotted, as a fishtail braid), but I'd recommend starting with a regular waterfall braid with 3 strands. Once you've mastered that, then check out the playlist Waterfall braids on my YouTube channel for fun ideas!

The technique:
'Regular' 3 strand waterfall braid tutorial
Dutch waterfall braid tutorial
Waterfall snake braid tutorial
Waterfall braid with braids tutorial

Ideas:

Two waterfall braids brought together, as explained in my tutorial.

The Dutch waterfall braid combined with a 5 strand headband braid.

Turn the braid you have left after your waterfall braid into a flower!

Or if you're doing two waterfall braids: turn it into a heart!

Try the waterfall braid as headband braid and add your waterfall strands to a new braid, for example a Dutch fishtail braid!

Maybe a little trickier: drop strands on both sides and replace them with a new strand of hair. Then add your waterfall strands to a new braid.