THE PERFECT FRENCH BRAID! FRENCH BRAID-DOS & DON'TS

Hey guys, it's Satara from Pretty Hair is Fun, and this week we're going to be showing you how to get the perfect French style braid. So today we're going to be showing you the do's and don'ts of French braiding. Let's get started. Okay, for a really good French braid, you need to know the type of hair that you are going to be braiding. Is it thin? Is it thick? Is it really slippery, that's how Satara's hair is? Is it really textured? Because these all factor in, and you need to just change a few things to make it work. So Satara's hair is really smooth, so it tends to slip out of braids easily. So that's one thing I have to keep in mind, I have to keep a good tight hold on it. If your hair has a lot of curl or body, then it's going to stay in the braid easier, but it's also going to look less smooth. So things to keep in mind. If hair is really thin, like on little tiny kids, a French braid is going to be a little more challenging, and you might want to consider doing two, splitting it down the middle, and doing two small French braids. But it's still workable if you want to do one. Where to start? You can start anywhere, you can start up here, or clear back here, it just depends on what you want it to look like. So for hers, she's just got this little braid as an accent, so that's just something she's put in, don't worry about that. I am going to start right here at her temples, and just scoop her hair back to just above the crown of her head up here. And then I'm just going to smooth it back, and if you need to, you can comb this part back if hair is really bumpy. Again, if you want it really really smooth and you want to use wet hair, that works well. Wet hair makes it a little bit more challenging when you are braiding for separation, unless the hair is really thin. So again, just things to keep in mind. So for a good French braid, hand placement is the key, it's everything. So I tend to use my thumbs a lot, I'm going to show you how to do a regular French braid to begin with. So I'm going to split it into three sections, and I use my hands one of two ways, either my thumbs on top, or I put my fingers next to the head, like so. So this way, or my thumbs closest to the head. Eventually I always end up for a French braid putting my fingers next to her head. So that's how I'll start with these, or with this one. So my fingers are next to her head, and you can tell I'm holding her hair tightly against her head to start. And that's important, to not get any gapping and loose hair. So I'm going to start by crossing over my top piece, like so, switching hands, then I'm going to place my thumb on top of that piece I crossed over, and then I'm going to place my other piece, picking up my first piece and letting go, and then choking up on the hair, like so, keeping it tight to her head. And then I'm going to cross over my next, my first piece, over the top, and this is where I start adding hair. Then I use my pinkies, and this is where an important part of the French braid happens, is I part my hair, the hair on the head with my pinky, or you can use any finger, but you want to pick up hair clear from the front, and in a straight line, you part it all the way to the braid. So many times, I see this, they just pick up hair, and put it in. So that leaves all of this hair, that is in this section, loose, that will be dragged into the next piece. So that doesn't make it look very nice and clean, so you want to part it all the way to the braid, and that gives you those nice, clean lines. And then after I've done that, then I'll come in, and I just like to finger comb it. You can use a comb if you want, I think that makes it a little bit harder than it needs to be. And if you have bumpy hair, it's okay if it's bumpy, just depends on what look you're going for. So now that I've crossed that hair over, I've incorporated it into that top section I have. So I've got two sections here, they're separated by this middle section and one piece here. So now I come up with my first finger, separate them again, cross this piece over, once again, I'm going to part with my pinky, from her face all the way to my braid, grab it with my other finger, and incorporate that in that top piece, and just finger comb it in. So now I pick this piece up, the middle one, separate my two sections here, and cross it over, and then I do it again. So now I'm going to part off another piece, and an important thing to notice as well is I'm only going to go as wide or as deep as these stitches that I'm doing. So this is about an inch, so I'm only going to pick up, or part off a section that is that same width. So my lines are always straight going over. If not, you can end up with pieces that look like this, or more, then you get that nice bulging gapping when this gets loose, because it will get looser. So just make it the same width as the stitch that you're doing. So I part that off, grab that with my finger, finger comb it over, and you notice that keeps this end totally free so that I can fix that. And I pick up my bottom piece, separate it from the hair underneath, make sure I'm not grabbing any of that, switch hands, put my thumb on top to keep that tight, and push that over to my other hand. And I just continue doing this until I get farther down her head. Okay, so now I'm getting down to where we're almost finished and she's got just this much hair left, so a lot of the time I see people gathering all the rest of this, which really should be split into two sections, you'll see this all being gathered up to the braid rather than straight across. So then that is what makes you have those nice gappies down here and it falls out and it looks kind of messy. So just keep doing the same thing you've been doing, go straight across, make sure always that that line is clean, and you're not picking up hair that's here on her head, but just the hair that's going into the braid, and you want to follow the curve of her head. So I'm going to have her push her head forward, and the head starts going in more, so you want to keep that braid nice and tight to the head as you continue, and don't let this hair gap or get loose, and it will look so much better. So now I'm going to put all the rest of the hair on this side into her braid, and I've got to be careful not to reach under and grab hair underneath and pull it over as well, just keep it on the same side. You're noticing how tight I have to keep it because her hair is so slippery. There's a couple things you can do to make hair like this a little easier to manage, you can spray it with hairspray beforehand, you can try texturing spray or even dry shampoo, that helps give it a little bit more grip. This is my last section, pulling that straight in, and then I'm going to pull this up close, nice and tight to her head, and sometimes you yank on baby hairs, which you can try not to do too much, and then as I finish off the braid, I keep my fingers still close to her head to keep that braid tight, like so, then I can sweep out any baby hairs I'm catching. She's got some layers, so you'll see those start to poke out, again, that's fine and that's normal, don't stress about things like that. Just make that braid just as nice and tight as you did the other top section, and then just fasten it off with a good elastic. Now if you like your braids pulled loosely, this is where you can come in and pull on the braided parts. Don't pull on the pieces that have been brought in, but just on these pieces themselves, and you can pull those nice and wide. I'm going to leave this one tight for now. So you can see how nice and even those lines are into her braid, it's nice and smooth, and this down here isn't gapping at all. Thanks so much for watching, make sure to check out our other Do's and Don'ts videos, and make sure to subscribe so you can see all of our videos. Make sure to comment what you want to see down below, and give us a thumbs up if you like this video. We'll see you next time, bye.