How to Part for Medium Knotless Braids | 5-Row Parting Method | Ep. 3

First, let me start by saying that my medium size may not be yours or the next braider's medium size. It's preference, adjust to your liking, but you can still use this parting method for any size, small, medium, or large, doesn't matter. So first, I'm gonna start off by separating the front from the back, which is parting it around from ear to ear, making sure to get it even and starting and ending at the same spot on each side. So I usually use the ears as a guide. So if I'm like behind the ear a little bit on one side, when I go around, I wanna make sure I'm ending in that same spot on the other side. Now, once I have that part in there, I'm going to the front, I'm starting in the front first, and I'm going to part that in half. So the middle part, up from the middle of the nose, straight back, and I'm gonna separate both sides evenly. So that way I can just part one side out first. I don't like to start across the back because I want my parts to even up with the ones in the front. So I'm gonna start in the front. So my medium size braids are five rows on each side. So 10 rows across the full front. So I like to start parting up at the top because I can use my middle part as like a guide to get the rest of the parts straight and even with that middle part. If I start at the bottom, it may be a little crooked, a curve, might curve up, might curve down a little bit. So I like to start at the top and part those evenly with the middle part. So I'm gonna go down this front side and I'm going to make it into five even parts. Now, I can easily eyeball it because I've been doing it for a while. But if you need to, you can adjust. So I'm not using any product because you never know when you have to go back and fix some parts and you just don't wanna have all that gel up in there if you have to go back and adjust your parts. So I'm doing five on this side and then I'm gonna go to the other side and do five also. So as you can see, I'm always like looking up and down at the part, making sure it's like the same thickness and like height basically all the way across. And once you get your five in there, you can check to see if they're even to your liking and you can adjust. So like I said, if your medium is four rows, then part four sections. If your medium is six rows, then part six even sections. It doesn't matter, you can still use the same method for any size, even large. And my large will be three on each side of the front. Now I'm just doing the same exact thing on this side, making sure to get them even. Okay, so now it's time to do the back. So the amount of rows that you have below the ear is gonna vary from person to person. It just depends on how it is. So I want the rows to line up evenly with the ones in the front. So I'm gonna make sure that when I part out my bottom rows, it could be two, it could be three, it just depends on how long somebody's nape is back there. But I want it to line up over the ear so when I get to that first row that's over the ear, it flows around evenly. So with this head size, there's going to be three rows below the ear. So again, I'm making sure when I'm parting this across that it's ending the same spot on both sides. So I'm usually using the ears as a guide to get my part even. So I know if I'm like almost at the top of the ear, the middle of the ear, if I start there, that's where I wanna end on the other side. So middle of the ear right there. And on the other side, it's at the middle of the ear. So like I said, every head varies, but I still use like the ears as a guide. And you wanna make sure you're lifting up and down to make sure that you check the width. Because a lot of people when they're parting across the back, they have a hump in the middle and you don't want a hump in the middle. I call the parts in the back kind of like smiley face because they kind of start to curve downward instead of like a heel. And a lot of people will mess up and be parting like heels with the hump in the middle versus kind of curve downward just a little bit. The head is round, so it's not gonna be like straight straight like if it was a box. So you kind of just gotta get used to that parting. But if you're starting and ending at the same spot and keeping the same width, you should be good. You can use your comb, your finger, whatever you need to to kind of measure that thickness. So this is the row that I was talking about that you want to flow evenly. So it's right at the top of the ear. That way that next row will go around. So if you see I'm lifting this up and you see how this, the right side is way thicker and up higher than the left side. So that's why you want to kind of lift your section up and down to check the size and to make sure you're keeping it the same thickness because then you could just go back in and fix it. So again, I'm not using any product on my pre-parting because I never know if I have to go back and change something and then I just don't need the product sitting in there. And it's best to learn parting product free before you be using any gel because you don't necessarily need it, but if it helps, you can use it. But I would do it when I get back to that section, not while I'm pre-parting. So when I get to this row right here, I want it to line up with that first bottom section in the front. So I'm just gonna line both of those sides up. Yeah, my mannequin here, she must be sleepy today. She falling all over the place. So I'm lifting it up and down to check my thickness and I'm going around. And as I'm watching this video, I know I can see myself parted that part upward, but that's why you have to keep checking. But I know I want it lined up with that section on the other side. And it's still a little bit high, so I'm gonna come down on my part a little bit more and even it out. Now, when you go in to do the actual braids, you don't have to keep that part that's going around from ear to ear. So if you wanna brick layer it, you can just do each row at a time. Like you're literally gonna be putting the back rows, you know, together with the front row that it's lined up with. So when I do my brick layer part, I usually start in the middle of my row and work towards the front. So I know every other row will have a part in the middle, versus the braid in the middle, next row part in the middle, braid in the middle. And I work outwards and that just helps with the even with the brick layering of the part versus starting at the hairline and going all the way around. So starting in the middle for me with the individual actual squares works best. So you see, as you start to get up towards the top of the head, your part is going to be like, feeling like even more rounded. I call it smiley face, but it's even more rounded. It sort of feels like you're putting a dip in it a little bit to go around. So now I have like a few rows left and at the top, you can really see how it dips around. Like it's not a straight part. It goes around the head because the head is round, duh. I feel like a lot of braiders or new braiders, they struggle with this top part right here. So if you just keep your back parts lined up, you should be fine. Now this last little section right up here at the top, that's rounded depending on the head size. Sometimes it could be really small and you'll end up just making it one braid. And then sometimes it'll be two braids. It just depends. You work it out, you adjust per head. So some people will make that one braid or you can follow your part you got in the front, steal and split it in half. Okay, so this is how I part for my medium knotless. You can use it for small, large, whatever. I have 10 rows across the front, five on each side. I have, you know, the back rows vary slightly by one or two rows. If your medium size is different, that's fine. You can still use this parting method, but make sure you watch the other videos in this parting series. Let me know if you have any more parting tutorials that you need and I will add it to the parting series.