Dutch Side Braid

Today, I will show you how to do a Dutch braid. It's one of  the more simple hairstyles, but that's why it's a good one for everyday. Of course it's easier to do on someone else, but it's my favorite out of the ones I can do to myself. 

To start, part the hair off to one side, and sweep all of the hair over the shoulder, on the heavy side (the side with more hair). Section off a section of hair, so the line is parallel with your part line, but on the heavy side, and divide it into three sections. Now for a regular French braid, you would take the pieces on the outsides and pull them to the middle, but that way makes the braid flat against your head. A Dutch braid makes it more 3D and pop up more. To do this, take the strand that's in the middle and cross it over the left piece, so now the original middle piece is the new left piece, and the original left piece is now the middle strand. Then cross the piece that is now in the middle over the right strand. Now we begin the 'adding in hair' part. Pick up a piece of hair to the left of the farthest left strand and combine them, then take the middle piece over. Now pick up a piece right by the forehead (so if you have bangs, take a section of that, or from where the bangs would be) and add it to the right strand, and take the middle strand over that. Continue those steps, constantly adding in hair, until you get near the neck, then take big pieces of hair to get all of the hair into one of the three strands by the time you get to the neck. If at times you need an extra hand, I reccommend you use these long alligator type hair clips to hold a section of hair while you work with another.

Now, hold all of that hair in one hand, while you pancake the pieces. This is hair talk for pulling the sides of the braid out, so that it looks fuller. This is my models' favorite part! It works better to hold the braid with your hand instead of an elastic, but while you are learning to do this braid, it will still look good. Once you've done a little of that, (we will go back and do more after) go back to the three pieces and continue braiding all the way down, continuing the middle strand going over the side pieces. If you want, a helpful way to make the edges pop out a little more is to twist each strand outward before you cross it over.

Once you go all the way down, pancake it, and secure with an elastic. For a more polished look, my favorite (and most secure) way to hair wrap the elastic is to take a section of the hair below the elastic and wrap it up and over the elastic, then once you're to the back of the braid, lift up a loop of the elastic and pull the end through. Also, if you have shorter hair, you can do this as an accent braid into a ponytail, etc! That's all to this easy hairstyle! I can do this hairstyle to myself in like two minutes, so keep practicing! It's a good one for beginners because you can practice on yourself on your own time!