Arisia hair braiding

[juldea]

Some of you may remember that I got my hair braided at Arisia last year by blk and I really liked it. Well, being that Arisia this year is coming up in less than a month, I have been thinking about what kind of braid I want to have her do - and this year, I'm budgeting for it! I am willing to shell out for something really nice-looking.

Since being inspired by her last year, I have been able to French/Dutch three-, four-, and five-strand braids on myself. I have tried out six- and seven-strands on londo, but not on myself. Hence, I think I want her to do something seven-stranded on me, unless my hair is long enough to pull off nine, which would be total pwnage.

However, even as impressive as a regular seven or nine would be, I find myself looking at more complicated things online. Here are a few images I've found of things I really like:





The crowns (first two) are impressive, but I'm not sure my hair is long enough for them even just as three-strands, much less multi-stranded. The X-into-bun is really awesome-looking, possibly mostly due to the ribbons, but I think also because that woman has enough hair to make a really thick, nested bun, which I might not. The infinity-buns I mostly like for the infinity sign and not for the buns, and I bet that can be done in some form.

The last one, though, is particularly neat to me and immediately caught my eye when I saw it. It's a style I can totally see myself using for wedding hair someday. It's a mixture of a crown and a cascade, meaning there's a full-circle braid done, but there is also hair cascading down from it - only in this braid, it's cascading from inside of it. There's a headband aspect of it I really like, as well as the opportunity to show off both a neat braid AND one's nice long hair.

While only the last picture incorporates accent braids, I feel that any of these ideas could be made more impressive by the addition of some accent braids/twists. Some drapes off of the crown, or interesting bits adding to the X-bun, more figure eights in the infinity symbol, and just adding to the ideas already in the, er, crown-cascade... definitely neat ideas.

So those are my thoughts. If you want to help out by looking at pictures of pretty braided hair and making suggestions, here are some websites:

http://www.spicybraids.com/ (blk's site)
http://www.dreamweaverbraiding.com/
http://frenchbraidsbytwistedsisters.com/
http://www.tressesentwined.com/
http://www.melissasbraids.com/
http://www.hairbraidingbyellen.com/
http://www.braidedimage.com/
http://www.celesteaviva.com/

Oh, and I guess I need a picture of my hair length. Hrm. Don't think I have a current one of those. Well, it's currently in a Dutch five-strand and the end of the tail touches the waistband of my pants just barely. So... long, but not long as defined by blk's braiding site. ;)

Comments

[zenandtheart.livejournal.com]

I love the X one!

[anitra.livejournal.com]

Looking at pictures like that is pretty much the ONLY time I still wish I had long hair. They're neat - and I'm with you, the last one seems the most fun. :)

But for day-to-day living, I value my sanity too much to grow my hair long...

[juldea.livejournal.com]

I actually went crazier with mine short! It turns out I attach a lot of self-esteem and womanhood to my hair, so when it was short I was bummed and felt, not unattractive, but just less femininely-attractive. It was weird. I much prefer having it long, and I don't find that it's that much more horrible to deal with. The time it takes to shower, dry, and comb out is a trade-off I'm willing to make, though. :)

[anitra.livejournal.com]

I get it :)

My hair is so thick and tangle-prone that as a child, my mother wouldn't let me grow it past a long pageboy until I promised to wash/comb/etc. it myself. I did that for a little less than 10 years before I took the leap to short hair... I liked it so much I haven't let it grow past my shoulders since then. :)

[nemoalia.livejournal.com]

Let me try! If you let me learn to braid like that on your hair, it'll be win/win!

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Aw, I should've tested out seven-strand braids on your hair! And actually, last night I was thinking I should've offered Veronica some braids, because in that post last year you said she had some done by a babysitter and didn't let you take them out for days. I could've done some! :)

But yeah, I know what you mean about feeling like you waste your hair! I wear mine in a ponytail most days. This is why I don't mind spending the time and money to get something so extravagant done once a year.

[blk]

Hi! Sorry it's taken so long for me to get around to replying. Vacation does weird things to my LJ schedule. And yes, I totally remember you! I'm so squeeful that you're planning this. :)

The secret thing that makes some of the really super duper fancy hairdos look impressive (like the first one) is not just the length of the hair but more importantly, the thickness. The woman in that first pic has got to have amazingly thick hair, to get that much of a defined braid out of only a thin section of hair (the braid starts on the layers nearest her face). And similarly with the second pic, although it's a simpler braid. The length of those really doesn't matter so much, because it all stays so close to the head. So while it's probably done with longer hair, it could be shorter than the next ones.

The third one has long hair AND thick hair. You can see the thickness by the width of the braids in the "X" pair, and the length because it buns around so much. I was curious a couple days ago, so I tried out this style on a girl I was staying with, who has hip length thick dark hair, with dyed streaks in it. You can see it here. I'd like to try it on shorter hair, which I think would just make it look like a n "O" instead of a bun, which would also be pretty neat.

The infinity buns are pretty simple, and just take reasonably long hair to be able to twist it up and stretch across while it's still thick. The last one is the regular headband style which I've done (like this), just with accents on top, and it does look gorgeous. And it could be done really well in your hair, I'm pretty sure. It only requires enough thickness to have a good amount of hair left to fall freely after all the braiding is done, which I think you have.

I shamefully admit I've done almost nothing with 9 stranded braids, mostly because I haven't taken the time to figure out where to put my fingers. So I can't offer it on the menu. :)

I finished my web site last summer, but I haven't changed any of the pics on it, so none of the 'dos I've done at cons since then have made it to the main site. They're all on my flickr page, though, as well as the stuff I've done while just fooling around.

If you have questions about other particular styles, let me know. I'm looking forward to Arisia!

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Hi! No worries on taking a while to replying, especially during the holidays. I'm back in town and it still took me a few days to reply to this.

Thanks for the information on what makes the nicest braids look nice. When I was a teen I had really thick hair and at the time I guess I didn't appreciate what I could've done with it! I think mine's still on the full side of normal, though - here's (http://pics.livejournal.com/juldea/pic/00071ff5) a picture from one of my five-strand attempts, and that's a pretty wide braid. Oh, and I took a recent picture for hair length, here (http://pics.livejournal.com/juldea/pic/0009ss62). I think I want to try the Dutch headband this year, with embellishments as you see fit. Do you do ribbons? :)

Am I correct in thinking that wet hair is not good for braiding?

[blk]

Yeah, that's a great level thickness and length. We can do almost anything you want with that. And that's a beautiful 5-strand, particularly for one done on yourself. :)

I don't like working with wet hair, as it's much more difficult to get it to lay flat and smooth. The best way is to get mostly clean, dry hair, and then supplement with a bit of aloe gel to get the desired levels of smooth/sticky.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

My concern is that my hair tends to get oily at the roots, so I want to wash it very close to the braiding so that I can keep the braid in as long as possible, before having to wash it again for aesthetic purposes. This will be difficult if I want to get braided on Friday night, since I'll be coming in directly after I get out of work at 8pm. (This, of course, does not even consider what hours you were considering being available for braiding as opposed to otherwise enjoying the convention!) Perhaps Saturday morning, then?

[blk]

Yep, I totally understand the washing thing. My recommendation would be to a) wait as long as possible before you wash it, and b) sign up for a braiding spot saturday morning, then c) wash it, and d) come visit me saturday morning.
That way you can get a whole day of keeping it in before you have to sleep on it, as well. The part a) is because if you wait extra long, like until your hair is super oily and yucky, then wash it well, it will take a little longer to get oily for the next cycle.

I'll keep whatever hours people sign up for, so come by early and reserve whenever you want. :)

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I never knew that if you wait a while to get it super-gunky and then wash it, that it'll last longer the next time. I'll give that a try, then! I'll see you on Friday night when I come to sign up. :)