Hair Made Classy and Sassy With a French Braid!

The ever popular French braid can spruce up your hair and is definitely fun to wear!
A French braid is a type of braid hairstyle that originated in France. In French, the hairstyle is natively called tresse francaise. In every country of the world, the French braid signifies an alluring, beautiful hairstyle.
The French braid starts with three small sections of hair near the crown of the head, which are then braided together (intertwined) toward the nape of the neck, gradually adding more hair to each section as it crosses in from the side into the center of the braid structure. The final result incorporates all of the hair into a smoothly woven pattern over the scalp.

French Braid Fun Fact: To create multiple French braids, merely keep the main mass of hair initially parted into two or more sections along the scalp and keep them separate from one another!
Compared to the simplest form of a hair braid (the three strand braid) a French braid has several practical advantages:

1. A French braid can restrain hair from the top of the head that is too short to reach the nape of the neck.
2. The French braid spreads the weight and tension of the braid across a larger portion of the scalp.
3. The sleeker appearance of the French braid is often times considered more elegant and sophisticated than a three strand braid or a fishtail braid.

Hair made classy, with a touch of sassy, merely be wearing a French braid!

Steps Needed To French Braid Your Hair:

1. Comb and detangle the hair.
2. Separate three sections of hair, 1 inch wide, from the top section of your scalp. Your French braid begins here.
3. Bring the left side of the hair over the middle strand, then bring the right strand over the middle, starting off just like your basic three strand braid.
4. Gather a small amount of hair from the left side of the braid into the left strand and bring the left strand over the middle strand again. You are now braiding in a different direction than you are used to with the three strand braid.
5. Gather more hair from the right side of the braid into the right strand and bring the right strand over the middle strand.
6. Continue to repeat steps 4 and 5, moving diagonally down the back of your head from right to left, until all of the hair is incorporated into the braid.
7. Secure the end of the braid with a hair elastic or with an appropriate hair accessory.
8. Flaunt your fashionable French braid hairdo!

French Braid Not So Fun Fact: A French braid is more difficult to construct than a three strand braid, due to the French braid’s complexity. When performed on one’s own hair, the French braid requires a more prolonged elevation of the hands above the back of the head, and leaves more tangled hair along the scalp when unbraiding.
The look of the French braid on the head outweighs the headache of attempting to learn how to structure your own French braid!
No one said that the French braid would be easy or breezy to create! But wait!
If you attempt the French braid one, two, three or four, you’ll become a pro forever more!


The phrase “French braid” appears in an 1871 issue of Arthur’s Home Magazine, used in a piece of short fiction that describes the French braid as a new hairstyle (“…do up your hair in that new French braid…”).
No matter when the French braid was first created, the French braid hairstyle is here to stay!

The Dutch braid (an inverted French braid) is created when the three hair sections are crossed under each other, instead of over each other.
Don’t be afraid – try the French braid!

Ways to wear your French Braids:

1. Flowing down your back.
2. Pulled to the right side of your head.
3. Pulled to the left side of your head.
4. Set around the top of your head, much like a braided crown.
5. Numerous hanging braids (similar to cornrows).
6. The braids twisted on top of your head (French twist).

So many stylish ways to wear the French Braid.
Go classy, go sassy, the French braid way!
Perfect from evening wear to an office work day!
Author Nancy Mangano is the author of two novels, A Passion for Prying and Murder Can Be Messy. Nancy has blended her love of investigatory work along with her fashion fetish. Visit Nancy on her author website www.nancymangano.com, her author/fashion/style blog www.passionforprying.wordpress.com, Twitter @nancymangano and her author “like” Facebook fan page Nancy Mangano.