Dressed Up Side Braid

Twists and braids are my long hair best friend in the mornings when I really don't want to spend more than five minutes on my mane. 

If you are just tuning in to the saga of my life, I don't own curling irons or flat irons and I use a blowdryer maybe once a month.  My hair fixing tools consist of ponytail holders, bobby pins, hairspray (lots of Freeze It), sponge rollers, and a teasing comb.

To do this, grab a section of hair at the top front of your head.  Twist it back toward your scalp a few times, and then start pulling in sections from the front and incorporating them in as you twist back.  It is a lot like braiding, but way simpler.  Continue to do this around and down on your head until you get right at your ear. 

 The section that you twist will be 1 of the three segments for your braid.  You have a couple of choices, you can either twist far enough down that you can just do a regular braid, or you can start a French braid where your twist ends.  For me, I did a French using the twisted segment, a section from the side/back, and a section from the back. 

Cross them over like you do a regular braid, but pull in small sections of hair to incorporate with the section you crossed (for anyone who may not have French braided before, or not braided their own head).

So if I am crossing over the twisted piece first, I like to cross it, hold it in my other hand (usually I have different pieces held between different fingers) and then would pull in a small section from the side it came from and incorporate it with the twisted segment that is now on the other side.  I would continue this from both sides until all my hair was secured.

You can either leave it twisted somewhat tight, or you can pull the twist a bit so that it creates a more poofy and soft look. 

If you have a long thick mane like this, you can potentially do twists on both sides that meet in a braid.  Just be a aware that one side may not be as thick as the other if you part your hair off center like I do.

You could stick a little cute flower or barrette or whatever where the braid starts if you like, which would make it a little more fancied up for special occasions.

Even though my workplace is not a fancy one, I still like to have a decent looking do.  But I REFUSE to spend more than 15 minutes on my hair, and 15 is really pushing it for me.  So any style that comes together quickly is right up my alley.

You can also twist your hair and then secure it in a bun.  To make life simple on myself when I do that, I put bobby pins in my twist just long enough to get the right looking bun in.  Once the bun is in feel free to remove the pins. 

You can also twist up higher and go into a ponytail, you can really do whatever you want with it.

Happy crafting!