French Fish Braid Hairstyle, Side Swept

The Sideways Fishtail Braid

We posted a picture of this side swept french fish bone braid here on our blog and on one of our hairstyle ideas videos on Youtube awhile ago. Since then we have received request after request for a video tutorial. Well, here we are almost 2 years later finally getting around to it! :)

This unique looking hairdo is actually pretty easy and uncomplicated (although it is a little more time consuming than a regular french braid.) It also takes a bit to get used to making the braid sideways instead of up and down.


For me, this braid is easier to make with wet hair (since the princess's hair is naturally so straight and tends to get flyaways while dry.) But, depending on the hair texture you are working with, you may want to try it dry. If you have naturally curly hair, this would look adorable done with a more tousled, dry, beachy, look. Just do what works best for you!


And here's the video tutorial some of you have been asking for..... finally!


Btw, did you notice the adorable headband and flower accessories in these hairstyle pictures? I'm participating in a 3 part series of posts called "Mums The Word-But I Just Gotta Tell Ya" for All Things Ribbon. The fun mom (Jen) over at AllThingsRibbon.com sent myself and 2 of my hair blogging friends (Girly Dos and Babes In Hairland) these darling mums. Each of us are taking a day to post a hairstyle using her adorable creations! I can't wait to see what the other 2 hair bloggers come up with and will add links from this post when they get their hairstyles up so that you can see them too! You may also want to join All Things Ribbon on Facebook where you can keep up with Jen's latest creations and great deals!!

Update:
To see what Girly Do's did with these adorable mums, go check out her triangle curls!
And, click here to see Babes In Hairland cute Figure 8 Braid Side Pony!

Spiral Knot French Braid

This is a fun and unique braid that I sort of figured out on accident! :) We were doing our knotted french braid hairstyle for school one morning and with just a small tweak, it turned into this.......
In case you have forgotten what the original knotted french braid looks like, here it is below: As you can see when you compare these 2 braids, they really don't look the same at all. But as you'll notice in the video... they are made almost the exact same way.
(Sorry about the poor quality of these pics btw. I had pictures of this finished hairdo saved in draft when blogger had it's outage and well, they seem to have disappeared. Of course, I deleted the original pictures off of my card and didn't want to do the hairstyle over. So, I ended up just using a few screen shots of the video for our blog.)

Here's a picture of the back of this hairstyle. We have been loving side ponytails lately and I really like how this braid adds a little something extra to the style.
Another variation we did with this recently: This hair style was made with the same braiding technique shown in the video below. We just added another braid underneath the first one and took smaller sections to bring the "spirals" or "coils" closer together. There are lots of fun variations and hairstyles you could make with this braid.
And here's the Spiral French Braid Video Tutorial:



Surprisingly, this hairstyle only takes a few minutes to complete. You can be out the door for school, work or whatever in 5 minutes or less!

Tiny French Braids - Baby Hairstyles

French Braiding, For Babies

I wasn't sure if our Pea had enough hair for a french braid, but decided to try it one day. Turns out you really don't need that much hair at all to make it work! I've found that inside-out braids are faster for me to do, so that's what I've been sticking with. Don't worry about making your braids perfect on a squirmy baby, that's just not realistic. Just work as fast as you can and hope for the best. :)

Here are just a few styles we have done using tiny french braids:

I think this double french braid is my favorite style on her!
One french braid across the front:
A braid with pigtails: (This was actually the second day for this braid, it held up pretty well!)
One diagonal braid:
And, a braid on each side:

We've had a few people ask how old she is; She's 10, almost 11 months right now. And yes, she does have a ton of hair for her age. Please please don't tell me she's not a baby anymore. My heart can't take that. :) They grow up too fast!

Never Ending French Braid Bun

French Braiding, Circular Style

I'm not exactly sure of the "official" name of this braid, or if it even has one. I've seen it done before, but I've never seen the name. So, if you know... please tell us in the comments. :)

We're calling it the Never Ending French Braid Bun because it's hard to tell where the braid starts and where it ends! This could also be called a French Braid crown or a Halo Braid. Well, whatever you want to call it... it's a fun and unique french braid hairstyle that probably isn't done very often!

You could do this hairstyle in several different variations. We actually did a hairstyle using this same concept awhile back in a half ponytail. You can see that one here: Rays of Sunshine Hairstyle.

Here is the hair style using one single braid/bun:
Or, you could double the braids up and make french braid pigtail buns!
In pigtails, this actually reminds me of a Princess Leia Hairstyle. ;)
Here's the video tutorial:

Of course if you wanted to, you could add some flowers or ribbons to this hairdo. I think it would be an adorable Hairstyle For Easter Sunday!

Survivor Braided Hairstyle

Survivor "Redemption Island" Braided Hairstyle:

On last weeks episode of Survivor: Redemption Island, one of the girls (Andrea Boehlke) had the cutest beachy braided cornrow hairstyle! I have to laugh because team members Andrea, Ashley and Natalie got into a bit of "trouble" with another cast member for playing "beauty pageant" instead of working around camp lol. Apparently it was worth it though because gosh, look how cute these beachy french braids are!
I had to snap a picture of our TV right then and there! And of course, we wanted to recreate this hairdo on our princess. Keep in mind, it would be better to be working with dry, slightly wavy hair to create this tousled beach look. The princess had freshly washed/wet/straight hair when we decided to try this one, so it's more slicked down and less messy looking than the survivor camp version.

We started with a regular side part.
Then made 3 cornrow braids on one side of the part....
On the other side of the part, I left out a section in front to braid later and added 2 more cornrows slanting slightly forward. If I did this again, I would probably angle them more sharply towards the front of her head.
Next I started another cornrow with the front section or "bangs" and added in the other 2 cornrows with the braid as I got to them.
I kept braiding, and as I turned the corner, only took hair from the top of the french braid around to the back.
After all of the braiding was complete, I added everything together into a ponytail.
And lastly, made a messy type bun....
The finished style...
I should have taken a picture, but the day after we did this- her hair looked more like Andrea's (since the braids had a chance to loosen up and get a little messy overnight.)
A fun braided style for the beach, camping, or anytime. :)

Thank you Survivor for the hairstyle inspiration! I'm so impressed with the cute braids this season (especially considering the girls have no hair tools to work with.) Who would have thought?

Woven French Braid Ponytail

French Braiding, Weaving, and Knotting:

This is a fun woven braid ponytail style. I wouldn't say this hairdo is super quick or easy, but definitely unique! An attention getter for sure. :) We haven't had time to do a different hairstyle like this for awhile and had so much fun creating it.

For best results, I would recommend making this hair style with wet hair to help the strands stay smooth while you are braiding the basket weave and tying the knots.

I realize this looks like there is some seriously intricate french braiding and plaiting going on here, but really... this isn't as hard as it looks.
I could see this hairstyle working for a gymnastics meet, a Renaissance Faire, figure skating, dance competitions, or maybe even school of you have an extra 20-30 minutes in the morning lol.
This is basically a combination of several styles:French braids with flairWoven pigtails andKnotted Headband Here's the video tutorial. Hopefully it makes sense! I had to cut it up a little bit so that it didn't go on and on and on. :) Btw, The design weaver tool we used in this video can be found at Hair Flair Boutique.
Of course, let us know how it goes if you try this one. We would love to see your hairstyle pictures on our facebook page!

Knotted Braid Hairstyle

This is a great hairstyle for school days, as it is quick and easy. From start to finish, this hairdo took less than 5 minutes! I love the look of french braids wrapped around the head on both sides (very princess like!) This hairdo has that same basic look, but is much easier and quicker to make in my opinion.
Not to mention a more unique looking braid than a standard french braid when you are done. :)
Just in case you are wondering, the cute flower hair clip shown with this style came from Every Little Detail.
Knotted braid hairstyle for girls video tutorial:

I think this hairstyle would work for little girls as well as tweens, teens and maybe adults. Braids look cute on everyone, right?

How To French Braid - 4 Strand

You may remember the 4 strand woven braid we posted a few weeks ago. If you figured out how to make that braid, this french braid shouldn't be too hard.

The video tutorial for making this braid is at the bottom of this post. These are just a few ideas for hairstyles that can be made using this french braid.

A 4 strand braided headband with a fake bun:
We added one of our homemade rosette headbands behind the braid just for fun.
For this next hairstyle, I just french braided a small portion in front and ended the braid with a decorative bobby pin from Hair Flair Boutique: And added a messy bun.
And lastly, another french braided headband with added ribbon and barbie bangs.

Here's the tutorial for making the french braid....

I love how intricate and different this french braid looks without being extremely difficult to make. After I posted the regular 4 strand braid, we even had a few moms on our facebook page get one step ahead and figured out how to do make this braid all on their own before I posted this video! Let me know how it turns out if you try it. :)

2 Strand Ribbon French Braid - Easy

I think this has to be the easiest french braid ever! So, those of you who have trouble braiding (especially french braiding).... give this one a try. You might surprise yourself! :)
I actually stumbled upon how to make this braid accidentally. I started out with a completely different idea and it just kind of turned into this. Now it's one of our favorite hairstyles. Love it when that happens! Here's the hairstyle video tutorial: It really is simple! Only 2 strands to work with and no braiding skills involved. Only twisting and wrapping.....
I've found that strips of fabric or thick/soft ribbon work best to create this braid. I'm thinking this would be a darling Christmas hairstyle with some red/green ribbons or Christmas fabric. You could even add in some holly or other Christmas decor if you wanted to.

Ribbon Braid Design - Scunci Design Weaver

So, we recently got a new "hairstyling toy" from Hair Flair Boutique called the Design Weaver (made by Scunci.) The package includes a hair weaving tool (similar to a plastic needle) and 4 colored ribbons that look a lot like tulle or netting, but glide smoothly through braids and hair.

The weaving tool that comes in this package is nice because the eye is much larger than a regular craft needle (making it easier to thread hair and ribbons through.) If you wanted to do something like this woven basket hairstyle or this quick woven ponytail the weaving tool would really come in handy. :)

These aren't available in stores yet and can only be purchased online. If you click here: Design Weaver it will take you to Amazon, where they are available to purchase.
As you can see, we've been having lots of fun with this! This wrapped around french braid ribbon design is just one of many hairstyles we've created using this new tool. The Princess has asked for ribbons in her hair almost every day since we got our design weaver package! We'll probably be posting a few more hairstyles we have done with this in the near future, but I won't bore you with all of them. Lets just say, the possibilities are endless! This kind of reminds me of a hairstyle you might see at a renaissance faire or festival. A fun, colorful, princessy version of a side swept ribbon french braid..... And this is a more elegant, sophisticated, subtle version of basically the same hairstyle......
We also did a french braid going up the back of her head (with the black ribbon) and a messy bun for church. It was gorgeous, but unfortunately I didn't take any pics that day. Anyway, just an idea if you wanted something more elegant or an updo for a teen or tween.

And here are the video instructions to create this fun hair style:
The princess really loved his hairdo. :)