Waterfall braid tutorial

So If you are half addicted to Pinterest as I am you have seen a waterfall braid, or hundreds.

Here is a quick tutorial on how to do it step by step! 

I used a client/co-worker of mine today as the model! 

Here is her before. 

The cut & color is by yours truly! 

Sam had a natural ombré, since she was growing her hair out and and hadn't gotten it colored in 6 months. 

So her roots were dark, and the ends were left over highlights. 

I went through and did a high light low light to blend it all in. Then styled her with her the Beauty and the Beehives beachy wave technique you can reference here 

Your hair does not that have to be curled in order to complete a waterfall braid. Personal preference, it just looks better and shows of color more! 

But you must know how to do a French braid in order to complete it!

Incase you don't know how to French braid, think back to the days of making friendship braclets when you were younger. 

French braiding it just like a single braid the only difference is when you go to put your outside pieces over or under the middle piece, you grab more hair to add to your pile.

Whew. Now that we got that out of the way... Here are the 7 simple steps to having a show stopping waterfall braid!

Step 1: you want to pick the side you want to start on. In most cases it is the opposite side of your part or your "weaker" side where you have less hair. Either is fine! You then want to grab a triangular section of hair to begin your braid with in the next step 

Step 2: all you need to do for step two is begin a single braid by splitting your triangular section into three pieces and criss crossing them over one another

Step 3: next you want to move into French braiding by only adding from the top when taking your left section back over the middle. 

Be sure to grab all the hair from the top of the crown to your braid. The size of your section determines the size of your waterfall braid. The more hair you take, the bigger the section, the bigger the braid! Or vise versa. 

Step 4 : you want to run your fingers through the hair that is dangling down to untangle and make sure it is prepped for the next step. 

Step 5: you don't want to grab all the hair from the right and bring it over the middle section like you did on top. This is the most important step to creating that waterfall affect.

You are going to skip the hair that is dangling down that you just had in your hand (that probably feels more natural to add hair to and cross back over the middle but resist the urge!!!!)

Instead you are going to pick up a smaller section of hair directly behind it and cross it over the middle. 

Step 6: gather all the hair from the top again and pull over middle section to continue around the head .... Now repeat steps 5 & 6 until you have made your way to the other side 

Step 7: makes or breaks your waterfall braid! My favorite way to finish them is by taking your left over sections and doing a single braid all the way down and securing it in a rubber band. This achieves a very boho chic look. 

You can also secure the pieces together by a bobby pin. You can even add a flower or hair accessories to make it a little more formal & stylish. 

Front view.

Side view.

Back view !

How easy was that!!!!! 

Braid on, 

Xoxo

Molly