#hairoftheweek: Mosaic Braid

It feels like just a year ago the Internet went berserk over the dress that either blue and black or white and gold. Wait, that was a year ago. I just got this dress (in the same package as the dress I wore last week) and the first time Gordon saw it, he blurted out, "Is that blue and black or white and gold?" It brought back some great memories of frantically asking around to confirm everybody around you could see the same colors and you weren't going insane. Personally I saw black and blue for the most part (I was most likely influenced by the Backstreet Boys and their Black and Blue album) but once I glanced at it on Twitter and I saw white and gold. That was the only time. I'm convinced there was more than one version circling the web. Since this meme brought as many people together as it tore apart, this week's #hairoftheweek was carefully planned to land on the exact one year anniversary. I thought it was an important enough holiday that we should be commemorating it.

The Process:

Since I wanted to put emphasis on the dress, I needed to find a hairstyle that was some sort of side pony or side braid so that you would actually be able to see the dress in the Instagram photo. I thought I'd try one of my own ideas first but that didn't turn out the way I was hoping for so I'm going to save it and practice and workshop it over a break. I hope it works out because it looks really cool in my head. My backup was a very simple hairstyle I found on Princess Hairstyles while I was making sure I wasn't missing any heart hairstyles for Valentine's day. This hairstyle caught my eye and has been on my mind ever since.

The Tutorial:

Taking a look at some visuals might help you get a better handle on the Mosaic Twist Braid. (1) Part your hair on one side. (2) Bring all your hair over one shoulder and separate it into three sections. The two outside sections should be smaller than the middle section. A half to a third of all your hair should be in the middle section. (3) Get the two outside sections out of the way in any way you like. I tied the two pieces in the back of my head. You could also clip them out of the way. (4) Wet down your middle section. If they aren't wet, they won't be defined when you get to the braiding. (5) Make a bunch of small rope braids with the wet hair. The number of braids is up to you but I chose to do three twists. It's just enough that there's definition but not so much that it hurts to look at it. (6) Release the other two sections and braid all your hair. All the rope braids count as one section. I would braid by bringing hair to the back so the hair at the top of your head doesn't look funny. (7) Tie it off and fix up any flyaways or pancake the non-twist parts if you wish. Make sure everything is secure and the way you want it before taking out the elastics holding the rope braids together. (8) Brush the ends of the braid to blend all the ends together and admire your work of art because you're done!

The Result:

2.26.16 mosaic braid (x)

There's no denying this dress is black and blue. Or is there...? Don't forget to give it a like on Instagram if you haven't already!

The Verdict:

The first couple times I tried this hairstyle, it was late at night and I was just seeing if it was a good option for #hairoftheweek. I didn't want to go through the trouble of wetting my hair then going to bed with cold, wet hair. The problem with that was that the rope braids just melted into each other and ended up looking like a regular strand of hair that I forgot to comb. That step is not one to skip. When I was trying to get good lighting and angle for the picture, nothing seemed to work, which was frustrating, but I think it's because my hair is all one color and texture so it doesn't transfer well on camera. It looked really cool in real life, though. It's that thing where your face looks better in the mirror because it's in 3D and when you go to take a selfie it's #ew. My hair isn't quite long enough to wear side braids comfortably yet (the ends stick out and you know how it is with Asian hair) but I could definitely manage with this one. It took a couple tries to get the ends to stay but it was worth it. It'd be a good hairstyle for summer when you've just gotten out of the shower and you need to head out. It doesn't take too much time and your hair should be wet anyway, why not use that to your advantage? I can't wait for my hair to grow longer so I can get back to my side braids.


My favorite thing is to have subtle accents in my appearance so I can tell who actually pays attention to detail. I'm all about lowkey gathering information about people through roundabout ways that they wouldn't expect. The Mosaic Braid is perfect for those purposes, especially if your hair is a solid color. Imagine what it'd look like if the hair underneath was a different color?! All braids look cooler with colored hair but this one would be exceptional. As always, don't forget to follow me on Instagram to stay up-to-date on #hairoftheweek and remember that the person with the most first likes each season will get an extra vote for Fan Favorite so turn notifications for my posts if you want a shot at that!


Talk to you soon!

xo, Yvette