#hairoftheweek: Traveling Lace Braid

After that gorgeous string of sunny days last week, I don't blame Mother Nature for taking a break. In fact, the cooler weather matched my academic mood more. It's all about stressing about the stress you know is coming. That theory doesn't explain this week, though. The climbing temperatures just seem like torture for the first round of midterms. My silver lining is knowing that by the end of Wednesday, that will be three fewer exams I have to take.

The Process:

The road to this particular hairstyle was a long one. I had found a gorgeous hairstyle on Instagram that I had fallen in love with but after some lengthy consideration, I decided to push it to next week so that I could wear a specific outfit with it to fit a caption I had in mind. While that left me set for the upcoming #hairoftheweek, this week was left in the dust. I tested out a lot of different hairstyles but towards the end of my hour of experimentation I was getting fed up and my arms were heavy as lead. That's when I knew I should go back to basics and find a clean, simple hairstyle. The common thread connecting most of the hairstyles I was trying that day had a lace braid incorporated in there somewhere so I took that element and ran with it.

The Tutorial:

I could have called this hairstyle the "Diagonal Lace Braid" but I changed it to "Traveling" to fit the caption I had in mind. Hopefully it's not too far off, traveling across the back of the head... (1) Part your hair on your preferred side and brush your hair. There's not much to distract from any bumps or other imperfections so we want all the hair to be as smooth as possible. (2) Take your bangs (or the hair where your bangs would be) and start French braiding. The catch is that you're only picking up hair from the top, making it a lace braid. (3) Lace braid as normal, but make sure you're braiding at an angle so that you end up with a diagonal braid across the back of your head. Try not to add in too much hair each stitch so that you're not cannibalizing from the next stitch. At the same time, there is no need to be stingy, either. (4) When you get to the other side of your head, your braid should be at around the bottom of your ear, depending on how steep your angle is. (5) Tie it off, make sure the braid is a straight line, and the hair going into the braid flows nicely. I chose not to pancake the braid because I could see the ends of the hair I added at the top of my head starting to poke out so I knew fluffing out the braid would be precarious. That being said, pancake if you wish, but otherwise you're done!

The Result:

4.14.16 traveling lace braid (x)

It kinda looks like a mountain road, doesn't it? Don't forget to give it a like on Instagram if you haven't already!

The Verdict:

I am very pleased with the way this turned out. It looks really nice, but to be honest, it's so weird to wear. When I pull my hair to one side, I prefer it to be my left side, but as you can probably work out by looking at the photo, that won't slide. In fact, in order for this hairstyle to look its best, all your hair (the very front pieces have some leeway) should be behind your shoulders. Feeling the stiff braid at your ear was a new sensation as well. Usually hairstyles don't end up there. I could have gone with an S-Braid or something of that sort but I found it was very difficult to ration out your hair when your arm is literally twisted behind your back. Maybe that'll be something for the future after I've worked on some flexibility and arm stamina.


Often times I'll jump straight into some complicated-looking hairstyle with new elements thrown in there so I end up bypassing the individual elements. I guess it's a good thing I do so I have something to fall back on for weeks like this. I think the Traveling Lace Braid is pretty cool and it'd work perfectly with a waterfall. Sadly, waterfalling is a skill I have yet to master, so I'll save that idea for another time. Let me know what you think of this hairstyle in the comments below! With some curls and maybe some flowers in the braid, it'd fit in nicely at Coachella, don't you think? As always, don't forget to follow me on Instagram if you haven't already! Staying up-to-date on the latest #hairoftheweek means a greater chance of winning that extra vote for Fan Favorite at the end of the season! This is only week three so you have plenty of time.

On a maintenance side note: there won't be a blog post on Wednesday because I have three exams this week and stressing about getting a blog post up is not something I want to have to deal with. Next time I'll see you is for week four's #hairoftheweek so check back on Sunday!


Talk to you soon!

xo, Yvette