#hairoftheweek: Dutch Fishtail

You might be thinking, "Yvette. Dutch fishtail? Come on, that's just an inverse fishtail." Okay, maybe you didn't think that, but I definitely did. I've always been too intimidated to try Dutch or French braiding my fishtails but recently, I gave French fishtailing a shot and the result looked really neat. I was looking at Spring 2015 to find a nice home for it when I realized that I would be hanging out with Mikaela for her birthday. I immediately picked up my phone to ask her if she wanted to choose a hairstyle for me to do specifically for her birthday. When she got back to me, I saw that she had included this Dutch Fishtail as one of her options and I knew that was the one I had to spring for. I may use the French fishtail for a future #hairoftheweek, but only time will tell.

The Process:

About a month and a half ago, having consulted the almighty calendar, I realized I had enough time to let Mikaela choose the hairstyle she wanted for her birthday #hairoftheweek. As I'd mentioned earlier, I had been trying some new things with my hair and French fishtailing was one of them. The switch to Dutch braiding was a smooth one and the French fishtailing actually turned out to be more difficult than Dutch fishtailing. It was meant to be.

The Tutorial:

This hairstyle is very straightforward. Mikaela sent me this Missy Sue tutorial and as I was the watching the video and following along, I realized that I was doing exactly as she was describing despite my not paying attention. Upon further research, I discovered there are two ways that people approach the Dutch fishtail. It's kind of nitpicky but some people take hair from all the way from the other side of the head as they add hair into the braid. I'm not that kinda gal. I stuck to the hair closer to the braid while I was at the top and steadily worked my way to the other side the further along I was. My method results in hair going into the fishtail that covers your neck. That probably doesn't make sense. Basically, if you didn't want your braid over your shoulder and put it behind your back, there would be "extra" hair whereas the first method allows you to put your braid wherever.

The Result:

4.8.15 dutch fishtail (x)

Thank you, Mikaela, for taking this week's #hairoftheweek photo! I definitely didn't have to awkwardly stand on a rock to get this angle. You should go like this photo on Instagram, if you please.

The Verdict:

I am so in love with this hairstyle. I actually wore this on April 4th, the day we saw Kingsman: The Secret Service, but I didn't post it on Instagram until Wednesday, Mikaela's actual birthday. This is definitely one I am keeping in my arsenal. I still need to try this on damp hair and see how that turns out but when I wore this hairstyle, I felt so glamorous I never wanted to take it out. Throughout the day, I had to pancake the top of the braid to touch it up a bit. All that pulling can result in a messier look, especially if you go too far, yikes! Good luck sticking your hair back into the fishtail. Other than the sheer heaviness of my hair, I didn't have any problems with this one. Naturally, as with any fishtail, the shorter bits of hair are bound to escape, but that adds to its charm. I also think this one would look great on textured hair if you can wrangle it into a fishtail.


I hope you enjoyed this #hairoftheweek! If you want more, follow this blog for #hairoftheweek posts every Sunday at 12:30pm PDT and Instagram now has an option to send you a push notification when the people you follow post something new. This may be a feature you want to utilize if you want to be in the running for that extra vote at the end of the season. ;)


Talk to you soon!

xo, Yvette