#hairoftheweek: {Birthday} Four Strand Waterfall Spume

Happy Memorial Day weekend! It may be five days after my actual birthday, but that won't stop me from celebrating it all weekend long. I mean, what better time is it to talk about my 20th birthday hair? I'll to anything in my power to keep my posts topical and if that means I have to party for three days, so be it. I can already tell you it's been a very rewarding weekend spending lots of time with my closest friends, family, and readers! No Sunday would be complete without a blog post and knowing there are people out there who care about what I have to say makes it all worth while.

The Process:

My previous birthday hairstyles have been a challenge and time consuming so I thought I'd tone it down this year. I mean, it's still gotta look complicated; I just want to do less work. Annies Forget Me Knots had just started posting videos on Cute Girls Hairstyles (you all know that's my go-to) so that's where I was introduced to her. I'm always in the market for new places to find hair inspiration. I checked out her page and I found this tutorial that I absolutely fell in love with. She didn't name the hairstyle (which was such an issue when it came time for me to name it, but more on that at the end of the post) so it had the working title of "Four Strand Waterfall Topsy Tail Faux Side Braid." What a mouthful. Here are the videos in the two-part series four strand waterfall continuing with topsy tail side braid. I found Missy Sue's four strand waterfall tutorial much easier to follow. It's kinda ironic because this video by Missy Sue was made in collaboration with Annie Forget Me Knots. It's all come full circle.

The Tutorial:

There's a lot of steps, but it's actually pretty easy given you have the skills down. (1) Brush your hair and part it on one side. (2) Pick up about an inch of hair next to your part on the heavier side and divide it into four pieces. The second strand from your face should be bigger than the others because no hair will be added to it from this point on. (3) Begin a four strand braid from the back. Make one stitch before adding hair. (4) On the second stitch, add in hair at the back and braid it through. Finish the stitch, dropping the strand you just weaved through the stitch. (5) Start the third stitch as you did the second, but instead of taking the front-most piece (the back strand from your previous stitch), pick up hair from underneath it and finish the stitch. (6) Repeat these steps until you have four waterfall pieces. (It's fine if the first waterfall strand falls in your face for the purposes of this hairstyle.) (7) Finish the four strand braid normally and tie it off. You can pancake it if you so choose, but my waterfall skills are not so strong so I didn't risk compromising the integrity of my braid. (8) Pin the braid under some hair at the back of your hair. (9) Sweep all your hair over your shoulder on the side with the four strand waterfall. (10) Take the first two waterfall pieces and an equal sized chunk of hair from the other side of your head. Bring them to the waterfall side and tie them together just under your ear. (11) Flip it once, tug on the flips to give it volume, and pull on the tail to tighten it up. (12) Continue combining pieces of hair from either side of your head in a side "braid." Alternate between flipping once and flipping twice before tugging on them. Try to take pieces of hair that match the first flip and gradually size down as you get lower. (13) Tie the last two tails together once you've reached the bottom. (14) Go back and fluff out any pieces that didn't get enough volume the first time around. (15) Pull out some strands to frame your face and make sure your bobby pins are hidden at the back of your head and you're ready to go!

The Result:

5.24.16 four strand waterfall spume (x)

Don't go chasing waterfalls... (Fun fact: Waterfalls by TLC was released a year and a day before my actual date of birth.) Don't forget to give it a like on Instagram if you haven't already!

The Verdict:

Practice run topsy tails.

I'm a little bit agh because the practice run I did the night before was better than the actual final. The "mistake" (it's not really that big of a mistake) that I made with the actual hairstyle was I ended up tying all the flips in the middle. In the practice run, I would do one in the middle, the next closer to my face, the third towards the back of my head, and then repeat that pattern. That gave a lot more texture in the "braid" and it didn't look so uniform like it does towards the bottom. There would be more of that intricacy you see at the top. Sigh. At least I know in my heart how it has the potential of looking. This is a great hairstyle if you want everything to stay put. With all those elastics in there, it's almost like a flexible rod that keeps all your hair where you want it. The "braid" would always come back over my shoulder no matter what. Great for a busy day when you want to look cute and not fuss about the state of your hair.

As promised, I now present to you how and why I chose to name this hairstyle as I did. I'm sure somebody must be interested. When I was trying to come up with a name for this hairstyle, it was such a pain. I knew the working title I had was far too long and, nonetheless, it nothing more than a description. How unimaginative is that? It took me a while, but I finally came to the realization that it looks like the spray and foam that happens at a bottom of a waterfall, which tied in perfectly with the top waterfall section of the hairstyle. I knew there was a word for it other than "spray" but I had the most difficult time trying to find the word. After some digging, I came across the word "spume" and it was exactly what I was looking for. It's not a word I see often, which I think makes it the ideal candidate. Nothing like a little vocab word here and there to spice up your life.


I know I can't be the only one who loves this hairstyle. It does take a little longer, but the payoff is so worth it. Be sure to let me know if you try it out yourself! Also leave a comment telling me what you thought of this hairstyle! How did I do with the name? Do you think it looks better in the final result or in my practice run? As always, follow me on Instagram to stay up-to-date on #hairoftheweek and any other fun bits and pieces I have going in my life.


Talk to you soon!

xo, Yvette