#hairoftheweek: Rapunzel Faux Braid

When I first saw what was going on at the back of my head, I knew this hairstyle reminded me of something, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. It wasn't until I asked some of my friends what to name this look that it came to me. You know that scene in Tangled where Rapunzel goes into town and gets her hair braided by those adorable little girls? That is exactly what this hairstyle is reminiscent of, despite being much shorter. I might still be floundering for a name if Mikaela hadn't jogged my memory, so kudos to her. I love that this hairstyle is what it ended up being because it's retrospectively inspired by one of my favorite parts of the entire movie. Most of these character-inspired hairstyles seem to come to me and leave me with the task of figuring out what it reminds me of. I do love me a good puzzle.

The Process:

You know how they say artists need to get all the bad drawings out of their system before they can actually get to what they want to draw? It seems to be that way with hair as well. In a practicing session, I was hitting dud after dud and just as I was about to quit, I thought I'd do one more. That one more paid off. At that point I had let go of any thoughts and just let my hands move. They chose to middle part and French braid my hair and I went with the flow. What's the point in fighting it if your brain hadn't come up with anything good in the last hour? Having let go, my hands were free to do what they wanted and it was almost like I was acting on instinct. Trust your gut, as they say. Let the magic guide you.

The Tutorial:

Calling this hairstyle a "faux braid" is a bit of a misnomer, especially since one of the first things in these instructions is to braid your hair. I swear the rest of it is truly faux and hopefully will remind you of Rapunzel. At least I can get that part down, right? (1) Brush through your hair and part it in the middle. (2) Taking one side at a time, French braid each side of the part all the way down. Tie them off. (3) Overlap the braids into a v-shape, giving yourself some wiggle room. (4) Tie off the v-shape and flip the braid over itself like you would with a topsy tail. Release the small elastics at the end of the braids. (5) Take the hair on either side of your head and bring them to the back, over the elastic holding in the braids. Tie it off and flip it. (6) If you know how to do a pull-through braid, this is where your skills kick in. What I did was I split the tail of the combined braids in half, picked up some more hair on either side of my head, combined the two, and tied it off just under the previous flip. As you can probably guess, you flip this one as well. (7) Keep adding in hair and flipping, remembering to pick up the hair from the previous tail along with the new hair from the sides that you're adding in. Eventually all of it will be hair from the previous tail. I would recommend gently massaging and fluffing out these flips as you go (massaging the first flip once you get to your third, for example) because once you're at the bottom, the hair at the top is likely not going to budge. (8) When you get to the bottom (and make sure you're really going until you cannot go anymore) you can either tie the two final tails together for extra security or leave them be. Bring the whole faux braid over your shoulder and find an elastic on the lower part of your hair that's not too loose nor too tight and open it up, pushing your fingers from the top down. With your other hand, bring up those final tails and pull them through the elastic. This makes for a clean finish especially since tails that small tend to stick out in random directions. (9) Use this same technique all along the hairstyle to clean up any major chunks or haphazard strands that might have escaped, being careful not to drop your final tails. (10) I added some clip-in flowers to add to the Rapunzel feel and to hide those first elastics and the gap in between the braids and the flips. This is completely optional, but I think it adds to the look, especially since it matches my dress.

The Result:

5.8.16 rapunzel faux braid (x)

Perfect for getting swept up in a Kingdom Dance. Don't forget to give it a like on Instagram if you haven't already!

The Verdict:

Textured 2nd day pony. #win

I don't normally wear hairstyles for more than a day because I like to let my hair relax while I sleep, but I actually wore this one the day before Mother's Day to go out to dinner with our family friends. Having already done my hair in a sturdy (no metal!) 'do, I decided to sleep with it in because I could feel my hair getting greasy. Fussing with my hair before making breakfast the next morning? I think I'll pass, thank you. I needed to look as photo-ready as I could in my pajamas on a Sunday morning, but I've got more pressing matters to attend to (read: the whole "making breakfast" thing I mentioned earlier). Keeping in mind that I desperately needed a hair wash, I waited for the festivities to conclude before removing all the elastics and letting my hair free. Since it'd been flipped and tucked up for so long, there were some wimpy waves that didn't look the best down because it was patchy and kinda stringy (but stringy in chunks, if you get what I'm trying to say). Putting it up in a high ponytail, however, was a definite win. A+. It's a shame I didn't get to wear it like that out on the town. Now I know for future reference to plan ahead so I can work both hairstyles back-to-back.

I may have accidentally combined a lot of different elements into this hairstyle, but it's not too bad, right? Still pretty easy in my opinion (although some might (fairly) say that my opinion is biased). The most difficult part is probably holding up your arms for that long, if I'm honest. Either that or trying to position those flowers without outside help. I had a lot of fun wearing this one, and it was particularly gratifying because I came up with it on my own. Make sure you follow me on Instagram to stay up-to-date on #hairoftheweek! We're nearing the end of the season; only three more hairstyles before voting for Fan Favorite! Let me know what you think of this one in the comments below and definitely let me know if you try it out yourself! I'd love to see your recreations!


Talk to you soon!

xo, Yvette