#hairoftheweek: Knotted Side Braid

It's been a taxing month so far and we're not even at the halfway mark yet. We are getting closer to the holiday season and I'm hoping that will bring some joy into all our lives. Sure, it'll be stressful, but at least it'll be the type of stress that's worth it. I know I'm ready to dive head first into the Christmas spirit. Gift giving, family time, and sweater dresses? That has my name written all over it.

The Process: 

This #hairoftheweek was a little bit of a cheat. After I finished the braid, I realized I had done the Chinese Ladder Braid again (all the way back from my very first season!) but the look was different so I stuck with it. When I was brainstorming, I was trying to come up with an element that I haven't incorporated into my hairstyles for a while. I came up with three things: knots, lace braids, and infinity braids. I bet you already know which one I went with.

The Tutorial:

This one is very easy in theory, but controlling the hair in reality is its own beast. (1) Brush your hair and pull it all over one shoulder. It's imperative that there are no tangles. (2) Grab a small chunk of hair from the back, split it in half, bring it around either side to the front, and tie a knot. My knots were done with the inner strand on top. To achieve this look make sure you're knotting the same way for the whole braid. (3) Keep making knots down your hair, adding hair from the back to each side as you go. These knots want to come loose so you really have to tighten them and keep them as tight as possible or else you'll have an undone braid on your hands. (4) This braid can look like a wild bunch of loops, which is also a look if you choose to go that route, but to get a braid looking like mine, tug on the inner strand after you make each knot. (5) When you've run out of hair to add in, combine your two strands and tie it together. It will naturally curl around but you can gently manipulate it to stay straight but be careful because it's very delicate. Touching it too much will unravel it.

The Result: 

11.11.16 knotted side braid (x)

You may notice that this photo is different than the one on Instagram. I couldn't decide between the two so I chose the one that matched my ~theme~ best for my feed but went with the aesthetic one for my blog. Don't forget to give it a like on Instagram if you haven't already!

The Verdict:

No matter what this hairstyle ended up being (I had a few in the works this week), my caption (and this symbolic purple sweater dress) was set in stone. It wound up being pretty ironic as this braid is the least tough hairstyle ever. If you don't want it to fall apart, wear it on a day where you don't plan on moving your head. I'm sure it would've held better if I had, like, any texture in my hair bit it was bound to be loosey goosey anyway. I did like how the last knot helped hide the elastic, which my hair will never, ever do due to its general slipperiness and aforementioned lack of texture.


Super cool hairstyle, not very practical. That's my tl;dr for the entire blog post. What do you think of it? Are there any side braids you'd like to see me try? There are only a few weeks left! That also means time is running out for you to win that extra vote for Fan Favorite at the end of the season! As always, don't forget to follow me on Instagram to stay up-to-date on all things #hairoftheweek.


Talk to you soon!

xo, Yvette