Tips and Advice: The Crown Braid

Recently I have been wearing my hair in a crown braid quite a lot. Its a very pretty style but an absolute nightmare to try and do on yourself. In my practicing I've picked up a lot of tips on achieving a perfect crown braid. I've also got some links to the best videos which have helped me learn how to crown braid. :)

So a Crown Braid is where you braid your hair all the way around your head in a circle so it looks like a crown. As in this braid you are going to braid the whole way around back to where you started, the actual starting position is not important. The most popular places to start are either at the front of your head, with a side parting, or at the back of the head. Where to start is really your own choice and it is useful to practice a few diferent places to find what works best for you. Personally, I like to start at the back of my head. This is because it means you don't have to do the complex changing of hand position as you braid round the back of the head which means I can usually finish the braid faster and it comes out more neat.

So to do a crown braid. First chose a place to start. In this post I'm going to do my usual method of starting at the back of the head. However, if you start somewhere else, the method will be the same but obviously this method will be in the wrong order for you. Next part your hair at the starting point. Do NOT part your hair neatly using a comb as this results in ugly part lines in the finished hairstyle. Instead messily part your hair using your hands to section the hair. Check using a mirror that there is no obvious part. Okay now you'll need to decide which direction your going to braid (clockwise or anticlockwise) the section of hair which you will not be braiding until last put out of the way, it might help to tie a small section of this hair back with a hair band. In my case I like to tie the whole of one side of my hair back and out of the way so I can start with the other side first. I like my crown braids to be dutch braids but you can do a french braid or a 2-strand twist braid or another variation. This video explains these different types of braids really well.

Starting at the back, you have to first braid upside down round to the front of your head. Try to braid as tightly as possible and make sure the hair added into the top strand is in neat sections and lies flat. You should try to make sure all sections come from a point at the top of your head. As you braid round the front, let out the hair tied back and start to incorporate this hair into the braid. Depending on how forward you want the braid to lie on your head will depend how far back you will pull the braid.

The next part should be a lot easier because it is just like doing a regular side braid such as the "Katniss braid". Keep going until you get to the back to your head to where you started and incorporate all the remaining hair into the braid. After this, braid down the rest of the hair and secure the end with a hair elastic. Then take the end and wrap it around your head. Pin it into place and try to hide the end behind your original braid. Hopefully now you have a completed crown braid!

 My crown braids always end up slightly messy but that's the best I can manage. Its good that messy hairstyles are in fashion at the moment.. haha

So, this is how you should do a crown braid with medium length hair. If you have longer hair, here is a video for a method that is MUCH easier as it avoids any upside down braiding. Sadly my hair is not yet long enough to do this method, but once it is I will definitely use this.
Other good videos for crown braids are this one which shows how to do a crown braid staring from the front and this one which shows one starting from the back of the head.


Here are some other cute variations:
This crown braid involves no french braiding, it is made up of single 3 strand braids only
This is good if your doing someone else s hair. It shows how to get a very neat crown braid
This shows how to a half-up version of a crown braid.