How to: Braided headband

This is a cute hairstyle for those times when you want to do something interesting with your hair but still wear it down. It also gets the hair at the front of your head out your face. Its basically an adaption of a braided fringe or bangs. I've always had issues with doing a braided fringe because after you've braided as far as you want to go you always have to pull the braid round your head and pin into place. I find this quite uncomfortable to wear and it often falls out. This is a much better way to get a similar look that holds better and also looks better (in my opinion)

To start with you probably want to have a centre part and nice clean hair. If you must have a different part then you can change this later but really because the braid goes across the top of the head the exact part becomes less important. Next step is to make a circular part all the way around the head. The hair left should be a thin section around the outside of the head. The hair in the middle can be tied back and then put into a quick bun to get it out the way:

The next step is very similar to doing a crown braid (see this) except your only using the small amount of hair that you have left around your head. I always like to start at the back. This part of the braid will not be seen at the end (because when you let your hair down it will cover it) so if its messy it doesn't matter. The braid you want to do is a lace braid i.e. a french braid where hair is ONLY added into the bottom strand. You can also do a dutch lace braid if you want (see this video if you don't know the difference). So start at the back of the head and work your way round to the front. This is where you need to start braiding more carefully as this is the bit that will show in the finished style. Take smaller sections and pull each strand tight. Make sure you pull the braid back so it lies as far back as possible. Carry on braiding round the head until you get back to where you started and all hair is added in.

 Carry on braiding down the rest of the strand as far as you can go and secure the end of the braid with a hair elastic. Take the strand and wind it around the head following the path of the braid and pin into place where ever the end reaches. If the end reaches round to the front you have to be careful pinning it into place so the end is not visible and the pins does not stick out.  Then you just have to pull out the bun and let your hair down so it covers most of the braid except what you can see at the front and thats it!

The finished result basically looks like you have just braided your fringe however its much more secure and I think it also looks better. Also you have the option of leaving your hair in a ponytail so the whole of the braid is visible. This is also the point you can change your part if you want, I find the centre part works best though. This method is similar to the hairstyle done on this video. It definitely worth a watch if your having trouble parting your hair right or need more help on how to do the braid.