Romance is not just for Valentine’s Day. Usually this phrase can be heard being thrown at a boyfriend who isn’t being sweet or appreciative however we have a different thought in mind and of course it has to do with hair! Valentines has got us thinking not just of love, but also of romantic beauty looks, especially hairdos. Lots of couples opt out of going out on Valentine’s Day, who can blame them – restaurants with bad service, crowded theaters, overflowing bars. Instead they move their V Day date night to the weekend. Of course you’ve got to have fly hair on that night just as if it was actually Valentine’s Day! We have you covered with the perfect romantic braided hairstyle for a special night.
The Tools
–Beyond the Beauty SHE Clip N Go 20″ Hair Extensions
-Dry Shampoo or Hair Powder
-Brush
-Hair Elastic (tiny invisible kinds work best)
-Optional: small or medium barrel hair curler
How To
A beautiful full fishtail braid draped artfully over the shoulder is feminine and full of romance. To get the look right you need lots of volume for a big fluffy braid. A Beyond the Beauty SHE Clip N Go 20″ set of hair extensions works perfectly for this style. First thing you want to do is start with well brushed second day hair, not freshly washed hair, this is important part of getting the braid to cooperate and making it look extra luscious and plump. Next thing you want is to use hair powder or dry shampoo (if you must work with freshly washed hair, you’ll probably need extra dry shampoo or hair powder). Dry shampoo works well but hair powder that’s specifically designed for braids works even better. Apply a bunch to roots up to about mid section of hair. You can also tease the roots a little, just not too much or braiding will be difficult. Next put in your hair extensions. We suggest not putting all the pieces at once, start with biggest piece or two and then add in the smaller pieces as you go. You will need to eye where to place them so they fit into your braid unseen. If something doesn’t look right you can always go back and readjust that piece of hair extension. Style your bangs or part however you want it to look. Then start your braid; we usually start at the nape of the next or a little higher. Use medium pieces of hair and don’t braid too loose or super tight. If you braid too loose everything will fall apart, too tight and it’ll be hard to fluff the braid. Once you’re done secure with an elastic, we use the little invisible style elastics and leave about an inch or two of the ends unbraided. Next start tugging on the sides of the braid to fluff it. The best way to do this is to gently grab hold of the end of the braid with one hand and use the other to fluff, or pancake as it’s sometimes called, one side of your braid then do the other side. Keep repeating each side until you get the desired look. Remember it’s better to pull out a little at a time rather then pull out too much. The term pancake describes how you want to fluff your braid rather well… when you pour your pancake batter and then use a spatula to even out and get a flatter, rounder pancakes, that is similar to what you will be doing to the sides of your braid. While you are pulling out the edge of a piece of your braid try to flatten it with your fingers and make it round and pull out the outer edges of the piece of hair further that the middle pieces: just like as if your flattening out the edge of your pancake.
To make your braid really look beautiful and professionally done, you’ll want to make sure you can’t see the hair elastic, there are a couple ways to go about this. If you want to completely hide the ends you can flip them over the elastic and pull through the bottom of the braid at the part right above the elastic. Keep weaving the ends through the braid until you can’t see them. You can use a bobby pin inserted straight up into the middle of the braid to secure. If you prefer to leave the ends out, which is how we like to do it, you can grab a small piece of loose hair from the back side of the braid and wrap it around the elastic. To secure simply tuck ends into the elastic in the back. To amp this way up even further, take that small piece of loose hair and make another braid before wrapping around the elastic.
The optional finishing touch for this look is curling bangs and loose hairs that have fallen out with a hair curler. You can also curl the ends for a pretty look.
Now you’ll have a beautiful and trendy romantic braid style ready to go for date night or really any occasion. If you haven’t tried a look like this yet, don’t be scared! Once you practice it a bit, it is really easy and probably will take you less time to do then it took to read this blog!
Do you love braiding your hair or have you been too intimidated to try? Let us know what you think about romantic braids in the comments!