
Beauty & Hairstyle
French Braid Hairstyles Tutorial For Beginners
Surely any of the women, whether now simple or stylish, at least once aspired to become a princess as children. As a little girl, who didn’t want to play the princess-game, in which they would turn into a “real” princess by braiding for themselves several small lovely braids and put on a blanket to fake a royal dress. (Well, have you seen your childhood yet?). Thus, learning how to braid almost is an indispensable ritual in the maturity of any young girl. But many of us might only learn the way to do a simple three-strand braid and not other braided hairstyles. And French braid is one of them.
The French braid is a beautiful and timeless hairstyle of women around the world. This hairdo can be considered as an upgrade version of the traditional braid, which is simple but formal and beautiful enough for any occasion from the big events such as a wedding, party, etc. to daily activities like going to school or meeting with friends, etc. French braid hairstyle may look sophisticated but in fact, achieving this hairdo is very simple and easy to learn. We have written down a step by step tutorial to help you learn how to French braid your own hair. All you have to do now to have a fabulous hairstyle is scroll down the instruction and take a bit of time to practice!
How to French Braid: Steps to achieve an easy French braid
1. Prepare your hair
The smooth hair helps you braid hair more easily and will result in a neat pigtail. Thus, firstly brush through your hair to eliminate all the tangles and make it soft, and ready to braid. Comb your hair backward if you want to make a single French braid.
- Remember to comb hair gently from tip to root, don’t ever brush hair directly from the root as this can damage your hair and cause hair breakage.
- You might want to create more than one French braid (double French braids) or want to start braiding from the side of your head (side French braid), depending on where to start braiding or how many braids you would like to corresponding brush and part your hair.
- You can braid your hair either when it’s dry or wet. Braiding on wet hair and leave it dry completely to have a soft pretty wavy hairstyle after taking the braid out.
2. Begin sectioning your hair

Start braiding by gathering a big hair strand (about 3-4 inches wide) from the top of your head. If you have bangs, you can either bring it into your French braid or leave them loose. For the first option, you might need to grab hair from the very top section, right above the forehead.
- The hairpiece gathered will not affect the big of the pigtail as it depends more on the additional hair that you will use later.
3. Separate this first strand of hair into three small pieces

Like the traditional braids, a French braid also begins with three hairpieces. Use your fingers to run through the chunk and separate it into three equal strands. For a neat and beautiful French braid, make sure that you did equalize these hairpieces.
4. Start by creating a traditional braid
Surely you still don’t forget how to braid a traditional pigtail. Yes, a French braid will begin with few rows of a traditional braid, just a few rows, don’t lengthen it too much as your French braid may turn out to be ridiculous.
5. Okay, now we will officially make the French braid
Keep doing this traditional braid pattern but now you will have to add additional pieces of hair. Grab some hair from the one side of your head and gather it with the hairpiece on the same side before crossing that strand over the middle one.
- Every time you do cross over, add another small strand of hair. It doesn’t matter how much new hair you use, but the less hair grabbed, the more sophisticated the French braid will look.
- The amount of additional hair should be equal for the best-looking French braid.
6. Bring all your hair into your braid

As you braid down your head, you’ll start running out of the remaining hair to add to the braid. For a neat-looking French braid, make sure that you have already combined all redundant hair once you reach the nape of your neck.
7. Finish the braid
With the remaining ponytail after you reached the nape of the neck, continue styling it in a traditional braid until you reach the end of your ponytail. Then secure it with a rubber band or an elastic.
- You can use a ribbon to hide the elastic by tying a small bow for a more lovely braid hairstyle.
How to French Braid: Steps to do a side French braid
If you’ve already tried the basic French braid and now want to refresh with other French braid styles, then a side French braid is definitely the solution that couldn’t be more suitable for you. Follow these steps to achieve this hairstyle.
- Brush your hair gently to take out all the knots and tangles
- Section off your hair deeply on one side. If you have bangs, then use hair clips to pin it on the opposite side, behind the ear for more convenience when braiding.
- Following the above tutorial to do a French braid toward your hairline down the side of your head.
- Start adding remaining hair from your back head: As you continue braiding down the head side, you will have to start grabbing additional hair from the very back of your head. Do it until you reach the nape of the neck.
- Continue styling the rest in a traditional braid.
- For a more natural and romantic look, loosen your braid from the center to add some volume to your braid and make it wilder.
- Secure the end with an elastic or a rubber band.
Another way to diversify the French braided hairstyle is to make a double French braid, to achieve it, you just need to part your hair all the way down in the middle and do two braids on each side. Not easy at all!
So, there you have it! You now know the way to become more elegant and feminine with a French braided hairstyle. In case your hair is too thin or too short, you can put on hair extensions (MACSARA hair offer you maximum versatility and longevity!) before start styling your hair. Wishing you quickly have a fabulous hairstyle as desired!