I can braid, but my French braiding sucks.
I have a lanyard on my walking stick with six leather strands on it. For most of the length, all six strands are in one braid, and then for the last quarter length or so, there are two braids of three strands each.
Huh! I guess a person could get by without it, but usually it’s the one knot everyone knows (or thinks they know, and instead tie granny knots). They might not know the name of it though. My husband had no idea about square knots either, until I showed him, and he’s like “oh, a knot”. “Square knot” had the same signifiance to him as saying “pickled cucumber”.
Never had to tie a package up with string, eh?
Anyway, to remark on my own abilities: I can braid a simple 3 ply braid well and I can even do a french braid…but on someone else. The only way I can do a 3 ply braid on my own head is by doing it as pigtails over the shoulder. I used to be able to start a single braid behind my back when I was younger but now my brain gets confused.
Those fancy braids that magically create faux headbands over the head and so forth? Fugheddaboutit. Had lots of fun with macrame as a kid, though that’s more of a knotting technique. Same for those boondoggle weaving things.
You kidding? I’ve been making challah since I was a kid. (You don’t have to be Jewish to love challah.)
Isn’t French braiding just where you keep picking up more, which keeps it close to the scalp?
I learned to braid in 1958. One of the cutest sights I ever saw was a little old gray-haired lady with two thin braids sticking out asymmetrically on either side of her neck, like bent wires had been incorporated. She looked like a wizened Pippi Longstocking. Damn, I hope I grow up to be like her someday.
Yep. This is a decent videofor the technique, with a nice little cheat that helps people who are still learning: the clear elastic on top helps to eliminate the “bubble” that beginners get frustrated with when learning to French braid.
Equipoise, those are gorgeous! (The linked one and all the other that came up in the sidebar.) I’ve never done a lot with the asymmetrical stuff or the wraps, mostly because it’s hard to get people to sit still long enough to let you really practice on them. But none of it is really hard, just finicky and requiring patience and practice in getting the divisions right. But at the heart of it…it’s just math in action!
…AAAAAAnd…I’m going to get *nothing *productive done today. Thanks a lot, Equipoise! :dubious:
I can plait, but not braid. When I was a little girl my Dad used to plait my hair because he did a neater job than my Mum (then again, he was no where near as fast as she was).
What’s the difference? My English friend says “plait” when I mean “braid,” I didn’t know there was a distinction in Australia.
I’m surprised at how many male Dopers can braid hair. I know how to braid hair, in theory, (after all, I’ve braided other things), but I’m pretty sure I’d foul it up pretty badly if I tried to actually do it and have it look nice.
I won’t say I could do a great job of it, but the basic idea isn’t tough at all. Divide hair into three roughly equal parts. Move left part to center. Move right part to center. Repeat until you run out of hair. The less slack you leave at each step, the better. When you’re done, put a rubber band or equivalent at the end to keep it from unraveling.
We braided enough lanyards on rainy days at summer camp 50 years ago that I could probably still do it in my sleep.
Well I learnt something new today! Never before knew what braiding was, don’t like sailing, terrible with electronics, gotta ‘hair talk is for girls’ thing going on. But if the subject comes up at a later date I will be informed and informative 
Sure can. I had loooong hair as a kid until … near the end of uni, I think? My mom had super long hair, too (she trimmed it herself when it got long enough to where she’d sit on it when she sat in a chair)* and the texture was a dream to braid, so I got tons of practice. My hair was so fine and slippery that I think it was like being thrown into the deep end to learn how to swim.
I can braid hair (both mine and others - two related but different skills), floss/yarn, cord, leather, Twizzler’s Pull and Peel. 
Three strand, French and Dutch, fishtail, four strands. I can braid my own hair with a round four strand braid by feel alone, which fascinated high school classmates once they noticed it wasn’t the usual three strands.
I can braid both my own and others’ hair, but just a simple three-strand braid. My fingers somehow learned the technique upside down–instead of putting the side strands OVER the center into the middle, my fingers bring the outside strand up into the middle from the bottom. I can do this very quickly after years of practice, which is helpful because both of my daughters have very long, braidable hair.
Yet no matter how hard I try I can’t UNlearn this technique, and can’t figure out how to adapt it for French braiding. So that skill eludes me, much to my daughters’ dismay.
I could never braid my own hair even when it was long enough to bother, but I can braid other peoples’ hair. I can even do a passable French braid. I get plenty of practice braiding bread as well.
I know, right? It’s fascinating. I realized last night, while watching her videos in particular, that fancy hair braiding feeds my love and fascination with Temporary Art, creating something beautiful and/or interesting that won’t last long, like sand art, ice sculpture, crop circles, talented graffiti, butter sculptures, nail art, sidewalk art, etc.
Like your friend, we say “plait” for a basic braid. What we call a braid is what you call a French braid.
Thanks! I’ve learned something today. (I’ll have to ask him what he calls a French braid sometime.)
Something that struck me while watching those videos is that you never see such beautiful braiding on the red carpet. I sure don’t remember seeing anything anywhere near like the one I linked to, or this one, or this one, or this one, or this one and so many others.
If you see braids at all, they’re usually messy or basic braids. They can be pretty too, but those elaborate ones could really make a major positive impression depending on who’s wearing it. (it probably wouldn’t matter if it were on a C-list celebrity who just got out of jail).
Someone ought to bring those Russian ladies to America for awards season.
The Milk Maid/Halo/Crown braid is one of those that I always thought was magic. Watching this tutorial was what I was talking about when I said it was like watching a magician reveal a trick.
I just found this cool one. It’s fun to watch being made, though people not seeing the construction would probably just think it’s a clip-on and not give credit to the imagination of the hairstylist.
I can go for decades without thinking of braids, then boom, a thread turns me into a temporarily obsessed YouTube braiding tutorial watcher. It beats washing dishes. Thanks Macca26.
One more. I never knew how extensions (“braiding hair”) worked. Now I do!
