How To 4 Strand Braid Tutorial

Four Strand Braid Or "Jewel In The Middle Braid" Video Tutorial

We had quite a few requests for a tutorial on the ribbon braid shown at the end of our silly vacuum ponytail video the other day (which can be found here: Vacuum Ponytail) so we wanted to make a tutorial for you.  FYI, this 4 strand braid is not our creation... it has most likely been around since the beginning of braiding. ;)

This braid is called "jewel in the middle" because of the strand that runs down the center of the plait. We have shown french braided versions of this braid in a couple of our videos before, but not the regular braid until now (which surprises me because it is actually one of our favorite braids and the Princess wears it all the time!)  To see a french braided version we call the "pleated ribbon braid" click here: 4 strand french braid And a lace braid version here: 4 strand lace braid

How to 4 strand braid video tutorial:

 
As shown in our video, the middle strand of hair in this braid can be replaced with ribbon, beads, fabric, leather, a braided strand... whatever you want! This braid is so unique looking, especially when the edges are stretched. It's just so pretty!

In the photo above, we braided in a beaded necklace.  I think this is my favorite of all the variations we have tried with this braid.  We have also done this with a standard gold chain necklace, which turned out lovely as well.

The photo below is the braid with an added ribbon as the middle strand....

The next two hairstyle photos shown are of a side braid, without adding an elastic to the top and braiding the middle strand.  In the first photo, I made the braid quite messy and "chunky" by stretching the edges of the braid more drastically and using a thicker braid for the middle strand....

This next braid was done the same way as the photo above, but left a little "neater" by not stretching the sides out quite as much and using a thinner braid in the middle.

There are several other versions of a 4 strand braid that we know of: A woven flat 4 strand and a round 4 strand (which we have not done a tutorial on yet.)

There you have it!  Everything you could ever want to know about this braid.  ;)

Source : princesshairstyles[dot]com