hair

BRAIDING SHORT HAIR

photos/post/graphic design: Kristin Ess // post brought to you by Pantene Beautiful Lengths

Well Pantene has earned it’s angel wings as far as we’re concerned. They have an incredible program called Pantene Beautiful Lengths. PBL donates real-hair wigs to women who are going through treatment for cancer, free of charge through the American Cancer Society. We are so proud to be supporters of this program, as it’s a cause very close to my heart. We encourage every single one of you who can donate your hair to do it at least once in your life, if not more. It’s a beautiful feeling when you know you’ve helped a girl or a woman who has lost all of her hair unexpectedly.

Now what happens after you “Make the Cut”? So many girls are terrified to chop their hair for charity in fear that they won’t know how to style it after. The minimum donation is 8 inches, so that usually leaves you with a long bob, bob or shorter. Hopefully this short hair braid tutorial will help you and inspire you, knowing that there are plenty of lovely hairstyles to create on shorter hair. Okay, here we go:

1. Start with clean, air-dryed hair and find a good side-part. If your hair is naturally wavy or curly you can skip the next step.
2. Curl your hair with a 1″ barrell iron. Why curl your hair when you’re just going to put it up? Curl helps braids to stay in place. If you add some quick curls to straight hair before braiding, the hairs tend to “hug” each other a little more and not pop out of the braid as much.
3. Pour a nickel or quarter sized dab of Pantene Beautiful Lengths Strengthen & Smooth Finishing Creme between your palms and rub it around. This will give the hair a little help with hold and add some texture.
4. Work it into your hair from the roots to ends.
5. Next, clip off the front sections. These sections should start behind your ear and go up to the front hairline (see photo). Do the same thing on both sides.
6. Then you’re going to roll the hair in back. Start behind the ear– “gather + roll, gather + roll, gather + roll”. Spray + pin as you go if you need to. Once you get that roll to the bottom, cross over your neck + bobbypin it.
7. Do the exact same roll on the opposite side. Cross over the neck and bobby pin it (see photo).
8. This is what the back should look like once you’ve pinned those pieces into place. See how they overlap a little? You want the pieces to cross. Be sure to roll them tight and pin them well. This might take a little practice, but once you get it, it’s very easy.
9. Alright, now diagonally divide the heavier front section. You’ll want to run 2 braids side by side. Start with the one that will be higher up. I like an inside-out braid for this look because inside-out braids look fuller.
10. Once you get the braid to the back, twist the tail and pin it into your twists in the back.
11. Repeat this process for the front braid…
12. and pin it to the back as well.
13. The other side can be twisted, braided, just pulled back and pinned– whatever you think looks best. We just pulled it back and pinned it into the twists in back.
14. Check the back in a hand mirror for any random runaway pieces, then spray it with a strong holding hairspray.

If you donate your hair or if you already have, we want to hear about it! Tell us your story below. And thank you in advance to those of you who will eventually build up the courage to give a portion of your lovely locks to another who needs it even more than you do.

If you want to learn more about Pantene Beautiful Lengths, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

For length requirements and donation instructions, PLEASE CLICK HERE.