The Beauty Department: Your Daily Dose of Pretty.

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HALF UPDO SHORT HAIR

PHOTOS/POST/GRAPHIC DESIGN: KRISTIN ESS

As promised in the last hair post, I’ll be doing lots of fun tutorials for shorter hair lengths in the upcoming months. Here’s our next one! It’s a half updo which I personally love for attending weddings or for any special occasion where you want to look prim + proper but not overdone. It’s got a french fishtail braid on one side and two tiny fishtail braids on the other side. Here’s how it’s done…

Start with clean, dry hair.
Massage some water based pomade into the root. Flip the hair from one side to other to make sure you really get in there. You don’t want the pomade just sitting on the top layer. When you put it at the root, it helps the hair from being too soft and slipping out of the braid. (If you want my recommendations on pomades for shorter hair, see the links HERE!)
I prefer a side part with this look but you can do center if you want. Up near your part, grab two small sections of hair.
Now just like our fishtail braid you’re going to be crossing the next sections over in an “x” pattern. The difference between a regular fishtail and a french fishtail is simple: just like a french braid, you’re taking new hair for each piece. So it’s like a hybrid of a fishtail and a french braid. (side note: I know we need to do a video for this, and I promise I will try and get that out asap.)
Once you pass the ear, go ahead and switch it to a regular fishtail. In other words, just stop taking new pieces and fishtail the normal way. Tie it off with a tiny clear elastic once you get to the end.
On the other side, you’re going to do two regular tiny fishtails.
Tie those together using a tiny clear elastic once you get to the end.
Pull both sides back and make sure they can meet because you’re going to bound those two clear elastics together using a small bobby pin.
Clip up the top layer of hair. Join the two sides together in back and drive a bobby pin between each elastic, anchoring the two rubber bands together.
Now drop the top layer and let it hide the place where you joined the braids together.
Throw some simple waves in there using a 1″ barrel iron or a wand.
Add a light veil of hairspray and check the back in a mirror!