Lifestyle : Latest Hairstyles for Braids for black hair

Looking good has always been an essential part of our basic day- to-day life. There is no asking why we love to look great. We all want to feel good about ourselves whenever we are out or hanging around people. It is something that we have learnt as we grew up. Perhaps, looking good also builds up confidence around people. Many things contribute to looking good and styling our hair is one of those factors. There are so many styles of hair in this world that it is almost impossible to remember the names or try them all out. But there are also a few hairstyles that most people use in their everyday life. Tying a braid is one of those styles; mainly for women. Although common, braids make a person look different, and it is not just one hairstyle but a category in which many more styles fall. We are going to get you, hairstyles for braids that you might have been confused about trying, or did not know, existed. We are also going in a bit more deep by learning a little about how and when hairstyles for braids started and evolved.

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Let us get down to types of braids

Here are a few easy and awesome types of braids mentioned below. There is no counting of all the styles of braids that exist in this world. It is mainly because people come up with something new and different almost every day. And under each type, there comes in any case, let us keep going on with the article. We will take a quick look at the latest braids styles for black hair.

Box braids

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If you do not have much ideas on how to style box braids, check this picture and you will realize it is not too hard to tie box braids, but it is pretty time-consuming. This braids style is distinguished by its square-shaped or “boxy” divisions of hair. Such braiding can also be done by adding Kanekalon hair, i.e. synthetic braiding hair. Box braids fall as one of the oldest and trendiest of styling braids. One of the most efficient braiding styles, box braids does not even require high maintenance. They can last for months with proper care. Does your hair get sticky and damn during summer, giving you a tough time? This braids hairstyles will get you going.

Afro kinky braids

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With afro kinky braids, you can attain a more neat and trendy look. This braid style can definitely put you on the radars of the crowd. This hairdo comes with twisted braids. You can wear this cool designs everyday as well as on special events. If you have too long and curly hair, you can experiment with the different kinds of afro kinky braids. This is cool because this hairstyle goes on women of all age. It is one of the best braids for black hair.

Crochet braids

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Also known as Latch hook braids, Crochet braid is a technique you can use to braid your hair. As the name suggests, you will have to crochet synthetic hair extensions on to your natural hair using a crochet or a latch hook. This look is related to African-American hair culture. This braiding technique is a mixture of traditional braiding style with modern looks. Although braids, it is pretty similar to weaves. Usually, your hair may need to be styled into cornrows before the synthetic hair can be attached using a crochet or latch hook. It is a mind-blowing hairdo whatsoever.

Some unique hairstyles were saved for formal occasions like wedding and other such rituals. The leaders of the community would put on those styles. Among braids hairstyle, Cornrows are the popular ones indicating cultural traditions and customs. Did you know, Wolof men, the tribe we now know as The Gambia and Senegal would wear braids during war? Massai tribe boys in Tanzania and South Kenya spend a lot of time to design their hair with different braid styles.

The present world recognizes braiding as just style but that was not the case before. Braiding hair takes a lot of time, and this opportunity were utilized by women back in the day to socialize. It is kind of the same with many other countries if we talk about early life. In our communities, women would all sit together to tie braids, and with the time it took to wrap up their styling, they would share their stories and problems with each other.

Here are some African braids hairstyles pictures you can try for styling

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Source: Styleinterest

Source: Styleinterest

Source: Styleinterest

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In this way, braids became more than just fashion, and were implemented in the social lives of our people. The art of tying braids are often passed down by an elder to a young girl. Now-a-days, with the coming of internet, such creation has become even more convenient to practice. In a way, tying braids also refers to good friendship. Mostly, only good friends get the option to tie braids to our hair.

There are many different ways to braid your hair. Every other technique will lead you to tie a different braid style. But we want to make things simple for you, and not hard. So, let us go with the traditional method of braiding your hair. If you are not aware of braids and do not know how to style braids properly, you can check out this Wikihow link on how to tie braids.

Perks of braiding your hair

Braiding is more than just style. Since it has been in practice since ancient times, there must have been good reasons for keeping the trend alive. Tying braids help keep your hair clean, although it might sound just strange to you, but believe it; this is true. People even today braid their hair when they do not have enough time to wash their hair. Braids also help keep your hair from becoming a hindrance while working. Another important function of braids is that they prevent split ends.

Hairstyles braids have become a fashion statement since long. You can come up with variety of looks every day. And braids have evolved to more than just the plain one. There are now so many different hairstyles braids such as cornrow, dreads, twist-hair braids, kinky, box hair braids, bob braids, Senegalese twist and many others. Each of these styles needs their own set of timing and styling. Now that we are done taking about latest hairstyles for braids, let's discuss the braids’ history from where it all started.

History of braids

Many hairstyles have come and gone but braids remained since age old. Yes, braids have existed since ancient times. You might have watched classic movies where most girls, young and old, have braided hair. You probably even tie braids at home or outdoors. This hairstyle has appeared on the heads of humans- both women and men all over the world’s history. Different countries and their early beauty techniques are related with different kinds of braids styles.

Different patterns of tying braids in different places usually specified a person’s ethnicity, wealth, social status, and age, religious amalgamation etc back in the days. In Africa, braids are a fragment of tribal traditions and customs. Its roots can take us back to 3500 BC, where braids denoted wealth and social status because they were used on wigs which were worn by royal groups. Numerous tribes exist on the large African continent. We have always regarded braids as our people’s custom as well as a fashion statement. Each of our regions has their own traditional braid variants and style patterns. Different tribes used to embellish their crowns with rare braids styles which reflected their origin and region.

Let us take a look at the evolution of braids

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Let us go back in time and learn about the evolution of braids.

Cornrows, Africa (3500 BC)

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This is probably where it all started. The Cornrow braids style is created by braiding small portions of hair in rows closely to the scalp. A French ethnologist discovered a rock painting with his team. The painting was from the Stone Age and it was found in Sahara’s Tassili Plateau. The painting dated back to 3500 BCE and it had a lady wearing cornrows feeding her kid. Similarly, a 500 BCE Nigerian clay sculpture had a Nok civilization figure wearing cornrows to the head.

Egyptian braid (3100 BCE)

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Egyptians scorn body hair. But their love for hair on the head can be traced back to ancient times. That is why they styled their hair using jewels, extensions, beads and wigs. They probably used braids to keep their head cool even in the scorching climatic conditions. We all recognize the look of “Cleopatra”. That is how they braided their hair; by separating their hair in to separate strands of braids which would have beads on them. Sometimes, they would weave in beads from down to the roots to its tips, while at times; just to keep the weight light, added beads to the tip of each braid. If you do not know of the wealthy Queen Meryet-Amun, she was buried along with additional braids.

Greek goddess & flavian flava braids 91st century BCE

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In ancient Greece, many women and slaves would keep their hair short. Similarly, Spartan women, who would participate in games kept their hair short for obvious reasons. However, wealthy women were seen with long braided hair; arranged and twisted in fancy styles for important gatherings and events. It seems like that used to portray their social status and persona.

Native American braids (Pre CE)

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Braids are usually imagined to be related to traditional hairstyles of the Native Americans. But that is just a fragment of the fact that there have been 500+ tribes of Native Americans. And it can be fairly assumed that every tribe had their own meaning and customs related to braids. Wisconsin, Kiowa, and Cayuse women would have braids in their head. The Kiowas would sometimes let their hair loose while the Cayuse wore two lengthy braids. The Wisconsin styled their braids with ribbons and would keep one long braid down their backs.

For the Quapaw Women, singles braided their hair and would sometimes roll and wear the braids behind their ears. Married women would leave their hair loose. Interestingly, Plains Indians used to wear 2 long braids, but these were men. The Plains Indian women would have short hair; shorter than the men. Speaking of gender differentiations!

Ancient celts (750 BCE)

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Once occupants of Western Europe and British Isles; the ancient Celts were powerful fair-skinned, tall people popular for their fancy clothing and hair styles during 750 BCE. Although great in the department of style, even the Romans and the Greeks were interested in the ancient Celts. The women and men had long hair- with the noble class styling fancy detailed braids which were mostly well-decorated. For those who were working people, braids were simply meant to keep the hair away from their work.

Medieval Europe (1066-1485)

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Back in those periods, showcasing long flowing hair was forbidden. Things were not at all the same as now. If an elder women belonging from a noble family would be seen around with their hair unfurled or head uncovered, they were accused of being witches. That is the reason behind the well-known styles of braids such as the braided crown, the double braid, the fishtail braid, or the double braided bun usually were covered using head-pieces.

Mongolian undercover braids (13th century)

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We do not know about you but Mongolians have always been standing out as style influencers. This is not new but has been going on since old times. With the expansion of the Mongol Empire during the 13th century, women of the noble families would wear fancy hairpieces and styled their hair elaborately. Hundreds of years later, photography came into business. That is when the rest of the world had a glimpse of the wealthy Mongolian Halh ethnic group’s summer outfits and trendy hairstyles of the 19th century.

They would prepare such cool and styles; it is heard that Queen Amiadala from Star Wars is said to have been inspired from that style. They wore elaborated wing-style hairstyles with the tips of their hair kept covered using braid-sheaths. In the modern world, you can still find Mongolian women wearing two braids, long and hidden similarly with designed black cloth bags.

The Chinese braid “Queue” (1644)

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This braids style is also known popularly as the “Queue” and this unique braids were worn by Manchuria’s Manchu males during the Qing dynasty, the last imperial dynasty of China. This braid style can be seen in those old-school Chinese Kung-Fu movies. Men would shave all the hair on top of their temples and the rest of the long hair would be tied into a pigtail. The braid would go down their back. It would be considered treacherous if one did not wear the queue and people would even be executed for this reason. They surely took braids to another level.

The modern cornrow (1970s)

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The modern version of probably the oldest type of braids that started the trend of braiding hair can be mostly seen worn by the African-Americans. The Black Is Beautiful movement in the 1970s motivated people to accept their base and natural hair texture and patterns. This was against the trend of using chemically enhanced substances to straighten the hair.

When we speak about cornrow braids, it would be incomplete without mentioning a few instances. Blake Edwards, a director, filmed Bo Derek wearing a swimsuit and flashing a cornrow while running in slow motion. Since then, many celebrities were seen sporting cornrows- Justin Timberlake, Madonna, Juliette Lewis, Axl Rose, K-Fed and many others.

Braiding becomes digital (2005)

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Everybody knows what YouTube is. This video site was launched in 2005 and just 8 years later, YouTube had over 1 million videos on braiding. This is without even counting Instagram, Pinterest and such other sites. Braiding has now been made accessible to everyone using the internet. You can avail many such tutorials for the latest and most trending ways of styling braids.