5-stranded braid, third attempt

Today I was going to just try to braid like yesterday for the practise, but I suddenly had an idea that I needed to try.

I split my hair up as shown here:

First I split it in 1 and 2 and pulled the parts in front of my shoulders. Then in 3, 4 and 5. I pulled 1 and 2 backwards and switched 4 and 5 to the front of my shoulders. I braided 1, 2 and 3 like a regular 3-stranded braid, before adding 4 and 5 as a 5-stranded.

It worked pretty well!

So what was the difference from my very first attempt? The sad fact that my hair from ears and down is a lot less dense coarse than the top and that in my first attempt those parts ended up pitifully thin which didn’t help me in the braiding at all.

Of course it also really helps that I’m beginning to get a bit of “feel” for it.

My only complaint would be purely cosmetic, that when I added 4 and 5, it “drowned” the detail of adding 3.

Since hubby and I were going out, I ended up pinning the braid up in a bun. Even though I have never experienced any unwanted touching or too pushy attention, I’m still a bit paranoid about it.

With the 5 stranded braid bunned up, I noticed what must be the biggest difference for me: It was really flat. Usually my 3 stranded braids turn into real “balls” and refuse to lie flat, which is the main reason for my favourite bun being a braided Nautilus.  The 5 stranded bun stayed flat and snug all day. Strange how two extra strands can make such a big difference in a bun!