Braids & Beads – Tutorial

Last week was my daughters last day of school. Yes I cried… and cried… and cried.  She graduated from Pre-K on Monday and then had school until Wednesday (don’t completely know why). For her graduation she wore her hair down in wild and beautiful curls.

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For her last day of school she wanted to try something new and different. She wanted to try beads out for the first time. I have never used them but we have had the materials (a bead threader and the beads) for a while. Not sure why I haven’t tried yet because it turned out to be pretty easy! I would recommend trying a bead threader like this instead though.

So the night before we decided to try this out because we had to wash her hair anyways because she decided she wanted to go swimming after graduation to celebrate and our town pool opened that day so her hair was needing a wash. If you would like to know what we use and the steps we take you can check out my Mixed Kids Hair Care Cheat Sheet post.

After washing it I decided on a simple idea that would get the braids and beads my daughter wanted but wouldn’t take HOURS. I decided to just braid the front and give her sort of side bang type braids.

To start I segmented on the portion of hair on the top where I wanted to braid. I started the braid segment at the part where I would normally part her hair above her left eye. I went back until I was able to part down to meet right above her ear.

Sorry for the blur

I put the rest of her hair into a pony to keep it out of the way. Then about 3/4ths an inch in from the part that was above her eye I started to section out my first braid. I parted towards her face and then turned the part to be parallel to her hair line going towards her ear. Keeping the section about the same width the entire time. Then I put a pony in the big section I wasn’t using to keep it separate.

Then I started the braid / cornrow / French braid from the corner, towards the face, then parallel to the face towards her ear. If you would like to know how to do this braiding style I linked a good tutorial in this post. I also share what products I use to keep the braids smooth in this post of another braid tutorial I did.

I did this a few more times until I ran out of hair. On the last braid I didn’t do an angled braid, rather I just braided straight down towards her ear.

Then we too the bead threader and put about 8 beads on it (she chose pink and purple). Because her hair gets thinner towards the ends it was easy for us but I recommend you take it easy at go slow at first. You may even need beads with bigger openings.

Once you put the beads on the threader, you put the hair end through the opening/hole. Keep it situated near the thinner part. Hold the end of the hair and push a few beads up at a time and pull the hair through. Once all the beads are on the hair I secured them by taking the last bead, wrapping the end of her hair up and over it, and wrapped a black rubber band around it. I then slid the other beads down over to cover it and you can’t even see it!

Once I did all 4 braids in the front “bang” area, I brushed back the rest of her hair and put it into a big pony. I then sectioned that up into 4 braids to add a little extra something but you can just put it in one big braid. I also ended up adding a few beads to each braid… again… to be “extra.” Lol. This is completely unnecessary.

That was it. It turned out super cute and she LOVED it. I felt proud of myself for trying something new and not doing TOO bad of a job. Could I have done better? Of course. But that is what practicing is for. You can try and get better too.

She was feeling herself if you couldn’t tell… Lol.

Next I want to try these Dreadlock Bead Cuffs out. Already placed my order through Amazon Prime and should be getting them asap. Can’t wait.

Let me know below if you have been adventurous and tried out a hairstyle that was out of your comfort zone? I would love to hear your stories.

Thanks for reading!

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Check out my previous post –>  Loving Day is our Anniversary!.