French Braid Updo on Natural Hair

This french braid updo on natural hair is PERFECT for all seasons – spring, summer, fall or winter and totally works with a hat (SCORE)!  

Since it’s pretty much summer here in AZ, I find myself not wanting to do my hair as much (who am I kidding? That’s year ’round – LOL).  It’s super hot, I love the pool (wet hair, don’t care), and since I’ve grown my hair out from my tapered cut it’s just a lot of maintenance to keep my styles… well, besides the wash and go I love!

This french braid updo gives me the versatility that I crave while allowing me to keep my hands out of my hair for a long lasting style (it’s also a great hairstyle for exercising).  Here’s how I styled it:

Products Used:
To Wash
Shea Moisture JBCO Shampoo
Obia Naturals Babassu Deep Conditioner
Shea Moisture JBCO Leave-In Conditioner

To Style
Alikay Naturals Leave-In Conditioner
Shea Moisture JBCO Styling Lotion
Design Essentials Natural Honey and Shea Edge Control

These products can be substituted for your favorites.  These products were at the top of the box from my recent move, but that’s another blog post for another day!

I first cleansed my hair and just let it air dry into a puff style.  The next day, I used my Q Redew to stretch out my hair.  I know I haven’t formally done a review on the Q Redew here, but you can learn more about it here.

Once my hair was stretched, I sectioned it into 5 sections – two in the back, two on the sides and one in the middle/front.  Initially, I made the parts in the back too big for my liking so you can see me alter them in the video.

In all of the sections excluding the front I installed french braids, you know – the kind of braids that look invisible but are the cousins to the cornrow.  I used the leave-in for moisture and the lotion for styling.  I twisted them together and secured them with Bobbi pins.

As for the rest of my hair I installed medium sized single two strand twists and twisted them upward to create a pompadour.  To slick down my edges, I used a big of edge control around the perimeter of my head and tied a scarf around it to get them to lay flat (only takes a few minutes to set).

Then, I played with the styling.  I took my favorite hat and successfully wore that with three different styles underneath, not to mention I could sport each one of those styles WITHOUT a hat.  Six styles much?  Actually, there were 8.  If I had just worn the twists down that would have been two more styles (with and without the hat).

This style wasn’t the easiest style I’ve ever installed due to the inverted french braid (similar to this one here), but I believe it will be worth wearing!

Need help on how to wear your hat over your natural hair? Click here.