Avainsana: Headband

How to make a starburst braid

lacebraid headband into starburst bun lacebraid headband into starburst bun

Every time I make a ”starburst” braid, I get so many people asking how to do it. Even strangers on the street stop to ask whether the hair goes to the middle or comes from there… So I finally decided to do some step-by-step pictures.

how to do a starburst braid

I started with a lace braid headband to keep hair out of the face.

After I braided from left ear to the right (adding hair from the right only), I put a clip on the braid and made a little ponytail in the middle of the rest of the hair, leaving some loose hair all around.

You don’t have to do the first part of the braid (the lace braid headband), you could just start by making a ponytail in the middle of the head and leaving some loose hair all around the ponytail.

Next, unclip the braid and start french braiding it. Every time you add hair strands to the braid from the left, add it from the ponytail. And when you add hair from the right, add it from the loose hair around the ponytail.

Carry on french braiding around the ponytail, picking up loose hair to add to the right side of the braid and hair from the ponytail to add to the left.

Once you’ve braided all around, finish with a normal 3 strand braid. Then tuck the braid inside the french braid, and secure with couple of bobby pins.

So, it’s not as complicated as it looks. It’s a bit tricky to make the ponytail in the beginning, and you might need some practice to find out how thick the strands of hair should be,  when you add hair from the ponytail. The model here is my eldest daughter with incredibly thick hair, but I need to do quite a lot thinner strands on the other two girls. And the outcome looks quite different, but still nice.

When you master this, you can do the beautiful starburst double bun: french braid into two french braid buns

More braided headbands

lace braid headbandCouple of weeks ago I showed you how to do a french braid headband. This lace braid headband is a bit more original, but in my opinion, easier to make and nicer looking. If you want to try it, there are just two easy steps:

First, put most of the hair onto a normal ponytail, but leave loose a few cm wide strip of hair in the front from ear to ear.

Then, make a lace braid from one ear to another: as a french braid, but only pick up hair from the side of the face. Open the pony tail, and that’s it.

I think this looks nicer than the french braid headband as you can’t see a parting at the back of the headband. Also, this is excellent in the summer, as she won’t get a line of sunburn at the back of the headband. And for some reason, this holds better and longer than the french braid headband.

Next, you can try a double lace braid headband, which is the same as above, but just do it twice. And if you want another variation, you can simply add a pretty headband between the two braided headbands.

double lace braid headbandDSC_1015

I love all of these, as they last long, and if you want to keep it for a few days, you can change it slightly by tying the rest of the hair on a ponytail or braiding it.