- Everyone, Kayley here.
Today it's time for another deep dive,
and today we're gonna tackle the waterfall braid.
This was requested so, so much in the comments
and I was torn between doing a tutorial on this
or a french braid so I asked you guys on Twitter,
and the waterfall braid won by a huge margin,
so thank you Twitter, that's what we're doing today.
(groovy techno music)
As always we're gonna start with the basic steps
and then I'm gonna break it down a little bit more.
And my goal is for all of you guys to be able to do
a waterfall braid by the end of this.
Let's get into it.
So waterfall braids are kind of annoying
in the sense that you don't get to do
the same thing on each side.
Normally with a braid you have like
three steps and then repeat the same thing
on the other side, and there's like a cadence
and a rhythm to it.
But you don't have that with the waterfall braid,
each side is different.
So instead of thinking about it in terms of like
this side and then repeat, you're gonna think
of both sides of the braid as one cohesive unit,
and that's how you're gonna find your rhythm in this braid.
So once you braid it a few times normally
we're gonna get started.
Step one is to lace braid the top,
which is where you pick up a little bit of hair,
put it with your top section, and braid it over.
(groovy techno music)
Then step two, you're going to braid
the bottom side normally.
Step three is a funny one.
We're gonna swap out this bottom piece for a new one.
So you're gonna drop this piece and pick up another one
right next to the braid.
And then you start over.
So step one is to lace braid.
Step two, braid the bottom normally.
And step three, swap out this new bottom section.
So drop it, pick up another piece
right next to your braid.
So one more time, you go lace,
normal, and switch.
You drop that bottom section and pick up a new one.
And then you just keep going.
(groovy techno music)
And I've gone as far as I want to now
so I'm just gonna braid the rest normally.
(groovy techno music)
And secure it with an elastic.
(groovy techno music)
And there is the big picture.
You've just got those three steps
and you can try them a few times
and see if it comes to you.
If you're still struggling, stick around,
'cause we're gonna break it down a little bit more.
If you've watched one of my braid deep dives before
you know what's coming next, spirit fingers.
And by that I mean we're gonna talk
about what to do with our hands.
So in my dutch braid video I showed you guys
the live long and prosper technique.
Today we're gonna do something similar,
but a little different.
I want you to go okay, so you have your thumb
and index finger together.
Then you're gonna put your ring and pinky finger together.
These two are gonna hold your braid sections
and this is gonna hold the extra hair every now and then.
So get your hands like this and you're ready to braid.
So what that looks like on the hair
is that you're going to grab your section
you're gonna braid, split it into three,
and then your hand is actually gonna match up
with these three sections.
So you've got these two, you're gonna make your little
modified okay symbol where you've got your thumb section
and your pinky section, flip it upside down,
grab the outside with your pinky section,
and the middle with your thumb section.
And this is our free section basically,
so this is the one that's gonna get braided over.
And to braid it over you're just gonna put that
with your middle finger.
So it goes to the middle.
And then you'll notice your three sections
are already lined up perfectly to switch hands.
So you're gonna take your pinky to the outside section,
thumb to the middle section, and then you have
your free section which is gonna go over into the middle
because we're braiding normally.
If you were gonna braid in any more hair or anything
you will be doing that right now,
but we're doing a normal braid
so that goes to the middle.
And then you switch hands again.
Pinky, thumb, free section, goes in the middle.
Pinky, thumb, middle.
And one more time.
Pinky, thumb, middle.
Feels a little funny but you need to practice that
because once we have that technique down
it's really gonna help you with that waterfall braid.
So just practice with me and braid your section
all the way down using that method.
Once you feel like you have this method down
you are ready to add in the waterfall braid steps.
So here's the deal, every time I want you
to switch your hands over like we just practiced
I'm gonna say change.
So whenever I say change you know it's time
to do the pinky, thumb, but then hold the middle
and wait for further instructions.
Okay, let's go.
So to get started you wanna get that little
okay hand position going.
So you're gonna have your pinky,
thumb, free section.
Let's go ahead and braid twice normally.
So braid over, and change.
Braid over, and change.
And now we're gonna get started with the steps.
Step one is to lace braid, which means
you're gonna pick up some new hair up here,
which is basically right next to the braid.
Then you're gonna put both that hair
and our braiding section into your middle section.
And that is step one.
So just to hit that one more time,
pick up new hair, put it with your braiding section,
put it in the middle.
And then change.
So pinky, thumb, free section.
Step three is to normal braid which means
all you have to do is put this free section
into your middle finger.
Step four is to swap out the hair
that's in your thumb section.
So you're literally just gonna take this section
out of your thumb, pick up a new one right next to it,
and put that into your thumb section.
And step five, change.
Pick up pinky, thumb, free section.
And that's it, those are the five steps.
That might've sounded like a lot, stick with me.
We're gonna do it again, it gets easier.
So step one is to lace braid, so pick up that new hair
and put it in your middle finger.
Step two is to change.
So pinky, thumb, free section.
Step three, normal braid.
Step four, swap out the hair in your thumb section.
So drop that, pick up some new hair.
And step five, you're gonna change again.
So pinky, thumb, free section.
So now let's do it a little bit quicker.
You're gonna lace.
Change.
Normal.
Swap.
And change.
So you're basically thinking, lace, change,
normal, swap, change.
And if you can stick with that rhythm
you can keep this going.
So again, lace.
Change.
Normal.
Swap.
And change.
And that is your waterfall braid.
And now that this braid is as far as I want it to be
I'm just gonna braid the rest normally.
(groovy techno music)
And there you go, you have a waterfall braid.
That is how you're gonna do this braid,
but I'm also gonna add in one more tip
for those of you guys who wanna braid this
all the way around your head.
So I'm trying to braid all the way around my head.
I've gone back this far and I don't feel like
I can hold this position any more.
So it's time to switch hands.
And that can be one of the hardest things
about doing a waterfall braid.
But don't worry, your training has prepared you for this.
We're gonna use our little okay method
to make this happen.
So ideally you want to do this after you've completed
step four which is to swap out this piece of hair,
like drop the old one, pick up a new one.
Or step three if you're following the basic method.
Now all we really have to do to switch our hands
is that you want this hand that's been on the bottom
to switch around to the top,
and while you're doing that you want to keep
these three pieces of hair in the same order
they're currently in.
And it's okay 'cause you can use your little
okay method to do that.
You're gonna reach over the top
and your pinky section is gonna pick up the top section.
Your thumb section is gonna pick up the middle.
And then you can actually just kind of like let this
third one hang down.
And then you're gonna do that change one more time
as you normally would with your new bottom hand.
So you're gonna pick up the bottom one with your pinky,
middle with your thumb,
and this is now your free section
and you're ready to go on and continue braiding.
So now I'm gonna keep braiding across the back of my head
and I'll meet you guys back around here
when I have to change my hands again.
Okay so now I've braided as far as I can with my hands
in this position, it's getting kind of uncomfortable,
so this hand is gonna become the top hand.
We're gonna do our little changeover twice
like I just showed you.
So first, we're gonna reach this hand around on top.
Pinky on top.
Thumb for the middle.
And then you can let this bottom section drop.
And then we're gonna do that change again
with our pinky and middle.
So you're gonna pick up the bottom section
with your pinky finger.
You're gonna pick up the middle section with your thumb.
And then this is our free section,
we're ready to keep braiding.
(groovy techno music)
And there you go.
(groovy techno music)
And that my dears is a waterfall braid.
If you can do this braid you can do a whole lot.
If you try this a few times and you struggle,
congratulations, you are human,
practice makes progress, I really encourage you
to keep at it, this braid will eventually click
and you'll be so excited to have a new braid in your skills.
So that is it for today guys.
Leave in the comments what braid
you'd like to learn how to do next.
Hit that subscribe button for more hair tutorials
for every day, and come back next Saturday
for another tutorial.
I'll see you then.
Bye.
(groovy techno music)