Braid Hairclip

Hi! Have you ever fancied having one of those colourful hipster string braids in your hair? You know, the ones they offer at little stalls near the beach? Not near one of them right now? Not allowed them for school or work? Never fear. Today you will learn how to create one of those colourful braids...that is attached to a hair clip, so that you can put it on, take it off, or relocate it whenever you please! How about that? And the best part is, it's really easy!

You will need:

-1 ordinary hairclip

-3 strands of colourful string/not too thin thread (I recommend them being about the length of the distance between your hands when you spread them out horizontally, but you can change it to suit the length of your hair.)

-1 pair of scissors (which you have probably already used to cut your string)

-1 quite heavy item, e.g. a thick book or, in my case, a snow globe

-1 mirror (just to look in, not cut up and stick anywhere - don't worry)

Step 1:

Put your three strands together, and make sure that at one end, they are all the same length. Roughly 10cm from this end, tie a knot. Just a normal knot. Do two on top of each other if you're really worried it's going to come loose, but it will be fine with just one.

Step 2:

I recommend doing this part on a table. Put your heavy item on top of the 10cm strip of string just above the knot. Now move your heavy item and its piece of string as close as possible to the edge of the table, so that the strings are not lying on the table, but are in the air. If you know how to plait, great: go ahead and do so until you're nearly at the bottom of your three strings. If you don't know how to, I'm sure there are many websites that would teach you how (it's not hard). Don't worry about making mistakes in your plaiting - it adds to the character of your braid hairclip. I know that I made plenty!

Step 3:

When you think your braid is nearing the length of your hair, go to a mirror. Grip, with a finger and thumb, where you are up to with your plaiting, and with your other hand, hold the braid against your hair, with the top quite near to the parting. If your braid is nearly the length of your hair, you can stop braiding. If not, keep doing some more plaiting and some more checking until it is nearly the length of your hair. The reason why I say nearly the length of your hair is because when you tie the bottom of your plaiting, there will be the three strands of string poking out at the bottom, and they will make the braid a bit longer, and make it the actual length of your hair.

Step 4:

I realise I've given you a bit of a spoiler, but oh well. Tie a knot (the same kind you tied at the top of the braid) where the plaiting finishes. Now cut the extra strands to size, to make the length of the braid more similar to the length of your hair.

Step 5:

Remember that 10cm strip of three strings at the top? Take it, and push it upwards through the middle hole of your hairclip. (See the picture for more clarity.) Pull it nice and tight, until it is stopped by the knot on the underside of the hairclip. Now tie a knot there, and make that tight, so that the hairclip can't move much between the two knots on either side of it. You might want to do an extra knot on top of it, just to be safe. (I did - I think this knot has more of a chance of untying than the one I said didn't need an extra knot earlier.) Now clip off the extra string on top of this double knot, leaving about 1/2cm of string remaining.

Step 5:

Clip it into your hair and wear it with pride.

And there you have it! Your very own reusable braid hairclip that should last you ages! It wasn't that hard, was it?

Issy