How to Wear a Headpiece and a Braid Tutorial

I love how a hair accessory can completely change your style. With the spring racing season in full swing, a statement headband or head piece can be a great alternative to a hat.

Here are two simple ways to wear a headband including a fun braid tutorial if you like to wear your hair up.

Today I’m using pieces from Anita Carr Design. I first discovered Anita’s beautiful work on Instagram. A new designer from Perth, she’s created a beautiful range of the most unique headpieces and headbands. She’s completely self taught (like me which I love) and has recently come back to her art after having two children. There’s a vintage edge to some of her styles and her colour palette is divine. I love the soft golds and the dusty pink is perfect for this season.

Headbands can have some real pros and cons – they’re very simple to wear but they can be uncomfortable. After wearing Anita Carr’s designs, I can tell you these are some of the most comfortable headbands I’ve worn.

How to wear a headband

These headbands really are a statement in themselves. There’s no need to over complicate them and a great blowdry is all you need to wear them. I recommend going for a blowdry with a little curl or wave in the ends rather than a super straight look.

Check out my blowdry technique tutorial here as part of my Dyson video or alternatively you can use a curling wand as in my soft waves hairstyle tutorial.

Going to the races can be a very long day so I recommend using a flexible hairspray to help hold your hair and keep it looking good all day long. It’s a good idea to keep a purse-size hairspray in your bag. Remember to do my hair hack where you spray the product on your hands then smooth over your hair to catch any flyaways.

Look 2 – Braided upstyle

For a long day out, it can be easier to wear your hair up. This simple tutorial looks much more complicated than it is to do.

It’s a combination of a Dutch braid and a regular braid or plait. The secret is in leaving the front out to add in to a style afterwards to get the perfect finish.

Step-by-step tutorial:

1. Place your headband where you want it to sit. Make sure you leave some hair around your face and that you cover the ends of the headband.
2. Pick up a section of hair just over the end of your headband and split it into three.
3. Begin your Dutch braid. This like a French brain but instead of going over, you cross under. So cross the left under the middle and then the right under the left and on the next section cross under and add in some hair to that section.
4. Continue the Dutch braid low along your hairline adding hair from both sides until your reach around the middle of your neck.
5. Finish your Dutch braid in a regular braid or plait, but before securing the end with an elastic pull out the sides of your braid to stretch it out.
6. Braid the rest of your hair on the other side. This doesn’t need to be a Dutch braid this could just be a regular braid or plait. Remember just stretch it out before using an elastic to secure the end.
7. Pin your Dutch braid across the back of your head with bobby pins. Tuck the ends under to hide them. If your hair is long, you can fold your braid in half.
8. Take your other braid from the right side and pin it underneath the Dutch braid. If your hair is long you can fold it in half again and make sure the ends are tucked underneath.
9. Loop the front sections that we left out back into the style. This adds so much detail into the look and you can do this to suit your face and your hair. You might like to leave more sections out or pin them all quite neatly into the braid.

Styling tips:

• Can’t braid? If you’re struggling with Dutch braids, you can do two pigtails and twist them up into a simple up do.
• Hide your hair bands. I recommend using small clear elastics in this braid as they blend in to the finish style and they won’t stand out.
• Make the style yours. You can really vary this look to suit your hair, it would amazing in curly hair and if you have really straight hair you can even curl it to add in a little more detail. Make sure the sections that sweep back from your face cover the ends the headband to hide them.

I hope you like this tutorial. And let me know if you’d like to see more hairstyles for hats or headpieces. Make sure you go and check out Anita Carr Design and support a fellow small business and beautiful art maker with her gorgeous art pieces.

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