Basic Braiding Class...

Working on a Hair Braiding class for the camping event this weekend.  I'm two thirds of the way through my outline, and want to pat myself on the back for finally sitting down and figuring out what needs to be in the class without begging someone else to do it "with" me.

Here's the first two pages of my notes, let me know what you think:

Basics of Hair Braiding,

Or “Just Get It Off My Neck”

Lady Petronia Casta

So today I’m to teach you about Period Braided Hairstyles.  Show of hands, who knows how to braid?  Okay, and who knows how to french braid?  Okay, those that don’t know how to French braid, you’re just fine.  Most research I’ve come across says that augmentation braiding, where you add a new section of hair to the braid strands with each pass, isn’t correct for the SCA’s period.  I have one resource that uses French braids for a Roman hairstyle, but that technically predates our period.  And for most of the styles I plan to share with you today, you don’t need to know how to french braid.

But you do need to know how to braid, and if those that know will bear with us, those that don’t know how should come to the front.  The hardest part of braiding is to divide the hair into three equal sections.  Hair is less dense at the ends than at the scalp, due to breaking, cutting and styling.  Proper sectioning is a learned skill; you get better at it the more often you do it.  Sections of hair from the forehead and temple areas will get smaller than sections from the center back and nape as you work your way down the length of the braid, so those front sections should be larger went you start.  After dividing the hair, cross the right section to the center, thereby trading places with the center section.  Cross the left hand section over the new center section, trading places again.  Continue down the length of the braid, alternating right and left sections.

The braid will diminish in size as you travel the length of it, and at some point it will become difficult to continue braiding.  This is usually the point where you want to tie off the braid.  Sometimes a larger tassel of hair is desired, and you can tie off earlier than that if desired.

Tying off a braid brings me to the next section of my notes: Materials, or what you’ll need in a braiding kit.  For the most basic of braiding styles, you will need only some way of tying off the end of your braid so that it doesn’t unbraid itself.  People with extremely curly hair can sometimes avoid even that, as their hair ends will curl together and seal the braid.  For the vast majority of us though tying off requires something else.  Modern elastics are a wonderful item as far as time and convenience are concerned.  A large bag of clear elastics will set you back $2 or so, and last through scores of hairstyles.  They tend to hide well enough in period hairstyles and for the most part are easily ignorable.

  

Other items that should be included in a braid kit include methods of securing the braids into the elaborate styles of the later eras.  This is a bobby pin.  This is completely useless when it comes to working with braids.  Bobby pins pinch the hair to hold it in place, and are only useful for loose hair.

Hair pins are U shaped bits of wire with the tips coated to not snag hair.  They come in a variety of sizes, colors, materials to accommodate all types of hair.  These are the pins that you want to use for hair styling any thing that involves braiding, twisting, buns or tight styles.  They work by tension in the hair.  The pins are given a little pinch or a twist as they’re inserted so they exert pressure against the tightness of the hair.  However, natural movement of the head can cause the pins to work their way out

Hairpins are relatively modern, being mass manufactured heavily in the 19^th century.  The more accurate method for tying off braids and securing tresses is to use a large eyed, blunt needle and thread to sew through the hair.  The tension of the tight hair allows the thread to hold it in place, braced against the next section of the braid.  Thus the thread can replace both the elastic band and the hair pins, becoming a much more efficient and more stable method of securing the hairstyle.  The difficulty with sewing ones tresses is trying to sew something you cannot see and is on the back of your head.  Thus most hairstyles requiring sewing are likely to indicate a higher ranking individual, someone that can afford servants to do their hair.  It is possible to sew one’s own hair, just difficult.

The next few items in the braiding kit are not precisely necessary, but are damned useful.  A variety of brushes and combs are useful to have if working on different textures of hair.  The comb can also be used to section hair, especially if you own a rattail comb.  Another tool that is great for dividing hair is a set of hair sticks, chopsticks or hair bodkins.  These historical hairpins are also great to the hold hair out of the way when working on a section.  And the final “items” in a braiding kit are all the decorative elements that are used to adorn the final hairstyle.  Ornamental hairsticks are nice to dress up simple styles as well as hold things in place.  I try to always keep stocked on pearl headed corsage pins to use for pinning veils and for simple decoration.  I’ll also keep a couple cheap spools of ribbon for hair taping.  The list of decorative bits gets long and sometimes random; just make sure to clear out the superfluous junk every so often.