Growing with the flow : Dutch Braid "Tuck Under" Hairstyle

Hey ladies.... (yeah?!) do you love an effortless hairstyle that looks like you spent hours on it or do you love an effortless hairstyle that looks like you spent hours on it?!! [see what I did there?! ;) ] Well I sure do! I want to take this moment to say I 100% represent for the greasy hair girls of America. Im talking wash every day, sometimes twice a day, or day two hair looks like I didnt pay the water bill and couldn't shower greasy. Contrary to the words of the wise Juvenile "she get it from her mama" I got it from my daddy. I envy my mothers thick beautiful black hair. That woman can literally go a week without washing and it looks better on the last days than it did on the day of the wash. My dads hair color has also transitioned from red to brown to blondish grey throughout his life and I can say that I also get my hair color from that sweet man. I am forever changing my hair...chopping..coloring...growing..chopping. It's a viscous cycle! My hair is in the awkward in-between short and middle length stage right now where its just long enough to throw on the top of my head and only need 2 bobby pins instead of 239839847 that I have needed the past few months.

This past summer I was browsing Pinterest looking for inspiration for a hairstyle for an upcoming wedding. I can safely say some of the best and worst decisions I have made have been because of Pinterest. Home DIY disasters, OOTD misses, and the epic foodie fails. But I stumbled upon a picture of this braided hairstyle that involved little to no time and was somewhat of an "updo" with all of the hair tucked into a head band. I started to think...headbands. We are all familiar with the dreaded things. Its like you have to have a specific shaped head for that thing to stay put. Playing sports for the majority of my life I know all too well the evolution of the headband. It stays where you put it for approximately 10 minutes then it starts sliding in the most unflattering places on your head. I was definitely skeptical about all my hair being tucked into the two strings of the headband. BUT this "do" had the front part of the hair, or the bangs, braided around the headband. AH HA! I thought...of course it will stay!! So I gave it a go and it was a huge success! So many compliments and literally took 10 minutes to accomplish. I was browsing through my old pictures came across this picture of the braided "do". Obviously I keep all my selfies that I think I look bomb in....don't judge me!Here I was tan, my winged liner was even, & my contour was on point!

[[regular braid above]]

I admit: I rock a braid where my bangs should be whenever I can. With growing my hair out comes the super odd lenghth bangs that never look good so what to do? Braid those bitches!!! The past few months I feel like I have been going through an early mid-life crisis. All my clothes look awful, my skin hates me, and nothing I do to my hair ever looks as cute as I imagine it looking. Even my go-to braided pony....fail! I look like a child again! So I decided to step up my braiding skills and master the "dutch braid". Which I immediately fell in love with!! I LOVE any hairstyle that looks like you have slept on it. Something messy but cute is my everything and that is exactly what a dutch braid is!

The dutch braid is essentially the exact same process as a regular braid. You criss cross the outside pieces under the middle piece of hair for a regular braid. -- You cross them over the middle piece for a dutch braid. Once you finish braiding in a dutch braid you will think....this chick is crazy because this is hideous! [[But wait!]] You have to then go back and pull out the pieces of the braid. Mess it up! It will look beautiful in the end. Promise

For this "do" you will put your headband in where you like it. If you want you can go ahead and tuck all your hair under and into the band. I know it sound weird and your thinking how will it stay? I can't really explain it..it just does! Just keep tucking until all your hair is secure. This hairstyle is super classy without any type of braid and if this is how you want to rock it, braid-less, then more power to you!

For the braid you will take three pieces of hair, one from behind the band and two from in front. [[see below]] Begin your braid whichever way you please (regular or dutch). For the dutch I usually braid once or twice without pulling pieces of rest of the hair to begin the braid. Pull small pieces from each side of the band and keep crossing them over the middle piece. Don't worry if you have some small fly always stick out because you will pull it out and they will blend right in with the rest of the braid. When you finish the braid you can either secure it with a clear elastic band or just hold it with one hand and begin to pull it out with the other. Start at the bottom and pull one "loop" of the braid at a time working your way up to the beginning. I didn't have any little elastics, but I would recommend securing the braid with some type of elastic then just tuck the braid into the rest of your hair in the back.

Once you get the hang of the braiding part this will literally take you 10 minutes or less. Talk about a savior in the morning when you wake up late and can't just throw it on top of your head. This is an extremely chic style to start your day!!