Hair Trend To Try: The Messy Braid

Posted by Lauren | Thursday April 14, 2011

Rainy mornings and muggy days call for a hairstyle that's up and out of your face. If you're tired of your go-to-pony or ballerina bun, why not try a messy braid? The style looks chic and effortless pulled off to the side, but it can easily be modified to suit your style—high, low or pulled to the back.

Check out some of the celebs that are loving the messy braid:

Jennifer Hudson ( via glamour.com), Amanda Seyfried (via style.com), Lauren Conrad (via hills2city.com)

Minka Kelly (via glamour.com), Ashley Greene (via stylebistro.com), Brittany Snow (via celebsalon.com)

Here's how to get the look in six easy steps:

Step 1 Give your hair a little personality by spritzing it with Aussie Sprunch Hair Spray or another texture spray. Feel free to tease the roots and add a little list to the crown before you braid as well.

Step 2 Decide whether you want they hair in-front or behind your ears and then pull all of your hair to the desired side of your head.

Step 3 Begin by braiding a typical three-strand braid. Make sure to keep the style loose enough to play with but tight enough to keep it in place. If you really want to make it messy, tease sections of the hair as you go.

Step 4 Once you finish braiding, secure the end with an elastic.

Step 5 Gently pull and loosen a few pieces of braided hair, again the messier you want it the more you need to pull out.

Step 6 Take very small pieces of hair at the end of the braid and pull them free to give it that unfinished look.

Have you tried the messy braid? How did your first try turn out?

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5 Comments

	on April 14, 2011 cathy3087 98 said: Okay I should definitely try using products! Usually when I do it it's because I've left my hair natural, which is curly/wavy and not very smooth, so I'd really expect it to last better on my natural hair than on girl's I've seen with silky straight hair whose braid stays perfect (grrr). It's probably the products that do the trick.
	on April 14, 2011 LaurenBlair 128 said: Siofan's probably right; maybe if you tease it a bit more (just to keep it in place) the style might last longer.
	on April 14, 2011 Siofan 50 said: @Cathy3087 using texturizer and some hairspray will keep the hair from slipping. Your hair is probably just to healthy and shiny, you need to rough it up, ha! Redken Fabricate 03 is a really great texturizer.
	on April 14, 2011 cathy3087 98 said: I often wear this hairstyle at school but an issue I have with it is that it seems to fall apart easily - as in after an hour half of my hair is down and the other half is braided! Aside from loading up the back of my hair with 100 bobby pins, any suggestions how to keep it in place all day?
	on April 14, 2011 LaurenBlair 128 said: What I like about this style the most is how much volume is gives you on the top. Usually braided styles are tighter and pull the hair down, so this is a nice alternative.