Heidi/Milkmaid Braid Troubleshooting

[spidermom]

It is perfectly fine to pin down braid #1. Then, if you need more space to tuck braid #2 under braid #1, yes - you can remove a pin or two, then put them back.

I've had a hard time pinning down Heidi braids, too. My hair is very slippy-slidey. Sometimes at the end I'll put a row of 4 bobby pins, then cross over them with something decorative, like a jewel-bedazzled pin or fabric flower. That way I get plenty of hold.

[Annapox]

It is perfectly fine to pin down braid #1. Then, if you need more space to tuck braid #2 under braid #1, yes - you can remove a pin or two, then put them back.

I've had a hard time pinning down Heidi braids, too. My hair is very slippy-slidey. Sometimes at the end I'll put a row of 4 bobby pins, then cross over them with something decorative, like a jewel-bedazzled pin or fabric flower. That way I get plenty of hold.

When I pull bobby pins and hair pins out, I often end up with a bunch of large strands of hair that no longer lie flat against my head. So I try to only put each pin in once and not take it out until I'm ready to undo the whole hairstyle.

[Annapox]

After some experimenting, I think I've come up with a technique that will work for me. So I wanted to do a quick update to describe what I've come up with. This is going to be fairly detailed in order to be as helpful as possible to anyone else who needs tips.

First, I braided ribbons into my hair. That way I was able to use the ends of the ribbons to tie off my braids. To braid them in, I folded a length of ribbon in half, tied it around the middle strand, and added one of the tails to each of the other two strands. Then I just braided normally until I was starting to run out of ribbon, at which point I wrapped each tail around the tassel (the two tails went in opposite directions) and tied the tails together in a double knot. The lengths of ribbon I cut happened to be a little too short to braid in from the beginning (unless I wanted very long tassels), so I added the ribbons in a few stitches down. It was actually a little easier to add them that way because the strands were easier to keep separated than they were before I started braiding.

I used hairpins to pin each braid to my scalp just above the start of the opposite braid, so that the braids crossed at the back of my head. I put one pin into each braid, at the edge closest to the start of the opposite braid. I took the braid that crossed over the other braid and pinned it at my temple and on the other side of my part (I have a middle part). One pin into the outer edge of the braid in each spot, just like before. Then I positioned the other braid the way I wanted it, so that the braid ends were tucked under the opposite braids, and pinned it at my temple. Tucking in the ends kept the rest of the braid secure enough to stay in place while I did the taping portion.

I used a plastic yarn needle and another length of ribbon for the taping. I started at the back of my head and pulled the needle (threaded with ribbon) through the scalp hair under the place where my braids crossed at the back, going from the outside to the inside. I left a tail of about eight inches to make sure I could tie a bow when I got all the way around my head. I held onto that tail as I pulled each stitch tight so that I didn't accidentally pull the end all the way through. I basically did a whip stitch: under the scalp hair from outside to inside, over and over, so that the ribbon wrapped around the braids and scalp hair.

When I got all the way around, I found that I had way too much ribbon left over (the tail still reached my waist), but I didn't have enough to go around a second time. So I continued stitching in the same direction until just before I reached my ear, made one really big stitch to get back to the center, and then added stitches on the other side in the same way, going out almost to my other ear and then making one really big stitch to get back to the center. Then I tied my bow, and it didn't look quite as ridiculous as it would have without the extra stitches. I could have just cut the ribbon shorter, but I was worried that if I did that repeatedly I'd end up with too short a ribbon at some point just by leaving a slightly longer tail at the beginning. In the future I'll leave a longer tail at the beginning, and then it won't be as much of an issue.

I'm sorry for leaving this thread unresolved for so long. My last post was literally the day before one of my emotional support guinea pigs died, so I didn't have much energy or motivation to try to figure out hairstyles for a while. But I lost my last hair tie today, so I had to braid ribbons into my hair to tie my braids off. And then I thought I might as well give the milkmaid braids another shot.

Anyway, I hope someone finds this useful. If my explanation was unclear, please feel free to ask questions, and I'll try to explain it better.

[ETJ CURLS]

After some experimenting, I think I've come up with a technique that will work for me. So I wanted to do a quick update to describe what I've come up with. This is going to be fairly detailed in order to be as helpful as possible to anyone else who needs tips.

First, I braided ribbons into my hair. That way I was able to use the ends of the ribbons to tie off my braids. To braid them in, I folded a length of ribbon in half, tied it around the middle strand, and added one of the tails to each of the other two strands. Then I just braided normally until I was starting to run out of ribbon, at which point I wrapped each tail around the tassel (the two tails went in opposite directions) and tied the tails together in a double knot. The lengths of ribbon I cut happened to be a little too short to braid in from the beginning (unless I wanted very long tassels), so I added the ribbons in a few stitches down. It was actually a little easier to add them that way because the strands were easier to keep separated than they were before I started braiding.

I used hairpins to pin each braid to my scalp just above the start of the opposite braid, so that the braids crossed at the back of my head. I put one pin into each braid, at the edge closest to the start of the opposite braid. I took the braid that crossed over the other braid and pinned it at my temple and on the other side of my part (I have a middle part). One pin into the outer edge of the braid in each spot, just like before. Then I positioned the other braid the way I wanted it, so that the braid ends were tucked under the opposite braids, and pinned it at my temple. Tucking in the ends kept the rest of the braid secure enough to stay in place while I did the taping portion.

I used a plastic yarn needle and another length of ribbon for the taping. I started at the back of my head and pulled the needle (threaded with ribbon) through the scalp hair under the place where my braids crossed at the back, going from the outside to the inside. I left a tail of about eight inches to make sure I could tie a bow when I got all the way around my head. I held onto that tail as I pulled each stitch tight so that I didn't accidentally pull the end all the way through. I basically did a whip stitch: under the scalp hair from outside to inside, over and over, so that the ribbon wrapped around the braids and scalp hair.

When I got all the way around, I found that I had way too much ribbon left over (the tail still reached my waist), but I didn't have enough to go around a second time. So I continued stitching in the same direction until just before I reached my ear, made one really big stitch to get back to the center, and then added stitches on the other side in the same way, going out almost to my other ear and then making one really big stitch to get back to the center. Then I tied my bow, and it didn't look quite as ridiculous as it would have without the extra stitches. I could have just cut the ribbon shorter, but I was worried that if I did that repeatedly I'd end up with too short a ribbon at some point just by leaving a slightly longer tail at the beginning. In the future I'll leave a longer tail at the beginning, and then it won't be as much of an issue.

I'm sorry for leaving this thread unresolved for so long. My last post was literally the day before one of my emotional support guinea pigs died, so I didn't have much energy or motivation to try to figure out hairstyles for a while. But I lost my last hair tie today, so I had to braid ribbons into my hair to tie my braids off. And then I thought I might as well give the milkmaid braids another shot.

Anyway, I hope someone finds this useful. If my explanation was unclear, please feel free to ask questions, and I'll try to explain it better.

What a great solution you've come up with!

Now that you mention ribbons, it reminds me of Morgan Donner! I totally forgot all about her because she cut all her hair off (in a very cool way, I might add.)

[Annapox]

Morgan Donner's videos are neat, including the one in which she cut off all her hair! Her hair taping tutorial is one of the ones I watched when I first contemplated trying it out.