How To: Create A Bohemian Fishtail Braid


The Info—Stylist: Yesenia Guinea of Ketér Salon in Berkeley / Photography: Hart & Sol WestMichelle Govang / Venue: The Box SF / Flowers: Green Snapdragon Floral Design /Dress: Little Borrowed Dress / Jewelry: BrideBlu Vintage + Handmade Jewelry

Our new beauty tutorials are finally here, APW style. Cue the excitement!! Here at APW our fundamental philosophy is that you should feel empowered to do things you want to do for your wedding affordably and easily. There is a whole industry out there yelling at you that, “You better hire a professional to do it, and buy lots of really expensive products to do it, or you’ll screw it all up and regret it.” And we’re trying to counter that cultural noise by quietly saying, “Of course you can do it on your own, with whatever amount of money you have.” So, we’re beyond thrilled that we got to partner with P&G Beauty to bring you a whole variety of tutorials (and APW community models!) over the next month for wedding hair and makeup you can do yourself, using affordable products you can pick up at any drugstore.

We’re starting with the most complicated of the hair tutorials (which is still totally something you can get a friend to do for you), but don’t worry, they’ll get easier from here on out. We took all your hair and makeup questions and requests from a few weeks ago, and are going to try to answer as many of your questions as we can (In fact, P&G Beauty is sponsoring a personalized APW question asking session…. tomorrow… full details coming in a few hours. EEP.) But now, let’s dive in.

I’ve been seeing fishtail braids everywhere of late, from HBO’s Girls, to Pinterest, to walking down the street. So today’s tutorial takes this style and dresses it up for a wedding (or a fancy night out). My stylist was Yesenia, who I love (talented, funny, stylish), and she has the following tips for you:

Create Looser Curls:

Notice how Yesenia isn’t actually curling the hair with the curling iron? For looser curls (and curls without that weird “curling iron” shape to them) you just wrap the hair around the barrel of the curling iron, hold it there for a few seconds, then pull the curling iron out before pinning the curl to your head. Once it’s set and hair-sprayed, the result is really pretty loose waves that look nothing like your old prom pictures.

How To Properly Use Bobby Pins:

You’re actually not supposed to open bobby pins when you put them in your hair. Instead slide them in close to your head (if it hurts for a second, but that means you’re doing it right, whoops). This will prevent them from stretching and falling out later.

Using Affordable Products (Properly):

Yesenia prepped my hair with the smoothing serum and mousse (and frizz cream, because my hair is very thick and somewhat curly). Remember, a little goes a long way with smoothing serum; Yesenia used a dime-sized amount. Also, note that she holds the hairspray away from the style to spray it… but not over spray it. To avoid crunchy prom-like hair, eight inches usually does it.

The products we used to create this look were: Herbal Essences Honey I’m Strong Shampoo and Conditioner and Herbal Essences Touchably Smooth Frizz Crème. We also used Herbal Essences Touchably Smooth Smoothing Serum and Herbal Essences Set Me Up Stylers Mousse (for body) and Max Hold Hairspray.

And Relax (& Ask Us Questions):

Practice the style in advance with a friend. Modify it however you want. But mostly? Relax. You’ve totally got this.

But while you’ve got us, ask a question. Wonder how to modify the style for your hair, or how a step worked out? General hair questions? We’ll do our best to answer them in the comments, and @PGBeauty is standing by on Twitter to answer any stylist questions you’ve got. Let’s do it, ladies.

Download a PDF of the shopping list for this look here.

**This post was sponsored by P&G Beauty. Thanks P&G for helping make the APW mission possible!**

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