Month: December 2024

Finally at the end of the semester and our learning journey for this class. At the beginning when I chose to learn how to braid, more specifically a three strand braid, I was not feeling the most confident because my previous attempts were not very successful. However I thought this was a good time to practice, take my time and learn from making mistakes. Four months felt like it was an eternity but it really feels like we just started recently. 

When I had decided on what I wanted to do for this assignment, I asked my partner and people I knew if any of them had a lead on a mannequin head I could use to practice. I didn’t really want to subject my partner to weeks of hair pulling pain as I learned step by step! So I was lucky enough to be able to find a friend who had one from her time as a hairstylist. 

For my first few weeks of my learning journey I looked to two Youtube videos, How To Braid Hair For Complete Beginners and 4 Basic Braids For Beginners  that helped me get started. As I kept learning and practicing I was able to use the videos to refer back to because they contained great tips on the basics. And really what i needed to keep practicing was the fundamentals to eventually get better at braiding.

The Rundown

My first and second weeks of my learning project posts were partly a reflection on what I thought beforehand, what I expected throughout the learning journey and what my goals were for the end of it. In week 2 is when I began to

• find resources like How To Braid Hair For Complete Beginners and 4 Basic Braids For Beginners 
• began to actually practice braiding

In week three I stumbled on a new resource, aiiprofessional.com,

One of the most useful bits of help came from this site because it had some very important tips that I would recommend to everyone trying to learn how to braid.

1)Practice as much as you can

2)Always prep the hair (slightly damp hair/combed)

3)Create neat, even sections when making your three strands

4)Find a rhythm: find a pattern that works for you when weaving the braid and repeat it

5)Maintain a solid grip on each section, especially the center section

In week four I chose Imovie as a form of technology I wanted to explore but had not used before.

My trailer actually turned out okay for someone who does not have much experience editing videos or making videos at all. As I have mentioned before I appreciated Imovie because of how intuitive and easy to use it felt, maybe it is because I am so used to the apple ecosystem?.. but thats a WHOLE other conversation about the digital world. In discussing the SAMR model, I commented on how Imovie could be used in both the substitution and modification section of the model which attests to its adaptability.

My week five post was a response to a helpful comment I had gotten on my previous post.

Being hard headed, I had figured that combing the hair would be good enough to get me through all my braiding practice. I had read on the websites I had been using for resources that you could comb/wash the hair to get better results and for some reason I decided it was either or.

Dumb mistake! But I knew it was easily corrected

So this week I decided I was going to start taking the advice and it was for sure a benefit to my overall practice as the semester went on.

In week six I found The Animated Knots website as a new resource to help my practice.

I liked this resource because it was a different material they were using for all their visual and instructions(rope) so I felt like it was a bit of a different perspective on what I was doing but using the same fundamental skills. Like a baseball athlete transferring their learned skills to the game of cricket, the fundamental skills remain the same.

Week seven was one of the harder weeks of the semester for me. A lot of things due, busy with work, busy with home life and not sleeping enough!

I decided to take a break from my normal three strand braiding because I was starting to get just a little bit frustrated. I thought that I could still practice the skills, try a different style of braid, and hopefully an easier style of braid so I could gain some confidence in my development.

It was a successful day and choice for me as I felt happy with my end product doing this style of braid, it was much messier than my previous tries. It was quicker to finish so I was able to practice more time and it is something I always try to do when I feel stumped, just do something similar but not exactly the same.

In my week eight post I did a review of the resources I had used this semester that I found the most useful. The four I landed on were

• How To Braid Hair For Complete Beginners and 4 Basic Braids For Beginners 
• aiirprofessional.com blog
• My braiding trailer / Imovie
• The Animated Knots

And in my ninth post it was finally time for the big test at the end of the journey, braiding real hair on a real person!

This was the goal I had set at the beginning of the semester, to try to braid my partners hair and it not be a terrible mess.

Overall it was a big improvement from my previous attempts before I started all this practicing. The beginning was probably the easiest part for me as I had started off in a good rhythm but towards the middle it started to fall off the rails a little bit. I think what happened was my partners hair is much longer than the doll I was practicing on so my finger and hand stamina unfortunately wavered towards the middle and end.

From my partners perspective, she complimented me on no longer pulling the hair so much from being stressed about not knowing what I was doing, making sure to comb it and keep it moist with a spray bottle or wash beforehand, and taking my time when I made mistakes.

For my tenth and final post, the one you are reading RIGHT NOW,  it goes through my learning journey through this class and the resources I have found along the way. I wont say too much about that because you have just finished reading it.

Final Comments

In the end, I found this journey to be rewarding and fun because we were able to choose what we wanted to do, how we wanted to document it and how we would go about learning it. Like we have learned many times in the education program, giving students agency and choice is very important to creating more confident and independent learners so that was a part I certainly enjoyed.

I found that online in the digital world the issue for me was trying to navigate through the endless amounts of videos and websites available to find the best ones that work for my learning style. Once I was able to filter through the stuff that I could see was not what I was looking for, my chosen resources carried me through the semester and I can say today that I do feel like I am a much better braider but also learner after this experience because I was able to take most of the control in my learning journey.

Thanks for reading everyone, all the best in your future !

Through my braiding journey this semester I have gathered a good pool of resources that have helped me go from mostly hopeless to somewhat proficient at braiding long hair! It was a great journey that felt like a mix between fun and work because of course I wanted to challenge myself a bit to see how much better I could really get.

If I could give it a number I would say I started at a 2 out of 10 for my braiding skills and am now sitting comfortably at a 6 out of 10! All in all I would call that a success.

These two videos were really the foundation for my braiding practice throughout the semester. I was lucky to have found them first week but it was after a search through youtube and instagram so a little persistence also paid off.
Both of these videos have clear instructions, visuals to match, and a clear explanation of what to do. I think for anybody trying to learn how to braid from almost scratch, they would find these videos to be exactly what they were looking for from a teacher. I referred back to them each week as I practiced and used the 4 basic braids for beginners video to help guide me trying to do a two strand braid near the end of the semester.

Another useful resource was the aiirprofessional.com blog called “How To Braid Hair: The Ultimate Guide For Beginners”

Complete with videos, step by step instructions and many styles to try out, the website had some handy tips for beginners.

1. Practice as much as you can
2. Always prep the hair (slightly damp hair/combed)
3. Create neat, even sections when making your three strands
4. Find a rhythm: find a pattern that works for you when weaving the braid and repeat it
5. Maintain a solid grip on each section, especially the center section

For me number the only ones I was getting right was 1 and 4, but the rest I found I had to work at. Keeping the hair neat was the bane of my existence for a few weeks and still is. But these tips were a big help for sure.

My braiding trailer using Imovie was one of my best creations of the semester

As someone who had never used Imovie before it was a fun, new experience that showed me how user friendly Imovie is. Those pre made templates really are amazing and now I can show others this easy to learn way to make cool visual representations.

My last resource I wanted to share was The Animated Knots website. This resource has instuctions and animations on how to different types of braids and knots.

While the instructions and visuals are all done with rope, the basic idea is still the same so it fit well with my learning project.

These resources provided a solid foundation for my learning project this semester and I encourage anyone looking to learn braiding to use one or more of them because they are easy to understand and encourage you to work on the basics.