Norman braids

For the past year and a half or so, I have had the ambitious goal of wearing long braids with my garb.  My hair is generally chin to shoulder length and is long enough to wear in pig tails or a pony tail, but is too thick to easily pin flat against my head. I’ve had several iterations of the process, with the most successful at our recent 12th night celebration.

Creating the false braids:

I used inexpensive extensions from Sally’s beauty supply and followed an online tutorial for braiding them with a hair tie in the middle.

False braids- one packet per set, each with varying degrees of tightness and corresponding changes in length.

Initial experiments entailed slipping them over my pigtails and hiding my hair under a hood. Moderately successful, but my hair tended to push out the back of the hood in an odd manner.

First trial of the false braids, Fall 2017.

Next up was to move a bit later into the 12th century and protect the braids themselves with twill tape and then wrap the transition between my hair and false braids with linen strips. This was more successful, but fraying is an issue and I still haven’t finished hemming the edges. I also received a comment that it looked like I had sprained my hair. I found that it was necessary to wrap the strips of linen very tightly and the pins I used to hold the ends down would sometimes slip out.

Spring, 2018, introduction of the linen wraps to bind my pigtails to the false braids.

I did wear these a few times, and was generally happy with the look and longevity but it was a bit time consuming. Next, I tried to make silk braid cases to put over my own hair. This has finally proven to be a decent mix of accuracy and ease.

Silk braid cases: first iteration, Fall 2018

Installation of braids with modified silk braid cases, Winter 2019.

I snipped the original silk case in two, which proved to be a better size and fit. I am still experimenting with the best way to attach the cases to my hair, but a piece of twill tape works in a pinch.

Final iteration of false 12th c. braids using silk braid cases and twill tape, 12th Night, 2019.