The Bow Braid | Cute Braided Hairstyles
May 09, 2012
I am always on the lookout for the next Waterfall Braid-type hairstyle!
About two weeks ago, a Twitter fan tweeted us a photo of a very intricately-laced bow braid hairstyle, and I thought the idea was so fun and unique! In fact, it was likely the most creative and cute hairstyle I have seen since the Waterfall Braid! So… I sat down to figure it out, but after many attempts I wasn’t having much luck at all. Close, but nothing worth posting…
Another fan, Katrina on Facebook, posted her version along with a link to a low resolution Russian YouTube video showing the exact technique. The video was at times hard to follow, and it does not show a finished hairstyle, but it provided me with just enough info to be able to master the braid! With that, I am now ready to teach you all!
You can use The Bow Braid in pretty much any hairstyle as long as there is a three-stranded French or Lace Braid involved. It will work on short hair, medium hair, long hair, layered hair, hair with bangs, combos, etc.
In the tutorial, I show you how to do Bow Braid Ponytails, but I also show you on myself and the other daughters some finished looks for a braided headband, diagonal braid, and lace braid.
Items Needed: A brush, rat-tail comb, spray bottle, hairspray or pomade, a hairpin (not a bobby pin), and a few hair elastics.
Time Requirement: 10-15 minutes, depending on the hairstyle you choose.
Skill Level: Hard
Step-by-Step Instructions:
- Begin by braiding a section of your hair. You can use a lace braid or a 3 strand French braid. Remember you will need another ½ inch section of hair parted next to your braid to create the bows.
- Thread the hairpin, loop end first, through a section of your braid to prepare it to pull through hair for the bow.
- Take a small section of hair from the ½ inch parted section and create a loop with your fingers.
- Thread the loop of hair through the hairpin and grab loop of hair with left hand while gently tugging the hairpin back through your hair with your right hand.
- As you pull the hairpin out of the braid it will begin to form the other half of the bow. Gently tug the hairpin until you like the look of the second loop and then remove it from hair. You should now have one competed bow that runs through the braid.
- Repeat Steps 1-5 all the way down the braid until you run out of hair.
{You can see in the video that I mixed in the remaining tails of the bows back into the next strand. It may be easier and less “messy” to simply lay the tails alongside the French Braid and then bring down the next section of hair over the top for the next loop. As you finish the braid, most of the tails will be covered by the hair from the top. It all depends on how you want the bow braid to look.}
Happy Hairdoing!
* Note from Mindy: Don’t forget to follow us on BlogLovin, a new easy-to-use blog reader!
Wow Mindy that is so cool,Im trying this tomorrow @ school on my manikin!!
I love it!! I can’t wait to try it on my daughter tomorrow before school!!
you really are so creative Mindy!! i super duper loved it!! i got an idea…i will make this hairstyle in different variations like the ones you showed, when my daughter joins a dance group in their school. it would be nice to see all girls have this hairstyle! thanks a lot!!
Hi
I love this hairstyle, but i’ve seen it done with four loops on every bow, so it’s more like a… flower. Can you please show us how it’s done? I’m sure other people will be interested, too.
Thank you
This is great!! Really going to try this on my own hair!
Thanks for all the inspiration!
That is awesome!! Will have to practice on a manikin before I try it on my daughter tomorrow!!
I just wanted to say THANK YOU for all your videos. I have 6 year old twin girls and the are FINALLY letting me braid their LONG hair pretty.
I think some of that is because they get to see your girls sit nicely to get their hair braided.
THANK YOU!
Carol
o my gosh that is my fav hairstyle that i have ever seen I LOVE LOVE LOVE it
Thank you! Yet another super cool yet super easy ‘do!
It looks so good on each of you. I always wondered what I’d need hair pins for, now I need to go get some. I appreciate you showing it on yourself, too. I’m always asked if I do my own hair; I have to laugh & say “Well my husband didn’t do it.” lol
I love that you mentioned a Russian hair website, because aside from your website, my other main hair inspiration site is also a Russian site – they seem to love intriquite hair, too.
(I can’t understand a thing she says, but the video shows just what to do; I use Babelfish to translate the titles then Google the translation to search for vids in English if I need more detail. 
) I learned and have done a spiral lace braid & 4-strand ribbon braid from the Russian website so far. I think you’ll love her ‘dos: http://styleel.ru/portfolio/
I couldn’t think of what this reminds me of, then it dawned on me that the ones done close together remind me of modern ruffles that are made by a simple seam down the middle.
This is so cute!! My 4yr old daughter loves for her hair to be braided, so I try to come up with new ways to braid her hair and I think this one is going to be gorgeous
Can’t wait to try it out on my daughter tomorrow, she’ll be so excited. Thank you for sharing!!
wow! i love this i am soooo doing this for school tomorrow. can you do a video for the diagonal one because im not sure where to part the 1/2 inch off. Also you could try this with a waterfall braid
Hi, this hairstyle is so cute, but I wanted to know if you could post a tutorial on how to do it with the Katniss braid, please! Thank you, Mallory.
OMG I love this. Unfortunately can’t do it on myself, but maybe sis will let me do it?
***Where did you get your hair pin? They didn’t have them at walmart.
That is soooo cool. I have a question, how do you do a hair headband? I don’t think you have a video of it and I love the Katniss Braid Style.
did it on myself this morning and i love it thanks mindy
You a super inspiring! Everyday my daughter gets to choose a hairstyle from your blog. Thank you for your great posts.
This is a really cute braid. i saw it on another website but yours is much better, it actually shows how i can do it(:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rf2oZwSehWQ
watch this hairstyle it is really cool and i really like this bow braid
Mindy your hairstyles are sooo cute and ur family is beautiful.i do have a request fr a hairstyle. Do you think by any chance you can do a tutorial on how to scrunch your hair. I’ve tried and it’s never got it perfect. Thanks sooo much.
love this braid but anyway i was wondering if you could do a kids hair section on your blog with some of your older girls demoing hairstyles on themselves to show that even a 12 year old can do it too because it could inspire some older girls to start creating styles on themselves and would give them a sense of pride when people ask ‘who did your hair’just in idea PLEASE THINK ABOUT IT
hi mindy im lina from algeria im 13 and i love your daugters . ican do any hairstyles like the waterful/the dutch/the french /the pancake/the cage/and the fishtail BRAID .
looks……Difficult
Heyy mindy i luv u and all ur hairstyles im 12 yrs old and i can do these!!! thx!!!
@Rebecca- i clicked on that link and i luv it thx sooo much- but they seem hard to do!! xxx
Hi mindy!
I love your videos! I have learnt so many different hairstyles from you that people always compliment me on. Or else I will get an idea from one of your videos and develop it. It’s amazing how still your daughters sit whilst you do their hair! My little sister squirms around and moves her head all the time!
The bow braid lOoks super cute and I cAn not wait to try it out!!
Keep makIng videos, as they are really good! I reccomend you to all of my friends!!!
I love this hair do it is soooooooo cute. i tried it on my 8 year old she has very short fine hair but instead of using a hair pin i used something i don’t know was it is called but it was wire but it was rubber and flexible. It worked out great and looks so cute and girly! <3
Hi Mindy, we tried this hairstyle today and it came out great! We got loads of comments on her hair! And the best thing is, it looks so complicated but it’s so easy! I’ve attached a link to a photo we took of it! http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/s320x320/540061_135840473216801_100003725470898_143244_1673473777_n.jpg
Hey, my hair is very thick and frizzy.
I wonder what kind of shampoo and conditioner do you use? Thanks!
dear mindy i love your daughters thare so cute am 10 yeras old. i like the oldest ones best
Love this hair-do! Would you mind putting up a video of the Katniss braid with the bows and the front/bangs braid with bows too. That would help a lot. Is it hard to do on yourself?
So lovely braided hair.. I want my hair to be braided like this.. So cute!
Wow Mindy! I tried to do this but i couldn’t. I want to do this for my prom. Can you give me an easy advice?? Please!!
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS DO!
Can you post a video of the diagonal bow braid? That picture looks awesome! Thx for the cool videos its helped me so much to do awesome things with my hair! 
wow mendiu my daghter has been watch you like crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you have a beautiful familyburp.seeyou yoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
This hairstyle is sooooo cute!!! I wore it to church today and everyone in young women’s wanted to know how to do it!!! It was so funny because like every 2 seconds someone would be like wow who did your hair an do would answer me!!!! It was so funny it’s really cute!! I had to use a bobby pin instead a little harder but worked fine!! Thanks for your awesome hairstyles!!! You should make more of over night curls such as the sock curls and headband curls I love those too!!!
too hard….
This is darling. We are going to try it!
love this hairstyle!! when you do the katniss one would you section the hair for the bows at the top or the bottom or does it not matter?
i really love ur hairstyles they made me insperration and did the hairstyles on my sisters
bon matin mindy!!
superbe coiffure ,je vais essayer de la faire à ma fille lily,pour sa kermesse d’ecole!!
bisous à vous votre famille si belle et continuez ce blog qui est fantastique!!
Looks complicated but im trying it!!!
This is sooo cute I’m 13 and in thinking of wearing to the beach tomorrow it looks super easy since I am really good at Dutch braiding and all it is is pulling hair! I was wondering If you could post a vid on how to do a Dutch head band braid that would be really great! Btw I love all of your videos it makes me learn them so much easier!
I love all of these hairstyles, but I absolutely love the 4th out of the five pictures you put down in a row. I’m begging you may you please, please
I love this hairstyle!!! It’s so pretty and creative! I also really like the headband bow braid! But where can you buy hairpins? I’ve been using a bobbypin and it doesnt work as well as a hairpin ive seen. But it would be great If someone could tell me where to buy some!
I Love this! I just tried it on my manikin and it is so cool! I loved the forth one the best!
I love the katniss one! In fact my mom is trying it right now on me(: i love all your hairstyles!
Love it, can you show how you did the katniss verison??? Where would we section off the 1/2 inch on the top or bottom??? Thanks
Can’t wait to try this on my daughter! She has super long curly hair and I always to the “Katniss” braid on her it will be fun to mix it up a little bit! Thanks Mindy!! =)
I don’t have a hairpin.Can I use a bobby pin??
can i just use a bobby pin?
wow, how fantastic !these styles are amazing. cant wait to try a few ouy on my little girl.
hey mindy i did one of your hairstyles all by myself and i am 12 yrs old thanks for the instructions!!!
I used a dutch headband. For some reason it was an easier technique for me to separate the sections. I also seem to get a tighter brais with a dutch braid. My daughter’s hair is as long as your long haired daughter in video. When you make the bow do you twist the hairz? The bows i made are splitting on her hair. I used hairspray, but no product. I didn’t know if it was a technique, product, or hair thickness issue. My daughter’s hair is very thick.
Absolutely Adorable…….
Very….. Original.
super cute! Iam 10 years old and I love to do hair except for my hair is cut short. could you do a viedo on how to make your hair grow longer fast?
Wow my grandma loves the bow thing,but im 12 and my fall dance is on november 16 (2012) I NEED TO HAVE A CUTE HAIR STYLE BEFORE MONDY THIS WEEK!
looks weird in my opinion…
What can I use instead of a hair pin ?xx
Can you do another Q and A?
Can u use a booby pin?
On your twin that did the bows diagonally, like the katniss braid, where did you leave the hair out from? The hair that was used to creat the bows. Was it from around the forehead/front of the face?
I found this website after I stumbled onto one of your youtube tutorials. I LOVE the look of this particular braid and can’t wait to try it out. Awesome website! Keep up the amazing work!
i love your hairstyles pls pls can i be apart of your family
your kids are amazing and I have instergram and i am following you on it
Very creative hair style! I’ve never seen it before.
OMG! I now have a new hobby! My daughter is loving all the new braids I’m doing on her. Her friends are asking if I can come to school early so I can do it on them!!! I am making a list of all the braids I’m going to make on her (its getting really long!). I think I have enough for a different braid each day! Thank you sooooo much for showing us how to do these braids!
Can you make a video of how to do the other two? the bow lace braid and the katness bow braid!!!!!!! Thank you hope you post the video.
Wow! Super cute can’t wait to try that on my hair!
amazing as always.
Hey, Mindy could you please show a video on how to do the Katniss hairstyle with the bows in them? Thanks
awesome hairstyles iam lovin it