Romantic Braided Half Upstyle By Stephanie Brinkerhoff | Kenra Professional

Hi everyone, I'm Stephanie Brinkerhoff with hair and makeup my stuff and I'm here with Kendra professional today and I'm going to be walking you guys through this very romantic braided half-up style. So let's go ahead and get started. My first step is going to be adding beach waves to the hair, so I'm going to start down here at the nape and I'm actually going to curl with two different irons. The two tools that I'm going to be using are a one-inch wand and then a one and a half inch iron, so using two different tools is really going to break up the curls and make it so they don't blend together and form one solid wave. So this is a really good technique for beachy, looks to curl her hair, I'm going to be using the kenra platinum, hot spray. This is a really good spray because it has a firm hold, but because it is more of a wet spray, you can't feel it in the hair once it dries. So it has a really good amount of hold. But it's going to be very soft and movable which is really good for all down and half-up styles, because you still want that movement in there. But you obviously don't want to lose your hold. I'M starting with the one-inch wand down here at the bottom and I'm going to elongate the curls, so they go the full length of the wand. So you don't want to pile the hair on top of itself because that will make a curl it's too bouncy. So you want them to be long and stretched out and I'm also leaving the ends partially straight, so they don't end up being too bouncy. Now, for this section, I'm going to switch to my one-and-a-half inch curling iron, I'm still going to spray with the kenra platinum, hot spray from roots to ends after I apply the hot spray I'm going to brush through it a little bit. Sometimes, when you curl with the curling iron, if the hair isn't brushed the curls end up getting kinky, so I want everything to be smooth so that the curls can be nice and smooth. So I'm switching to my one and a half inch iron and I'm going to start at the roots and get the top half curled and then drop that out and move to the bottom half. What this does is just makes your curls more relaxed since we are doing a beach wave. I definitely want softer curls instead of bouncy ervil's, so after each curl I'm going to leave them how they are. Until I get everything hurled, I want to let the curls set, but also I don't want to brush anything because I am going for a more beachy wave. So I want to leave that texture in there and a lot of times. If you brush everything, you make it too smooth. Okay, I'm gon na continue this process row by row, alternating between the 1 inch wand and the one and 1/2 inch curling iron, and once I get to the parietal Ridge, I'm going to add in some back combing as well to give her some volume through there. So whenever I have my clients come in, I always tell them to either wash their hair the night before or the morning of it's a big misconception that your hair needs to be dirty in order for it to hold well. But it's actually a lot easier to work with clean hair, and then you just add the products that you need to give it. The grit that you need you'll, also notice that, as I'm rapping, I'm always doing a flat wrap. I don't normally put any twists in the hair as I wrap because I feel like sometimes that takes out the volume of the curl, so I'm wrapping it flat, but I'm still trying to elongate it along the iron for these very front pieces. I'M going to make sure that I curl them away from the face, so they kind of have a swept back. Look alright! Now that I have the whole head curled, I'm gon na go ahead and start running my fingers through this to break up the curls. I'M also going to start adding some of the kenra platinum dry, texture spray. This is a very matte texture spray. So it's really good for beachy. Looks I'm also going to do some of the camera perfect medium spray. This has a little bit more of a waxy feel to it, so it's going to help with frizz, so this look is going to have a couple braids going down the sides, but before I do those braids I'm going to want to get the crown secured. So I don't ruin it as I'm braiding. So a unique sort of interesting way that I like to get the crown up, sometimes when I'm doing braided looks, is to do an inside-out ponytail instead of just gathering this and pinning it. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to grab a medium sized section from the left and then a medium sized section from the right and I'm going to bring those into the center and put those in a clear elastic then put my fingers are here. Flip that inside out and carefully soften these twists, I don't want it to be so loose that I lose my twist pattern altogether. So I'm gon na be very careful as I do this and then I'm going to repeat that same thing, one more time, but this time right below the first one. Okay, now I'm just going to detail a little bit, I'm using the end of this tail comb to sort of lift the crown smooth out any tangled pieces. My main focus is going to be the braids coming down the Heaviside, so I want those to sit on top of everything else, so I'm gon na do a small braid on the shallow side. First, okay, before I start braiding this I'm going to get some of the kenra platinum working wax 15. In this section. This is going to help me, keep everything controlled and control the frizz. So I've got a little bit on my fingers here and I'm just going to work that, through this section that I'm going to braid, okay, I'm gon na run my comb through it once to make sure it's nice and smooth and then I'm not doing anything crazy. On this side, I'm just going to do a very loose small French braid, so I'm going to start up here by her part divide that in three I'm not holding anything super tight. This is more of just a detail piece, so I don't need to get too crazy with it. I'M also being careful to not pick up all of this hair right around her face. I want to have some hair left out to keep it flattering around her face. Okay, once I past the ear, I'm going to stop adding new hair, so I'm just switching to a normal braid at this point and I'm going to very softly hand, kick this, I don't want to make it frizzy or messy. I want it to still be shiny and smooth, so I'm just softly pancaking this and because the braid is so small. I don't want a pancake it so much that I lose that braid pattern. So I'm doing just a little bit and I'm going to wrap it over this elastic and pin it on the opposite side. I'M also going to add one more pin right here in the center of the braid for security and to help keep that braid right where I want it now, on this side, we're going to do two braids, so one of them is going to be a smaller French braid right here and then I'm going to do a larger, fishtail braid going down the side. So I'm going to section out this smaller section. For now, I'm going to get a little bit of the Platinum working wax on my fingers and I'm going to take a small section starting right at the part with fishtail braids. You have to start really small. Otherwise, the braid won't show up until like back here, because there's such a soft braid so start really small and tight. So you've got two pieces. Take a small piece from the outside cross. It over add it to the opposite side and then repeat on the opposite side. Small piece cross that over okay, now I'm going to start adding new hair pick up a new piece cross. It over add it to the opposite side. As I work down, I'm not including her hair line, because I want to leave that out - I want it to be soft and flattering around her face. So you're, essentially just crossing a new piece and adding it to each side. Over and over again, as you braid down, you want to keep the shape of the head in mind, you're going to work with the round of her head, you don't want to braid out here and then wrap it back. You want to follow the hair line towards the back. Okay, the braid is starting to get a little slippery, which means I just need more of the Platinum working wax. So I'm just going to add some more that okay. At this point, I've passed the ear. So I'm going to stop adding new hair once again and I'm just going to return to crossing a small piece from each side and to finish this with a normal fishtail braid. Okay. So as I pancake this braid, I'm actually only going to pancake one side. So the bottom side I'm going to pull down, but the top side I'm going to leave alone, and the only reason for this is it just gives the braid a different look than if you pancake both sides. So it just depends on what your client wants. A good way to secure volume in the top of your braid is to pick it up right where it leaves the scalp so up here and then I'm going to push up on it slightly and hide a pin here in the center. So I'm just gon na leave my pin closed, I'm going to sort of weave it in there Hach on a couple, different pieces and then push that forward. Alright, now I'm going to wrap this around the back and get it tucked under and pinned on the opposite side of that elastic all right. So to finish, I'm going to do one more small, French braid very similar to what we did on the opposite side. So I'm gon na start here at the part, add some platinum, working wax and so, as I'm doing this braid I'm going to want it to hide this part line. So you have to keep that in mind as you're braiding, so I'm sort of directing it. This way, so it will sit right along that line. Okay now this will get wrapped around the back as well. At this point, all I need to do is detail. Make sure I, like the shape, touch up a couple of curls and then we'll be good to go so now to finish the style, I'm going to add some of the kenra shine spray, typically with half down or all down. Styles, I like to add some of this, especially with a beautiful color like this, to really enhance that. So at this point I'm gon na add some baby's breath, I'm basically just tucking these in on either side of the braid. I want to do smaller pieces as I'm going towards the face and then get a little bit bigger towards the back, and this is all just very visual. So whatever you think looks good, I'm just using it to highlight the breeds that are in there and because these are so small, they should stay in. If you are worried about it at all, though, you can always secure these with a bobby pin. Okay, so here is a very romantic way to do a braided, half-up style.