It’s summer time and for many naturals or ‘transitioners’, it means it’s the perfect season for a favorite protective style for many; box braids and twists.  These styles are very popular and can be styled in an infinite number of ways.  I looked through everyone’s favorite visual discovery tool, Pinterest, for some cool styles.  Here are my favorites and directions on how to recreate them on your own.

To achieve this style, the basic idea is to create a large cornrow around your head.  Start with a section of braids just above your temple.  Begin to braid along your forehead.  Once you begin to approach your opposite ear, add other braids to your cornrow gradually.  Continue to braid around your ear and stop once you reach the back of your head.  Next to where your braid begins, grab a section of braids above your ear and pull them back to meet the end of the braid in the back of your head.  Secure the two sections with a hair tie.

This style, unless you don’t know how to braid, doesn’t require much direction.  Split your braids into two halves, each half over opposite shoulders.  Split one half into three sections and begin to braid.  If one section shortens, regroup the 3 sections with what’s left and continue to braid all the way down.  Secure with a rubber band or hair tie.  Repeat with the other half.  Additionally you can move all of your braids to one side and make one large braid over your shoulder using the same method.

This style is a great style for going out or for date night.  You begin by putting all of your braids in a high ponytail at the very top of your crown.  Split the ponytail into three sections.  Braid each section individually.  One by one, take each braid and wrap it around your towards the back of your head and secure it with a bobby pin.  You want to stack them on top of each other as shown in the ‘pin’ above.

Finally, make great use of hair accessories when you are wearing braids or twists.  Scarves, headband flower crowns and many other accessories look wonderful with braids and twists.  You can wrap a scarf turban style like in this ‘pin’ or you can add trendy flower crowns to any of the styles above!  Feel free to get creative!

Looking for more ideas?  Pinterest is a great place to find creative styles for braids and twists from all parts of the internet and social media!

Brandi Giles

Editor, Health & Beauty

*All images are screenshots from my own Pinterest boards containing styles that I found while browsing Pinterest.