HOT FOR TEACHER: To Infinity & Beyond

Plaits of all shapes and sizes have been part of my hairstyle arsenal since I was very young, generally because of my abject refusal to ever have my hair cut. Once my mother had had enough, I took it upon myself to learn to do as many different ones as I could find, because I was a super exciting child. That said, it felt appropriate to crack out an old favourite for my second ever tutorial.

This one is called the Infinity Plait (or braid if you like), because of the shape you make while plaiting. The end result is not far off from a fishtail plait visually, but it’s a bit more structured and the weave is horizontal as opposed to vertical, so it ends up looking thicker and rounder (rather than flat and smooth like fishtail or normal plaits). It is awesome. Here’s how you do it.

ONE.

STEP ONE.

I started by giving the roots of my hair a little boost with V05 Give Me Texture Spray. This is totally optional, I just do it because the plait ends up very tightly woven and it can look a little severe if you don’t keep the top a bit loose and bouncy. I spray this into the roots – it smells lovely – and scrunch it about a bit until I’m happy with it (hairspray, texturising powder or dry shampoo would work just as well).

TWO.

STEP TWO.

Separate your hair into two halves. It is easiest to do this to one side of your head, and I do it that way because I like the way it looks, but it works just as well at the back of your head as well if you prefer.

THREE.

STEP THREE.

Take a small section of hair from the back of one half – it doesn’t matter at all which, but I’ve taken it from the outer half (my left). Pull that section up through the middle of the two halves of hair to the front.

FOUR.

STEP FOUR.

Wrap your smaller section over the front and around the inner half (ie, not the half you took it from) and pull it back through the middle. You should have made a loop with the smaller section around the inner half of your hair.

FIVE.

STEP FIVE.

Continue wrapping the section of hair over the front of the outer half and back around through the middle. At this point you’ve made a figure eight (or infinity symbol! See what they did there!) with the small section around the two halves.

SIX.

STEP SIX.

Keep going, wrapping the same section over the front of each half and back through the middle, until you near the end of that section of hair. When there’s about an inch left, take a second section from the inner half (ie, not the half you took the first section from) and join them together to continue plaiting. I like it to look a little bit dishevelled, but if you’ve got layers and you want them hidden, just take care to only take the longest bits of your hair for your small sections and wrap the layered parts up inside the loops.

SEVEN.

STEP SEVEN.

Continue until your plait is as long as you want it, pushing the loops up if they start to slip down towards the end (I usually find they do, but it’s easily fixed), and then secure with a hair tie – any kind will do but I prefer the teensy tiny elastics because they can be pulled tight and fit in under the last loops.

TADA! You are done. I think this plait is really interesting; it’s great to wear for travelling or work because it doesn’t come loose as easily as most other kinds of plait. Because it’s got quite a structured look to it, I like to wear it with quite loose clothing, flowy shirts or big jumpers. It also stays intact under hats and hoods, as I discovered today when the English autumn decided to announce its presence with a massive rainstorm. Plait 1, Weather 0.