Braid (hairstyle)

Braids (also referred to as plaits) are a complex hairstyle formed by interlacing three or more strands of hair. Braiding has never been specific to any one part of the world, ethnic type, hair type or culture, but has been used to style and ornament human and animal hair for thousands of years world-wide in various cultures around the world.
The simplest and most common version is a flat, solid, three-stranded structure. More complex patterns can be constructed from an arbitrary number of strands to create a wider range of structures (such as a fishtail braid, a five-stranded braid, rope braid, a French braid and a waterfall braid). The structure is usually long and narrow with each component strand functionally equivalent in zigzagging forward through the overlapping mass of the others. Structurally, hair braiding can be compared with the process of weaving, which usually involves two separate perpendicular groups of strands (warp and weft).
The oldest known reproduction of hair braiding may go back about 30,000 years in Europe: the Venus of Willendorf in Austria, now known in academia as the Woman of Willendorf, is a female figurine estimated to have been made between about 28,000 and 25,000 BCE. It has been disputed whether or not she wears braided hair or some sort of a woven basket on her head. The Venus of Brassempouy in France is estimated to be about 25,000 years old and ostensibly shows a braided hairstyle.
Another sample of a different origin was traced back to a burial site called Saqqara located on the Nile River, during the first dynasty of Pharaoh Menes, although the Venus' of Brassempouy and Willendorf predate these examples by some 25,000-30,000 years.
During the Bronze Age, Iron Age and Greco-Roman era (a period spanning 3500 BC to 500 AD) many peoples in West Asia, Asia Minor, Caucasus, Southeast Europe, East Mediterranean, Balkans and North Africa braided hair, beards and moustaches. In Mesopotamia, the practice was common among the Sumerians, Akkadians, Assyrians, Babylonians and Chaldeans, surviving among some Assyrians into the 18th century AD. In Ancient Iran the Elamites, Gutians, Lullubi, Kassites, Manneans, Persians, Medes and Parthians are depicted with braided hair and beards. Throughout Anatolia (Asia Minor), Hittites, Hattians, Hurrians, Mitanni, Luwians, Mycenean Greeks, Urartians and Lydians are also depicted with these styles. In the Levant, braiding also appears among the Amorites, Eblaites, Arameans, Israelites, Phoenicians, Judeans, Moabites Ugarites and Edomites among others. Arabian Peninsula art depicts Dilmunites, Arabs, Maganites, Ubarites and Shebans in similar fashion. In North Africa the practice was common among Egyptians, Hyksos, Libyans and Berbers and further south among Nubians and Axumites, as well as among Colchians, Armenians and Scythians of the Caucasus and Minoans, Etruscans, Greeks, Dacians and Pelasgians in Europe. There has also been found bog bodies in Northern Europe wearing braided hairstyles from the Northern European Iron Age, and later still such braided styles were found among the Celts, Iberians, Germanic peoples, Slavs and Vikings in northern, western, Eastern and southwestern Europe.
In some regions, a braid was a means of communication. At a glance, one individual could distinguish a wealth of information about another, whether they were married, mourning, or of age for courtship, simply by observing their hairstyle. Braids were a means of social stratification. Certain hairstyles were distinctive to particular tribes or nations. Other styles informed others of an individual's status in society. African people such as the Himba people of Namibia, Maasai people of Kenya have been braiding their hair for centuries. In many African tribes, hairstyles are unique and used to identify each tribe. Braid patterns or hairstyles can indicate a person's community, age, marital status, wealth, power, social position, and religion.
On July 3, 2019, California became the first US state to prohibit discrimination over natural hair. Governor Gavin Newsom signed the CROWN Act into law, banning employers and schools from discriminating against hairstyles such as dreadlocks, braids, afros, and twists. Later in 2019, Assembly Bill 07797 became law in New York state; it "prohibits race discrimination based on natural hair or hairstyles."
Braiding is traditionally a social art. Because of the time it takes to braid hair, people have often taken time to socialize while braiding and having their hair braided. It begins with the elders making simple knots and braids for younger children. Older children watch and learn from them, start practicing on younger children, and eventually learn the traditional designs. This carries on a tradition of bonding between elders and the new generation.
There are a number of different types of braided hairstyles, including, commonly, French braids, corn rows, and box braiding. Braided hairstyles may also be used in combination with or as an alternative to simpler bindings, such as ponytails or pigtails. Braiding may also be used to add ornamentation, such as beads or hair extensions, as in crochet braiding.
European braids have been a cultural phenomenon for thousands of years. The Romans held braids to express status in both the Republic and Empire.
Germanic cultures have also been known to have braids for centuries. The Psalter of Stuttgart in 820AD shows women with braided hair.
In India, braiding is common in both rural and urban areas. Girls are seen in twin braids especially in schools, though now it is becoming less common. Young girls usually have one long braid. Married women have a bun or a braided bun.
Braids have been part of black culture going back generations. There are pictures going as far back as the year 1884 showing a Senegalese woman with braided hair in a similar fashion to how they are worn today.
Braids are normally done tighter in black culture than in others, such as in cornrows or box braids. While this leads to the style staying in place for longer, it can also lead to initial discomfort. This is commonly accepted and managed through pain easing techniques. Some include pain killers, letting the braids hang low, and using leave-in-conditioner. Alternative braiding techniques like knotless braids, which incorporate more of a person's natural hair and place less tension on the scalp, can cause less discomfort.
Braids are not usually worn year-round in black culture; they are instead alternated with other popular hairstyles such as hair twists, protective hairstyles and more. Curly Mohawk, Half Updo and Side-Swept Cornrows braids are some of the popular and preferred styles in black culture. As long as braids are done with a person's own hair, it can be considered as part of the natural hair movement.
In India, many Hindu ascetics wear dreadlocks, known as Jatas. Young girls and women in India often wear long braided hair at the back of their neck. In the Upanishads, braided hair is mentioned as one of the primary charms of female seduction. A significant tradition of braiding existed in Mongolia, where it was traditionally believed that the human soul resided in the hair. Hair was only unbraided when death was imminent. In Japan, the Samurai sported a high-bound ponytail (Chonmage), a hairstyle that is still common among Sumo wrestlers today. Japanese women wore various types of braids (三つ編み mitsuami) until the late 20th century because school regulations prohibited other hairstyles, leaving braids and the bob hairstyle as the main options for girls. In China, girls traditionally had straight-cut bangs and also wore braids (辮子 biànzi). The Manchu men have historically braided their hair. After conquering Beijing in 1644 and establishing the Qing Dynasty, they forced the men of the subjugated Han Chinese to adopt this hairstyle as an expression of loyalty, which involved shaving the forehead and sides and leaving a long queue at the back (剃髮易服 tìfà yìfú). The Han Chinese considered this a humiliation as they had never traditionally cut their hair due to Confucian customs. The last emperor, Puyi, cut off his queue in 1912, marking the end of this male hairstyle in China, the same year when China became a republic.
Braided hairstyles were widespread among many North American indigenous peoples, with traditions varying greatly from tribe to tribe. For example, among the Quapaw, young girls adorned themselves with spiral braids, while married women wore their hair loose. Among the Lenape, women wore their hair very long and often braided it. Among the Blackfoot, men wore braids, often on both sides behind the ear. The men of the Kiowa tribe often wrapped pieces of fur around their braids, called a hair drop. Among the Lakota, both men and women wore their hair in 2 braids with men’s being typically longer than women’s. Some had their hair wrapped in furs, typically bison, called a hair drop, some native groups of the Great Plains also had this hairstyle. During times of war, warriors would often have their hair unbraided as a sign of fearlessness. Among the Maya, women had intricate hairstyles with two braids, while men had a single large braid that encircled the head.
In Jamaica, the Rastafari movement emerged in the 1930s, a Christian faith practiced by descendants of African slaves who often wear dreadlocks and untrimmed beards, in adherence to the Old Testament prohibition on cutting hair.
Some fetishists find braids to be a strong erotic stimulus. Most commonly, the tightly woven French braid is mentioned in this context.
In the older psychiatric literature, there are occasional references to fetishists who, in order to possess the desired object, would cut off female braids. For example, Swiss psychiatrist Auguste Forel described the case of a braid-cutter in Berlin in 1906, who was found in possession of 31 braids. Richard von Krafft-Ebing had already explored a deeper understanding of hair fetishism in the late 19th century.
In psychoanalytic literary interpretation, authors have continued to explore braid-cutters to this day. Notably, an episode in Ernest Hemingway's novel For Whom the Bell Tolls has aroused considerable interest. Sigmund Freud had interpreted hair-cutting as a symbolic castration in Totem and Taboo (1913). Some authors later followed him in seeing the braid as a phallic symbol. Others interpreted braids as a symbol of virginity and the unbraiding or cutting of the braid as a symbol of defloration.
Braiding is also used to prepare horses' manes and tails for showing such as in polo and polocrosse.