Styling natural hair in a protective hairdo can maintain its unique ability to keep volume and movement throughout its length and prevent damage. With Black braided hairstyles like microbraids, cornrows, flat twists, and many others, you get a durable look fit for everyday wear and special occasions. Even as fashion trends shift, the core significance of plaiting as a form of both protection and self-expression endures.
When choosing the ideal braid style, it’s crucial to weigh not just aesthetic appeal but also the health benefits for your hair. Opt for hairdos that preserve moisture and reduce strain around the scalp. Black braided hairstyles allow you to utilize your hair’s full potential and experiment with different looks tailored to your personal style.
Gone are the days when simple plaits would turn heads. Today, it’s all about innovation and flair - mixing patterns, playing with braid thickness, exploring new angles, and experimenting with unique parts.
Here are some trendy and protective African American hairstyles for the summer:
Braided Hairstyles
Cornrows
Side-swept cornrows are not just a hairstyle but a vibrant expression of culture and creativity, offering a protective haven for your hair from heat damage. As you wear this chic, intricate design, nurture your scalp and lengths with moisture to keep them vibrant.
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A blend of varied cornrow sizes and feed-ins crafts a masterpiece of texture and dimension, showcasing the innovative spirit of Afro hair styling.
Refresh the classic cornrow look by incorporating soft, curvy parts that introduce a wavy dynamic to the straight-back design. This style is known for its simplicity and relatively quick completion time.
Merge simplicity with sophistication, using a mix of thick and thin braids to create a captivating look. The curved parts add an artistic touch, showcasing the stylistic flexibility of cornrows. This style not only looks stunning but also offers a protective benefit, keeping your hair neat and manageable.
Goddess Braids
Goddess braids, characterized by their chunky cornrow style, serve as a magnificent celebration of strength and beauty, ideal for protecting your locks while on vacation or during busy weeks. These braids offer a balance of ease and elegance, requiring moderate time to craft and remove.
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Weave a tale of elegance and intricacy, offering a creative twist on traditional cornrows. This style invites experimentation and personalization, such as threading golden beads along the braids for an added sparkle.
Feed-In Braids
Feed-in braids not only ensure a natural, seamless flow, reducing bulk at the hairline for that sleek, impeccable finish, but also stand as a guardian for your edges. When done right, the hairdo significantly lessens tension, acting as a protective style for your hair’s delicate borders.
Turn your classic bun into a voluminous and impactful statement, highlighting the beauty of feed-ins.
Fulani Braids
These Fulani braids offer a harmonious fusion of texture and technique, merging the sleekness of cornrows with the volume of box plaits for a style rich in versatility and flair. This approach not only broadens styling horizons but also emphasizes the impact of a new shade in transforming your look. It’s an encouragement to explore beyond traditional hues.
Chizi Duru does her take on this braided and beaded Fulani-inspired hairstyle. She starts by cornrowing the front half of her hair with extensions. Then she adds textured clip-ins in the back for fullness. See how she does it, plus the kind of hair she uses, here.
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Box Braids
Give your box braids a contemporary twist with a mix of smaller and larger braids. Keep the hairline safe by leaving out baby hairs and sleeking them down to frame the face with subtlety and grace.
The key for bob box braids is to maintain the same thickness for each braid from the roots to the ends. Lioness Davis shares all the secrets to achieving the look. Watch her tutorial here.
Jazz Nicole starts by braiding her natural hair into box braids, and then braiding in braiding hair to each section. (You can also just box braid your natural hair with braiding hair to cut time and combine Jazz's first two steps.) Her final step involves crocheting a faux loc to the box braid.
Micro Braids
Here is a timeless look that transcends age, blending micro and jumbo cornrows for a contemporary twist on a classic style.
Snake Braids
Express your individuality through a waist-length style that captures attention. Snake braids and heart-shaped cornrow designs are accentuated by playful beads that add fun and creativity.
Braided Updos
Braided Bun
The large cornrow braided bun, adorned with beautiful, trendy hair cuffs, transforms the traditional ponytail into an emblem of elegance and versatility. Perfect for any age or occasion, this style encapsulates the beauty of simplicity and functionality.
This bun embodies sophistication with its meticulously crafted, varied-sized cornrows culminating in a gracefully wrapped knot atop the head.
This simple hairstyle is for those with long natural hair or for those seeking added length and volume with extensions. Ideal for evenings out when you wish for a stunning look, that can be maintained with minimum manipulation.
One of the fastest and most pulled-together protective styles is a braided bun. Suitable for a variety of hair textures and lengths, this ‘do effortlessly accommodates additional hair to sculpt a voluminous bun that resembles a regal crown.
Cornrow Ponytail
Reinvent the cornrow ponytail with a tiered design that exudes sophistication and style. Perfect for formal occasions, this bun stands out with its unique structure and creative parts.
This hairstyle introduces smaller and larger curved braids and creative wrapping around the ponytail base, ensuring the look remains vibrant and engaging over time. It’s a playful twist on a beloved classic, perfect for adding a dash of fun to your styling repertoire.
Braided Mohawk
This ombre frohawk offers a bold and edgy look without the commitment of cutting your hair. The style celebrates the hair’s natural texture, blending braids and curls for a dynamic appearance.
This takes the classic punk Mohawk and infuses it with a braided elegance. By crafting a pompadour-inspired ‘do at the top and letting the rest of the strands cascade freely, the style achieves a stunning silhouette that commands attention.
Bold and edgy, this style is an alternative to the traditional Mohawk without the need for cutting the sides because they are intricately cornrowed.
Closely braided cornrows are a captivating blend of boldness and intricacy. This versatile Mohawk can transition from sleek and subdued to voluminous and vibrant, offering a playground for your creativity.
A traditional Mohawk style is reimagined with multiple twists, incorporating curvy cornrows and dynamic burst rows for a look that’s anything but ordinary.
Double Heart Cornrows
This beautiful hairstyle is a testament to the artistry possible with braids, weaving love and creativity into each strand. The repeated heart-shaped design is not only eye-catching but also sparks the imagination about what other symbols could adorn one’s head.
These plaits effortlessly combine elegance with playfulness, presenting a sophisticated high bun at the top that transitions into a whimsical heart-shaped design at the back.
Incorporating the double heart cornrow motif adds a playful twist to the traditional style. This unique element is more than just an accessory; it’s a statement of love and self-expression that radiates from within.
Twists
This hairstyle beautifully marries the simplicity of twists with the boldness of a Mohawk. It also features striking side cornrows that cascade into a plush two-strand twist.
A fusion of cornrows and a natural two-strand twist, this inspired look allows for personalization in thickness, length, and style, encouraging wearers to tailor the hairstyle to their unique preferences. The style stands as a beautiful expression of heritage, artistry, and personal identity. It starts as cornrows and combines them to form large, coily textured twists on the top of the head.
Waist-length but lightweight twist style offers an impressive hairstyle that captivates at first glance.
LiveNaturallyLove calls it a summer twist-out, but you can rock this look all year long. She starts by separating the hair into four sections, and then separating each section even more for individual twists. Her key is to make sure the end of each twist is wrapped so that no loose hair is hanging.
Chunky twists combined with side cornrows strike the perfect balance between effortless charm and polished elegance, offering a versatile look that combines sporty chic and casual grace.
Flat twists with freely hanging ends can be styled in curls or braids for a more sophisticated look. Flat twists woven together in an exquisite pattern and topped with curls that introduce playful volume and bounce. The protective ‘do blends diverse elements, offering an innovative solution that’s as bold as it is elegant.
Elevate the classic updo through the intricate texture of flat twists packed on top that create a distinctive, natural-looking hairstyle. The hairdo is designed for those with curly hair textures seeking a protective style that doesn’t sacrifice elegance.
Other Protective Styles
Braided Lob
The braided lob (long bob) reimagines the timeless elegance of a traditional haircut with the bold texture of box braids, creating a stunning fusion of classic and contemporary styles.
Geometric Braids
The hairdo introduces geometric triangular parts that defy the conventional square or circular sections.
Curvy Braids
With this style, you get a harmonious blend of precision and grace, where each braid is meticulously parted to curve in unison, creating a captivating pattern of unity and balance. The asymmetry of curvy plaits and partings introduces a dynamic and modern twist to traditional braiding, while the attention to baby hairs adds a polished finish.
This style is a masterpiece of texture and pattern, weaving together swirls, loops, and a variety of braids with the delicate artistry of curled baby hairs.
Bring a dynamic and fresh perspective to traditional Black braided hairstyles, offering a playful yet elegant aesthetic that accentuates your facial features. Perfect for those who appreciate a bit of asymmetry, this look ensures that every angle is on display.
Loose Plait
This extra-large loose plait transforms the classic delicacy of a French braid into a bold expression of sass and style.
Side Part Plaits
This side part ‘do elegantly challenges the notion that pigtails are solely for children. The strands are woven all the way towards the back of the head, where they’re gathered in two low ponytails.
Half Braids
These small half braids offer a versatile and stylish choice that seamlessly blends the structured beauty of plaits with the soft allure of waves.
Crochet Braids
Crochet braids provide a flexible and creative styling solution without the permanence of a weave.
