Ah, the elusive fishtail braid. A wild, intricate-looking beast, the fishtail braid is most native to the heads of festival-fashion girls, hidden under twine and glitter, and, more recently, seen on everyone from your six-year-old sister to your 76-year-old aunt. And somehow, despite your many decades of existing, you’ve yet to master the fishtail braid with your own hands, chalking it up to another “I’m bad at braiding” loss.
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But alas! We think that excuse is total bullshit, because anyone—and we really do mean anyone—can learn how to braid, as long as they have a really excellent tutorial, and at least a few levels of patience. So we asked hairstylist Jasmine Santiago to show us exactly how to create a simple, no-frills fishtail braid for even the most basic of beginners (hey! That’s you!). And to make it even easier, we did the whole tutorial in gifs, because the world is a better, happier place with gifs in it. Click through to see the how-to, and get ready to finally catch your Bigfoot.
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Photographer: Tory Rust
Model: Olga with MSA Models
Makeup: Ashleigh Ciucci
Hair: Jasmine Santiago