
In my quest to prolong my curls in between wash days (I used to be stupid and wash them every day), I’ve been on a quest to test out different hairstyles that highlight each ringlet in a new way. I’ve been leaving my curls fully down for the first two days, clipping them half up, pulling them into a high ponytail or bun, and as of today, wearing them in double topsy tail braids. I used to style my mom’s hair in a topsy tail ponytail for work everyday, so I’m no stranger to the twisted hairstyles that look a lot fancier than they actually are. Last night when I was debating whether to continue wearing my curls in a high ponytail for another day, I decided I wanted to attempt a double braid or ponytail style that would enhance my curls instead of flattening them. I find that traditional braids almost pull my hair back too much and I’m left with thin braids and no volume. Instead, I chose to go with these double topsy tail braids because they look full and complex, but are insanely easy to achieve. I started by splitting my hair down the middle, and sectioning off one inch of hair from the front side of each part. I secured the section with a small clear elastic and pulled the elastic down a bit and formed a hole in the middle before flipping the rest of the sectioned hair through the opening. I tightened the elastic and continued by grabbing two sections from each side of the previous topsy tail and repeated the process of securing and twisting the pieces together. I created new topsy tails around the former ones all the way down my hair until I had about three inches of curls left and started pulling the twists away from the elastics to create more volume and size. Once I made the double topsy tail braids as voluminous as I wanted them, I hid most of the elastics by pinning hair around them with bobby pins.