Believe it or not, there are some great braid hairstyles for men with short hair. We’re going to get into it today!
Did you know that there are several benefits to keeping your hair in long-term braids? It helps lock in moisture and protects from frizz. In fact, braids can even help prevent breakage as long as you’re properly maintaining them.
If you tend to keep your hair close-to-scalp, so to speak, you may be wondering if braids for short men’s hair are even possible. Fortunately, they are.
Once you’ve properly braided your hair down long-term, you can literally just get up in the morning and not have to worry about combing your tresses before you leave the house. Talk about convenience.
Braids have been around for thousands of years, commonly found in Africa. Many African cultures created their own distinct braid looks. In ancient Egypt, they were a symbol of status. It’s pretty cool that you get to channel culture and history through a hairstyle!
Let’s get to it.
Braid Hairstyles for Men With Short Hair: Is It Possible?
Again, men with short hair can totally braid their hair. Even really short hair. You just need enough hair to work with.
And you need to make sure your hair is prepped and ready.
What Is a Braid Exactly?
First off, really quick, let’s define a braid. It’s a fairly complicated composition. It’s made by taking three strands of hair (technically any flexible material, really) and continuously folding and lacing them through and across each other.
There are several styles of braids. Of course, since interlacing these strands requires slack, it’s easier to achieve with longer hair.
Preparing Your Hair for Braids
The first thing you have to do is ensure that your hair is clean and detangled. This way, you aren’t embedding any dirt into your braids, and it’ll be much easier to interlace.
Ideally, you want to go for a shampoo with no sulfur and one that’s meant for your hair texture. If you use the wrong shampoo and conditioner, you may end up with coarse, brittle hair or overly oily hair, neither of which are ideal for braiding. They can even be quite damaging.
By the way, we have a guide on how to properly wash and condition your hair here.
Next, you want to take a brush or comb and just work it through your hair, ensuring there are no tangles. If you have curly or coarse hair, go for a comb with wide teeth.
If you find any persistent tangles, start at the tip of the hair and work your way up, finessing it through to the root.
If your hair still feels dry, feel free to put some natural oil in there, like argan oil or shea butter.
Again, everyone has different hair, so pick a product you’ve had good experiences with in the past. Otherwise, just do some research or talk to your hairdresser about what might work for you.
Braid Styles for Men With Short Hair: Braid Styles
Now that your hair is ready to be interlaced let’s talk about some cool braiding styles you might consider!
Box Braids for Men With Short Hair
Box braids come from Namibia in the southern part of Africa and are over 3,000 years old.
They’re designed to protect the hair by allowing it to grow while ensuring the ends stay moisturized. This, therefore makes it easier to detangle and style when you take the braids off.
Despite its practicality, it’s also a cool look. It gets its name because the hair is divided into several small square parts on the head. From there, it’s braided out and sticks out, hanging.
Since they hang off the scalp, instead of being braided into the scalp, there’s slack to further style in different ways or attach extensions to.
And yes, this is indeed possible with short locks. Your hair just needs to be an inch and a half long. You’d end up with small, thin braids, which I think is one the most stylish braided hairstyles for men with short hair. Think of them as micro box braids.
And yes, even if it’s short, you can indeed add extensions to it to create different styles. It’s both a style on its own and a foundation for other options.
Cornrow Style
So, cornrows are actually quite difficult to do on short hair. However, it isn’t impossible. You’d just need to make them exceedingly small. Even more, you’ll likely (read: certainly) need help from a friend.
Cornrows are also called “canerows”. They’re created by interlacing the hair as close to the scalp as possible, resulting in a raised row of braids directly on the head.
They’re often composed in straight lines. However, you can definitely have fun with it and create patterns, perhaps some slanted lines, or even highly elaborate designs combining different compositions.
Like box braids, cornrows are a protective hairstyle that can be worn for long periods of time while protecting from breakage and maintaining moisture.
Dutch Braids
A Dutch braid is created by crossing the three strands of hair under each other, creating a braid that sticks out. It’s similar to cornrows, but only some parts of the hair are braided, with a slack of hair hanging off if you so please.
A common approach to Dutch braids is creating a braid on each side of your head right above the temple. Another is simply having one braid travel across the top of your head, creating a separation between the right and left sides.
You might want to grow your hair out just a bit, create your Dutch braid the way you like, and then cut the leftover, unbraided hair as short as you like. Or, you can just create super thin Dutch braids with already chopped hair.
Mixing Up Styles
And, of course, you can always do variations if you’re so bold.
Perhaps you want to do a bit of a box braid on the top, framed by two Dutch braids surrounding it.
You may even want to start the braid off as a cornrow, then let it taper off away from your scalp so the slack hangs the way it would off of a box braid — this may require a little bit of length, though!
Braiding allows you to create any composition based on how each individual braid is divided from the other. You have room for creativity.
A Quick History of Braided Hair for Men
As with so many styles, braided hair has many important cultural connections. I think it’s important to understand some of the history.
The oldest record of hair braiding might be from 30,000 years ago. It’s on a figure called Venus of Willendorf from what is now Austria.
Also, as mentioned, many cultures in Africa have a deep and meaningful connection to hair braiding. For thousands of years, it’s been used as a way to manage hair as well as to express social status.
In the 1500s, many people from these cultures were enslaved, and they used braids as a way to secretly communicate with each other and express pride in their cultural identity. Different patterns could have represented different messages.
This is one of the reasons braiding is such an important style to those with African ancestry.
FAQs
Still curious about braids for short hair? No problem. Here are some quick answers to common questions — otherwise known as a few important TLDR points from this post.
Can I Get Braids With Short Hair Men?
Absolutely. Since cornrows and Dutch braids are so close to the scalp, you can create small versions of those with short hair. You can also do small, short box braids.
Which Braid Is Best for Short Hair?
Mini cornrows work great on short hair, though you’d likely need a professional or someone to help make it happen. Dutch braids are also effective, though you’ll need a bit more slack. You only need an inch and a half of hair to create box braids.
Conclusion: Try Braiding Your Hair!
Again, the first step is making sure your hair is ready for braids by cleaning and conditioning it.
The second step is to consider what braids work best for your hair type. You may also have chosen a style of braid based on its cultural connection to your identity.
Now you know that you don’t necessarily have to grow your hair out to get some cool compositions on your head!
Have you ever worn braided hair? Do you find it difficult to make a braid with short hair? Would you try braids on short hair after this article? Let me know in the comments!
