This is a Knot Not Braid that i used to do regularly for my sisters to wear to school. Its neat and tidy and looks way more complex than it actually is.

Perfect for your everyday school braid or for a pretty up do, whether you want to do it from a ponytail (like I have) or from just a gathering of your hair it is totally easy and effortless.

P.S. The reason why I call it a not braid is because I'm not technically crossing or braiding the hair in any way, it's essentially tying knots in my hair. You'll see :D

Step 1: Steps 1 Through to 4 :

The first thing you're going to want to do is brush your hair through properly, it may be teaching many people to suck egg but many an argument has occurred because I'd try to do my sisters hair and she hasn't brushed it through enough times or gotten the underneath. (The best way I find to brush my hair, which i have a lot of, is to split it in to two down the centre and brush each side over each shoulder.)

For this stage you'll section off a bunch of hair, probably about a tenth of the ponytail, making sure all attached hairs are properly in your grip
Next lay this new smaller section over the rest of the hair bunch and reach your hand through the loop you've created
Pull the smaller section of hair all the way back through the loop with your hand and there you have it, your first knot!
Now pull it tight up to the top of the ponytail and prepare to start the next knot

Step 2: Steps 5 Through to 8 :

This is basically a repeat of the past 1-4 steps, apart from this time you're gathering extra hair from the bigger bunch in to the smaller bunch every time you go down a knot.

5. Now on to your second knot, grab another little bit of hair from your larger bunch and add it to your smaller section

6. Lay the smaller section over the larger section of hair and place your hand through the loop you've created

7. Grab the small section of hair and pull it all the way through with your hand, completing the knot

8. Pull tight and up to the previous knot to fasten and ensure it's neat and tidy

Now continue these steps until you get to the end of your hair and but a hair band in over one of the knots. Tidy up the hair ends and voila!

Step 3: Perfecting It

Normally with young children their hair isn't layered or messed with like mine, but adults who are doing this hair style may find they have layers of hairs that poke out at different levels during the braid and to fix this problem you can bobby pin the excess hair to the underneath of the braid as discreetly as you can.

In the case of fly away hairs just hair spray them in to place.

Also the braid may twist a bit because of the way you've knotted it. This wasn't a problem for my sister as she thought it looked like a DNA helix or a cool helter-skelter.

Enjoy :D