Braided Horsehair Hatband

[houndman]

WOW! That is impressive! What do you call the braid?

[Paris7]

Greetings fellow braiders! I was sure busy over the months leading up to the holiday season. I call it the Christmas Crisis. However I did get to make some neat stuff, and this is one thing I thought you all might enjoy seeing.

This was for a lady in CA. Her horse had passed away and she saved the tail. I used up pretty much all the hair she sent me, but I made more than just this hatband. The hatband turned out really neat. Here it is:

And of course, you'll all want to see the details. Here are the knots, and a close-up of the braided length:

Let me know what you think!

I hope everyone had a great holiday, and may 2010 (the start of a new decade!) be lots better than 2009. Happy trails!

Beautiful work - sorry about her horse but at least she has a good memory with her. I found your post by chance as I was looking for advice on revitalizing a dry horsehair hat band. It's a but brittle and I don't know what if anything can be done to revive it. It seems to me that if anyone would know it's you... Any advice would be very much appreciated.

[Dwing8]

That is outstanding! I've been wanting to braid horse hair too......what is that braid?

[HorsehairBraider]

Oh wow, a zombie thread!

@Paris7: You could try human hair conditioner. A moisturizing one would be best... one with coconut oil. That seems to penetrate the hair shaft. You could even try getting some coconut oil and rubbing it in. Honey is also a good moisturizer, but I don't recommend using it straight. Be careful though because the hair is no doubt fragile... hair DOES wear out, that's why horses grow new hair all the time. You might be able to breathe some new life into it though.

@Dwing8: It's a 25-strand double flat braid.

Hope that helps!

[bergjes]

Oh wow, a zombie thread!

@Paris7: You could try human hair conditioner. A moisturizing one would be best... one with coconut oil. That seems to penetrate the hair shaft. You could even try getting some coconut oil and rubbing it in. Honey is also a good moisturizer, but I don't recommend using it straight. Be careful though because the hair is no doubt fragile... hair DOES wear out, that's why horses grow new hair all the time. You might be able to breathe some new life into it though.

@Dwing8: It's a 25-strand double flat braid.

Hope that helps!

Wow, really nice work.

I love the way the 25-strand double flat braid looks.

Do you have some kind of tutorial for this braid? (Or the O-U sequence?)

Many thanks,

Erik

[Leatherpownder]

Very nice. Impressive work.

[HorsehairBraider]

Wow, really nice work.

I love the way the 25-strand double flat braid looks.

Do you have some kind of tutorial for this braid? (Or the O-U sequence?)

Many thanks,

Erik

Sorry, writing is not my strong point so I can't really do tutorials. It's the braid that Grant calls the double flat braid. I think he shows it in 9 and 13 strands in his book. Same braid, more strands! Hope that helps.

And thank you kindly, Leatherpownder.

[bergjes]

Sorry, writing is not my strong point so I can't really do tutorials. It's the braid that Grant calls the double flat braid. I think he shows it in 9 and 13 strands in his book. Same braid, more strands! Hope that helps.

And thank you kindly, Leatherpownder.

Thanks anyway.

I have Grants book, so I should be able to find it.

Gr,

Erik

[KJG]

What knots did you use? and how do you do the knot for the tassel