Two small braids in front of hair

Prom updos, chunky highlights, mullets, baby braids—the biggest hair trends of the past year all have a common thread: They’re the perfect storm of past and present. While all of these styles are some iteration of a throwback, they’re totally fit for 2022 due to the fact that they perfectly frame your face for a selfie or a Zoom call. 

Baby braids are the latest trend to take the internet by storm, and they follow a similar formula. The look is exactly as it sounds: two tiny strands braided on either side of your face to create tendrils. But your old middle-school piecey look this is not. Depending on how you style them, these small face-framing braids can have a boho ’70s feel or more of a ’90s look, drawing from both the grunge and the street-style influences that were popular at those times. In fact, these braids are very ’90s-does-’70s—they’d be perfectly at home on Donna from That ’70s Show.

They’re also heavily inspired by social media trends themselves. Looser braids and waves have sort of a pastoral, milkmaid vibe falling into the cottagecore craze, while tighter braids are popular with edgy E-girls. 

Aside from this collage of references, the thing that makes braided tendrils so appealing right now is that shot of nostalgia, paired with the very 2022 fact they make your cheekbones pop both in photos and IRL. 

I first noticed the trend bubbling up in early March 2020, after Bella Hadid and Devon Lee Carlson wore the mini braids at Paris Fashion Week, and Margot Robbie had worn a similar style on the red carpet pre-COVID. 

However, you can expect to see the style everywhere, as it’s officially Hailey Bieber– and Kendall Jenner–approved: Both models wore renditions of the style to Coachella weekend one, and Kendall and Kylie featured the style in their latest Kylie Cosmetics campaign. We’re calling it now—baby braids will be the official cool-girl hair of summer 2022. 

Part of the appeal of this style is the effortless feel, but also that it works on a range of hair textures and protective styles. “Braid techniques are forever trending because they never go out of style. They just evolve and pick up new names along the way,” says Naeemah LaFond, global artistic director of Amika.

LaFond adds that braided tendrils are a great alternative to a full head of micro-braids, which is one of her favorite styles but takes a lot of time and effort to achieve. “Wearing small braids with a center part is totally on-trend right now, whether you have a full head of braids or just two accent braids,” she says. She loves these tendrils paired with loose waves for an unexpected accent, but as Insta girls have shown, the trend also looks incredible with tighter curls, a high pony, or a slick bun.

Moroccanoil celebrity stylist Bryce Scarlett, who did Robbie’s braided look for Cannes (above), says the key to keeping the look modern is to not be too precious with it. “Nothing about it needs to be perfect,” he says. 

To keep baby braids in place with no visible elastic (as he did for Robbie’s look), he recommends saturating the ends of your braids in hairspray, and letting it dry in a clip. Then take the clip out right before you head out the door, to make them last. (You can also try this genius trick courtesy of TikTok). Keep in mind that looser braids further away from your face or scattered throughout will give you a more whimsical vintage look, while two crisp braids closer to your face will take you back to the early aughts. 

I may be biased—I’m Team Throwback Hair all the way—but I hope this trend sticks around for a bit. It’s so cute, easy, and a great way to hide grown-out bangs. And besides, it’s way easier to pull off than a mullet.

Bella Cacciatore is the beauty writer at Glamour. Follow her on Instagram at @bellacacciatore_.

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We all knew it was coming and now, it's finally here: We're in the era of the Y2K aesthetic revival. We're talking printed designer baguettes, super-shiny, lip gloss, Juicy Couture sweat sets, and now: face-framing baby braids.

In an age when breathing in public seems complicated, we're all looking to simpler times to uplift our spirits. Apparently, that also means straightforward hairstyles. We've seen a lot of folks on TikTok, as well as a slew of celebrities lately, putting their take on the braided tendrils trend.

Hailey Bieber, for example, shared a casual pic on the 'gram in green jeans, a matching flannel, and a gray T-shirt with two small face-framing braids peeking out from underneath her baseball cap. It was the second time in a few months that we'd seen her with the style — she'd just appeared in a June 2021 Vogue editorial with a similar look.

Bella Hadid also recently posted a throwback image to her Instagram feed of her with the same style, except in her case, she kept the rest of her hair in a high ponytail. Kylie Jenner shared a vacation snap of her with chunkier, but still small braids on either side of her head, which provided an extra bit of texture to her waist-length hair. You can add a bevy of other names to the list of celebrities who've worn this style — Dua Lipa, Madison Beer, and FKA Twigs are just a few.

Getty Images

As we mentioned, in these times, simplicity is the name of the game, and this hairstyle delivers just that. Achieving it on any texture is as easy as, well, just braiding. "Take your front section, however big you'd like (but I recommend using a section one to two inches wide), and split in the middle," explains Los Angeles-based hairstylist Andrew Fitzsimons, who works with the Kardashian-Jenners and Megan Fox. (In fact, he created this very look on Kim Kardashian for a KKW campaign.)

"Then, braid loosely until you reach the end and secure with a small elastic to keep the braid secure. Use a texturizing spray to give the hair more texture and an undone feeling." Once you hit your hair with a texturizer mist, like the Oribe Flash Form Finishing Spray, Fitzsimons says he likes to add another bit of polish with a shine spray.

Oribe Flash Form Finishing Spray Wax

If you've got curly or Afro-textured hair, not to worry — you can still repeat the same process and style the rest of your hair as you usually would. Just try it with a braiding cream or butter more suited to highly textured hair like the Best of Beauty-winning Camille Rose Naturals Almond Jai Twisting Butter. 

"Experiment with this look no matter what hair type you have," Fitzsimons encourages. "All you really need to do is create the two braids at the front to frame your face and let the rest of your natural texture do its thing."

Camille Rose Naturals Almond Jai Twisting Butter

You can also make this trend work if your hair is sparse or shorter where it frames your face, but you want a little more length. Los Angeles-based hairstylist Laura Polko tells Allure that she will sometimes add some clip-in extensions to the front of her clients' hair if she's trying to add a bit of extra drama. "I mix together [a texturizer] and finishing spray together on my fingertips for some hold and simply braid down," she explains.

Getty Images

As we said, this look is all about simplicity and effortlessness. If you know how to braid, you can recreate the look for yourself. "It's a super low-maintenance style that's easy to accomplish in less than 10 minutes, so I can see why it's trending again," muses Fitzsimons. "This look is very casual, but the face-framing braids give it a chic, playful vibe that's great for summer."

And we're here for it. Now go forth, and braid your teensy little braids. 

More hairstyles you can do at home:

• How to Nail the Bubble Braid Trend
• Here's How to Cornrow Your Own Hair
• Want to DIY That '70s Hair That's All Over TikTok?

Now, watch Monica break down her iconic looks from the '90s:

What is the double braid hairstyle called?

What is Fulani style braids?