Braid (hairstyle)

Braids (also referred to as plaits) are a complex hairstyle formed by interlacing three or more strands of hair. Braiding has never been specific to any one part of the world, ethnic type, hair type or culture, but has been used to style and ornament human and animal hair for thousands of years world-wide in various cultures around the world.

The simplest and most common version is a flat, solid, three-stranded structure. More complex patterns can be constructed from an arbitrary number of strands to create a wider range of structures (such as a fishtail braid, a five-stranded braid, rope braid, a French braid and a waterfall braid). The structure is usually long and narrow with each component strand functionally equivalent in zigzagging forward through the overlapping mass of the others. Structurally, hair braiding can be compared with the process of weaving, which usually involves two separate perpendicular groups of strands (warp and weft).

The oldest known reproduction of hair braiding may go back about 30,000 years in Europe: the Venus of Willendorf in Austria, now known in academia as the Woman of Willendorf, is a female figurine estimated to have been made between about 28,000 and 25,000 BCE. It has been disputed whether or not she wears braided hair or some sort of a woven basket on her head. The Venus of Brassempouy in France is estimated to be about 25,000 years old and ostensibly shows a braided hairstyle.

Another sample of a different origin was traced back to a burial site called Saqqara located on the Nile River, during the first dynasty of Pharaoh Menes, and even earlier depictions from pre dynastic Mesopotamia dating to 5th and 4th millennium BC, although the Venus' of Brassempouy and Willendorf predate these examples by some 25,000-30,000 years.

During the Bronze Age, Iron Age and Greco-Roman era (a period spanning 3500 BC to 500 AD) many peoples in West Asia, Asia Minor, Caucasus, Southeast Europe, East Mediterranean, Balkans and North Africa braided hair, beards and moustaches. In Mesopotamia, the practice was common among the Sumerians, Akkadians, Assyrians, Babylonians and Chaldeans, surviving among some Assyrians into the 18th century AD. In Ancient Iran the Elamites, Gutians, Lullubi, Kassites, Manneans, Persians, Medes and Parthians are depicted with braided hair and beards. Throughout Anatolia (Asia Minor), Hittites, Hattians, Hurrians, Mitanni, Luwians, Mycenean Greeks, Urartians, Assyrians and Lydians are also depicted with these styles. In the Levant, braiding also appears among the Amorites, Eblaites, Arameans, Israelites, Phoenicians, Judeans, Moabites, Ugarites and Edomites among others. Arabian Peninsula art depicts Dilmunites, Arabs, Maganites, Ubarites and Shebans in similar fashion. In North Africa the practice was common among Egyptians, Hyksos, Libyans and Berbers and further south these styles appear among Nubians and Axumites, as well as among Colchians, Armenians and Scythians of the Caucasus and Minoans, Etruscans, Greeks, Dacians, Celts and Pelasgians in Europe. There has also been found bog bodies in Northern Europe wearing braided hairstyles from the Northern European Iron Age, and later still such braided styles were found among the Celts, Iberians, Germanic peoples, Slavs and Vikings in northern, western, Eastern and southwestern Europe.

Braids of varying styles have been extant in the Indian sub-continent and China since the Bronze Age.

In some regions, a braid was a means of communication. At a glance, one individual could distinguish a wealth of information about another, whether they were married, mourning, or of age for courtship, simply by observing their hairstyle. Braids were a means of social stratification. Certain hairstyles were distinctive to particular ethnicities or nations. Other styles informed others of an individual's status in society. African people such as the Yoruba people of West Africa, Wolof people,Himba people of Namibia, Maasai people of Kenya have been braiding their hair for centuries. In many African ethnicities, hairstyles are unique and used to identify different ethnicities. There are a variety of African Braiding styles. Traditionally, braid patterns or hairstyles could indicate a person's community, age, marital status, wealth, power, social position, and religion.

On July 3, 2019, California became the first US state to prohibit discrimination over natural hair. Governor Gavin Newsom signed the CROWN Act into law, banning employers and schools from discriminating against hairstyles such as dreadlocks, braids, afros, and twists. Later in 2019, Assembly Bill 07797 became law in New York state; it "prohibits race discrimination based on natural hair or hairstyles."