Beauty

3 modern bunad braids to master just in time for 17.mai

By Josefin Forsberg
Jenny Cha shows 3 17. Mai hairstyles – a dutch braid with flowers, fishtail braid with hair pins and a bubble braid with bows – while wearing her Bunad

Photo: Jenny Cha

Ahead of 17 May’s swirl of bunads and brass bands, Norwegian hair muse Jenny Cha rethreads tradition with three braids designed to outlast every toast and trumpet blast. Scroll below for the full breakdown

On 17 Mai Norway dresses in its Sunday best: flags unfurl, brass bands strike up, and silk-embroidered bunader sway through the streets. Nothing completes the scene quite like a braid, a detail as rooted in National Day traditions as the Hardanger lace itself. “I think 17 May is the day to wear braids.” says Norwegian content-creator Jenny Cha, whose inventive hair reels routinely clock six-figure views. "I associate classic braids and up-dos with traditional dress and that old-maiden vibe. Bunader do look a little maidenly, especially my Hardanger bunad with its apron"

Customs are important, but sometimes traditions evolve. “For me, keeping the core of the tradition is the most important part. After that, people should do their own thing. It’s good to be experimental, but respectful, because customs are always changing for better or worse.” As for what Cha would like to see more of? "I just love trying new looks and matching flowers or bows to my bunad. I see plenty of loose, curly hair, so I definitely think people could be more experimental.”

With that brief in mind, Cha created three fresh 17. Mai fletter – an up-do, a single braid and a double braidv– perfect for the occasion. However, before you get braiding, Cha’s first rule is prep. If your hair is poker-straight, she suggests bending the ends with a curling iron “so they don’t poke out of the weave”, or working a palmful of mousse and a slick of gel through damp lengths for grip.

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Jenny Cha shows how to do a 17. Mai dutch braid with flowers while wearing her Bunad

Photo: Jenny Cha

Crown-pocket up-do (or a klassisk kroneflette med blomst)

Cha learned this style in upper-secondary and still reaches for it when she wants a properly polished finish. Beginning at each temple, she Dutch-braids towards the nape, feeding in hair only from the bottom so the braid skims the hairline. At the base of the neck she switches to a regular three-strand plait, folds the tail back on itself and pins it beneath the braid. The fold creates a neat pocket – the perfect hiding place for a single silk peony or for the tiny brooch many bunader fasten at the collar. The effect is regal without tipping into bridal, and because every pin is disguised it lasts from breakfast champagne to the final chorus of “Ja, vi elsker”.

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Jenny Cha shows how to create the perfect 17. Mai fishtail braid while wearing her Bunad

Photo: Jenny Cha

Viking-inspired fishtail braid (or fiskehale flette med blomster-clips)

For something with a whisper of Norway's Viking past, Cha divides the hair at the centre back and braids two slim three-strand plaits above each ear, plus two more just beneath them. She knots the upper pair together, then ties the lower pair [along with the tails of the first knot] beneath it. All the loose length is gathered into a fishtail: two sections, small pieces skimmed from the outer edges and crossed into the middle, repeating until only a few centimetres remain. To temper the Shield-maiden severity, Cha adds twinkling crystal-daisy pins spaced along the tail.

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Photo: Jenny Cha

Bow-tied bubble twins (or bobleflette med sløyfer)

The most playful of the trio begins high on the crown where Cha secures a mini ponytail. A second elastic gathers the next horizontal slice of hair, the first ponytail is flipped forward to reveal a puff of volume, and the process is repeated once more. When two bubbles sit one beneath the other, the remaining length is split into twin regular braids that fall over each shoulder. Cha dresses every elastic with a sheer organza bow – “a little extra,” she admits, “but very cute without too!” The alternating bubbles and ribbon wink at tradition while staying irrepressibly fun.