Braided hairstyles are all over social media these days, and if you're like us, you might be tempted to try one or two out. But the only thing holding us back from fashioning our hair into a braid?

While braids have long been a staple of Black culture and fashion, some styles have achieved a higher status than others.

Braids have a long, rich, storied history that intertwines both practicality and cultural status. The French braid, in particular, dates back thousands of years to North Africa and ancient Greece, but ...