Hair is generally adorned as a form of the expression of personality, religious practice, or rank in society. Nowaday, fashion trends may have the greatest influence on hair styling. Most hairstyles conform to socio-cultural influences and are gender biased.

The traditional hair styling in some parts of Africa also gives interesting examples of how people dealt with their head hair. The Maasai warriors tied the front hair into sections of tiny braids while the back hair was allowed to grow to waist length. However, women and non-warriors shaved their heads.

Braiding hair is commonly involved in hairstyling and rope making, refer to any object created by interweaving or twinning three or more separate strands of one or more material in a diagonally overlapping pattern. It is similar to a plait, which covers any type of knot forming a repeated pattern. Simple braids with more than three strands can be flat or tubular and generally contain an odd number of strands. Complex braids have been used to create hanging fiber artworks.

A French braid is a popular hairstyle. Unlike a regular three-strand braid, it starts with small sections of hair at the crown of a person's head, and intermittently, more hair is added to each section as the braid progresses down the head. The classic French braid is a single braid at the back of one's head, though variations on this hairstyle include side braids and twists.

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