I Tried 'Game Of Thrones' Inspired Braids All Week

Unless you’ve been living under a rock or ICYMI, the latest season of Game of Thrones aired earlier this week, and with that comes the return of some epic Game of Thrones hairstyles. If you know me, you know that I’m a huge fan of the show, but not necessarily for the reasons you might think. Sure, the storyline is amazing, but let's be real: The hair does not disappoint.

Even in its fifth season, the show’s leading ladies — like Cersei, Sansa, Arya and Daenareys — have absolutely slayed with their signature braids. Whether they’re commanding dragons or ruling kingdoms, these ladies don’t mess around when it comes to keeping their hair looking fierce. Without fail, you can catch at least one of the characters sporting this iconic style at any given point of the series.

Since the show takes place in the fictional city of Westeros and is set during a seemingly Medieval time period, it’s hard not to appreciate the authenticity of the characters’ style. Not to mention the fact that you have to love how much the characters change up their hairstyles depending on the occasion — like a royal wedding, to war, etc. Despite the show taking place so long ago, the hair is just timeless. As someone who's always taking fashion and beauty inspiration from my favorite movies or TV shows, I couldn’t resist the chance to try my hand at recreating some of the beautiful braids on the show.

The Experiment

In order to channel my inner Khaleesi, Stark, and Lannister, I decided to recreate one hair-look from the show every day of the week. I’m pretty decent at replicating beauty looks, so I turned to YouTube for extra help, but nothing else. I would go about my normal business each week — like going to school, work, and social gatherings — but at every event I would rock a killer braid.

Day One

For my first day of braids, I tried to go for a simple look because, honestly, the braiding skills I required in order to do some of the more complicated styles weren't all there yet. This look was inspired by Cersei Lannister, who probably wears some of the least complicated braids on the show. The look was a simple one: Just two braids pulled back near my temples, and a set of braids pulled back underneath the first. I loved how easy this was to do and I got ready in the morning in no time. During the day, I received a few compliments, and most people liked "how soft" the look was. So far so good.

Day Two

I only had one class today, so I had a little bit more time to experiment, and wanted to try my hand at a rope braid. It’s actually way harder than it looks. To get the rope braid to stay in place, you have to twist your hair clockwise, then counterclockwise, but my hair is so thick and long that it took forever to twist — the girl in the YouTube video did it in seconds.

To get this look, I pulled one piece of hair back and twisted it down all the day way until I reached the ends of my hair. I grabbed two pieces of hair from the temples of my head, twisted those down only halfway, and tied them together. I left the longer rope braid out and placed it over the smaller two. This was inspired by the Wildling Ygritte (R.I.P.) who always had unkempt hair on the show. This was definitely one of her tamer looks.

Day Three

This look wasn’t one of my favorites, but it wasn’t the worst either. I went for a crown braid and just French braided a section of hair into the side of my head. I didn’t like the way it turned out because my bangs are layered, so the pieces were sticking out all over the place, but it might look beautiful on someone with long layers. This Cersei Lannister-inspired look was somewhat mediocre when it came to "statement locks," but you could totally wear it to a brunch or coffee date.

Day Four

This braid was one of the more fun styles to recreate because it was inspired by Arya Stark, who is kind of a wild card and has a messy hair day here and there. It took of tons of pressure knowing that the goal for this look wasn’t for it to look perfect because Arya doesn't care about being super precise with her hair.

I gathered my hair at my crown and tied half of it back. I took the mini ponytail and divided into two pieces and created individual braids going downward. Then, I wrapped the braids around each other to create what looks like a small braided bun. I had to go run errands and had a dinner to go to a nighttime, where my friend commented on the look and said that it had a boho vibe to it. She dug it.

Day Five

I wanted to abort mission after trying this look — I absolutely hated it. Thank the heavens today was a weekend and my day off doing chores inside the house because if I had to go outside like this I would have been a nervous wreck.

My best friend came over to drop something off and immediately said that I looked like Princess Leia — not the look I was going for at all. Margaery Tyrell inspired this look, actually. She’s known to rock a crown rope braid or two on the show. To get this style, I had to pull two sections of hair back on each side of my head, tie them back and rope braid them. Then I had to criss cross them over my head — and this is where I ran into problems. I might have gathered too much hair because the rope braids were huge and way too big to be sitting on my head. They just kept falling down! No matter how many bobby pins I tried, the damn things wouldn’t stay up.

Day Six

I tried a simple pulled back braid that I’ve seen Daenerys Targaryen wear on the show and it was easy peasy. I just grabbed two sections of hair, braided them back, and made a bun. I used the bun as a guide and criss crossed the braids around it, then pinning the braids underneath the bun. I let the bun loose and it gave the allusion of the braids weaving through my hair. I went to visit my family and they said that it was "pretty and could make for the perfect summer hairstyle."

Day Seven

This was by far my favorite look of them all. I was obsessed with this braid. I felt like I really topped myself and the seemingly intricate style only took a few minutes. The hair game was on fleek, and I felt amazing all day.

The inspiration for this look was Sansa Stark, who always switches up her hair and goes for more daring styles. To get this braid, I pulled back four strands of hair, two on each side of my head, and braided them down. I tied the braids together and braided the remaining hair down. Then I weaved the four braids into the larger one and tied them off with an elastic. I felt accomplished, because I was able to pull of something that was way easier than it looks — and was beaming like a dork all day.

Conclusions

Even though some of these braids did me dirty, I will always love the show and had fun trying to emulate its hairstyles. Not to mention the fact that my subpar braiding skills got better within a matter of a few days.

I discovered that — for the most part — the braids that the characters wear aren’t as complicated as I thought they would be, with the exception of a select few styles. But other than that, it was pretty smooth sailing and left me feeling like I vacationed in Westeros for a week. The moral of the story, though? Never hold back on trying something for fear of it being "too difficult." The end result might surprise ya.

Images: Author's Own; Giphy