I have crazy long hair, which most of the time is great...but it can also make doing updos, like french twists, a bit of a challenge. That's why I like this deconstructed version. It's much more forgiving
First make sure you detangle. Seems like an obvious, I know! But I can be such a zombie in the morning I occasionally forget the obvious
Make a part going to the crown of your head
Now, if you don't have long or thick hair, you can skip this step. If you do, here's the game changer: part your hair into thirds. Then....
Tie an elastic around the middle section of hair. I've found that this helps support the weight of thick hair during the process of twisting it up. It also helps hold the hair together with all the looping that has to occur for long hair to fit inside the twist
Now we have the issue of making the elastic invisible. So take one of the sections of hair that you didn't put in the pony and cross it under the piece that's tied with the elastic
Then take the other section and cross it the opposite way. So now you have the section with the elastic in the middle, and the two non-elasticed (is that even a word?) pieces making an X underneath it
Then you're going the do the exact same cross-over on the top of the pony as you did underneath. So you crossed the left piece to the right, and the right piece to the left. Keeping up? It gets easier, I promise!
Now hold everything together
Then, twist your hair starting at the base
If you have long hair, once you reach the crown of your head, stop twisting and let the rest of your hair fall straight down. Then, start folding the straight parts into the twist. If you still have more length, keep doubling it up and tucking it in
The doubling up process results in these loops at the top of the twist. They'll be pretty floppy so you'll probably want the pin them down
Now start putting bobby pins in to hold it all in place. I also like to put a few in the middle of the twist to give it that "deconstructed" and less polished look. That way if a chunk falls in the middle of the day it's pretty easy to pin it up quickly
Make sure all the pins are concealed and pushed all the way in
Make sure everything's where you want it
And you're good to go!