Rope braid

It doesn't happen very often that I'm impressed with a hairstyle tutorial. Usually I find them overly complicated, potentially extremely damaging (So much backcombing and products and heat!) or just that the time spent results in something I can whip up similarly in 5 minutes or less.

But this tutorial impressed me:

I've been trying to rope braid my own hair before with zero luck. But this looks like something I could, with time and practice) actually make work with my own hair.
He makes it looks clean and simple, and the time spent creating the style seems absolutely worth it.

So I talked a coworker into letting me try on her hair.

For my very first try at this, ever, I'm impressed. Obviously, I need to practice some, but the basic pattern is there. Some more experience and less uhm'ing and errh'ing at the attempt, and I think this could be really pretty.

Also, I think that putting the rope ends up in a bun might eliminate some of the messy sagging at the neck and create a cleaner, neater rope.
Hmm!