Crown Braid

The Crown Braid (German: Gretchenfrisur, or Bauernkrone ["farmer crown"]) is a women's hairstyle that was once popular with European women. It consists of the hair braided and piled atop the head.^[1][2] The hair can either be pinned up with bobby pins, or braided around the head in a technique similar to the dutch braid or french braid, adding strands of hair continuously while braiding around the head.

Yulia Tymoshenko sporting a Crown Braid

The crown braid was worn by women for centuries to keep long hair safe during farm work. Thus, it became associated with folk styles. It is also well suited to be worn with Tracht head coverings.

But the style has been around for much longer than that, with sources pointing towards ancient mesopotamian history.^[3]

A crown braid using a dutch braid technique of adding strands

In the early 2000s, the hairdo gained some attention when the Ukrainian politician Yulia Tymoshenko wore it.^[4]

Etymology

The style is sometimes named German: Gretchenzopf (Gretchen braid) for Gretchen, Faust's love interest from the writing of Goethe.^[5]

In the English language, this hairstyle might also be called halo braid.^[6][7]