Un atébas. Yes, that's French.

[grrr betsy]

So, it was actually a friend of mine who did this one for me, but I figured that after all, it is kind of a craft of a sort... just one that you wear and you don't take out and put back in all the time. It's called an atébas. I never really saw this in the United States, but it's pretty popular here in France with the reggae/hippy/rock crowd... It is essentially a braid wrapped extremely tightly with embroidery thread (yarn can be used too)

I just think they are pretty and fun. So here are some pictures of my new atébas.













Here's a site for any Francophones, http://lagrima.free.fr/atebas/ for English speakers, I would be happy to help or explain anything you don't understand.

[padray]

In the US they're called 'hair wraps.'  I haven't seen any in years, but in the mid-to-late 90s they were popular with people I knew, and I had several (at different times).  We would put charms on the ends, too.

Yours is so cute!  It's making me want one again! 

[grrr betsy]

In the US they're called 'hair wraps.'  I haven't seen any in years, but in the mid-to-late 90s they were popular with people I knew, and I had several (at different times).  We would put charms on the ends, too.

Yours is so cute!  It's making me want one again! 

I figured there had to be some kind of term for it in English!! Haha. But since I had never seen any back home I couldn't figure out what it might be. Thanks!
But atébas is so much more fun to say!!!

http://www.hair-wraps.com/ I WONDER HOW OLD THIS WEBSITE IS!! haha

Anyway, I think the main difference I've seen between the hair wraps and atébas is most atébas, like mine, are below all the other hair so they can only be seen when they are longer than the other hair, they are usually pretty thick, and people keep on adding string making them thicker and thicker for months and months...

[Conley]

OMG, I had one of those! I once got it redone at a Renn Faire here in the US. Its done here in the US with the same sort of crowd. My friends and I had them though ours were thinner than yours. The Renn Faire wrap I had, they put a little lobster claw clasp at the end so I could attach different charms and beads to the end. I just may have to put it back in.

It was popular enough here in the US that they made a little hand held machine that would wrap your hair for you... I don't know that they still sell them though.

Yours looks awesome, I love the colors.

[Souldier]

grrr betsy:

Merci pour le site web!!! C'est tres chic!
Here in Canada we used to have a similar version called a "rat tail" but people usually didn't wrap them with embroidery thread. A rat tail is essentially a braid at the base of your neck that you never cut so it continues to grow and eventually get longer than your hair. Most people would get a rat tail when they cut their hair, telling the hair dresser to leave a section of hair uncut at the base of the neck which would then be braided. It was super popular. Lots of boys had them too.

[grrr betsy]

grrr betsy:

Merci pour le site web!!! C'est tres chic!
Here in Canada we used to have a similar version called a "rat tail" but people usually didn't wrap them with embroidery thread. A rat tail is essentially a braid at the base of your neck that you never cut so it continues to grow and eventually get longer than your hair. Most people would get a rat tail when they cut their hair, telling the hair dresser to leave a section of hair uncut at the base of the neck which would then be braided. It was super popular. Lots of boys had them too.

grrr betsy:

Merci pour le site web!!! C'est tres chic!
Here in Canada we used to have a similar version called a "rat tail" but people usually didn't wrap them with embroidery thread. A rat tail is essentially a braid at the base of your neck that you never cut so it continues to grow and eventually get longer than your hair. Most people would get a rat tail when they cut their hair, telling the hair dresser to leave a section of hair uncut at the base of the neck which would then be braided. It was super popular. Lots of boys had them too.

ooooh yeah, a rat tail... ew, that's for like, white trash where i live in california... someone else already associated my atébas with a rat tail and that kind of scares me. haha. i would never do that, par contre. the atébas are definately more reggae culture than a rat tail. and rat tails are centered, atébas would be weird if they were centered, i think.

[Conley]

Yeah, I remember rattails from my growing up years. I remember watching New Kids On The Block videos hoping danny's would whip someone in the face.
My friend had a hair wrap even though she had short hair. Her wrap was quite small and when she went to work (where they frowned on them) she just unclipped the charm and pinned it up to the back of her head under her other hair and no one ever knew.

And I found the hair wrap machine I mentioned earlier as well as a few other links:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/B00006K110/104-2131136-2155135
http://www.bodydeco.co.uk/acatalog/hairwrapproducts.html  <--- their main page is pretty cool
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1570541639/104-2131136-2155135?v=glance&n=283155
http://members.aol.com/beadwear/Beadwear/hair.htm

I will warn you .... typing 'Hair Wrap' into google will get you more towels and hair help articles than sites about these.

[Camellia_Ruth]

They are very popular with little girls, I see them all the time waiting in que at six flags and disney land. My little sister has the machine, it doesn't work very well... my hair got tangled up..


I like the colors you chose betsy very chic.

[grrr betsy]

I'm going to add some white to mine tonight, a part of it came loose and is looking pretty ugly so I'm gonna have to figure out how to fix it all up!! I need the atébas ambulance!!

[i like your face]

wow that looks great! you know when you want to take it out you can cut it off (if your willing to loose a small chunk of hair) and attach a barrete or clip at the base where it begins and then you could take it on or off whenever you want! haha i did that with my hair wrap when i was about 8 years old and i think its still in my bathroom drawer somewhere...