Cornrows are a style of traditionally three-strand braids, originating in Africa, in which the hair is braided very close to the scalp, using an underhand, upward motion to make a continuous, raised row. Cornrows are often done in simple, straight lines, as the term implies, but they can also be styled in elaborate geometric or curvilinear designs. They are distinct from, but may resemble, box braids, Dutch braids, melon coiffures, and other forms of plaited hair, and are typically tighter than braids used in other cultures.
Woman with cornrows
Portrait of Emperor Yohannes IV wearing traditional Ethiopian braids. See page for author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Melon coiffure seen on a statue of the Small Herculaneum woman, ca. 2nd century, National Archaeological Museum of Athens.
A Nuba woman wearing cornrows in a traditional styling
A braid is a complex structure or pattern formed by interlacing three or more strands of flexible material such as textile yarns, wire, or hair.
The simplest and most common version is a flat, solid, three-stranded structure. More complex patterns can be constructed from an arbitrary number of strands to create a wider range of structures. The structure is usually long and narrow with each component strand functionally equivalent in zigzagging forward through the overlapping mass of the others. It can be compared with the process of weaving, which usually involves two separate perpendicular groups of strands.
A braid
A girl with a French braid.
A step by step creation of a basic braid using three strings
The braided streams of the Tanana River