French braid

The three-strand gathered plait includes three sections of hair that are braided together from the crown of the head to the nape of the neck.

In the simplest form of three-strand braid, all the hair is initially divided into three sections, which are then simultaneously gathered together near the scalp.

The final result incorporates all of the hair into a smoothly woven pattern over the scalp.

The phrase "French braid" appears in an 1871 issue of Arthur's Home Magazine, used in a piece of short fiction ("Our New Congressman" by March Westland) that describes it as a new hairstyle ("do up your hair in that new French braid").

[2] However, no visual illustrations are provided for that context, making it impossible to tell whether it refers to the same hairstyle described above.