Before you try out this style, make sure you know how to do a fishtail braid.  I think this style would be a good alternative to a french braid for anyone who has super thick hair and cannot make the strand additions very narrow.
Begin at the top with a small section of hair. Split it into two pieces.

Pull off a thin piece from the side of the right section (it doesn't matter which side you start with, but just so it matches the pictures, I said right).  Cross it over top and add it in with the left section.

Pull off a thin strand from the left side, cross it over top, and add it in with the right side section.

Now gather up a new piece from off the scalp (like you would for a french braid, but thinner.)  You will want to cross it over the top and add it in with the left side, but unless you also pick up a little bit of the hair that is already in your hand on the right side, when you finish braiding, the whole thing is going to slide down the head and gather up at the bottom.  Look closely in this picture and you will see that I have gathered some new hair and taken a small portion of the hair that was already in my hand.  Do not use any of the piece of hair that you have just added in from the left.

Now cross it over and add it in to the left side.  Pick up a new strand from the scalp on the left.

Add in some hair from the left section already in your hand, but not the part you have just crossed over from the right.  Add it in with the right side.  Pick up some new hair from the scalp on the right.  Add in some hair from what is in your hand already.  Try to get some from the previous crossover (in this picture, you can see the thin blonde strand I'm adding in).

Cross it over the top, and add it in with the left.  Try to keep the hair taught so it doesn't slide down the head.  Repeat on the other side, add in a small piece including hair that has already been crossed over previously.

Continue in this manner until you run out of hair on the scalp to add in.  Finish it off with the regular fishtail technique.

The fish tail looks similar to a regular braid, but is more intricate.  You can do this at the end of a ponytail with all the hair or pigtails.  I started with a front piggy with the hairband at the part (rather than in the middle of the section) and then did a pull-through with a topsy tailer.

Divide the tail into two pieces.

Beginning on the right (it doesn't matter which side you start on, but the pictures start on the right) pull out a thin piece from the side.

Cross the thin strand over top, and add it into the left section.

Now take a thin strand out from the left side at the outer edge.

Cross that over and add it into the right section.  Pull another thin strand from the right side edge.

Cross it over and add it into the hair on the left.

Repeat, repeat, repeat!  When you have done this several times, you will come down the braid to where you find sections of hair that have already been use higher up in the braid.  You will see places that seem to naturally divide because they have already been divided earlier in the braid.  If you use these same pieces, it will make the braid look quite neat on the underside, but it really isn't necessary to worry about it.  You may disregard these pieces and just continue to pull off any section from the edge.

These pictures are here to show how the hair sort of naturally breaks into sections after you get down a ways.

Keep following this pattern until you run out of hair to braid, then fasten it off.

This is really very simple and easy, but it is striking.  The twisted heart is very similar to the braided heart, but it is a rolled twist instead of a braid.  You will need two piggies, one above the other.  Do an upside-down pull-through with a Topsy Tail tool or with your fingers on the top piggy.

Split the tail and roll each piece in opposite directions, rolling down towards the forehead.  If you twist the right way, it will lay flat.  If you twist the wrong way, it will stick up.  Try again.  Roll them down a ways and then pinch them together at the bottom piggy forming a heart shape.  Carefully put on another hairband.  If you tighten the heart too much when putting on the band, gently pull at the loops to adjust it.  It helps to spray the twists with water before you band them.

You can put one in the bangs like this picture, or you can do a front half pony, a whole head pony, two pigtails, two or three across the front or along a side part.  If you do pigtails, you can actually just do it with one hairband on each side instead of the double because gravity will hold them down.  This is one of my all time favorite hairstyles.  It's really cute.

Here I've made a twisted heart with Barbie bangs and a headband.  This would also be cute with a wide ribbon and three heart across the top.

I've been seeing this style become more and more popular.  I have to say, though, that I think it may work better in some hair types than in others.  Belle's hair is slick and straight, and whenever I put this style in her hair, it barely lasts a half hour.  She is young, though, and likes to play rough.  A teen or adult or someone whose hair isn't so slippery may not have the same trouble.  I've seen this style on someone with very curly hair.  I thought it was striking.  I really liked it.  So here's how:

The first step is a temporary pony at the bottom of the head.  This makes the braiding easier.  Part out the section at the top to use for braiding, and pull the rest out of the way.

Let the top hair fall down.  Part the hair at the top of the head or on one side.  Pull up a section near the forehead on one side and split it into three to begin braiding.  Cross the front over the middle.

Now cross the back over the middle.

Now bring the front over middle again adding a little hair from the bottom just as in a regular french braid.  This is the only time you'll do this: it is just to get the hair back away from the forehead so the first "fall" doesn't drop over the face.

Add hair from the top like in a regular french braid

Here is where the change comes from a regular french braid.  Instead of crossing the front over the middle again, you will exchange this strand for a new one.  Draw up a new section of hair as if to add it in to a french braid, but do not add it to the strand.  Just bring it under the bottom strand, cross it over the middle, and let the section you would have added it to fall loose.

Continue at the top by adding hair to the top strand and crossing it over the middle.

Repeat on the bottom by drawing a new section from below...

...and crossing it over the middle.  Then add hair from the top and cross over to the middle.

Repeat.

Repeat until you get to the center of the head.  Add a temporary clip to hold it together onto the ponytail.

Repeat on the other side.

Undo the temporary clip and bring the braids together.  Tighten up the "falls" by pulling on them gently.  You can add a hair band right here, or you can combine the strands and continue a regular braid.

Undo the temporary ponytail.

Like I said before, Belle is too rough on this hairstyle, so to make sure she doesn't end up looking like a mess in a half hour, I brush all the ends into a ponytail and add a bow.

For a variation, you could end the braid at the corner of the head.  Here I use a mini clip to keep it in place.  Notice the slight variation of the look: it comes from the amount of hair you pull up from the bottom.  The pictures at the top have only a little hair brought up, and it looks a little bit like a hawser twist, but the one below has thicker/wider pieces brought up.

 This is my sweet little Belle about two years ago.  This headband is a stretchy fabric loop.  To get it in, you have to pull the whole thing over the head around the neck like a necklace, pull the hair out and over the band at the back, and then scoot it back over the forehead.  For a hard headband, put the ends over the ears as if you were putting on glasses, and then push it back over the forehead.

Honestly, I am not a big fan of headbands right now because they fall out so frequently, and also because the space above Belle's ears is already taken up by her glasses.  I was the headband queen when I was in grade school, and wore headbands all the time, but they are frustrating unless you can find one that really fits your head.  If they curve of the headband is different from your head, it can fall out or give you spot headaches.  I know they have been making new ones lately that are rubbery and stretchy so they should stay in place better and mold to the shape of your head better.  We haven't bought any of those.  Have you?  What's your opinion?

Lots of people are using the headbands like the white one in the middle of this picture on babies with ginormous flowers almost bigger than the baby's head.  (Belle wouldn't let me put anything on her head until she was almost two, though I never tried anything when she was a newborn.)  I used to tie the back side with a rubber band (fold it in half, then tie the ends around) to scrunch it up.  That way it didn't lift up the hair at the back of her neck to make an arch poking through the other hair that's laying over it.

There are several tricks you can do to keep headbands in involving braids, tiny pigtails and pull-throughs, etc. My favorite headband is the kind from Gimme Clips that has the loop on it so you can clip in a flower.  You can also use the loop to slide in a bobby pin to hold it down.

I don't actually know what this is called...  It is a hawser twist, but you add hair with each cross like a french braid, but a french twist is a completely different style, so I'll just call it a french hawser twist.  Before you try this one, make sure you know how to do a simple hawser rope twist.

There are lots of things you can do with this technique, but for today, just start by parting the hair down the middle like pigtails.  Keep one side out of the way with a clip or hairband while you work with the other side.  Pull up a section at the top of the head and split it into two with the division perpendicular to the center head part so that both pieces have a space touching the forehead.  Twist them both toward the face, and then cross the higher one over the other toward the back of the head.

Cross the lower over the first one toward the back of the head.

Add some hair to the strand that is now lower.  You will be taking hair that is both below the twist and above, but the hair that is above will be hanging down behind the twist.  When you french braid, you gather one side then the other, but here you are taking hair from both sides at the same time.  After you add the hair in, twist it in with the rest (toward the face), and then cross it over the top.

Continue in this pattern, adding hair to the lower strand, twisting it in, and crossing it over until you get to the bottom and have no hair left to add in.

Finish off with a simple hawser rope, and then fasten it with a hairband.

Repeat on the other side.

For a variation, you can tie the two together at the base of the neck...

...and then wrap them around into a bun.  Tuck in the ends and pin in place.