No single person or group “made” braids; they emerged independently in many ancient cultures and are thousands of years old.

Very short answer

  • There is no inventor of braids.
  • The oldest evidence of braided hairstyles goes back roughly 25,000–30,000 years, seen on prehistoric figurines like the Venus of Willendorf and Venus of Brassempouy.
  • Braiding traditions developed in parallel across Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, each with its own meanings and styles.

Ancient origins of braids

  • Archaeological finds show braided-looking hair on Ice Age figurines from Europe dated to about 28,000–25,000 BCE, suggesting very early use of plaited or woven hair.
  • Rock and cave art from North Africa depicting cornrow-like styles dates back several thousand years BCE, indicating long-standing braiding practices on the African continent.

Africa’s central role

  • Many historians and hair scholars point to ancient Africa as a major cradle of complex braiding, especially styles like cornrows, box braids, Fulani braids, and other patterned plaits that signaled tribe, age, status, and more.
  • Among groups such as the Himba of what is now Namibia and various West African communities, braiding was (and is) a communal practice tied to identity, social bonds, and spirituality, not just fashion.

Beyond one culture or trend

  • Braids were also worn in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Greco‑Roman world, South Asia, East Asia, and later by Celtic, Germanic, Slavic, and Viking peoples, each for their own practical and symbolic reasons.
  • Modern debates about “who made braids” often show up in online forums and social media, but historians generally agree that braids are polygenetic : multiple cultures developed braided styles rather than borrowing from a single original inventor.

If you’re writing or posting about it

  • For accuracy, it helps to say that braids have ancient roots with especially rich and early evidence in African cultures, while recognizing that many peoples across the world have their own braiding histories.
  • When talking about specific looks (for example, Fulani braids, cornrows, or so‑called “Viking braids”), it is best to name the culture they come from instead of treating all braids as one generic style.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.