"Sleek" or "Messy"?

2008

When my daughter was younger we used to do her hair like this all the time. It's a zig zag part with a bun on each side of her head. She'd say "mommy can we do the balls?" She hasn't asked for this style in a few years. I was surprised when she asked for it. So we went through the whole straight or zig zag part and the newest question messy bun or "regular". She chose the zig zag part. 

To make the zig zag part you start at the top front of the head off to one side and start your part.  I use a pick, but a comb or rattail comb would work well too. Move back a short bit at an angle. I separate the sections of hair each time I change directions. Start where you left off and go in the opposite direction. Do this all the way to the back and base of the hair. I have my daughter hold the sections as we go so they don't mix back in. When I am done I quickly and loosely put one side in a pony tail so my daughter can quit holding the hair. Then I put the other side up correctly. For this style it goes snugly on the side right above the ear. Then go back to the other side and match the first side. Try to get them about the same place on each side of the head. I will look like this next picture:

The next step is to turn these pony tails into buns. She couldn't seem to understand my idea of a messy bun. So we did a mess bun and a sleek bun, one on each side so she could look at them and decide which she liked better. 

To create the messy bun I take the hair and twist it just a little and then wrap it around the pony tail holder. I don't twist it all the way to the ends since we want it to have some messy ends. Twist so the ends are loose and then twist around the pony until all you have left is the amount you want loose. I left about 1 1/2 - 2 inches. Secure with bobby pins all the way around. I pin the hair and try to go under neath the ponytail holder when I push it in.

To create the "sleek" bun, I lightly twisted her hair all the way to the ends and then wrapped it around the pony tail holder as well. Secure with bobby pins in several places around the pony tail holder. You want this tight to look sleek.

Here is what each side looked like. Which side do you think she chose?  

If you guessed the "sleek" you were right. It's what she was used to. It's how we always used to do it. So here is what it looks like from the back:

.....And here is what it looks like from the front:

I'd love to hear if you tried this on yourself or little girl. Hope you like it!

Have a GREAT hair day!

Fishtail with color!

Today we are doing the fishtail again, only this time we are adding color! It's very simple, we are just adding pieces of yarn to the hair before starting the braid.
Take the top of the hair and lift it up. Tie in several pieces of colored yarn to the under pieces of hair. The yarn needs to be as long as your hair. I made ours twice the length of her hair and tied it once so both sides hung down. Then you will seperate the hair into two sections and create your fishtail braid. If you don't know how to make the the fishtail go HERE.

Front French Braid

It's a cute one today. Perfect for any age! This one is a simple french braid across the front top of the head. 

To create this look you need to first part the hair on the side. Part it farther to the side than you might normally part the hair. Then you need to section off a front portion of hair. To make it simpler so I didn't pull in more hair than I wanted, I put the "extra" hair in a temporary pony.Then you need to do a simple french braid. Do not make it quite as tight as you would normally. If you make it too tight it could disappear into the hair. Once you get to the point where you have no hair left to add, just continue with a regular braid a little bit. Leave the ends loose like the rest of the hair. Put a small  elastic band on the end of the braid. The smaller the better to create less bulge. At this point we removed the rest of the hair from the "temporary" holder and we dampened the hair just enough to scrunch it and blow dry just a little to add some curl. (If you notice in picture #2 her hair is kind of straight and limp looking-but picture 3, 4, & 5 are much fluffier and curlier) Lift a little of the hair up, not all as you will need some hair left down to pin the braid to. You will then pin the braid back behind the ear. Let the hair back down and position it so that you can't tell where the braid is pinned and you can't see the pins. Bobby pins hold best if you put one over the other in kind of an "x" pattern.

She came home from school-hair in tact and extremely happy! She can't wait to learn french braids. I'm not sure how to teach her to french braid her own hair...but we're going to work on it!

Have a GREAT hair day!

Dutch Pony Hair

 Well today was another cute one! To create today's hair you need to know how to do a "dutch braid". I always called them "inside out braids" growing up. It's basically a french braid but you braid under instead of over and the braid looks like it's sitting on top of your hair instead of blending into it.
We parted her hair on the side. Then sectioned off hair hair and created the dutch braid, stop adding new hair when you've included all the hair back to the ear. Continue dutch braiding without adding new hair to the end of the hair. Put an elastic band on the braid, and let it hang while working on the rest of the hair. Then pull all of the rest of the hair not in the braid up into a ponytail. Now take the braid and pull it back to the ponytail and wrap it around and underneath the ponytail. My daughter's hair is short enough that I was able to curl it under just a bit and bobby pin it into place. If your hair is too long for this you may want to pin it where you want it and move your elastic band up the braid to just below the pinned spot and release the braid past that spot. Then take an additional elastic band and pick up the loose hair and the ponytail and band that all together as well.

Please don't judge the lighting! We are trying every room in the house trying to find the best light for this blog! (It's not going well)

I really wanted to give her a "bump" on the top of her hair but I haven't mastered that without it looking like a rats nest! I have the general idea of how to do it and we will keep working on it. Coming to a blog post near you...how to make a healthy looking intentional hair bump! lol

Half Up Hair

Well here's another hair style to try.

To do this one you decide how much hair you want "up", then divide it into thirds. Take the hair in the middle and put it straight back. Take the hair on the right and cross it to the left side and pin it good. Try to tuck the pins under the middle section of hair that you pulled straight back. Then take the hair on the left and cross it over the hair from the right and pin it good. Try also to tuck the pins under the middle secion of hair that you pulled straight back. You may have to lift the ends of the middle hair and spread it over the pins a little bit. You may need to carefully brush the front to lay where you want it and hairspray it all!

Right now the verdict is still out on weather I pinned it well enough to last all day for a 3rd grader.

ignore the stack of papers!

Fishtails

Yep, it's another hair blog! I love that I can be home and help with her hair now!! (did I already mention that?) Well today we did a "fishtail" braid. I've seen it a few times but always thought it would be too hard to attempt. Last night right before bed I did a quick trial....FIRST attempt took me 10 minutes. It took even less this morning. This is seriously easier than it looks. 

Check out this video to see how to actually do the braid. The girl in this video actually does a dutch braid into a fishtail, but you can start a the fishtail to get the look we did with my daughter.

Have a great hair day! I'd love to know if you tried this and if you found it to be easier than you thought also!

New Hours, New "chores"

With all the recent changes at work, I've been asked to change my hours. I used to work early hours 4 days a week. I will now be working "normal" hours 5 days a week. I don't like that I no longer have a 4 day work week, but I love the idea of getting more sleep! I also have NEVER been home on a daily basis to get my kids ready for school. I am very excited for this. This is one time of day I was always stressed at work about. Never knowing if everything really got done, always worried they'd miss the bus. No they weren't home alone, dad was there. I still worried. I still won't be home when they get on the bus, but I'll know they are ready. The other bonus....I get to help my daughter with her hair before school, and eventually it will be makeup too. So today, we did big curly hair. She used to freak out if there was any "bigness" to her hair. She would think that meant it was "frizzy". Thankfully we finally got her to realize there is a difference.

This was a simple one. We love Aussie Sprunch Spray for her curls. Just take a hair dryer on a very low heat setting and scrunch your hair as it is drying. It's easiest if you flip your head over so you're upside down. Always dry the underside of your hair first-otherwise the top WILL be frizzy by the time you get the bottom dry. (Now I guess I should say here-this may not be the case for people with oily straight hair, but it is definitely the case for curly dry hair.) We didn't get quite as much lift as I had hoped for at the top, but I think I didn't scrunch that as well as I should of. 

I'd love to see and hear how your hair turned out if you try this too. She has naturally curly/wavy hair, but this scrunching technique works on most types of hair. The only hair type that I've tried this on where simply doing this technique didn't seem to work was fine straight hair.

I need to leave you with one more photo....she requested to have a silly photo shared! 

Have a happy Monday!

More Hair

Well, I am sick again today, but I can't fall back asleep. It works out well for my daughter who gets to have me do her hair again this morning. This is 3 days in one school week! So RARE. I normally am at work by the time she even thinks about getting out of bed. Dad doesn't do hair.

(I love her facial profile)

This again was my take on a hair style posted on Adopt A 'Do. It's not exactly the same, and I wasn't trying to make it that way either. She was happy with the results and so was I!
The hair accessory was actually home made by my mother in law a few years ago. I saw something like it in a Children's Place ad, and it was like $25. I wanted her to have it for a Hawaiian themed wedding we were attending. But, I was NOT and still am NOT willing to pay that much for a hair piece (especially for a 3 year old). Here's a look at how it was used then. She had a cute up do and it laid almost like a little crown on her head. Looking back I almost think she looked more "hippyish" than "Hawaiian". It's ok though, she was still cute! IMHO

2006 wedding with my grandma

This weekend-the plan is to learn how to and make more hair accessories...because the really cute ones cost way too much! And guess what, feathers and flowers are in right now-how cute might these turn out to be? Cross your fingers!

Hairtastic

My daughter has been wanting to try different hairstyles for a while now but had no idea what she wanted to try. My current addiction to Pinterest has benefited her! Through "pins" made by others in the pinterest community I came across a blog all about girls hairstyles. This blog is great! She does picture and word tutorials PLUS she video's them as well. I tried one yesterday and it turned out right-just didn't work well for my daughter's hair. I tried another today-and she and I think it turned out GREAT. What do you think?

Front View

Side View

Back View

The woman who writes the blog calls this "Twistback Flip Under". Ours wasn't exactly like hers, and I see I left a little bump there on the back left side-but it still turned out pretty cute. If you'd like to see the video on how to do this hairstyle or maybe find another go HERE.

Of course today was the day my son decided he couldn't get his hair to lay down and actually let me help him with his hair. I couldn't get it down either-so up it went. He wants it to grow out into a shaggy look. I'd love to let him, but I don't know if I'll be able to stand the in between-he's already getting "wings".  I can't share her hair without sharing his-so here are his pics too. "Faux hawk"

Front View

Side View

Back View