Hair Today

Twirly Skirt Tutorial

2009-09-22T22:20:00.000-07:00

I know this is my hair blog, but I ran into a follower and one of my girls was wearing one of these skirts with a cute white sweater and a coordinating headband. She asked if I would share. Here you go!

Threeish years ago, we had to have outfits for a Pioneer parade and I had NOTHING for my girls to wear, so the night before I grabbed some calico I had sitting around and made your basic, gathered floor length skirt for each one of my girls and a basic white apron. It worked for the time and through some tweaking, it has evolved into a fun skirt my girls love to wear. We go to the fabric store and I hear "I would love THIS for a skirt, Mom!!!" Since I am a sucker for fun things for my kids to wear, I happily oblige.

And as a disclosure, I don't like sewing with patterns and I have no idea what I am doing at all. I just get an idea in my head and I start cutting and sewing. I couldn't tell you what a bias is to save my life. Don't judge, mmmkthx.

First I head to my favorite fabric store...side note, I just found the BEST fabric store by where we are currently living. They sell Moda AND Amy Butler! If they carried Heather Bailey, my life would be complete! Okay, back to the tut. I buy a yard of my base fabric, and then 12 inches of a coordinating fabric. Then I measure it on my girl. Usually it ends up being half a yard that I use. For the smaller kids I shorten that. Hence the problem of not using a pattern. Also make sure that you add on about 3 inches for the casing.

I then cut two lengths of fabric for the main body of the skirt from selvage to selvage.

And I repeat with the coordinating fabric. I cut it six inches.

Fold the coordinating pieces of fabric in half and press.

The place the raw side of the coordinating fabric to the right side of the body material.

Sew.

I use a straight stitch. If you had a serger... which I do but it is currently somewhere in two vast storage units whereabouts unknown...You would serge this part together and then straight stitch next to the serged edge. Instead, I have trimmed it with pinking sheers.

Unfold the two pieces and repeat with the other two pieces.

(I didn't actually trim this one with the sheers because it was late on Saturday and when you are thinking "Dang, my girls have nothing to wear to church tomorrow" and it's midnight, well, sometimes you forget things.)

Then press the fabrics flat.

Now, I take and put the two pieces together. The front and back if you will. Right sides together. Then I sew in just over an inch from the selvage. Start from the bottom to make sure your coordinating fabric joints match up.

Like so.

Then trim...or serge.

Now I measure around my daughters waist. I pull the elastic snug and then overlap by half an inch.

Then I make the casing. On the top of the skirt, I fold down the raw edge, depending on how close my fabric is on either side determines the first fold of the casing. That is why I go three inches, because I am not an accurate seamstress and I need to leave room for error. I make one fold and press it down, then I fold that first fold over and measure how much room I have for my elastic and press the second fold down. You can see the press marks in the above picture.

I have plenty of room for the elastic.

Next, I sew a straight stitch around the top of the casing. This step isn't necessary, however I have learned that it keeps the elastic from twisting and makes for a prettier top.

Then I sew the bottom half of the casing, leaving a two to three inch opening.

Like so.

Then take two safety pins and attach one end of the elastic to the fabric and attach the other safety pin to the other end of the elastic.

Then thread the elastic through the casing.

I pull my lead out and attach it to the other safety pin while I even out the fabric as much as I can before sewing it up.

I overlap my elastic by an inch and a half and sew a square around the edges and an X from corner to corner.

Then I pull the skirt and stuff that elastic up into the casing.

Pull the casing flat and sew. Remember to back stitch.

Spread the fabric evenly and VOILA! You have a super easy, fun skirt.

It only takes me 20-30 minutes to make one of these puppies and we have tons of them now. Hopefully these instructions make sense. Let me know if you have any questions!

With a couple of tweaks, you can do so many things with this skirt. I have done an overlay and and under skirt. I have made a plain edge without the coordinating fabric and just hemmed it. I have wanted to sew strips together and make a striped skirt with the coordinating fabric on the bottom, but I haven't gotten around to that yet. My friend thinks it would be darling to put belt loops on the casing and thread a ribbon through. I agree with her.

Next tutorial, the super easy headband.

Golden Globes Hair---Nancy O'Dell

2009-03-03T21:20:00.000-08:00

This is the look we are going for...now, to be fair, this is a delicate hairstyle. It works FANTASTIC on my oldest, who is a little less...um...playful. Playful is a good word for it.

We modified it a bit for my little girl who can't stop on putting dress-up or hiding under rugs in IKEA. This is pre-crimping. Don't cringe when I say crimping. This is not that horrid triangle iron you had in 1987, this is a great 3-barrel curling iron. Don't shoot me when I say this, but DO NOT buy the cheap knock-offs of a 3-barrel curling iron found at big box stores!!!! I KNOW THIS FROM EXPERIENCE! Just don't, K! The more expensive ones have a center that lifts up, where as the cheapy's do not, and that my friend MAKES ALL OF THE DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD!!!

Yeah, I was a skeptic too, until one of our ultra-cool babysitters corrected the error of my ways. The cheapy was given to Goodwill where someone else will have to learn from my experience.

Remember THIS twist? You'd better, because that is the only way you will be able to do this very exact hairstyle! (As a side note, the model in that tut is a year older and looks it! Happy Birthday Lana!)

Spray the hair with hairspray (a very important step) and just use the curling iron as instructed in the manual. It takes time to get used to it, I still struggle.

As you can see in this picture, I pulled out some of the hair above where the two twists meet. You don't have to do this, it looks darling without it. I was just going for Nancy O'Dell. On a four-year old. A child who is 100% static by the end of the day.

And there you go!

Hollywood Hair...Jennifer Aniston at the Oscars

2009-02-23T08:14:00.001-08:00

I have a secret. I watch the Oscars and Emmy's. Not to see who wins, but to see their hair. Last night's favorite was Jennifer Aniston. She was beautiful! LOVED her hair, it wasn't over done or swept back into an updo that wasn't her at all. It was simple and fresh.

This morning we did her style on my oldest. She is getting past the point of piggies and wants her hair down and older (WAH!) so this style fit the bill.

All we did was part the hair at an angle from above her eye to her crown. About an inch and a half up the part, I parted her hair again to the other side. I pulled the extra hair into a ponytail so I didn't inadvertently pull excess into the French braid. I sprayed the hair with water and hairspray and braided down like so. I secured the braid with an elastic and then to make sure it didn't move, I threaded a bobby pin through the elastic and up through the underside of the braid.

Then I pulled the ponytail out and ran my flat-iron through pieces of her hair to give it some "UMPH"

How'd we do?

Coming up next:

Nancy O'Dells Golden Globes Hair

Vanessa Hudgens

Hearts take three

2009-02-12T10:07:00.000-08:00

I can't go off and enjoy all of the lovey dovey romance I have planned for my family without leaving you with one final style.

Super simple, remember those twists I did a couple of posts down? Simply do the same thing, only make sure that your final twist goes away from the crown. The secret here is in the parting. Start in the middle of the head and swoop forward in a curve towards the ears. Twist and secure and tie a romantic ribbon to the bottom. I should have grabbed a picture, but she is wearing some of her sisters babylegs that are black and pink stripes with hearts. LOVING the hearts!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!
XOXOXO

Stephanie

Sharing your hearts

2009-02-11T12:57:00.000-08:00

Thank you all so much for the wonderful comments about the hearts. I appreciate each and every one of them.

I have received some e-mails with pictures of some of the hearts you have come up with. Keep them coming! I want to see how many heart hairstyles I can get on this post!

This first one is from my friend that I have had since we were sophomores in high school. Our timing on everything is pretty consistent. Weddings were 20 days apart (she was my maid of honor, I her matron), first and last babies were within weeks of each other, we even live four miles apart. I love her. This is her sweet chocolate covered K girl. Look at how cute her hair is! She did the knot the opposite way of normal and proceeded to do a heart with little clips! Brilliant! It gives you so much control over the shape of the heart!

Thanks Itybtyfrog!

Next is one I received from Kelly. She tried the heart on her little Jillian. SO cute! Next time I will try the hot pink ribbon! I love the way it makes her hair POP!

Ammy had a great idea if you don't have a long enough ribbon, just twist the halves into ropes and secure into a ponytail! SO CUTE!

Perfect timing! My sweet little neighbor Naomi came over to give Tess a Valentine and I snagged a picture of her on my front porch. She looks so cute with the snow melting on her hair. Her mom pulled all of her hair into a ponytail and did an upside down knot and then rope twisted the hair and held it into place with cute little clippies! Thanks Naomi and Kera! (Kera does all sorts of fun things with her daughters hair...you will probably be seeing some more of her ideas regularly on here).

Check out how cute this one is! Becky did a puffy braid heart with just the top portion of the hair. Darling!

Cindy has been super busy with her daughter Paige. These are TWO heart hairstyles they have done recently. SO CUTE! Thanks ladies!

Debbee did a beautiful heart framing her daughters pretty blonde hair. Thanks Debbee!

Keep those pictures coming ladies! It does my heart good! Blackeyedsue2@gmail.com

Miss Tess as Fancy Nancy

2009-02-10T15:08:00.000-08:00

A while back, Tess was invited to a Fancy Nancy Gala with some of her best girls. She needed to get all dolled up and wanted her hair the way Nancy wears it way up high on her head. We had a problem, the underside of Tess's hair is short...way too short to be pulled up so high without most of it falling down within an hour.

A concocting we went.

First I combed most of her hair as high as it would go and I parted it across her hair from earlobe to earlobe. I pulled that section into a ponytail and flipped it into a knot where the hair came out the top instead of the bottom.

Then I parted another section from the top of the ear to the top of the other ear and pulled it into a ponytail as well. I also picked up the first ponytail and put it in with this new ponytail. Before I secured it with an elastic, I pulled some pieces out. Then I flipped that ponytail into a knot as well.

I pulled the rest of the hair and this ponytail together. As before, I pulled pieces out of the ponytail and secured the ponytail WAY up high.

Now, curl all of those pieces that you left hanging down. Just so you know, the bottom pieces when we did it THIS time were a little wonky. The first time I did this, I left longer pieces down, which is what I would advise doing.

Now, add your elastic tied with a bunch of organza ribbon (or bow or whatever is FANCY in your house) and fluff all of those curls.

Baby Do's. Puffy Braid

2009-02-09T05:00:00.000-08:00

Well, somedays you take what you can get on pictures. This one is a standby that I use on my babies while their fronts and sides are growing in.

Hearts take two

2009-02-06T05:00:00.000-08:00

No tutorial on this one, I wasn't sure if it would turn out the way I wanted it to. There are a few things I would change. That first ponytail that is in a triangle? I would put the ponytail down as far as I could. The two on either side, I would bring forward towards her face. It will give it more of a definitive heart shape.

Instructions are simple. Start with the top ponytail and split it in two. Add each part to a consecutive ponytail on either side and follow the elastics into a heart shape to the end.

Without a ribbon...

...and with.

Hearts take one

2009-02-04T15:37:00.001-08:00

In honor of Valentines Day and for something fun to do, we are going to do some "hair hearts".

First, start out with a ponytail from the part to the ear. Then tie a ribbon around the elastic. After I did this, I realized it was a waste of time because it fell out and I had to retie it. Forget what I said, just do the ponytail.

Then, flip the hair in a knot. Not one so the hair goes back on the head, but forward so it defies nature or gravity or something.

THEN tie the ribbon on. I promise, it's easier this way.

Now, split the ponytail in two and coat each side with gel or pomade and wrap the ribbon around like so (you want to make sure your ribbon is loooonnngggg. You want the ribbon to come up UNDER the sides...you will see why later. Wrap the ribbon around as far down as you can and secure with an elastic.

Now, ignore those for a minute. Part the rest of the hair in half and pull each side into a ponytail. The one underneath your ribbon wrapped hair, leave down, the one on the other side, only pull halfway through the last time you pull it through the elastic.

Now, have another elastic ready. Pull the two ribbon wrapped pieces into a heart with the bottom on the ponytail. Like so.

Secure them to the ponytail with an elastic. I didn't bother taking the elastics off the end of the wrapped peices. Who knows if the elastics would pop at dance class? I don't want to take any chances and I REALLY don't want to have to re-wrap her hair.

Make sure on that last pull through, you only pull it through half-way.

Tie the ends of your ribbon around the elastic and into a bow, and then tie another ribbon around the elastic on the other side

Like so.

Now curl those ends under and fluff them.

Voila...a heart! Can you see the reason the ribbon needed to go the way it did? It holds the curves on the top of the heart.

Double twists

2009-01-30T05:00:00.000-08:00

Another rather simple style. You could just as easily pull each side into one full ponytail or two ponytails.

I have found that when twisting the hair back like this, if you make your first twists go up towards the crown and then do the final twist to the ground, they don't flip by the end of the day. Does that make sense or do I need to add arrows?

Baby Do's. Two and a half ponytails?

2009-01-28T05:00:00.000-08:00

YAY! A fresh head of hair to add to my arsenal. People ask how my kids hold so still when I do their hair. Simple answer is I do it from the time they are babies. When this one hit a year, her hair started growing and it is getting super thick in the back. Could someone tell that to her front and sides?

Usually I do one or two piggies on top, but as they get a bit older and can sit for a bit longer, I get a bit more creative.

This one is basically a triangle in the front of the hair pulled into a ponytail. I parted her hair from the point of the triangle in the back down and made yet another triangle. I pulled that together and added the first ponytail. THEN I did another part on the other side and did JUST that into a ponytail. Sometimes I add bows. Okay, usually I add bows, but today I wanted just the color from the elastics.

And yes, I did curl her hair with a flat iron. Her hair is SUPER straight and if I don't, we get fly aways all day.

Out the door in sixty seconds

2009-01-27T08:20:00.000-08:00

Well. Sort of.

If your life is anything like mine has been lately, your kids are lucky if they get a comb ran through their hair and a barrette. Quite honestly, this third kid has made me a complete and total crazy! Mornings are SO much harder than it was when I had just two. Three people to get ready means I don't even shower til 3:00pm, if even then.

This is one of those hairstyles that adds a touch of simplicity. Normally, we don't do the curls and I just curl it under, but this morning went a bit more smooth than most and she was so excited to have curls. Isn't that sad? My kid feels neglected when I don't curl her hair. Poor baby! Rough life that middle child has.

For this you simply part the hair in the middle and make two little ponytails on either side of the part. So simple her dad could do it...maybe.

Oops...gotta go! The baby just gagged on a piece of cereal and threw up on her high chair...remember what I said about simpicity? Yeah...

Update on Legislation

2009-01-14T14:43:00.000-08:00

As many of you have heard...especially all 48 of you who have taken the time to e-mail me and tell me my information was incorrect, some in a not-so-nice way...they have added a "clarification" to the legislation that keeps second hand retailers safe. I read through the original bill, and there was nothing that mentioned second-hand retailers or consignment stores.

This clarification was released on January 8th. I posted on January 5th. At the time of my posting, no current specifications had been made and there are still quite a few holes that need to be filled.

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09086.html

I still maintain my position that products need to be checked at the source and the price shouldn't be passed on to consumers. I also believe that the government should specify information in the first place so citizens feel secure in their business and economics. To pass a bill that had so many questions and was so vague is very harmful. One can only wonder how many more clarifications will have to be made.

No more hate mail. Please.

February 10th...National Bankruptcy Day

2009-01-05T12:29:00.000-08:00

I know this is a hair blog. I am totally aware of that. However, today I feel the need to put something out there that may push readers away.

Soon, a United States law will go into affect that will have a profound impact on small business, including ALL on my sidebar. It is called the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. It is a law that in essence, prohibits anyone from selling products to children under twelve without rigorous lead testing. This includes ANY products intended for use by a child. Small businesses, Etsy, E-bay, Craigslist, Freecycle, thrift stores, garage sales, even hand-me-downs are included in this measure.

I am disgusted. That means no more give-aways. I could be prosecuted if I give something to one of my readers. I would by law be required to provide a "chain" to where I received the item, and the person who donated the item as well. Can we say McCarthy?

All items that haven't been tested for lead by February 10th will be required to be thrown into a landfill. I am disgusted that the country I live in, who boasts of its many freedoms, would do something as heinous as this. So much for "going green".

I understand the need to test for lead, however the lead problems are from China. Not the beautiful heirloom doll house my dad made for me when I was a little girl. According to the law, instead of leaving it to my girls, we will have to toss it. You won't be able to give those hardly used clothes to Goodwill or your neice or neighbor. Clothing prices at retailers will go through the roof because of the sheer cost of testing each article of clothing. I was thinking today that it reminds me a lot of why our country established it's own union. Taxation without representation. The bottom line is what matters. Forcing people to buy retail instead of buying used. They can't tax clothing that has already been sold. No more boutique clothes. No more homemade puzzles. No more toys that Grandpa lovingly worked on for over a month.

What makes me even sicker is that OUR house passed it with no nays and only a few in the Senate. I have a pit in my stomach. I can only imagine who is in the back pockets of these lawmakers.

For living in a country that boasts being a democracy, it sure feels a lot like communism.

To see more about National Bankruptcy Day SEE HERE

To see how it will effect the prices of your children's clothing, SEE HERE

An article to see how this will effect thrift stores SEE HERE

How it will effect small business like Etsy SEE HERE

For a Facebook group that helps you to see how you may be able to change the law SEE HERE

Write your congressman! I just did!!!

A Fun Christmas Updo

2008-12-23T12:07:00.000-08:00

Because really, I don't know what else to call this.

We did this little ditty on Sunday and I LOVED it. I curled it tighter because, well, I felt like it. Today the curls aren't as tight and I STILL love it!

Start by pulling the hair into little triangle ponytails. With Tess, I started on either side of her bangs and went to her crown, then from that ponytail (and the one on the other side) I went just beneath the ear. What was left, was one more ponytail...like so.

Then I pulled each ponytail into a knot.

A bit closer.

Next, I took each ponytail and combed it to the center. When I had them all in my hand, I went around to each ponytail and pulled a little hair out of either side. You can see them hanging down. The middle I secured in another ponytail that I didn't pull all of the way through. That's just a temporary fix for a minute while I do a few more things.

Curl each of the pieces that you had pulled from the original ponytails and then spray the heck out of them with hairspray (dumb humidity).

Now I pulled the ponytail all of the way through and curled the rest of the pieces. Then I tied a bow around the base and fluffed the ponytail.

Ta-da!

Front French Braid into Two Ponytails

2008-12-22T04:00:00.000-08:00

I love combining elements. In this one I did a Dutch braid (inside out French braid) from her part to her ear along her hair line. Then I curled all of the hair that was left down, parted it down the middle and pulled the Dutch braid into one half in a ponytail and pulled the other side into a ponytail. To poof it up, I held onto the elastic with one hand and pulled up hair at the crown...just a little, too much and she would have looked a little too boofy.

{I am SO sorry! I just realized that I have a bunch of entries that have no pictures! My computer went crazy for a while and I couldn't upload pictures to the net. I put them all on Photobucket and one day went stir crazy on that site and deleted a bunch, not realizing that they were linked to this site. I will remedy that soon.}

Half Twists

2008-12-20T04:00:00.000-08:00

This one is really super easy.

Using the elements of THIS twist, part the hair down the middle and pull into sections to the ears.

Divide each section in half and twist to the ends. I temporarily held the first one with a clip.

Then repeat on the other side.

Take both twists and pull together. Decide where you want the twists to end and secure with an elastic.

Finish the hair how you would like. I really like this one with a flip and with curls. It's really up to you.

Then tie a ribbon, place a bow or a flower for the weight (this one has a tendency to flip funny).

The Christmas Tree

2008-12-18T09:37:00.000-08:00

We did this for her Christmas party at school today. Start at the top with one ponytail. Her's is triangle shaped. Then do a normal smocking style until you get to the bottom. At the bottom divide it into two ponytails.

As far as the accessories, I bought some Christmas buttons and used Jenn's fun accessory idea. Loop the elastic through the button and put on top of the ponytail.

Lily-Pie Clips Winner!

2008-12-13T09:38:00.000-08:00

Congratulations Flutterbug! Please contact me at the e-mail address to the right with your address so I can get these darling clips to you!

Merry Christmas Giveaway---times up!

2008-12-11T13:33:00.000-08:00

Have you ever had an "I must have it" moment with something? That is absolutely how I feel about this hair accessory!

I have to rave about this. Lily-Pie Designs is one of my FAVORITES out there! Her products are the absolute highest quality and you have never seen anything SO darling in a little girls hair!

Until tomorrow at 5:00pm MST, you have a chance to win one of your very own set of butterfly clips. They are pink with brown and white circles...an absolute MUST HAVE for your stocking!

Leave me a comment and then head on over to http://lilypiedesigns.com/ to find the perfect accessory for your sweetie pie this Christmas!

Oh, and the hair do?

Part the hair into three sections. I start at the ear and go across the head to the other ear.

Pull the top section into a ponytail on one side and the bottom one into a ponytail on the same side.

Pull both into the middle section and secure with an elastic. I pulled the hair into a messy bun.

Top off with some darling butterfly clips that are too cute for words!

Technique---Curling with a flat-iron

2008-11-21T10:09:00.000-08:00

Finally! A new post, and a tutorial to boot! I have had many, many, many requests for this. My apologies. I have been waiting for my husband to be home long enough to take pictures. That hasn't happened...he has been a little busy with a work project, so I pulled out my handy dandy tri-pod and my old camera with a remote. Unfortunately, the remote wasn't working. You really need both hands to do this so I hope explain it well.

I put in some Garnier Curl Sculpting Creme and went to work. When I curl their hair with a flat iron, I usually curl the ends under first. I can't always get the ends the way I want and this eliminates that frustration. So start at the base of the hair and slide the iron down and when you get almost to the bottom, twist the flat-iron just ever so slightly to get a nice bent under shape, more if you want more curls.

Like so.

Take a section of hair and separate it from the rest of the hair. Clamp your flat iron on the base of the hair. I take the end of the hair and wrap it around the flat iron, if only to give it direction and keep it going in the same movement. This is where the bevel on your flat-iron comes into play. You are basically using the bevel to curl the hair. So after I clamp onto the hair, I pull the hair on the bevel in the direction I am curling. Now, keeping the iron clamped, slowly slide it away from the base of the hair towards you. As you are sliding it out, you slowly twist the flat iron like you would when wrapping hair in a curling iron

See how I have my hand holding onto her hair and it is wrapped around the iron? That is not a necessary step...HOWEVER...it makes for more control AND it keeps the hair together to make more of a ringlet. If you don't do that, the curl ends up being unpredictable.

Here is where I am twisting and sliding at the same time.

Follow this same fluid movement to the end of the hair.

And let go.

This second one shows more detail than the first.

Clamp

Twist

Twisting and sliding

Now I find as I get towards the end that sometimes the hair gets tight, so I loosen my grip on my flat iron.

Like so

Then pull your flat-iron out of the hair towards the ground.

Finish the hair

All this took me two minutes, tops.

But I didn't want to leave ringlets, so I ran my fingers through the curls.

And separated them by pulling the top from the bottom.

Then sprayed

And scrunched

Tada!

I hope this helps for those who have questions. When my husband gets home...a video as well.

I don't know what to title this

2008-11-13T08:01:00.000-08:00

I must apologize to all of you. My creative juices haven't been flowing lately. I have some personal issues that have taken some precedence in my life. Issues that have made me sad lately. I know as women we go through times like these and I know that I will pull out of it...that things will get better...that my creative juices will start flowing again.

I have a giveaway to do...a darling giveaway. I just haven't had the energy to come up with hairstyles to go with it. I am sad about that.

I had a friend say to me that it seems like I have a perfect little life. Here is my testament that I am flawed...and sometimes my life is as well. So please, have a bit of patience with me. Things will right themselves again...they always do.

My opinion on school pictures

2008-11-10T19:16:00.000-08:00

I have had several people ask me what they should do for their school pictures. We all know I love fancy schmancy hair and that I pull my girls hair back on a regular basis, however, this is the ONE occasion where I think that simple is best.

I learned that from experience. I tried to be fancy with my oldest dd's hair when she was in first grade. The result of that was that in her picture, half of her hair had fallen, the bows had twisted and it just looked ridiculous. I would scan and post a picture, but my computer has had a nasty virus for the last two weeks and my husband had to do some digging and in the process, my scanner/printer isn't working. Sigh.

Pictures should be timeless. The less extreme the hair, the better. I just took my dd's to have their pictures taken. Just before we left, I sat them on the front porch and snapped a picture.

See, nothing too crazy about their hair. The most "extreme" thing was the curls in Tess's hair. I do like to keep their hair modern, so we did some corkscrew curls. That was it.

So please learn from my mistake...fancy is NOT always better.

Triangles

2008-11-10T18:10:00.000-08:00

We did this on triangle day for preschool.

Start by parting the hair from one ear to the other.

From the front to the line in the back, make a triangle. Like so.

When I originally did this, it was a lot more polished, but you get the basic idea. You now part from that first triangle, another triangle. Like so.

Repeat until you reach the ears.

Now, here is where it is up to you. I parted my middle triangle into two and pulled the ponytails from each side into one ponytail. You could do two ponytails with all of the hair...whatever.

Now, after I did that, I realized that the ponytails were a little droopy and that made me sad.

I don't like droopy.

So I pulled the two ponytails into one ponytail. And I made my triangles into a square.

Basics...Inside Out French Braids/Dutch Braids

2008-11-10T18:06:00.000-08:00

AKA, the only hairstyle seen 'round these parts lately. Life has not slowed down much. This third kid thing has really cramped my hair style. My girls have been sporting these mucho lately because it is fast and easy. Either both braids will stop at the base of the neck, go all the way down, be pulled together into one ponytail and finished with bows.

Yeah, I suck.

Halloween Hair...Snow White

2008-10-20T08:07:00.000-07:00

Start with the ringlets like in the base hair post below and finger comb them out and spray them. Let them dry. I put the headband...Snow White's is red. Make sure you remember that. On a normal day I would probably stop here because I love this. However, we are trying to be Snow White, so we keep on going.

So now, take and brush her hair down. I use my fingers and comb them back into BIG ringlets, or waves.

I know it seems kind of redundant to make ringlets and comb them out and re-put them into ringlets, but it is really the only way I know of to make this kind of a wave.

If your daughter doesn't have bangs, I would just pull the hair back into the headband and pull a bit forward...think DJ Tanner from Full House.

Halloween Hair...Jasmine

2008-10-20T07:45:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: Animated girls have unreal, freakishly thick hair. I would love to have animated, plastic hair that never messes up.

Start with dry hair. Part with the natural part. I also curled the ends.

Part the hair from the part to the ear. Temporarily put it in an elastic, just to keep it out of the way.

Now, back comb the hair, the boofier the better.

Now, I just took a clip and twisted it up...just for a minute. Take a length of ribbon and put it on the hair that is down just before the boof. Tie it at the base of the hair.

Now let her hair down. Those front pieces that you left down, spray them with hairspray and twist them back. I then bobby pinned the hair to the ribbon.

Then take and pull the hair into an elastic. Here is where you boof the hair up. I just pull up the hair from the ponytail. Take another length of ribbon and tie it around the ponytail. I took about a foot and wrap it on one side and tie, then the other. Until you have only enough left to tie a knot. You will see it better in the last picture.

Now, put in one more elastic and boof out the hair again.

Repeat with the ribbon. If I were doing this for Halloween, I would tuck the ends of the ribbons in.

Halloween Hair...The base for MANY styles

2008-10-15T12:56:00.000-07:00

Many of the characters that I see out there have a basic hairstyle. It starts with ringlets.

Start out with dirty hair. Dirty hair holds curl better. At least in my house it does. So when your darling daughter gets her bath the night before, lay off the hair washing. I used a bunch of curl cream and ran it through her hair.

Then I curled ringlets with my flat-iron. You could use a curling iron, but I am more proficent with my flat iron. I curled her entire head of hair in less than five minutes. You can't do that with a curling iron, especially on thicker hair.

To curl her hair with the flat iron, I start at the base of the hair and wrap the hair around the flat iron and slowly pull it down. While I am pulling down, I keep the iron turned.

Less than five minutes later...

Excuse her tired eyes. She had some tummy troubles last night and she parked her pillow and blankets in the bathroom and slept on the bathroom floor. I don't think you sleep very well on the bathroom floor.

Also, this is where you stop if you are Goldilocks, Little Bo-Peep, Little Miss Muffet, Nellie Olsen (giggle), etc. Just spray and add your hat or your oversized bow that is almost as big as your head.

However, today we are not any of those characters. So I grab a section of hair at the crown of her head and back comb.

A lot. The poofier you want her hair, the more you back comb.

Now, let the hair fall and smooth over the top of where you just back combed. You may think you have lost some of the curl, but let me assure you, you have not. Those ends look a little wonky.

Simply take your fingers and smooth them back into curls.

Like so.

This wasn't my last step. I also sprayed her hair with hairspray and scrunched the ends up.

Look at those ends, and that poof. I will have you know, this is how my hair looked my entire junior year, only I used hot rollers. Then I cut my hair and my boyfriend hated me. So I dumped his sorry behind. I had cool hair in highschool. People even wrote that in my yearbook. True story.

Here is your base. Now you can take and do what you want with it. For school we put a snap barrette in it and then a flower over that.

For a fairy, I would twist it up into a claw and then let it fly all over the place or pull it into two loose ponytails at the crown and then back comb it some more or even re-curl pieces to give it more definition, like below.

However, what we were going for as far as princesses and characters was Ariel and Sleeping Beauty. I will show you THAT tomorrow. I am cranking these out as fast as I can before Halloween and I will be taking a four-day blogging break starting Friday. I really hope these little tutorials are helping so that moms don't have to go out and buy a bunch of nasty wigs that will never EVER be as cute as their daughters real hair!

Halloween Hair...Cinderella

2008-10-15T12:42:00.000-07:00

My rendition of Cinderella.

Okay, after studying all of the princess hair, I have come to the conclusion that Tinkerbell and Cinderella are the most similar of any of the princesses. Although, technically Tinkerbell isn't a princess. But you get what I am saying. Tinkerbell's hair is a little more skewompus. Don't you love that I make up my own words on this blog?

For the slicker Cinderella do, first I start with a very high ponytail. I started with sopping wet hair (just out of the tub) and then I coated it with pomade on the bottom and sides. I was doing this one higher and I did NOT want pieces falling like they usually do on her hair. I used an elastic very similar to her hair color because you will see the elastic on this one.

Then I took and divided her ponytail into three sections. I took the first one and coated it with pomade and looped it over and secured it with two bobby pins criss-crossed. Just push the ends out of the way...we will deal with those later.

Then I did it again on the other side.

Then I took the third piece and did it one more time.

Now the ends. I continued the loop with them by taking my flat iron and curling them in the same direction as the loops. Think one big curly q. Then I tucked the ends into the bobby pins already in place. She had enough in there to set off the metal detectors at the airport, I didn't want to use anymore.

I sprayed the entire contraption with massive amounts of hairspray and then I set it with my blow dryer. Like I said, I didn't want to take the chance that this one would fall out.

Ta-da!

Now, for Cinderella, here is where I would add the black headband. However, we were just heading to a fire station field trip and I just don't love black and brown together, and since she was wearing brown, we stuck a bow on the side of the bun.

There you have it. How I see Cinderella in my head. Also, this makes a pretty fabulous Geisha do as well.

Halloween Hair...Tinkerbell

2008-10-15T05:00:00.000-07:00

Start with the hair in a high ponytail on the crown. This was actually too low for my liking, but her hair is short and I didn't want all of the pieces on the bottom to fall out.

Put the comb between the elastic and the scalp and pull out.

Then flip the ponytail up through the part you made...see the post below.

I didn't take a picture of this step, but I ran my flat iron over her ponytail and curled it under so I could have a bit more control.

Then I backcombed her hair. Some call it ratting, That word makes me think of rats. For some reason I don't like associtating rats and my kids. Funny the things that you associate. My girls actually call this "fluffing". Spray the hair after you backcomb, fluff, rat, whatever.

Then smooth the top over the ponytail. Spray it again.

Now I take the ends and I tuck them up and secure them with two bobby pins that are crossed. Tess has fairly thin hair so I only needed two bobby pins. Depending on how thick your daughters hair is, you may need more, and you may need to tuck more than once.

Now, spray it all over you could be done, but for this day at our house, we wanted a headband.

Tinkerbell doesn't use a headband...but some glitter would add just the right touch.

Halloween Hair...Belle

2008-10-14T14:00:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are dressing up as your favorite princess, these hairstyles are for you. Today we are channeling Belle.

Start with the hair in a ponytail high on the crown. I curled the ends because this was for school and I didn't have the full time to do what I would have done had she been getting ready for a night of Trick-or-Treating.

Take your rat-tailed comb and slide it between the elastic and the scalp. Using the comb, pull the ponytail out slightly.

Here we are doing and upside down knot. Push the ponytail up through the part you just made with your comb...

...but only partway through.

Now take and pull the elastic tight. This is where I started tugging pieces of her ponytail out to make it poofier (I don't think that is a word). See those ends? If it had been Halloween, I would have curled sections into ringlets to make it a bit more fancy.

Then I tied a ribbon around the elastic. Had she really been Belle, I would have taken a yellow ribbon and wrapped it around the elastic and tucked the ends.

There you go. My human rendition of Belle's ball hairdo.

Star part puffy braids

2008-10-13T05:00:00.000-07:00

You will notice that there is a lack of pictures leading up to this first picture. Sometimes I will get going on their hair and then "DOH!" I remember I have a hair blog and I make a mad dash for the camera. If I am planning on a new style, I clean off my bathroom counter. HA! Now you can see what my bathroom counter REALLY looks like in the morning.

So, basically, you part the hair down the middle and then you form your triangles from a center point on the crown of her head. When I do a normal puffy braid, I like all of my sections to end at the same point right above her ear. I like the uniformity. With this one, you make the ponytail sections look like above.

Then I pulled the two ponytails into one big one...and I got her dress sopping wet. You could do this with two ponytails, however, my ponytails were too close together and I wanted to keep the star part consistent. So I pulled them into one. I only pulled the ponytail half way through.

Then I broke out the curling iron that I have been favoring latey and curled those ends.

See that darling little butterfly, you will have a chance to win one for yourself VERY soon. SO cute!

Top view

Back view

Parts...How to

2008-10-11T05:00:00.000-07:00

A straight part.

Yes, we did cut bangs. And for the record, she did not cut her hair and it wasn't something we had to fix. Her mother had a whim.

Comb the hair out nice and smooth. I find working with wet hair makes for the prettiest part.

Then I take the comb and go straight back on her hair.

On one of the lines the comb made, I take the come and separate the hair.

Like so.

Just go straight back. Then pull the sections apart and smooth.

Then dig at that ear because you swear you have a bug in it. Turns out, it was water.

Zig-Zag

When I say part from the side to the crown in so many of my posts, this is what I mean.

Coming off the part, you part again.

Then coming off that part, you part again. Repeat this until you are as far as you want to go.

Once you have mastered that one, you can move onto the easy version.

Comb the hair straight back.

Take the tail part of your rat-tailed comb and "draw" a zig-zag on the scalp.

Pull the comb up and separate the two sides of the part.

Comb each side for definition. Or, if you want to leave it down and have a vague part, don't pull it apart and smooth it as much.

Basics...Three Ponytails with Clips

2008-10-09T05:00:00.000-07:00

Super simple and super easy, especially on the days you are running to get out the door.

Simply part a square on the front of the hair. Pull into a ponytail, repeat on either side and put little clips on each ponytail. Can't get easier than that.

Triple Ponytails

2008-10-06T14:19:00.000-07:00

We have been doing this one quite a bit lately. She loves it, I love it, life is good!

First, part the hair how you normally would for two ponytails. Then divide each side into thirds. I pulled the top third into a ponytail and the bottom third into a ponytail.

Then you take and pull the bottom ponytail and the top ponytail into the middle...like so.

Repeat on the other side.

You can curl the ponytails from here or leave them straight. However, I wasn't feeling it yet. So I took this method from Jenn (which I am in LOVE with, by the way) and made a messy bun.

I pulled out my curling iron. GASP! Did I really just say curling iron on this site? Why, yes. I believe I did. I do own one you know. Don't tell my flat iron. It may cry.

Then we added purple bows. It was purple day.

And here it is in action. I totally stole this off her preschool blog from last week. Hope you don't mind Eve.

Criss cross braids with only 1/2 of the hair

2008-10-06T05:00:00.000-07:00

This is just like THIS hairstyle, with only 1/2 of the hair. That is the nice thing about hair, you can change one style by just doing it on half the hair or doing the same style on either side of the hair.

Start by parting the hair in the middle and pulling each side into a ponytail. Braid down the hair, now here is my tip. When I am braiding, I pull the braid over to the other ponytail to see where I need to end my braid. I don't like having to redo things. Secure the braid with an elastic.

Now, take the braid and flip it over so the end is by the opposite base of the ponytail. Pull a section of the elastic up and slip the end of the braid under the elastic.

Do the same with the remaining braid.

Now you just curl the ends, or make them spikey. If I did spikey ends, I would have done the hair that was left down straight. Since I curled them, I curled the ends. I like consistency.

Slip some bows in and there you have it.

Puffy Braids with Braids

2008-10-02T05:00:00.000-07:00

Part the hair on the side or the middle. I parted on the side and took it to a gradual part to the middle of the nape of her neck.

Part from the crown to the ear and pull into a ponytail.

Braid the ponytail and pull up another section of hair. Combine the braid into the ponytail and secure with another elastic.

Repeat to the endof the hair.

Then repeat on the other side.

Girly Do's by Jenn

2008-10-01T21:29:00.000-07:00

In a terrible case of mistaken identity, Blogger has mistook my friend Jenn for a robot and is deleting her blog! I can't imagine waking up one day and learning that you are losing everything you worked hard for.

There is a silver lining...she has one week to transfer everything from her old blog (this can't be an easy feat) and give it a new home. What does this mean to you? It means you need to change your bloglines, Google Reader, and address bars to reflect her new bloggy. Her first one was FANTASTIC and I just checked out her new one and it is equally impressive.

http://girlydohairstyles.blogspot.com/

Some questions answered

2008-09-30T13:48:00.000-07:00

The flat-iron I use is one inch. I use the cheap-o Andis one with a flat plate and a beveled edge from good ol' Wal-Mart.

The shampoo I use is Hydrotherapie from Biolage.

I buy most of my product at Target. I find they have the best selection.

My middle daughter, the blonde one, has hair to just beneath her shoulders. It is thin and baby fine. So any of you who want to know about hairstyles for shorter hair, try those. Also, on my side bar there are several moms who deal specifically with baby hair and short hair.

Unfortunately, I won't delve into adult hairstyles. I just don't have the time and most days I don't get around to doing my own hair! Many like THIS and THIS can be done on adults.

More Knots

2008-09-29T05:19:00.000-07:00

Wet the hair on the top and the front.

Make a slanted part. From that slanted part, you part the hair down from the end of the part to the ear. Divide this section in half, I followed the original part. Pull into a ponytail and secure with an elastic.

You then pull the elastic into a knot. To see a tutorial on how to make a knot, go HERE.

Then take that first knot and pull the hair from that knot down into the next section and make another ponytail. Then you make another knot.

Repeat on the other side.

Now, you could just leave it like this. It would be pretty with curled ends to make it feminine, however, it was PE day. Lots of running involved. So we pulled it back.

And we did just one more knot.

Tidy Braids

2008-09-28T05:00:00.000-07:00

Someone requested that I share how I keep their braids so together. Here you go!

Here is that soaking wet ponytail again.

And here it is all gooped up with product.

Section it into three parts. Try to make them even

Then just braid. I hold my braids tight...some people braid loose, some braid tight. I belong to the latter group. It's all about preference.

Just keep going. Notice the parts under the braid are starting to get unruly. Since I MUST have order, I take care of that by running my comb down each part.

Then just proceed to the end.

Little Ponytails off a Slanted Part

2008-09-26T05:03:00.000-07:00

This is the look we are trying to acheive today.

Directions:

Wet the hair thoroughly.

Part from right or left side through the crown.

Part from the crown to the ear on either side, I also take the hair that I am not using and put it in an elastic so the stray hairs don't get caught up in the ponytails

On one side, you follow the part and do that into three ponytails.

On the other side, you work off the part and make the three ponytails come off the part.

I then took the elastic that was holding the extra hair out and I parted the hair down the middle.

Then pull the three little ponytails into the main two ponytails and made them into messy ponys by only pulling them half through the last time I pull them.

I liked the way the ends looked so I didn't curl them. I just sprayed them with hairspray and put the bows in.

Corkscrew How To

2008-09-25T12:51:00.000-07:00

Start by putting the hair in a ponytail. I wet the ponytail thoroughly.

Then I goop it up with product. This is the BOLD IT! Gel. See how shiny it is? I worked it through the entire ponytail.

Separate the hair into two sections.

Now you twist the two sections separately in the same direction. See the picture below. I twist them super tight because it will relax a bit in the end and I don't like them to relax too much. You also use both hands because you aren't holding the hair AND the camera

Then I twist them together the other way. You don't have to do it this way. You could twist each side down completely and then twist the opposite way, I have found that for myself, I twist as I go because I can hold it tighter.

Like this.

Here is the completed twist. It just needs to be secured. However, because this was pre-bath and I had to bribe her, I just used a clip to hold the end.

But you can see in this picture how it relaxes just a bit.

Product

2008-09-25T12:31:00.000-07:00

Let's discuss product. I am a product junkie. It is like an addiction. I LOVE going to the store and walking down the product isle. It draws me.

Now, as a disclosure, I do not work for Garnier or Suave or FX or Infusium 23. I am just a mom who loves using their products on my kids hair. And as another disclaimer, I use a really good shampoo on my daughter's hair. I feel like the shampoo and conditioner are the foundation of a good hairstyle, and since I use SO MUCH product, I feel better washing it out with a top of the line shampoo. You would THINK that my girls had terrible hair, but quite the opposite. Their hair is healthy and shiny and full and luscious.

First are my favorite putty's and pomades. I LOVE these sculpting ends and for making them stay where you want them to go. Pomade and the Gel are GREAT for putting in braids to make them smooth and to stay smooth throughout the day. Pomade makes my girls hair, and MY hair look the same after they have slept on it! I use whatever I feel will be the best for the style that particular day. It's just something you have to get a feel for.

Rarely, I leave their hair down. When I do, I want it to look smooth and soft. This little baby does the trick.

I do curl their hair...a lot. This is what I put on before I attack their hair with a curling iron, flat iron, rollers, whatever.

My handy, dandy cheap-o hairspray. I should have bought stock...Honey???

Water. Most styles start with a wet head of hair.

After every washing, this goes in. Including on my baby's hair.

Any questions?

What do you want to see?

2008-09-24T12:44:00.000-07:00

I am taking requests.

So far on the list are a zig-zag part tutorial and a curling with a flat iron tutorial.

So go ahead, request away!

Triple Twists

2008-09-22T11:40:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I start doing their hair and I never quite know where I will end up. You can tell that is the case with this do.

I started by wetting her hair and parting it in a zig-zag down the middle.

I then took each side and pulled it up into high ponytails.

Unfortunately there aren't pictures of me twisting her hair into corkscrews, but that is what I did. I separated each ponytail into three sections about the same thickness. I smoothed some pomade on each section and split it in half. Then I twisted each half in the same direction while twisting them together the other direction. I repeated on each ponytail until I had three twists on each.

Then I took each corkscrew and pulled it up under the main elastic. IF I had known where I was going with this, I would have used clear elastics. She was playing soccer that day and I didn't want to chance the corkscrews coming undone and so the elastics needed to stay in place. Clear would have been much less noticeable.

It will look like this. I am not a fan of those ends.

So I took my flat iron and curled them towards myself.

Then I added her soccer ribbons. Which, by-the-way, we can't use anymore because they won't let us use metal. Whoops. Guess they will have to wear them when they go to pro soccer games on daddy-daughter dates. The also helped to push those out-of-control ends back.

WINNERS

2008-09-22T08:16:00.000-07:00

Let's see who won:

BIG SISTER

MIDDLE SISTER

BABY SISTER

Thanks to everyone who entered! For those of you who won, I will be trying to contact you via your blog, but if you could contact me at blackeyedsue2@gmail.com, that would make my insane life just a touch easier!

Welcome SITS Readers

2008-09-12T07:43:00.000-07:00

I am so extremely flattered! Heather from "The Secret is in the Sauce" picked me to be their featured blogger today! Thank you ladies!

Just a little about me...I am a creative person by nature. With three busy little ones running around, I don't have a whole lot of time to put into that part of myself in this season of my life. Sure, I dabble a bit now and then, so I take out my creativity on my daughter's heads. My husband refers to it as "hair art". I have so much fun talking to my daughters while I twist and contort their hair to whatever my hearts desire is that day. Just this morning I got a rundown of the entire third grade class at my daughters elementary school.

I want to thank all of you that have come to my little corner of the internet! Have a look around, make yourself at home, enter a contest!

Big Sister Time's up!

2008-09-12T03:59:00.000-07:00

Middle Sister

2008-09-12T03:57:00.000-07:00

Baby Sister

2008-09-12T03:56:00.000-07:00

What you can do with tiny French braids

2008-09-11T10:34:00.001-07:00

I have this current fascination with French braids that have only been pulled from one side. For example: you start a normal French braid but instead of pulling hair from the right, you pull it under from the left and only add in on the left side. For styles like the one below, it makes the hair "POP" just a bit. LOVE THAT!

For this one, we parted her hair and I pulled the excess into a ponytail to keep it out of the way.

Braid each side down as far as it will go.

I am getting stingy with my elastics, so I held each braid with a clip while I finished the other side.

Pull the excess that you had in the ponytail out and wet it and smooth it into a low ponytail in your hand. Remove the clips and add to the ponytail.

Secure the ponytail with an elastic, but when you get to the last time you are going to pull it through, only pull it through halfway.

Tie a ribbon over the elastic.

For this one, follow the same directions to the part where you have each braid into a clip.

Remove the clips and hold each braid at the bottom.

Pull the two braids together tight across the hair.

Secure with an elastic.

Curl the hair with a flat iron or curling iron.

Add a ribbon.

If her hair is fine like this little ones, spray the hair to stay down.

P.S. I have a little something coming up on Friday...here's a little teaser.

Braid Flower

2008-08-29T09:24:00.001-07:00

I came across a blog a couple of days ago where the woman made a comment in regards to my blog..."she probably thinks that she thought of these hairstyles herself."

So let me set the record straight on that. I don't think I thought of these myself. I watched my mom do my little sisters hair. She had AMAZING ringlets that her sweet daughter inherited. I had stick-straight hair and very little of it so I was always coveting those curls. I watched her braid it, fish-tail it, etc. I started doing little girls hair when I was about 9 years old and I started babysitting for a hairdresser. I was able to do her three daughters hair. She taught me a lot. I learned from her. I learn from watching movies, especially teeny-bopper shows. I see hairstyles in parks and libraries and my daughters schools and I emulate them. I learn from friends, neighbors and family members. Some times I will think I have thought of something myself and I see it being done already. It is hair. Saying I thought of it first is like saying there is only one great chocolate chip cookie recipe. It just isn't possible.

So today, I will show you one that I used from another blog. First I saw THIS post by Jenn, who has become a wonderful friend, and I loved how she did the loops. Then I saw THIS post and loved the braids. So I combined the all up into a ponytail and then did the braid flower. See...not original. But it fulfills the purpose of this blog...and what I assume is the purpose for all of the other hair blogs that are surfacing...to share ideas.

Basic Instructions:

Pull the hair into a tight ponytail

Using pomade, braid the hair into five equal sized braids...make sure to end the braids the same distance down

Pull the braid into a loop and push the ends of the braid through the elastic...as shown HERE

Repeat with each of the braids.

When I had them pulled through, I used my flat iron and curled the ends and then I used a pliable putty (by Garnier of course) and pieced them out.

3 Loopy Loops

2008-08-14T08:45:00.000-07:00

We did this style, with three loops instead of 2. Ignore my messy parts, even us "pros" have off days. ;)

Corkscrew Bun

2008-08-09T11:00:00.000-07:00

So today I was browsing all of the new hair blogs out there. Quite frankly, I am in a hair styling rut. So I was looking to all of my fellow cohorts to inspire me. Voila! I happened upon this post by Babes in Hairland...hence todays hairstyle.

Little Miss is going to the amusement park today and we needed to get her hair off her neck. So we did her style and then twisted the final braid into a bun. No sweating for the park.

Zig-zag puffy braid

2008-08-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

Using the concepts in the lattice ponytails and the puffy braids we did this style.

Part the hair into a half ponytail at the crown and secure the ponytail with an elastic on either the right or the left side.

Part another ponytail beneath it and pull the ponytail to the opposite side of your original ponytail. Pull the first ponytail into the second.

Repeat until you have reached the bottom of the hair. Depending on how long your daughters hair is decides how many ponytails you can put in. Her hair is fairly short, so I did four.
Six would be absolutely darling!

Slanted Puffy Braid

2008-08-06T09:25:00.000-07:00

This one is pretty easy.

Part the hair from her temple across her head to just behind her ear. Pull smooth and secure with an elastic on the side opposite the temple where you started.

Part down from the temple and pull it across her head to just next to the other side. Comb smooth and secure with an elastic only this time make the ponytail off a bit from your first ponytail.

Repeat until you get to the bottom and the last elastic.

At this point you can do what you want. You could do a flippy ponytail, you could tie a bow, you could curl it. This time we kept going until just before the end. I should have curled the end but I am lazy today and didn't want to go all the way back up the stairs.

By-the-way, today we used ouchless covered elastics. Her hair is getting too thick for the plastic elastics.

Swim Smocking

2008-08-04T11:16:00.001-07:00

As I mentioned a week or so ago, we had swim lessons. As in my nature, I started out gung-ho pulling their hair back, as time progressed, I puttered out resulting in one single ponytail or two...depending on which daughter.

I was cleaning off my CF card and came across this. Just another smocking do, but done specifically with the idea of keeping her hair out of her eyes while swimming.

Top Twist

2008-07-31T14:16:00.000-07:00

I started this with dry hair. I don't see why you couldn't do it with wet hair.

Section off a square on the top of the head. I used her natural part as my guide. I then pulled out the spray bottle and sprayed the section till it was fully saturated. I put gel in it as well.

Then I twisted. My twist went towards the back of her head. Twist it down until you have three or so inches on the bottom. Make sure you twist it TIGHT!

Then, fold the twist in the middle. If you have done it right, it should start twisting on itself.

I didn't want a full on curly worm thing, so I guided it so it just made a simple rope twist.

I have a bunch of these barrettes that I don't use very often on my bigger girls because their hair is too thick for them. You may have them as well. Just the simple snap barrettes. I used one of those to attach the bottom of the twist to the top of her hair.

I then took my handy dandy flat-iron and puffed out the ends.

Voila! A "Tween" twist.

Butterfly Hair

2008-07-30T10:15:00.000-07:00

A new family is moving across the street from us. They came to our ward (congregation) on Sunday and her daughters had their hair done like this. They called it butterfly hair, because it looks like butterfly wings.

Divide the hair into four ponytails.

Braid each ponytail down to the end.

Secure with an elastic but before you let go, take the elastic and pull it up over the original ponytail.

Repeat with each braid.

Top off each ponytail with a pre-made ribbon.

Soft and a little more grownup.

2008-07-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

My girl is growing up. She is throwing her locks in with the likes of HSM and Hannah Montana. She wants the soft curls and the trends. Which is okay with me, so long as she lets me braid it once in a while.

We started out with dry hair. I curled the ends and teased all around her crown.

Then we pulled back the hair where her bangs (if she had them) would have been. I usually use four bobby pins. Make an X and then another one over the top of that. Pull out the front just a bit to make the pieces a bit more uniform.

It looks fine down, but we weren't finished.

So we split it in two and made some soft, loose, low ponytails.

She thought she looked SO grown-up. But you and I both know that two ponytails are the very essence of little girls. Don't anyone tell her that. K?

I'm back...and how about some criss cross braids.

2008-07-18T12:15:00.000-07:00

Whoa, that was longer than I thought. I beg for forgiveness. We have had swimming lessons each day this week at noon and it just didn't make sense to do my girls hair twice a day, so instead they have resembled orphans.

HOWEVER,
Today there was no swimming lessons. WOOT!

This was going to start out as two braids pulled together. I have been doing just my regular standbys lately, but we decided to take it up a notch. It turned out pretty cute. You could do this with six braids as well. SO fun!

Part the hair into four sections.

Braid down as far as you can. I did an upside down braid this time.

Secure each section with an elastic.

Then, if you numbered the braids 1...2...3...4, you take braids 1 & 3 together and secure them with an elastic.

Then comb the hair under smooth and spritz with some hairspray.

Then secure braids 2 & 4.

Tie a ribbon around each braid.

Curl the ends under.

How about a Trash Tie giveaway! It's over!

2008-06-28T12:33:00.000-07:00

When I first started blogging almost three years ago, I ran across an amazing designer named Heather Bailey. I have lurked on her blog for ages. I downloaded her free pattern for headbands (although being lazy, I have yet to make them). I look to her for design trends and decorating ideas. In essence, I have been stalking her.

Then one day she cam out with these amazing little products called Trash Ties.

What a novel idea! It is a patented wire encased in satin. And they work so well. My kids love it when I use them because there is no cutting elastics out of their hair, they don't pull their hair, and who doesn't love saying "Trash-a-Ties"...the name my girls have so lovingly bestowed upon them.

I have taken some time to get to know my Trash Ties before I gushed about them on here. I am twisting them in and out of my daughters hair like a pro. Anytime I go to do a twisty style, they beg for them rather than my original way of doing things. If that isn't a testament to them, I don't know what is.

And these only get better with time. We have used them so much that the ends are starting to look like little puffs. SO CUTE!

So, in honor of my VERY FAVORITE NEW HAIR STUFF, I am having a little giveaway. One lucky reader and stylist will receive a 25" trash tie in gold. All you have to do is leave a little comment for me and you have to go and check out Heather's Trash Tie site to see the incredible things you can do with these.

Remember, you may only enter once and on Wednesday, July 2nd at 5:00, the contest will be over and the winner will be announced on Independence Day.

ETA: IF you already have Trash Ties, or to see MORE options...Visit THIS link.

Four Messy Piggies All In A Row

2008-06-26T22:21:00.000-07:00

Divide the hair in the middle of the head

Part the hair right where the temple starts.

Pull the hair up into a little ponytail being careful to only pull the hair half way through the last time you pull it out.

Repeat until you have four messy ponies (I know I put piggies on the title, it flows much better than ponies)

Curl the ends of the hair.

Fluff hair and spray it.

Add pre-made bows or ribbons for a finishing touch.

Look what you have been up too!

2008-06-23T23:53:00.000-07:00

Ladies! Wow! You have been SO busy! I use a lot of exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just have to say that I am super impressed at your skills. You all have some of the prettiest little girls out there and their hair is stunning to boot! I LOVE seeing these. And I have to just add that I am so flattered by all of the kind words that you have been sending me. Speaking of kind words, if you see me at the grocery store or Target...come say hi!!! I would love to chat!

Michelle sent these in of her daughters. The top picture is a DUAL lattice ponytail. She has some patience...and her daughter does as well. I will show you how to do those twists in another post. SO cute.

Marisa sent some adaptations of some of the styles here. I am LOVING the messy ponytails with the two braids. LOVE IT!!!

Kory sent me some shots of her daughters

Linnea has puffy braids crossing her head at a diagonal.

Mikayla has two French braids tucked up and under and tied them with a ribbon at the bottom and two flowers on the sides.

Lisa sent me these of her camera shy ;) daughter. It is the puffy braids with a zig-zag part.

Andrea sent me some adorable shots of her step-daughter Austin

My old locker partner from high school (how cool is that?!!?!), Gena, sent me this off-shoot of the upside down puffy braids/lattice ponytails

And she also sent me this super cute style that she found over on "Girly Do's"

Kimberly has two pretty princesses. Madison with the messy buns...

...and her daughter Sydney with the lattice ponytails

Karen has a darling variation of the smocking style. She makes it with "Knots". Isn't her Kate beautiful?!?!?!

Anna sent me this one of her little sister where she changed the ponytail part to messy buns! How darling!

THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!! For all of your support. I am so excited to see all of these! Keep them coming ladies! Blackeyedsue2@gmail.com. YOU ARE THE BEST!!!

Technique---Knots

2008-06-23T08:18:00.001-07:00

I have had quite a few requests for basic techniques. Here is one for "Knots"

I apologize in advance for the flash. I usually turn it off, but since it was starting to get dark, the flash needed to be on.

Start with her hair in a ponytail. This is straight-out-of-the-shower, so there is no hair spray or gel involved. I usually use the product. It makes for a smoother knot.

Slide the tail end of a rat-tailed comb under the center of the ponytail. It makes you feel better if your comb is pink, by-the-way.

Holding tight onto the comb, pull the elastic up, I'd say about 3/4 of an inch.

Now, follow through with your forefinger all the way through the hair.

Flip the hair up and

through the space where your finger is.

Pull the hair all of the way through.

Pick up the ponytail and

split it in half.

Then pull the two sides until the elastic is tight agains the twists.

Then I comb the hair smooth.

Ta dah! A knot!

A twist with well, a twist.

2008-06-22T17:46:00.000-07:00

Remember THIS twist tutorial and THIS messy ponytail? Today we combined them.

It was super fun to do such a small twist on Tess's hair. We did this on her sister yesterday using all of her hair, but since Tess has shorter locks, we did it with only half of her hair.

One more...

I did the same thing to Miss Amelia's hair, but it just didn't feel right today, so we did some more...on the bottom. When I pulled the bottom hair together, we just pulled it up to the top twist and put another rubber band. To make it easier, you could just do two messy ponytails and tie ribbons around them individually. Oh, that would be cute! I may have to do that tomorrow. It would give a lot of length to a cute hairstyle!

Climbing Knots

2008-06-21T12:23:00.000-07:00

Say hello to a new blog dedicated to more fun hairstyles. Piper's mom has some amazingly beautiful styles. On her blog they call these bugs, on my blog we call them knots. They are the same thing. I did this style from her bloggy on Tess this morning. Stop by and tell her hello!

Basics...Single Braid on Top

2008-06-21T12:22:00.000-07:00

Basics...Indian Braids

2008-06-21T12:19:00.000-07:00

Since summer is here, I am featuring some of our standby's for playing in the sun. This one is UBER cute under a bike helmet, swimming or just so your daughter can look little girly.

So cute it will make your hair CURL!

2008-06-13T16:08:00.001-07:00

Or corkscrew curls.

First, I need to apologize for my lack of posting. There is a reason they call them the dog days of summer. In my house we lie around lazy like dogs...which results in simple and basic hair styles which I am compiling...but it will take all of one post. Today I was feeling much more ambitious however and did something that has become a favorite in our home.

This post is for those of us who have daughters with straight hair or even wavy hair. I covet curly hair. COVET IT! However, the genetic make-up of my daughters fell short in the hair department when it came to curls. I have accepted this...but only because God made curling irons. Today we curl.

See this stuff? My favorite. I LOVE this stuff. When I curl my daughters hair, it makes the curls so soft, but they hold their shape. LOVE IT!

Start out with dry hair. Her hair was in French braids yesterday, and since I only wash their hair every other day, it has some funky waves going on.

Add your curl sculpting gel.

Then I take and curl the ends with my flat-iron or curling iron. Today it was a flat iron because the curling iron wasn't hot yet and my flat iron is hot in 30 seconds. Dumb curling iron.

I took a section of her hair and pulled it straight up. Then I put the curling iron right at the base of her hair. I apologize for this picture. Amelia was holding the curling iron as I was taking pictures. This is why I don't believe in full-blown evolution folks. Moms would have eight arms. And my curling iron is totally dirty. I have better things to do than to clean my curling irons. I'm keeping it real girls.

I digress. With the curling iron at the base of the hair, wrap the hair around the curling iron. My curling iron is 1/2 inch.

Like so. I don't worry about it wrapping around smooth or twisting as you wrap it. In fact, it makes the curls more twisty. The heat is what you want here. Hold it on the end. Note that the longer you hold the hair on the curling iron, the bouncier (is that a word?) the curl will be. I held these each for about 25 seconds.

Then I let go. Now the reason that I curled the ends prior to these is because I am not adding these curls to the entire head of hair. I don't have that kind of time.

But I do add some more...

...and a few more.

Then I let them cool. In this case I came downstairs and ate a Hershey's Kiss, then I went upstairs and finger combed her hair from underneath to separate the curls.

Then I scrunched them and sprayed them. You don't have to separate them. I will show you a picture of them not separated. It is cute either way.

Then I finished the front.

HA!!! Gotcha. Do you really think I would let her out of the house like that? Not that we are going anywhere.

So we added a clip.

Oh, and as a side note. Notice those baby bangs? A couple of weeks ago, she asked me if we could cut them off. I told her no. Her dad and I both had them until we hit puberty. If we cut them, the ones underneath would look silly. A couple of days later, I was pulling her hair into a ponytail, and I had these little pokey up hairs everywhere. She WHACKED THEM OFF! Here is a lesson to me. Don't discount that because she is almost 8 that you made it through her entire childhood without cutting her hair. It doesn't work that way.

This is what it looks like not separated.

The End.

Loopy Messy Bun

2008-06-06T08:48:00.000-07:00

Get out those bobby pins girls, we're going to make loops today.

Start with a ponytail

Section out a part of the ponytail. I made five sections with hers.

Loop the section up over the ponytail...like so.

Here is where the bobby pins come in handy. Use the bobby pins to secure the loop to the hair. When you put the bobby pins in, cross them. It helps them to stay secure and not slip. Don't worry about the end of the hair...we will fix that later. Just push it to the side and ignore it.

Loop the rest of your sections. See all that stray hair? Here is where we fix it.

Pull the ends up through your loops. I did this by dividing the ends in half and putting each half out the side of it's loop. You can stop right here if you want to because I love the messy look. But my daughter doesn't, so we kept on going.

I curled each of the ends with my trusty flat-iron.

Then I sprayed the heck out of it with hairspray because it was a rainy day and her hair doesn't do so well in the rain.

Then added flowers to the top.

Now, I should have fluffed each of the curls to give it a messy look...but as I said, it was a rainy day and that would have just been a big old mess because we went to lunch and shopping. I didn't want to deal with a big old mess.

This is what it's all about

2008-06-02T22:01:00.001-07:00

I am so excited. I am getting pictures from all of you on styles you have taken from here and made them your own!

Cami sent me these and I was so happy to see what she had done. She had tried the Lattice Ponytails and they turned out darling.

Then she took it another way. Upside down to be exact.

See how cute!

Keep those pictures coming ladies! I have about 4000 e-mails that I need to go through and if I missed one of yours, would you please send it again.

Triple French Braids

2008-06-02T21:08:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the slack blogging lately. Life...ya know?

Here is a submitted tip from Hilary. Her daughter has beautiful red hair and this style really shows it off.

Section the hair into three parts, one in the middle and one on each side.

I would temporarily pull all sections into elastics to make it easier to braid.

Braid each section down past the hairline and secure with an elastic.

Braid all three braids together and secure with one more elastic.

Q&A

2008-05-16T09:35:00.000-07:00

I recently went through my comments and realized there are quite a few ?'s that I haven't answered. I will answer what I do...and I hope that cosmetologists all over the world don't throw tomatoes at me.

Ready, Set, GO!

***I have a question -- where do you get your flowers and how do you attach them? (OK, technically 2 questions...sorry). The flowers are so cute!

***I want to know where you got the flowers too. I looked for some at Michael's and Joann's and didn't find anything.

I buy most of my flowers at Robert's. They go 40% off quite often. I also find a bunch at dollar stores. Go figure.

Remove the underside of the flower

Trim the stem leaving enough so that the petals still stay on.

Like so

Open your alligator clip up (a box of 100 at Sally's Beauty Supply goes for $4.99 in my neck of the woods) and I use a pencil eraser to hold it open. It doesn't slip that way and you don't have your glue hitting the other side of the clip.

Put a decent amount of hot glue on the stem and the petals. I use a high temp glue gun. The low temp seems to fall off for me.

Press the prong onto the hot glue right above the stem. The pencil is great as well because you don't burn your fingers...I learned THAT from experience. TRUST ME.

***I was wondering what kind of shampoo and conditioner do you use or use for the kids?

My kids, like any other child the world over, hate getting their hair washed. I LOVE the feel of conditioned hair and I refuse to go without it. Right now I am currently in love with Aussie's Moist 2 in 1 shampoo. It makes my girls hair so silky and soft and CLEAN...which is SUPER important with as much product as I use in their hair. And I only have to rinse once.

For me I use their Cleanse and Mend line. This month anyways.

***Unfortunately my little 3 year old HATES her hair being combed or done. I seriously came within seconds of buzzing off all of her hair!!! If you have any ideas to help me I would greatly appreciate it. We use a good conditioner and detangling spray in her hair, but she doesn't care...I need some help before CPS gets called on me because my daughter is screaming crazy at 8 every morning!!! HELP!!!

I have been doing my kids hair since they were born. I honestly think that is the best tip. Then they just don't know any different. I know that when I have my nieces over and I do their hair, their routines are different than mine, so I load up the bathroom with books and if all else fails, I turn on ELMO while I am doing their hair. Distraction is the best remedy. I think it also helps if you let them have a comb and help you. What little girl doesn't love to look in the mirror?

***My problem is that I have a 2 year old daughter with really fine, straight hair. The back is long but the top is not as long. I can get it into pigtails but always have to use a clip on the side to keep the shorter hair out of her face. Do you have any recommendations for cute hair styles?

I don't know if moms who are patiently waiting for their daughters hair to grow are going to like my answer. Cut it. I keep my daughters hair trimmed in little bobs until it is all one length and it can grow out pretty and even. Even my baby has short hair in the back that keeps getting trimmed. You can do a lot with a bob on the top. If you do want to keep it long, you will have to keep using that clip or you can do a lot of puffy-type braids. Part it down the middle and do a row on each side. Find a good stylist that specializes in kids haircuts and is FAST and I would cut it into a cute bob.

***What would you recommend if I am looking to buy a flat iron especially for curling with? I know you use a flat iron most of the time to curl the girls' hair. I want to buy one but don't know what kind works best for this purpose.

This is the one I use. $16 at Wal-Mart. It is the brand Andis. I know lots of women love their Chi. But I am not about to spend that kind of money. It is strictly a personal preference. My sister has a Chi and it doesn't curl nearly as well as this one does. For straightening, I LOVED it, but I rarely straighten my daughters hair.

My requirements for a flat-iron is that it has to be weighted and have ceramic plates and a heat control and it has to have a beveled edge so that I can make those cute curls. And it has to be inexpensive. I have had this one for 3 years now and it is still going strong. My younger daughter has more delicate hair and I turn the heat down to a 10 to curl her hair. My oldest has tough hair and needs hers on a 15. I am getting my old lady mom hair and I go up to a 20 for myself.

***But I must get some cute hair bows, please tell me you will be selling them or doing more giveaways.

I am absolutely doing more giveaways. Probably every other month. Watch for my 4th of July giveaway. I may start selling them, but when I start doing things for profit, they stop becoming fun for me. I know of several ladies that do sell them and I will start to post links on my blog.

***Do you have a tutorial or tips on French braiding?

I have one in the works.

***How old is your daughter? My little one is 2 and I am so nervous to use a straightener or curling iron on her hair for fear that it will fry it. When did you first start?

My baby is 6 months, but that isn't the one you are asking about. My oldest is almost 8 and my blond just turned 4. I started curling their hair as soon as they had enough that could be clamped down into a curling iron or flat iron. The oldest hair took it's time coming in and I started curling hers around 15 months. Before I curled it I used an ity bitty round curling brush and blew it into curls. My middle daughter had way more hair and I curled her hair before her 1st birthday.

***Can you teach me how to make those adorable bows!?!?

Unless you want to come to my house, I can't right now. I plan on doing a tutorial about how I make them, but with raising kids and all, I haven't had the time quite yet. This website has some excellent tutorials on how to make the bows. I mostly use the pinwheel bow because I can just wrap the center with thread and I am too lazy to pull out the needles and sew. I am going to have some bow making parties at my home but unless you live close, it would be hard.

***My daughter just turned 3 and has more hair than I know what to do with. It is beautiful and long - but she doesn't like having her hair done - and when I do it - it only looks nice for about 5 minutes (a little tom-boy trying to keep up with big brother). So, my questions are... are there styles that are better for rough and tumble kids? AND are there any products that are better for them? Any suggestions?

My biggest suggestion that I would do a lot of ponytails, Indian braids or French braids. I am going to be showing a bunch of basics next week and I should have those all included. Smocking is a fantastic way to keep those wisp's out of her face as well...and they don't fall out as easily as ponytails. When you do her hair, make sure you wet it thoroughly before you pull it back and use a wax or a putty or a max hold hair gel to tame those fly aways. Also, after you wash it, put some Infusium 23...anti-frizz in her hair. It makes it soft and sleek.

***Would you be willing to show a Morning picture and an After-school picture?

Sure. I can tell you that after they are done playing, there are definitely fly aways. It has gotten much better since I have started using Infusium 23 leave-in-treatment. It is a must have at our house now. Would you judge me if I told you that I am mostly concerned that they go to school looking nice so their teachers know that I make an effort. They always come home with SOMETHING on their shirts no matter how hard I try.

***Scarlet has more hair right on top of her head than one may think or notice. When I was a baby I had hair just like her. I remember seeing picture of me with a curl on the top of my head going from front to back... I think it looks cute...Is that still cute to do? and if so, how would I curl such fine, baby soft hair?

I did that all of the time on my babies heads. I think it is darling and absolutely still in.

When I do it, I wet my daughters hair and put in some heavy hold hair gel. I take my comb and part it and comb the hair up to the center...like a faux hawk. Then I just curl the hair around my finger or the comb. The comb has always worked the best for me. Comb the side you want to be the underside of the curl and swoop it up and towards yourself.

Any other questions for me? I am in a chatty mood today.

Loop-de-loop

2008-05-15T08:13:00.000-07:00

Wet the hair and part it down the middle...or in my case, a slant to the middle.

Part it from the center to the ear.

Pull into a ponytail and on the last pull through, only pull it 1/2 way through with the excess out the bottom.

Pull the bottom half AND the excess into another ponytail

On the last pull through of the ponytail, only pull it through 1/2 way, only this time leave the excess out on top.

Like so.

The part should look like a "t".

Curl the pieces of hair that you have out. I actually have a picture, but my flat iron looks really gross and needs to be cleaned. So you don't get that picture.

Put some flowers or bows on the top.

There you have it...a loop-de-loop.

Dual Puffy Braids

2008-05-13T13:39:00.000-07:00

This is your basic puffy braid made cute by coordinating elastics. I just parted her hair down the middle and pulled it back.

Smocking

2008-05-09T10:04:00.001-07:00

Smocking is one of those things that can vary from day-to-day and person-to-person.

This was a fun one. I had originally started out with a triangle in the front of her head. It was a one-ponytail kind of day. She said I wasn't done, so I went to town.

I parted straight over from the back of the triangle on either side and pulled them into elastics.

Then I separated each of the three ponytails in half.

I pulled the inside part of the left ponytail to the left side of the center ponytail.

Then I did the same to the right side.

I left the outmost halves of the ponytails out and curled them slightly at the ends.

I curled the other two ponytails.

And then curled the ends of the hair under.

Piggies and Curls

2008-05-08T08:50:00.000-07:00

Miss Monkeypants came to play yesterday. It was early enough that her mommy hadn't done her hair yet. So of course I took it upon myself to do her hair (like you couldn't have guessed that).

I wet her hair down and parted it on the side where her normal part is.

Then I sectioned off part of each side and made four little ponytails on top.

On each ponytail I tied a ribbon.

And then I played with those curls.

I separated each one and pulled them apart because I wanted to see how curly I could make her hair.

It was so much fun!

Side/Low Ribbon Bun

2008-05-06T23:40:00.001-07:00

Start with a low ponytail to the side.

Place a length of ribbon in the elastic.

Section the ponytail into three sections.

Leaving the top part of the length of ribbon out, put the bottom half of the ribbon in with one of the braid sections.

Braid the hair down with the ribbon and secure the end with a clear elastic.

Wrap the braid around the base of itself.

Twist it all around.

Using bobby pins, secure the braid to the hair.

Tie the two ribbons together.

Three Water Spouts

2008-05-06T08:13:00.000-07:00

I have a new favorite product. Garnier Bold It Power Putty! It makes pulling my Spunky's wisps away from her face SO much easier.

I should buy stock.

I sprayed the front of her hair lightly and pulled some of this stuff through. A little goes a LONG way...so don't use too much.

Then I parted her hair and pulled it into three ponytails...that I affectionately call "Water Spouts" on curly haired children.

Then I made my Spunky's hair curly by slowly pulling the flat iron through. It took all of three minutes.

I put pre-made bows on each ponytail. Voila!

Yes, that is a temporary tatto on her face...courtsey of Grandma.

I don't know what to call this...so we'll go go with criss-cross braid on top.

2008-05-05T08:44:00.000-07:00

I am in a crazy busy hurry today. I have loads to do...so you get a picture tutorial.

Criscross High French Braids...Submitted by Angie

2008-05-04T21:16:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I wonder when I am going to run out of styles and then my site will become obsolete.

And then I have fantastic followers that submit wonderful styles and then my mind goes crazy thinking of styles. So much that I have a sketch pad that I keep with me to jot them down. Last night in the middle of the night I was thinking about this style and one hit me that I will be using tomorrow on the princess...and tonight I am making her some bows to go with it.

Angie...this one is darling and fun and fresh! I posted her instructions beneath the very last picture. Doesn't her daughter make a gorgeous princess? I think so!

*****INSTRUCTIONS BY ANGIE*****

"These are some pictures I took of my 8 year old after Halloween. She had taken off her "princess" dress and was just wearing her tank top underneath, but I had worked on that "do" long and hard enough, I wanted to document it. Your request reminded me of these pictures! I did two very high french braids, where I only added the hair from the one side (I use this when I braid across the crown too, no need for a perfect part!) and when the two met, I continued the braids then twisted them around, leaving some hair on the end that I just kept winding into a loose bun. (She had very long hair, I'm not sure it would work with short hair, I've never tried!) I had to use lots of bobby pins and hairspray (it stayed in all night with just a few "wisps" as you can see!) and I wasn't too worried about the visible elastics because she wore an odd sort of headband that covered them, otherwise I would have taken more time to hide them under the bun. "

REMEMBER to document those styles and e-mail them to me along with your instructions! I love new styles and sharing them makes them even more special.

Curls and Cowlicks

2008-05-04T09:25:00.001-07:00

A couple of nights ago, my niece came over to play while her mom and dad took care of some preparations for her birthday party. I ~~told~~ asked my sister if I could play with her hair. I planned on doing a couple of styles. My niece wasn't having any of it. So, I told myself the same thing I tell my children. "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit".

Some essentials I keep on hand that worked BEAUTIFULLY with her curls and cowlicks.

First I wet her hair. I combed the Infusium 23 through her hair and then rubbed a nickel sized dollop of the cream gel through her hair.

Then I scrunched.

You can't see it very well in the picture, but she has three cowlicks on the back of her head. Her hair is SUPER thick up top and one time my sister and I jokingly (but lovingly) said she had Kramer hair. It was only because of those cowlicks. There are several things I have learned about cowlicks. You can try to tame them, or you can go with them. To tame them, you comb them in the opposite direction that they go. Eventually the hair gets heavy enough that they will lay flat. My spunky has a prominent cowlick on the right side of her head, but the hair on the front of her head grows towards the left. I part her hair on the left side of her head and the cowlick is hardly noticeable. The princess however has one on the right side of her crown. Her hair grows to the left, so we part her hair right through her cowlick.

I went with my nieces.

The fun thing about her cowlicks is that they gave her some fun body. As if the curls weren't enough.

She has fun hair.

I pulled a little bit of her hair from the front and put it in a little side ponytail and secured it with an elastic. Then I just put one of my daughter's pre-made bows right under the elastic. I love it when natural curls frame a child's face. There is something so vintage-y and wonderful about those curls. I am always sad when I see curls pulled up. What a waste of something so pretty. I understand the need, but the green monster in my gets sad just the same.

I let her curls air dry. As she was playing, I would go up behind her and scrunch them. She got to the point where she would swat me away.

And that girl is busy. I chased her all over my upstairs and finally cornered her in between the bathtub and the toilet to get her hair.

Even with the toilet in the picture, you can still see how swishy and swirly and lovely her curls are.

And I think it only prudent to tell you, as I look at her picture, I am breaking a commandment...for I am coveting.

Sigh.

Heidi of the Alps...With a Twist

2008-05-03T14:54:00.000-07:00

I did this one early last week. We were originally going to do a normal "Heidi" hairstyle. It wasn't working out very well. So we improvised and I LOVE IT!

When I did this I used the large thick covered elastics that don't have the metal piece connecting the pieces.

Wet hair thoroughly

Apply heavy hold hair gel

Part the hair at a slant to the crown

Pull each half up into a ponytail

Wet the ponytail again

Braid about 3 inches to the bottom

Secure the braid with a clear elastic

Loop the braid up and pull the covered elastic out and pull the bottom of the braid through until the clear elastic is plush with the fabric elastic...it looked super cute pushed into the side and not on top

Piece the ends out and use a flat-iron to form the spikes

Tie a ribbon around the elastics

We Have A Winner!!!!

2008-05-02T15:20:00.000-07:00

Yay! One of you will go home with these super-scrumptious bows today...

I sincerely apologize for the grossness of the following pictures. My screen shot is not working right now as my DH and I found out last night.

Thank you to all who commented! We have a winner through purely scientific methods provided by the internet.

Here are the numbers....

And the WINNING number...

Let's see who LUCKY number 190 is...

AMBER! Amber, to claim your prize, would you please e-mail me at blackeyedsue2@gmail.com?

I am so sorry there couldn't be more than one winner...but I have a solution to that. Stay tuned for my next giveaway!

A big old thanks...and a giveaway It's Over

2008-04-28T15:55:00.000-07:00

I have noticed a slew of new visitors to my blog. I want to tell everyone who has mentioned my attempt at beautifying the world one hair style at a time to their friends and family a big ol' THANKS!

To show you how much I appreciate your loyalty and cyber-friendship, I am doing my first give-away.

Here is a preview. In addition to these bows, I will also have two other sets and some flowers as well. I will post pictures as I complete them. Don't look too close, I'm not a professional, I am just having fun making them.

The catch, you need to leave a comment on this blog post. I will randomly pull your comment number and this contest will end on Friday, May 2 at 3:30pm Mountain Standard Time.

Short Hair Part Puffy-Braid

2008-04-20T10:56:00.000-07:00

Section the top of the hair into a square.

Make your first part going across the head.

Pull into a ponytail.

Secure with an elastic.

Part the next section going across the head.

Comb down smooth.

Pull the first ponytail into this and make a second ponytail.

Secure with an elastic.

Pull the last part of the square smooth and add the hair that is already in the ponytails to this section.

Secure with an elastic.

***I have included two pictures of this. One with a bow and one without. It is harder to see the elastics with the bow. A ribbon would allow you to see more detail.

Looped Upside-Down French Braid

2008-04-20T10:50:00.000-07:00

Today she wanted her hair to look like Kierstie from "American Girls". So I tried. However, that hairstyle doesn't work with upside down French Braids. Only the normal style. Whoops! So here is our creation from my mistake.

Wet the hair, part down the middle.

Pull one side of the hair into a temporary ponytail.

Upside down French braid the opposite side.

Secure the bottom with an elastic.

Take the bottom and fold it up towards you to where the hair meets the neck.

Secure the "loop" with another elastic.

Tie your ribbon on the elastic.

Piece out the ends.

Repeat on the other side.

Scarf and Flippy Ponytails

2008-04-19T22:19:00.000-07:00

AYSO stands for 'All Your Saturdays Occupied".

Which is exactly how we spend every Saturday morning.

And spring is in full, windy force here.

Hence the scarfs.

Plus, I think they are cute.

I just pulled her hair into two flippy ponytails low on her head.

I sprayed well and added the scarf.

She looked adorable running...or so I hear. I stayed home with a baby who would not have done well in the wind.

But at least we don't live in tornado row.

Spring Scarf

2008-04-18T11:01:00.000-07:00

Pull hair into a lose, temporary ponytail.

Take a triangle of fabric, or a pre-made hair scarf.

Wrap it around the base of the hair and tie it where the hair meets her neck.

Pull the ponytail out.

Either curl the hair or smooth it out straight.

If you choose to leave parts of the hair down, do that before you put the scarf on.

Spray and be done!

Short and Swirly with a French Braid

2008-04-18T10:56:00.000-07:00

Take the top of the hair and section it into a square.

French Braid the hair to the crown.

Secure with an elastic.

Curl all of the ends with a flat-iron or a curling iron.

Spray the hair.

Add ribbon.

Spikey French Braids with a Zig-Zag Part

2008-04-16T20:22:00.001-07:00

So I took a stab at the flippy ends. This is what happened.

She likes her hair crazy for soccer. That is my fault. I told her soccer players have crazy hair. I don't think I was lying.

The only difference between this one and the one a few posts down is the part.

Short Hair Ponies on Top

2008-04-16T20:13:00.000-07:00

Since we cut Spunky's hair short, we get to come up with lots of fun new hairstyles. This is one of many that I have in my arsenal. Get ready. ;)

Oh, and she looks thrilled in this picture.

Simply part her hair on the part.

Pull the hair on each side up leaving about 1.5-2 inches of hair above the ear.

Attach bows.

Curl the ends.

Two French Braids with Spikey Ends

2008-04-11T12:30:00.001-07:00

You know, some people are just blessed from the time that they are born with beautiful thick hair. My niece is one of them, and my friend Laurie has three of them. I remember when Little Londynn was born. She is three weeks younger than my Spunky. She was born with gobs of gold hair that never fell out (lucky Laurie)! While my Spunky was resembling Mr. Clean and making do with brain squeezers, Laurie was able to put cute clippies and bows and piggies in her daughter's hair.

Not much has changed. Londynn has super thick hair that makes me drool. Here is one of the super cute styles that Laurie does to her hair.

Thanks Laurie for your submission! Keep them coming!

Part the hair first. Laurie parted it on the side and then once she got to the crown she took the part over to the middle.

French braid down the first side. When you get to the part of the braid where you no longer have any hair to braid, this is where you end the braid.

Use your elastic to pull the braid through. When you get to the last loop, only pull the hair 1/2 way through.

Do the same to the other side.

Then put a ribbon or bow on the ponytail For super thick hair like Londynn's, a clip bow would probably stay in if you found the right place for it. For my dd's thinner hair, I would tie a ribbon around the elastic.

Then take your flat-iron or your curling iron and spike out the ends. Spray the hair.

Hair Headbands

2008-04-08T08:36:00.000-07:00

Lately in little girl world, we have been experimenting with what has been dubbed as "hair headbands".

I don't know about the rest of you, but put a headband in my daughters hair and it is taken out within minutes, if not seconds. THIS is a superfun, and super cute alternative.

It is really easy. You part their hair and then section it off in the front. I pull the hair that I am not using into a temporary ponytail so that it doesn't get in the way. From here, it is just up to you to decide how to make your headband. My daughters have a lot of wispy baby hairs, so the upside down French braid is our favorite. It stays put the best. My friend, Hilary, leans towards a normal French braid or a French twist, as featured below.

Once you have decided what your preference is, you braid or twist all the way to the ends. I secure each of the ends with an elastic and then band the two under the hair.

Once you band the two parts together, you can either curl the hair, leave it straight, pull the rest up into a ponytail or a flippy ponytail. It is limited to only your imagination.

Long Knots

2008-04-02T11:39:00.000-07:00

*This hair style was submitted by Melissa. THANKS Melissa!

One of my daughter's friends had her hair like this the other day and so I asked her mom how she did it. It was so easy! I couldn't believe it.

You have to have it wet, at least on the top, and use mousse, gel, or whatever you normally use to help hold the do, then hairspray afterwards

Just divide into sections, then divide each section into two parts.

Literally it's just a knot that is wrapped three times intead of just once.

Pull the 'knot' tight and hairspray it.

Cool, huh?

A Sandy Flip

2008-03-16T10:42:00.000-07:00

Spunky's favorite movie is 'Grease'. She always wants her hair to look like Sandy's. So today we went with the flip from the beach scene from the movie.

Pull the hair into two ponytails in the front (optional).

Spray the ends of the hair with hairspray, let dry.

I used a flat iron. Run it down the hair and when you get to the bottom, curve the flat iron towards yourself.

Repeat on remaining hair.

Comb smooth so all of the hair is uniform.

Spray with hairspray.

French Braid to Ponytail

2008-03-16T10:39:00.001-07:00

Excuse this picture. We were in a hurry to get her out the door. She really doesn't have scary eyes.

Divide a section in the front of the hair.

French braid it back and secure it with an elastic.

Pull the remaining hair up into a ponytail, on the last time through, only pull the ponytail halfway through.

Curl the ends and piece them out.

Short French Braid

2008-03-16T10:35:00.000-07:00

Smooth and wet the hair.

Start out with your braid sections low, just above the ears.

French braid it down as far as you want to go.

Secure with an elastic.

Add a bow.