Lesson 42: Double Banded Pony with Braid

For this style, start with a side part on top.  Comb out a rectangular section and braid it from the back corner or the rectangle.  Braid it as far down as you can, then put in a clear elastic.  Put the rest of the hair into a ponytail and add the braid to it.  You can use two hairbands to do this if the braid sinks down and hides in the rest of the hair.  Add another hairband down the tail of the pony where the clear elastic of the braid is (don't remove the elastic, just cover it up with the hairband).

Any Style Requests?

I would like to know what hairstyles you are hoping to learn.  Please leave a comment under this post if you want to know how to do something I haven't taught yet.  I will do my best to teach it.

So far I haven't shown any hairstyles with french braiding.  I am planning to teach french braiding soon, but I have to work out some video technology first.

Lesson 41: Ponytail with Bangled-Banded End

So I'll admit that this is nothing amazing, but it IS unique.  Simple, but also functional.  When Belle leaves her hair down or wears a ponytail and plays wild or goes out in the wind, all the hair whips around and gets tangled up.  Then it takes longer to brush, and she complains that it hurts.  I try to give her a hairdo that doesn't leave a lot of hair loose on windy days, especially.  This one will cut back on tangles.  I think it is self-explanatory, though I will give a tip for adding hairbands that have charms like these:  position the charm in the middle of the ponytail and wrap that section first.  Wrap the rest of the hairband either above or below the part with the charm.  That way you will be sure to get it placed just where you want it.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Yesterday my blog rolled over 10,000 page views.  I think that is awesome!  Not a baby blog anymore!

I'd love to get out and see all the green shirts and clover hairdos today.  I tried out this clover style from Adopt A 'Do (you've probably seen this one if you did a Google search--it's all over the place).  I had some trouble keeping the clover leaves from sticking out, though.  I thought that maybe using a thinner hairband on the pony tail would help that, so I tried a skinny one.  It didn't solve the problem, though.  I used a lot of bobby pins, and it turned out okay, but if I tried again, I think I'd put in a thick hairband at the pony tail then tuck the tails from under the clover leaves into the same hairband.  I don't know if that would work because it might turn the tail in toward the head.  Starting with an upside down pull-through could solve that.  Another idea to try: instead of wrapping the hairband just around the two twists, wrap it around the twists and the base where the petal comes out of the ponytail.  You'd have three bands showing, then a fourth to put them all together.  You'd want to be sure to hide all that with a big bow.

I didn't get a picture, so I'll see if I can get one after school.

 . . . . .

Okay, that hairstyle came home looking like a mess.  The tail was too heavy, and the bobby pins didn't stand a chance.  No use taking a picture with it looking like that.  Better try something like I said above next time.

Lesson 40: Braided Three-Leaf Clover

This style is the same general concept as this heart.  I gained some more inspiration from watching this You-Tube video for a similar style.  Part the hair and put in hairbands like so:

Turn them each inside out with a Topsy Tail, pulling through to the outside (backwards).

Split each tail into two equal sections and braid them.  Use mini clips or hairbands, as they will be taken out in a later step.

Gather all the braids together at the center of the head, forming heart shapes around each pull-through.  Secure them together with a hairband.  If your braids are clipped, be careful to pull the hairband over the clips so the don't get pushed off.  Brush the remaining hair into a ponytail.  Add the braids and band it all together.  Take out the clips or bands that are holding the braids, and brush out the end.
 If you want to make the clover leaves look fuller, you can use a bobby pin to connect the two braids together at the sides or use a mini clip.  You could try clipping the braids underneath to hide it, (then ask her if it is comfortable).

You could add a bow on the bottom if you want.  Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Lesson 39: Braided Shamrock with Celtic Weave

(Read all directions before attempting this one.)  To begin, part the hair diagonally from temple to shoulder.  Hold the bottom section in a clip or hairband.

You'll want to make another diagonal part to match on the other side, but just start with the top section and continue through later.  Put hairbands in to make piggies of these triangles.  They don't need to be really tight because you are going to do a pull-through (Topsy Tail).

Now continue the rest of the part down to the shoulder.  Put hairbands in these triangles, too.

Now use a Topsy Tail tool to turn these piggies inside out toward the middle X.  If you don't have the tool, you could do this step without it, but you will not be able to do a later step with your fingers.  You will need at least a long doll needle and thin ribbon or dental floss.

Here's the part for the weaving.  Give the tails a good spray of water (or hairspray) close to the hairbands and comb them smooth to help minimize little hairs (flyaways) from getting scooted backwards when you pull the weave tight.  Cross the left tail over the top tail.  Bring the bottom tail up over the left tail (to the right of the top tail).  Cross the right tail over the bottom tail (above the left tail).  Then use your Topsy Tail tool (or craft needle or fingers) to draw that right tail under the top tail.  Pull each tail gently to tighten up the weave.

If you want to get really fancy, you could divide each tail into two sections and make a weave with four on each side rather than just two.  If any of you choose to do this, please send a picture I could post and share with others.

Next you will make a braid out of each tail.  Make it more loose than tight, but not too loose.  Braid it pretty far down to not leave a long tail on the end of the braid.  Use two hairbands at different lengths if you need to.  They will be hidden.  Going around clockwise (or counterclockwise--just go in order), pull the end of the braid into its neighbors "burrow," or the place where the piggies curve in beneath the hairband.  Draw it through diagonally to come out the bottom along the part line.  If the hair is too short, that is fine, just hide it under the weave and pin it in with bobbies.

If yours turns out like mine, the weave is going to start looking kinda messy by this point.  Spray it again and use a stick (from a rat-tail comb or whatever) to smooth down the bumps and flyaways and try to tuck them back under the weave where they belong.

Now you've got to hide those little braid tails.  Do the same thing again that you did with the big braids, but this time, pull them in as far as they will go instead of leaving a loop.  Now stick bobby pins in, at least two at every corner making and X shape with the pins.

I discovered when I was doing this step that somehow I had left out a thin strand of hair when braiding the bottom tail.  I didn't want to go backwards because that probably would have made a mess of things, so I just curled it up with my curling iron and left it.  I think it actually gave it a nice touch.  More elegant.  And it was sort of like the stem.  So if you wanted to do it on purpose, just remember to pick out a little bit of hair during the braiding step.  Since I had the curling iron on anyway, I curled the tendrils she had hanging around her face and neck.  Here's another view before I smoothed out the weave (the best I could):

And the finished product:

Lesson 38: Front Half Pony with Clover

With St. Patrick's Day this week, I thought I'd add a couple clover hairstyles.  I'll try and get another one in later this week.

For this style, start with a front half pony.

Now you need to follow the directions for this heart style.  You are going to repeat the steps to make the small clipped heart twice more, but on the sides.  The second and third time, instead of taking a piece of hair from ponytail, use a comb to gather a sliver below the half pony.  It will be like a thin triangle.  The left heart will come from the right side triangle, and the the right heart will come from the left side triangle.

Each side of the first heart has a clip, but you will use the same clip for the sides of the clover that touch, for a total of four clips.

Lesson 37: Milkmaid braids (Heidi braids)

Have you all seen the movie Heidi?  Okay, not the one with Shirley Temple...  I watched the one with Noley Thornton in it recently, so I had to try out the hairdo.  That darling little girl in the movie had curly hair that went down to her waist.  I couldn't do it exactly like that, so I did a cover-up with the ribbon.

To begin, part the hair down the middle front to back, then braid it like Indian braids, only keep the braids close together, very close to the part.  This hides the part and gives the braids more length to get around the head.  Don't make the braids super tight or it will be hard to turn them.  Braid as far down as you possibly can, even if a little bit of hair starts popping out.  Make the tails on the ends as short as you can, then secure them with a clear elastic.  The little girl in the movie has hair that tapers out at the long lengths so her braid gets skinnier and skinner and you don't notice any big chunks of hair sticking out.  Belle's hair isn't quite like that.  It is very thick and straight, so when the end comes, it is obvious.

Cross the braids over each other in the back (so the right braid goes left, left goes right).  Bring the braids up around the side of the head.  Stick a couple bobby pins into the braids at the sides.  You can hold the ends together up top with a temporary clip if you need to.  If your braids are long enough to cross over on the top, tuck the ends under the opposite braid to hid the tails and stick some bobby pins in to keep its hold.  If you can't do that, then get a long piece of ribbon.  Mine was about 1/2 in wide, and I'm guessing about 4 feet long.  Find the middle of it by folding it in half.  Thread one side through your craft needle.  Clip the center of the ribbon to the center of the part where the braids cross.  Wrap the ribbon around the tails of the braid (on both sides), catching up some hair of the scalp with each pass.  Make sure the ribbon doesn't twist up--keep it flat.  When you get as far down as you want to go to cover up the unbraided tails, bring the ends of the ribbon through the wrapped section so the ends meet in the middle.  Tie a bow.  Add an extra few bobby pins to the wrapped section to keep it in place.

For a different look, you could use thinner ribbon and tape around the entire circle of hair to look something like this heart hairstyle.

For medium length hair, make the braids over the ears rather than at the nape of the neck.  Do not cross them over each other at the back, just over the top of the head.  This won't be a wreath shape, but it's generally the same style.  Skip the taping, but try hard to hide the tails underneath the opposite braids. 

Lesson 36: Hidden Mickey

Did you know that there are hidden Mickey Mouse heads all over Disney World and Disneyland?  Some people make a game of it, and spend the day at Disney just hunting down these mouse ear shapes everywhere.  You can get a book (It is called Hidden Mickeys: A Field Guide to Disney's Best Kept Secrets, by Steven Barrett) to help you find them.

For Mickey Mouse's birthday last year (November 18), I invented this hidden Mickey to put in Belle's hair.

Start by dividing the hair with a part over the top of the head, ear to ear.  Part the front section straight back through the middle (or if you need a side part, make it at an angle so you can get the same amount of hair on each side.  Put the back section in a ponytail an inch or two below the part line.  Then twist all the tail into a bun.  Secure it with bobby pins.  Now put the front sections in little buns so they sit next to the bigger bun.  (I stuck in a mini clip because there was a tricky hair sticking out, but I didn't have time left to mess with it before school.)  You could start with the front buns, but that makes it more difficult to keep them touching without leaving a space between.  If you like, you can add a red bow to make a hidden Minnie instead.

Belle looked so cute with this hairstyle!  This is one of my favorites.

Dr. Suess' Birthday ideas (March 2)

Tomorrow is Dr. Suess' birthday.  To celebrate, Belle will be sporting a Suess style bow made of hair.  Learn how at Girly Do's By Jenn.  She'll have a ponytail with one bow rather than piggies like this.

Another idea you might like is to do the french pony with alternating red and white hairbands.

If you want to get really wild, you can do a Whoville hairstyle by putting a plastic cup on top of her head, brushing all the hair up over it for a ponytail, then braiding or curling the ends.  Add a pipe cleaner into the braid to shape it and make it stick out. 

Or Thing 1 and Thing 2, for medium short hair, turn head upside down, add a ton of hairspray, and blow dry the hair towards the floor.  Add some blue hair color...  Really this is not my sort of thing, but some schools do a crazy hair day for Dr. Suess' birthday.  This would be crazy.

For shorter hair, maybe toddler type, make a pigtail on the top of the head that sticks straight up and put the rest of the hair into two piggies about an inch over the ears.  Poof them out by back combing, if you need to.

Click on the link in the side bar to see more crazy hairstyles.