Double Hawser Buns

I'm finally getting this style posted!  It's been in my banner for a long time.  This works best with very long hair.

Begin with a horizontal part ear to ear, and make two ponies, the top one at the part, and the bottom one halfway up the lower section.

Get the front section out of the way by twisting and bunching it up on top and holding it down with a big jaw clip.  Do a hawser twist on the lower pony.

Wrap the twist around the hairband to form a bun, hiding the tail ends under the bun.  Use bobby pins to hold it in place.

Let out the jaw clip.  Do a hawser twist on the top pony.

Form the bun on the top.  Try to make the bun low enough to touch the lower bun.  Pin in place.

You can finish here, or add some embellishments.  I made my own by hot-gluing some fake flowers to the end of a couple bobby pins.  To make the bow, I folded the ends of a short ribbon over, and then put the bobby pin over the middle like so:

Insert the bobby pins in random places.

Lesson 86: Braided Butterfly

This hairstyle is challenging, and only works with really long hair.

Follow the directions for making a braided heart, but don't add the second pigtail at the back.  Just do the pull-through with a front half piggy, and then make two braids.  Curl the braids around to make a C shape on each side of the pull-through, and then tuck the ends up into the pull through again, behind the rubber band.  Squeeze the C shapes together, and add another hairband to form the smaller lower "wings" of the butterfly. Stick a few bobby pins in to keep the braids from falling out of the pull-through.  Use water and gel or hairspray to form antennae from the ends of the braids.  Add bows or decorations to cover the hairbands if you like.

Sorry for the lack of step by step photos.  I was experimenting and only did the style once before the big haircut!

Lesson 50: Braided Braids

This is a simple technique that gives a complicated look.  Belle wanted an Easter egg, so I started with a zigzag sort of shape, though the finished style looks very little like an Easter egg.  To start, comb out a triangular section at the forehead and braid it out as far as you can.  Add a clear elastic.  Repeat with triangle sections at the side of the head.  Put everything into a ponytail.  Divide the tail into three sections, making sure there is a braid in each.  Braid the tail.  You will need to adjust the small braids with each turn to be sure they are visible.  Add a hairband at the end.  Remove the elastics if they are visible.

Lesson 48: Easter Up-do

(When the timing is right, I'll post some more about french braiding...)

Here is the "do" Belle wore for Easter.  This is my absolute favorite style on her!  She looked like a princess.

I put in some rag curls the night before to get the curls at the end, but a curling iron would be fine.  I didn't have time to take step by step pictures, but I got several angles when it was done.

Part the hair on the side in front.  French braid the front sections to the top of the head, then quit adding hair in.  Braid them down to the ends and put in a clear elastic.  Put the remaining hair in a pony tail, high up and just an inch or two away from the end of the french braids.  For short hair, do an upside down topsy tail to make "cascading curls."  Since Belle's hair is too heavy for that,  I braided the tail of the pony very loosely, folded it in half upwards and added another hairband around the first so the curly tail ends stuck up.  The braid from the front I let hang down a bit beneath the pony and wrap around to the other side.  I crossed them together at the top and clipped them together with a mini clip and stuck in a bobby pin to keep them from falling down.  I hid the clip by looping a curl around and making a circle.  I held the circle in place with a flower bobby pin.  These gorgeous flower accents are easy to make: just clip a fake flower up to the little green nub, put a dab of hot glue on the top of a bobby pin, and stick the flower on.  The big yellow flower I actually just left the stem on and stuck it through one of the elastics.  Stick the flowers in a random.  

Lesson 47: Easter Resurrection Style

I wanted to do some sort of style for Easter that wasn't all about the commercial side of the holiday, so I came up with this style.  It's symbolic of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Three topsy tail twists represented the "going down" or death for three days, and then the last one has the "rising up again" and a spray of hair going out like rays of light.

To begin, put in a front half pony and turn it inside out with a pull-through (topsy tail).

Repeat with another section midway to the bottom, adding the first tail into it.

Repeat again with all the remaining hair.

Braid the tail.

Turn tail back and pass it up through the same hole behind the pull-through.  Add another hairband at the bottom of the pull-through to keep the braid loop secure.  Remove the hairband from the tail end of the braid.

Spray the tail ends with water to make them heavy and curve downward instead of sticking straight up.  They will dry in this shape.  You can add a bow or flower if you like.  Happy Easter!