Waterfall braid Woven-look Ribbon Headband Ponytail

This style is challenging, but so neat!  Start with an ear to ear part at the front of the ear.  Keep the front hair out of the way for a while (clip or bun, etc.).  Do another ear to ear part at the back of the ear 3 or 4 cm behind the first part. Pull the back hair into a ponytail.  Half-dutch braid across the top middle of the head.

Lay a ribbon across the top of the head.  Insert one end through the hair at the beginning of the braid.  (I used a Topsy Tail tool.)  The other end will stay put when pull it back into the ponytail because of the braid.

Next do a waterfall braid with the front section of hair.  The pictures show this step before the ribbon, but I think it would be better to do the ribbon first.  Braid the ends as far down as they will go.

Using a Topsy Tail tool, or floss and a craft needle, thread each "fall" through the dutch braid.

Undo the ponytail.  Make a new low ponytail, adding in the extra hair from the falls and the braids.  Also add in the ribbon ends.

Tie a bow with the ribbons. Add a flower if you like.  Belle's ribbon and flower are provided by Gimme Clips.  Thanks Gimme Clips!

Fish Tail Braid

The fish tail looks similar to a regular braid, but is more intricate.  You can do this at the end of a ponytail with all the hair or pigtails.  I started with a front piggy with the hairband at the part (rather than in the middle of the section) and then did a pull-through with a topsy tailer.

Divide the tail into two pieces.

Beginning on the right (it doesn't matter which side you start on, but the pictures start on the right) pull out a thin piece from the side.

Cross the thin strand over top, and add it into the left section.

Now take a thin strand out from the left side at the outer edge.

Cross that over and add it into the right section.  Pull another thin strand from the right side edge.

Cross it over and add it into the hair on the left.

Repeat, repeat, repeat!  When you have done this several times, you will come down the braid to where you find sections of hair that have already been use higher up in the braid.  You will see places that seem to naturally divide because they have already been divided earlier in the braid.  If you use these same pieces, it will make the braid look quite neat on the underside, but it really isn't necessary to worry about it.  You may disregard these pieces and just continue to pull off any section from the edge.

These pictures are here to show how the hair sort of naturally breaks into sections after you get down a ways.

Keep following this pattern until you run out of hair to braid, then fasten it off.

My Generic Topsy Tail Tools Broke! :o(

Looks like I will be in the market for these hairstyling tools again.  As I said in my original Topsy Tail post, I got my generic tools from eBay.  They have lasted me only about a year and a half.  Perhaps it is worth my money to go with the name brand.  What kind of reviews do you all have on them?  Do they last?  I guess I am kinda rough on them, and as you can see if you have been following my blog for a while, I use them a lot!

What I have gleaned from an item for sale on eBay is that scunci has merged with Conair, and now the Topsy Tail is made by Conair.  Neither website lists Topsy Tail, though.  Even scunci's website www.topsytail.com does not list them.  I haven't seen them in stores, either.

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 68: Barbie Mermaid Merliah Hairstyle

Belle loves Barbie.  She likes to play with the dolls, but really loves the movies.  If you haven't seen them, most of them really are pretty good (not that I have seen them ALL).  Belle's absolute favorite is "Barbie in a Mermaid Tale."  She is nuts over mermaids, especially Merliah Summers.  Check out the Barbie Gallery and scroll down to number 21 to see a movie pose.  Here is Merliah's mermaid do.

First, to achieve the beachy waves, I used the blow dryer after her bath (the night before) until her hair was just a little damp.  Then I made three hawser twists with all her hair (no parts, just grab three random sections of hair).  Twist all the way down and wrap the hairband around the ends to keep them tucked in.  One hairband can cover an inch and a half of length if you leave gaps.  It's not nice an neat how you do it during the day, but doesn't matter.  Does that make sense?  I didn't get pictures since I just wanted to get the little people to bed.  By morning, the hair is all dry.  Undo the twists and comb through the hair.  You can skip this step if you don't need to add the texture.

Start the style by  making a piggy out of the top section of hair like so:

Next, part out the side sections above the ears, brush upward as if to join it into the piggy, but cross them over like how you start to tie your shoe.

Pull it tight to cover the hairband, then clip the tail that is going up toward the forehead to hold it in place.  Tie down the other tail to the piggy.  Clear elastics are best.  It should be hidden, but just in case, you don't want any florescent green sticking out.

Take out the clip, pull the tail tight, and bring it down to cover up the knot and put in another hairband.

To wrap the ponytail, pick up a small section of hair from the back side of the tail.  Wrap it around the front and then around again above the first wrap so it covers the hairband.  Now get your trusty topsy tail tool and tuck the end back in through the hairband at the back.

This style tends to go a little crooked and can show a little of the parts back from the temples, but hey, we can't all be CGI animation, right?  Some of those mermaid hairstyles look impossible, really.  This is a pretty good facsimile, I think.

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!

Cascading Curls

I got this idea from Babes in Hairland's Cascading Waterfall Ponytail (thanks BIH!).  I'll spare the detailed instructions since she did it already, but I will leave my note, that Belle's hair appears to be a great deal heavier than Goose's, so after a short time the pull-through (topsy tail) started slipping down and was no longer hidden by the curls.  It wasn't so pretty anymore.  I haven't tried it again since then, but I would consider cinching down layers of the hair at the top of the pony with several bobby pins to help it hold.  I suppose a no-slip grip hairband wouldn't slip, but those are too painful to try with a pull-through.

This style seems better suited for medium length or thin hair.

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: