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 85: Using Headbands

 This is my sweet little Belle about two years ago.  This headband is a stretchy fabric loop.  To get it in, you have to pull the whole thing over the head around the neck like a necklace, pull the hair out and over the band at the back, and then scoot it back over the forehead.  For a hard headband, put the ends over the ears as if you were putting on glasses, and then push it back over the forehead.

Honestly, I am not a big fan of headbands right now because they fall out so frequently, and also because the space above Belle's ears is already taken up by her glasses.  I was the headband queen when I was in grade school, and wore headbands all the time, but they are frustrating unless you can find one that really fits your head.  If they curve of the headband is different from your head, it can fall out or give you spot headaches.  I know they have been making new ones lately that are rubbery and stretchy so they should stay in place better and mold to the shape of your head better.  We haven't bought any of those.  Have you?  What's your opinion?

Lots of people are using the headbands like the white one in the middle of this picture on babies with ginormous flowers almost bigger than the baby's head.  (Belle wouldn't let me put anything on her head until she was almost two, though I never tried anything when she was a newborn.)  I used to tie the back side with a rubber band (fold it in half, then tie the ends around) to scrunch it up.  That way it didn't lift up the hair at the back of her neck to make an arch poking through the other hair that's laying over it.

There are several tricks you can do to keep headbands in involving braids, tiny pigtails and pull-throughs, etc. My favorite headband is the kind from Gimme Clips that has the loop on it so you can clip in a flower.  You can also use the loop to slide in a bobby pin to hold it down.

Lesson 84: Front Half Pony with Twist Crossover

Start with the front section of hair from temple to temple in a piggy.

Next make row on each side with a french hawser twist.  Twist them down the ends a bit and secure (temporarily).

Gather the hair up from ear to ear to make a front half piggy.  Include the hair from the forehead, but not the twists.

Twist up the twists tighter by turning them, and then cross one over the other.  Wrap them around underneath the piggy, and band them together.

Undo the bands at the ends of the twists.

Here is where you can add a decoration if you wish, or just leave it how it is.  I'm using our new Lilla Rose Flexi-Clip.  (Belle and I really like fairies.)

Product Review: Lilla Rose Flexi-Clips

I'm excited to try out my new hairdo-dads from Lilla Rose.  They are flexible infinity sign shapes with a metal pin that goes through.  I've been testing them out on a few different styles lately.  If you head over to their website via the link above, they have some tutorials on some basic styles you can do with this.  Lilla Rose graciously sent us three sizes to try out so I could share my opinion with you.  We have an extra-small, small and medium.  The one in the picture here is an extra-small.  There are different things you can do with the different sizes, and the size you need will depend on the length and thickness of your hair, and also what you want to do with it.  I have been using this extra-small for a front-half pony in my own hair.  It is actually just a little bit too big for Belle's hair in a front half pony because it slips down a little (but doesn't slide down at all in mine).  I taught her how to split the tail in two and tug them away from each other to make it slide back up.

These hair clips remind me of my mother's old "stick barrette" that she used to wear a lot in the 80's.  It was an egg shape piece of thick leather with a hole punched in both ends for the wooden stick to go through.  She did the "tails up" style with it.

At last I have found a solution to the problem of heavy hair wrecking the cascading curls style.  Follow the directions for this post, but then add a flexi-clip above the pull-through for added stability.

I like these hair clips because they are useful for common every day hairstyles.  They are quick and easy and make a simple style look nice.

Lesson 83: Christmas Bows

Here's a simple twist on the hair bow to make it more appropriate for Christmas: use gift bows!

I tried to stick a bobby pin through the staple, but that didn't work, so I put a clear elastic around some of the loopies of the bottom layer (mine had the rectangle sticky pad ripped off, but you could keep it on) and then wrapped the elastic over the piggies.  These are mini gift bows, but you could use a big one on a ponytail or braid.

Lesson 82: Christmas Poinsettia

I am sad that I cannot find a picture of the awesome hairstyle I did last year, but I'll explain it here.  Belle's hair is too short now.  If anybody tries this out, please send a pic for me to post it here.

To do the poinsettia, basically follow the same directions as the sea star in this post.  But instead of only 5 loopies, do more like 15-20 small ones.  Arrange them at random instead of evenly, and overlapping.  In the center, you could pull some of the yellow/gold ball thingies from the center of a fake poinsettia and stick them in with a bobby.

This one looks pretty neat and gains attention when you go out.

Lesson 81: Cornrow Headband with "Hair" Bow

This is a style that can only be done on really long hair.
Begin with Barbie bangs, as described in this post.  Part a row parallel to the part already in the hair, and then pull the rest of the hair back temporarily.  Beginning near one ear, dutch braid the row until you run out of hair above the ear.  A cornrow is just a skinny dutch braid.

Braid all the way down and add an elastic.

Bring the end of the braid around the back and up to the side above the ear.  Divide the tail end into two sections, loop each in half so the ends cross over, and use a mini clip to hold the bow shape down to the scalp.

Let down the rest of the hair.