Merry Christmas!

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season.  I haven't forgotten my blog, but have been very very busy with family duties, holiday preparations, and volunteer work.  I should have time again to post tutorials soon!

Triple Messy Buns

This cutting edge hairstyle is an attention-getter!  Belle doesn't hear a lot of comments about her neat hairstyles at her school because there are many other talented hairstylers where we live, but a lot of people were talking about her hair the day she wore this.

I don't have step by step pictures because it was a busy day.  (I've been having a lot of those lately!)
Start with two front piggies.  Divide the back of the head into three high piggies, combining the hair from the front piggies with the two outside ones at the back.  The middle piggy will be a long rectangle about 2 inches/5 cm wide.  Make messy buns out of all three.

Lilla Rose Black Friday Sale

Who’s Hoo Owl will be available only on Friday while supplies last.

Halloween Costumes

In all the hustle and bustle of the day, I didn't get a good shot of Belle's hairstyle for Halloween.  It was so cute, though!  I did two dutch braids and then folded the ends over each other and tucked in the ends to make something like a wide braided bun at the bottom.  I may have to do this style again and post it.

I didn't have time for sewing this year, but we pulled it off with a hand-me-down dance costume from my niece, some gorgeous and gigantic butterfly wings from Jo-Ann Fabrics, and several borrowed parts to make a pirate.  I have really nice neighbors.

We handed out glow-in-the-dark fangs and bugs, pencils, lip gloss, and mini card games.  No candy!  Lots of the kids were very excited to get something besides candy.  One even said, "This is the coolest house ever!"  Now is the time to get some of this stuff on clearance and save it for next year.

Crazy Hair Day: The Flowerpot

For this style I was inspired by the little face in the bottom right corner on the Dr. Suess webpage.  Belle's school has crazy hair day during ribbon week (no longer just RED ribbon, but all sorts of colors), but I wanted to do a Dr. Suess hairstyle for all of you that have crazy hair day in March for Dr. Suess' birthday.  (Check the side bar for more Dr. Suess/crazy hair ideas.)

To start, make a ponytail with the hair at the top of the head.  I saved out a section near the bangs to sweep off to the side so it will still be pretty even though it is crazy.  This is optional depending on whether you have bangs or cowlicks or whatever.  I used colored hairbands thinking they would be hidden, but since they do show a bit, you could use a color to match the hair if you prefer.

Center and wrap a pipe cleaner around the base of the hairband and twist the ends together a couple times at the bottom.

Add another pipe cleaner around the first one, this time not centered, but with one end long.  Twist it to hold it in place.

Fold it upward.

Pull the hair from the pony upward so it goes around all sides of the pipe cleaners.  Add an elastic a few inches higher than the first around the hair and pipe cleaners.  

Drop the hair, and arrange it so that it evenly distributed around the ponytail.  Add an elastic to the bottom, careful not to pull the "flowerpot" out of shape.  It may be helpful to twist the elastic to form two loops before inserting it over the pipe cleaners.

Fold the two short ends of the pipe cleaner over to look like leaves.  Using tissue paper, cut a flower shape like this one.  Fold the paper in half then half again and cut the edges to be round. (Fold in half again to get the petals to be symmetrical.)

Scrunch up the center of the flower and tape it onto the long pipe cleaner.  Bend the pipe cleaner to look wiggly.

Make a part at the back of the head, and make two pigtails just above the ears.  Include the hair from the flowerpot.

The pigtails will have two lengths of hair, the shorter section from the flowerpot.  Divide the sections.  Using only the longer hair, wrap it around the hairband and then into a knot.

Use a clear elastic to hold the knot in place.

Add a bow, if you like.

Belle won the "craziest hair" competition in her classroom.  Her teacher couldn't believe she had a flower growing out of her head!

School Pictures

It's time for school pictures again.  There are a few things to think about when choosing a hairstyle for a photo shoot.  First of all, the back of the head obviously isn't going to be seen, so any style that looks amazing from the back but not the front is not a good choice.  I prefer down-dos rather than updos because they tend to frame the face better, in my opinion.  I also like seeing how long Belle's hair is from year to year in her portraits since it has changed in length so much over the years.  I think the person's face should be what draws attention in a portrait, and that the hair should complement the face, rather than draw attention away.  That is why I choose simple styles with few or small embellishments rather than large flowers and bows.  Here is Belle's picture day hair for this year. It is a hawser twist done like a half dutch braid (adding hair from only one side) with the bang section of hair.

Rather than spend an arm and a leg on portraits from the school (which often come back looking goofy anyway), I take a portrait of my kids at home.  I took this portrait last week in our bathroom.  I hung some fancy sheer fabric over the shower curtain rod, brought in an extra lamp, and took a bunch of shots.  I let Belle choose her favorite, and then touched it up on my computer.  Now I can print as many as I want wherever I want to have them printed.  (Belle's sparkly bobby pins are from Lilla Rose.)

Curlformers Review

Curlformers are a hair curlers that work in a way that reminds me of slap bracelets.  They can be straightened out (though they don't stay straight on their own), and then roll back up into a twist.  They are a hollow mesh flattened tube.  The trick is to insert a long hook into the tube, push it all the way through the other end, hook a piece of hair, pull the hook so the hair goes inside, then release the end of the Curlformer so it wraps up. After the hair has set for a while, you simply pull the curler off the hair.

(These pictures are from an old post for an updo.)  The curls are soft and pretty.  I have tried putting them on dry hair, and even after sleeping the whole night, they do not hold very long.  It is best to use them in damp hair with some sort of product in it like mousse.  Even then the curls will not last as long as rag curls.  The best thing about Curlformers is that they are the fastest way to curl hair I know of (if you don't count the time you have to leave them in).  They are faster than rollers, rags, or curling irons, and of course it's better for your hair to choose a no heat option.

There are a few cons.  Sometimes they hurt a bit putting them in because the hair can get pulled too tight on the hook and with the rubber ends of the curlers.  Also, if you try to use too big of a section of hair, you can get the hair and hook stuck in the middle of the tube.  Curlformers are very expensive!  When I first heard of them, I was excited to try them out until I discovered how much they cost.  You can buy a whole kit for a somewhere around $60 or so, but I don't remember really how much.  I elected to get a refill pack and a hook to start of.  The refill pack has only 6 curlers.  I think it was about $13 or so...  I waited until I had a really good coupon, and I got them at half price.  Then several months later I bought another six with another good coupon.  I am gradually building up my supply.

Belle does not complain about them while she is sleeping when there are only a few, but I think she may have a hard time with a whole head full of them all night.  I can't sleep with anything in my hair, personally.