Uneven 3 Strand Braid

To begin with -- if you haven't voted for the 2 "best bad haircuts," make sure you scroll down after this post & vote! And some of you who submitted those bad haircuts haven't voted yet, so be sure you do so. It IS ok, to vote for your own photo! And for all you readers, who haven't voted yet, go help these folks out & cast your vote! For all the rules, and prizes, just keep scrolling down for all that info. Also, stay tuned at the end of THIS post for info on ANOTHER GIVEAWAY!  ** UPDATE - THIS IS NOW CLOSED**

Now, on to the 'do. You'll have to forgive me for all the hodge-podge pictures in this one. I did this on the older girls yesterday - but in 2 different styles - using this same braid - and then I did them again today, so I took the best of the pictures and have put them together for this post.
This kind of reminds me of some sort of Renaissance braid or twist. But it's just simply an unevenly divided or lopsided regular ol' 3 stranded braid.

I don't know how you normally hold the hair when you do a 3 stranded braid, but instead of making all 3 sections even -- make the middle one the fat one (using most of the hair) & the outside strands very skinny or with very little hair. The thinner the sections on the outside, the cooler it tends to look. Having the hair fairly damp really helps I think.
On Bug I did 2 "Indian" braids but doing them this way instead of all sections even. I started on the braid on the right side of her head. Once you've divided the hair into the size of sections you want - pull the far right skinny section (the one closest to the face) back to the left & join in with the far left skinny section. I don't know what order you usually start braiding in, but by pulling the far right section over first gives it a nice & clean & tight start to the whole braid. (If you are doing a braid on each side of the head - on the left braid on the left side of the head, make sure you take the skinny section of hair that is the furthest left - or closest to the face & start braiding with that strand first.)

This pic is from the braid on the right side of the head.
You can see in this picture how pulling that first section over the fat middle one helps.Here's a look up close.Here's bug with her finished braids today. I got her darling bows from Every Little Detail.Here she is from the front. She's always loved braids, but she really liked the way this simple "twist" on the regular braid turned out.

Yesterday on Goose, I did a set of these - but parted her hair from ear to ear w/a zig-zagged part in the middle & just joined them in the back for a simple "pull back." Today we pulled them back & joined them into a messy bun. (*As a side note, I've professed not to be the best at messy buns - or at least not like the way mine ever turn out - but I finally think I've settled on a way that works the best for me - which I'll be posting soon.) So here's what Goose is sporting today.

She really liked these too. But she was especially loving the flower in her hair.
So ... here's a view of that beauty of a flower I got from Every Little Detail. And now this brings me to the info on that giveaway I mentioned at the start of my post .....

Here's the deal. I received some amazingly beautiful flowers, headbands, bows, etc. from Jessica over at Every Little Detail that she has soooo generously offered for a giveaway here on my blog. So -- once the bad haircut contest is over -- the rest of you who were "fortunate" to not be able to enter that one, will be able to enter this one. It will be THIS WEEK -- so stay tuned! But in the mean time, head on over there & take a peek at all the fabulous stuff she's got to drool over!

It's FINALLY Here!

I'm sure you've all been up anxiously waiting the arrival of this day! (haha -not!) But I have & it is FINALLY here. First off, I've got to say that it's been extremely fun to have these e-mails arrive. And just when I thought it couldn't get worse, someone would send me another one that would make me go, "oh, wow!" It's been nice to know that I am not the only one out there that has had a bad haircut. ;-)

So, here's the deal about how this will work.

I debated about doing a poll for you to vote on & just posting 1 picture from each entry all in one post. But some of these had to have stories included with them, because it makes them even funner. And I didn't want to make one HUGE post and have to manually go through & see which haircut's got the most votes.

So..... I've done 21 separate posts *gasp!* Yes, 21. But that is so each one can have it's individual votes & I won't have to tally anything! And you can have many days to read them since the winner won't be announced until April 1st. So if you don't have the time to look at them all now, you can come back & start where you left off.

Here are the rules:

* You can vote (via a simple comment) for 2 -- ONLY 2 of your favorites. (Since there are 2 prizes up for grabs here.)
* If you are entered in this contest, or know someone who is, you are more than welcome to put the word out for anyone in the world to come & vote for your "contestant." Heck, you can even post about it on your blog or Facebook!
* BUT -- you MAY NOT vote anonymously - that way we know someone isn't voting for their own contestant many times. (We want this to be fair ya'll!) And btw - if there are any anonymous votes, they will not be counted.
* NO MEAN OR RUDE comments. This is just in the name of fun for April 1st. Nothing more. So in the words of Thumper's Mom from Bambi - "If you can't say something nice about someone, don't say anything at all." :-)

I think that is it. Voting (aka commenting) closes March 31st at midnight MST. And I'll post the morning of the 1st the 2 winners. I'll probably try get a hair post or two in between now & then also, but it all depends on if we keep getting sick around here or not!

Thanks to all who participated. It's been a lot of fun. I think I included everyone, but if for some reason I somehow managed to not post your entry -- please e-mail me & I'll hurry & get it added. And again, remember this is just for fun so let's keep things nice.

Be patient if the page takes a little time to load because I tried to get it so you could view most of them w/o having to click on "older posts" - but if you don't see all 21, you'll need to go back further, ok? So in no particular order .... let's have a drum roll please ....................

Contestant #1

The first entry comes from Tonya -

Here is her beautiful little blondie before:

And in Tonya's words, "Then I let the girls watch the movie "The Parent Trap" because it's cute and harmless... I remembered to warn them that putting honey in someone else's sleeping bag was a bad idea... I forgot to mention that cutting one another's hair was equally taboo

"Luckily my neighbor is a lifesaver (and a stylist) who kept me from strangling both daughters...
We couldn't go in public for 6 months without a few of those mini-clippies to hold down the quarter inch long bangs..."

Contestant #2

These come from Erin. And here's her story ...

She said, "Last May, my babysitter's son cut my daughter's hair. Not just a little, not just a chunk, but THE WHOLE HEAD OF HAIR! She was scalped! She had the most beautiful ringlets, and it was literally down to the skin in some places. She was nearly three at the time."

Before:

After

Contestant #3

This one comes from Nina & this is her story :

"So my daughter N was always hair challenged. Her hair took forever to grow so when she finally had a beautiful head of long hair- I cherished it. My son decided to give her a trim one day, his intentions were good, he's a sweet boy and we all admitted that he could have done a lot worse! I of course was devastated but kept my cool and asked him to never attempt to be Paul Mitchell again! My sister in law who is extremely talented offered up her services and was able to create this beautiful look with what little chops her brother had left. i cried, and said goodbye to her little piggies. it took me a few weeks to accept but her hair did turned out so adorable. everyone loved it and i have actually kept the shorter look on her because it just seemed to suit her so well.

The End!"

Contestant #4

This next entry is from Melinda. She actually sent me a few pictures back when this happened, and I thought I still had them, but I'm sorry to say I can't seem to find the e-mail (sorry Melinda!) Anyway - you still can get the idea. Here's her story.

Before:

Headed to a professional hair cutter:
This chop was done a in December ....

Then she did another up the side while we were on vacation the week before Christmas, when we had it fixed.
The last picture is how she looked a month ago, on her birthday. It's grown out a little and I can curl it (when she lets me) and do it up pretty cute. We're actually getting ready to go in for another trim, just to get things evened up. But looking back through these before pictures was torture all over again! I vow that my 2nd (and any others) will have NO OPPORTUNITY to do the same.

Contestant #5

This entry is from Audrey over at Hair Between My Fingers.

This is what she had to say: My brother has always wanted a mohawk. So finally he gave up on my mom ever giving him one and he started cutting part of his hair himself. After realizing that it wasn't turning out how he wanted it he let my mom do it. As you can see it was during the summer so he has an awful sun tan. I still think that this is the most ridiculous hair cut that he has ever had or even thought of having, but he thinks that it is awesome."

Contestant #6

These are from RaNell.

She said, "She let her older sister cut her hair. Her hair had just grown to a length I liked where I could do cute things with it. Then this happened. I was so sad. We had to call someone to "fix" it. It ended up as a boy cut because it was so short on the one side. I was so sad."

Contestant #7

Micki from Micki's Wing sent me these of her son. This is her story:
(and just as a side note from Micki, her son has high functioning autism, so when she talks about the teacher sometimes only calling with bad news - it's not because he's a naughty kid!)

From her blog, Micki said, "My heart always skips a beat when my phone rings and Jackson's school shows up on the caller ID. Jackson's teacher sounded discouraged when she told me, "I don't always call with bad news. Sometimes I just call with news." When she filled me in on today's story, I (Micki) burst out laughing."

Before:
How they "evened" it out!And a little side note to this story. After I got the 1st pictures from Micki, she sent me a funny little tidbit & another picture. She said, "The biggest reason I was so surprised that my J. was the first of my kids to cut his hair is because he absolutely HATES having it cut. These days he tolerates it. But it wasn't too long ago that hair cuts were just traumatic. ""The picture looks awful, and it truly was torturous for everyone! We're very lucky that my SIL is a stylist and was so patient with him. Now that he's grown up a little, he'll sit still and let me cut it with my clippers."

Contestant #8

These are from Heather & this is her story:

"My daughter S just turned 3 years old and I just started braiding about a month ago when she cut about 3 in' off the side of her hair- (no pic.) so, I cut the rest of her hair about 1 in. below that- I just couldn't bear to go all the way to her chin. I felt fortunate that this was probably the worst hair cut she would get because I emphasized "nocutting hair."

"Well just a few days ago, I got my daughter and 5 year old son dressed after bath time...and as I was combing her hair right on the crown were these sprouts of hair sticking up! Her brother had put chewing gum in her hair to "be silly" and then got afraid of the trouble he knew would becoming so "cleverly" thought to cover his trail by clipping off that hair! I could have just cried- so thanks for making me smile about this incident and realize that it will grow out again one day. (As a side note- really glad I started reading hair blogs because many hairdos- like
puff braids completely cover up those sprigs! )"

And from all this, she's been inspired to start her own hair blog. You can check her out at Following the Experts

Contestant #9

This is Amy's little girl Miss A.

"My youngest daughter A, found a pair of scissors early in the morning and got very creative with them. This was 2 days before her birthday party and just the night before I had finally finished making the bows to match the girls Christmas Dresses (her birthday is 2 days after Christmas). She cut half her bangs up to the hairline and the hair on the left side of her head up past her ears. We sprinted to the salon as soon as it opened and they did the best they could with what hair she had left. She looked a bit like Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music. This was just this past December and her hair is finally growing out enough that her bangs are normal looking – though the haircut still makes me cringe! "
The last picture was taken about 2 weeks ago.

Contestant #10

This one comes from Dana.
"She cut it because ONE TINY piece was in her face at night. She just kept snipping away till she "got enough so nothing else would get her". This after a year of growing her bangs out because she HATES bangs and always begged me to clip them back. I'm still not over it. The rest of her hair is waist length. Sigh."

Contestant #11

Christina sent me this fun one.

"On February 21^st 2008, my son I. came home from school with a new hair cut. He also came home with a note from his teacher telling us that, “I hope that I. cut his hair at home.” Alas, he did not cut it at home. He cut his hair at school. His reasoning, “No one told me I was handsome.” What an excuse! As you can see, we had to buzz his hair. If they didn’t think he was handsome before, I don’t think his new buzz will change their opinions. :o)"

Contestant #12

I'm sure Britney Spears' mom really wanted to enter this contest, but with all the many things that are going on in her life right now, I figured she'd not had time to read the latest about this contest on my blog. So, I'm sure she won't mind that I am entering the contest on her behalf. The picture speaks for itself. (And we hope that they grow out of the hair chopping phases!)


(Sorry, I just couldn't resist including this one! -- Insert evil laugh here!)

Contestant #13

This one is from Angenette, a friend (who was long lost & now found on FB) .. I knew her back in my single days, & she decided to humor me & send me a few pictures.

This is her husband.
"He's a teacher and he lost a bet with his students, so he told them they could cut and style his hair any way they wanted. This is how he wore his hair all day. Poor guy."

(Wish I'd of had cool teachers like that back in my day!)

Contestant #14

This one is also from my friend Angenette.
"This happened last year as I was trying to trim her bangs. She turned her head sharply when I snipped, and ended up with a 45 degree angle in the bang area. I had no choice but to trim to the least common denominator. I think it was about half inch long."

Contestant #15

Here's one from Laura. And here's her story.

"The timing on this (the contest) was funny because my daughter had just barely cut her hair when I read about it. She is 6 years old, and I KNOW she knew better than to cut her hair. Ever since she first started using scissors, I always told her “We NEVER cut our hair. Only Mommy or Daddy can do that.” When she got a little bit older, every time she asked for scissors, I always asked, “What do we cut with scissors?” (Answer—“Paper.”) “Anything else?” (“No.”) Well, I always thought I was training her every time she held scissors that they were NOT FOR HAIR! Oh well. I guess not. I thought for sure we were lucky enough to skip this whole experience with her because she’s surely too old for that, right? Aaaggghhh !!! Well, it doesn’t look too bad from the pictures, but it has been extremely difficult to come up with hairdos to hide it. It often takes a lot of tugging and pulling, so I think (hope) she’s learned her lesson."

"Anyway, like I said, I know it doesn’t look too bad from the picture (I really couldn’t figure out how to take a picture to show how bad it really is), but I thought I’d submit it anyway. It sure has been a pain in the neck for us."