And the Runner Up Is ...

** I've added an update on the Curlformer kits further down in the post since posting this this morning **

In a nut shell, my day yesterday DID NOT go as planned. But when you get right down to it - when does it ever? I had it all planned out that the girls were going to help me pick the winner of the Sally's Gift Card, and then video tape them announcing the winner. Cute, right? Well, yeah, but of course, it didn't happen - nothing I wanted did yesterday!

Anyway, so like I said, I'd been flagging comments as they came in because I had so many that made me laugh. And I don't think there is any "blog law" out there that says you have to pick a winner by Random.org -- it's just what everyone does. So -- I figured why not change things up a little. You guys were offering me chocolate, making cute poems, telling me your dreams were being taken over by them, making up silly songs, begging & pleading for them. It really was fun reading each and every one of them. And yes, I said to say anything - so some of you really went to town with it - so thank you for making me laugh & smile.

But I think the comments that caught my eye were from a husband of one of my readers (not sure who) but his name is JEREMY.

These were a few of his comments:
"My wife is driving me crazy about this give away . . . so crazy she is making me enter too. "

"I think if I win i am going to hide them for a week just to make her more nuts!! (; "

I mean, they are funny - but the kicker was after I'd updated the giveaway to say it was closed -- this one came in from him:

"So glad this give away is over. Hope life at my house can get back to normal. My wife went a little crazy about theses curlers. I went to buy some at Target (Me commenting here -- GASP! You can't buy them at Target - right?! ) and could not remember what they were called so I asked a woman what she would recommend and bought them. I surprised my wife by leaving them on the door step. Well when she found them she was not as happy as planed. Then I had to endure a 20 min speech on why theses curlers where better than the other ones. And how different colors do different curls???? any way I think I'll just watch the kids while she goes to get them. "

I was laughing so hard! I guess because -- this is TOTALLY something my husband would do -- well and it would be me giving the 20 minute speech about it. Here he was trying to do something nice for her & bit the dust big time! (Has happened many times to my honey!) So I'm taking pity on the poor guy & crossing my fingers that they get this before she goes and buys the curlers! :)

So JEREMY -- You've won a $20 Gift Card (sorry I'm too lazy to go take a picture of it right now!) for your lovely wife! :) Guess you can do the happy dance now! :) LOL. The gift card will almost buy you packages like the ones I bought months back. Only problem is -- you need to e-mail me, because your blogger profile is unavailable! If I don't hear from Jeremy w/in a day or so -- I'll pick someone else! So assuming Jeremy isn't reading this (since now that it's over you probably aren't) hopefully someone you know does! :)

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Now for the Q&A
session about Curlformers:

Where can I buy them? Any Sally's Beauty Supply Store or online at Sallybeauty.com (for a direct link to a page w/the curlers on it go HERE There are over 2400 stores nationwide - and for a list of locations you can go to their website, or on Curlformers.com there is a spreadsheet you can download that lists them all. Although Sally's is also in other places besides the USA & Canada - right now, those are the only places Curlformers are currently sold. But my contact at Curlformers said starting in November, they should be available to Europe online at Curlformers.com.

Can I buy them anywhere else? Nope. (I bet Jeremy is wishing he'd read this before today! LOL) Sally's supported these from day one when they were new on the market, so for now they have exclusive rights to them. Understandably so.

I had a few commenters tell me that they were told by Sally's that they can't buy them there -- if you could please e-mail me and let me know what location that was at. My contact at Curlformers is concerned and would like to help with that.

If you are wanting the big kit that was given away on my blog - it too will be available in November.
*** UPDATED *** Sorry for a bit of mis-information- but the Curlformer Styling Kit that I gave away will only be available online @ Curlformers.com after November 1st. At Sally's stores, they will continue to carry the "starter packs" & "salon kit" though. Just the big styling kit like you saw on my blog you'll have to purchase online through Curlformers site.

One hint about Sally's -- they have a Beauty Club Card. It's pretty cool because it's for those of us who aren't professionals - yet they still give us discounts w/this card. I just recently got one. It costs $5 and is good for 1 year (it's not a credit card.) But it gets you discounts on everything you buy so you totally earn your $5 in no time. Read more about it HERE. You can get these cards in their stores or online and if you sign up for their e-mails you get discounts that way too. - on everything beauty related. If you use your card to buy the curlers you save $1/package. And in today's economy - every $ helps, right?

Ok, I think that's all. And just as a disclaimer, I'm giving you all this info just because. I'm not affiliated w/Curlformers or Sally's. I just love them both! :)

And as a reminder - if you don't know what in the heck Curlformers can do -- go see me 1st post when I used them for the first time HERE

But just as a quick curl review -

Almost a year ago I did Bug's hair in our pink spongy rollers. I was so excited to do some hairdo w/the curls they produced. Well, you never saw the 'do because I was too embarrassed by the way the curls turned out. She looked like she had this huge fuzzy head of curls - I'm still too embarrassed to show you a view from the front - plus she was pulling silly faces so that made it worse! She knew she looked frizzy and crazy! But here's one of the very few pictures I took on that day. It may not look bad, but it really was. I remember that by the end of the day the curls had relaxed enough that she looked half way decent - and that was because she'd played outside in the wind and the curls had been blown out!

I got these from doing THIS - I don't think they turned out too bad ... surely better than the sponge curlers though.

But by far -- these are my fav's. Curlformers rock my world baby! ;-) So there's a nice view of what different types of curling can get you!
Anywho .... Thanks again to everyone who entered - and who now follow me. Hopefully you'll stick around! It was tons of fun. Thanks for reading another long post that has no hair tutorial in it! LOL I hope to get another one up before the end of the week. It's fall recess though so the girls will be home - so cross your fingers for me!

We Have A WINNER!

I know you've all been dying to find out if you won. I'm sooo sorry it's taken me so long to get this posted. It's not because I can't count as high as the amount of entries I got (although the overwhelming # of entries just floored me!) I had unexpected company this morning, and then I was about to come get this posted & got a call that there was a family emergency & so I'm helping babysit my cousin's daughter now while they're headed to the hospital. So I apologize about dragging this out longer than planned. It certainly wasn't intentional! I had a few entries made today, that unfortunately I couldn't count (sorry ladies), as it ended last night - so there were 1177 valid entries. I also didn't count "deleted" comments.

So this is what Random.org generated for me:So that means comment #658 won -- and the winner is:

The ISLE FAMILY
she said...

I have been looking forward to leaving a comment all day. So glad I am a follower.

So Isle Family -- e-mail me as soon as you can to claim these & get me your mailing address!

If that's not you - don't despair!

Because -- Wait - Don't leave yet ....

As I mentioned before, because of the overwhelming response to these, I had to have a "runner up" prize. But because of the craziness of today, I'm going to have to get to that later and post it tomorrow.

But since I've always wanted to have a giveaway not using Random.org - for the runner up, I'm going to have the girls help me choose. As I've been getting all your comments in, there are some that have totally cracked me up and I've flagged them. I've been leaning towards actually a GUY who entered -- but we'll see (so if you are a guy who's been entering for his wife -- cross your fingers!) I'm going to go back through those comments in my e-mail(see why I don't have time right now!?) and have the girls choose who gets the runner up prize!

Just so you know and can maybe get a little excited, it's a gift certificate to Sally Beauty Supply -- the place you get Curlformers! It can be used in the store or online for those of you not close to one. Some of you have asked questions about Curlformers, and I've got answers for you too, so look for those sometime tomorrow.

Thanks again to everyone who took the time to enter - whether it was just once or daily, and also for those who posted about it elsewhere. You guys were great, and it was a TON of fun! I certainly felt the bloggy love - even if you were laying it on a might bit thick! I *heart* you guys! :)

TICK TOCK

Tick Tock ... Tick Tock --

Hear that?

No?

Well I do!
That's the clock ticking away telling me that time is passing quickly & that today is the LAST DAY to enter the Curlformers Giveaway. So don't pass up your last chance to enter is today & you have until 11:59 MST tonight!

I'll announce the winner as soon as I can on Tuesday! And because you guys have made this so fun, I might just throw a little something extra in. You guys have been amazing and some of your comments have seriously made me laugh out loud! So - Yup- there's gunna be an extra prize for a second winner. Won't be as grandiose as the main giveaway, but you might kinda like it! :) Happy commenting & we'll see you back here tomorrow!

Remember go HERE to enter -- If you enter on this post it won't count.

Pig Tails & Wrapping Twists

This is something quick & easy we did recently - that's just a step up from plain old pig tails.

You can part things however you prefer when you do pig tails! But this is how I did it.

Make a part that is off set to the right (mine was zig-zag-ish!) Then part from ear to ear.

Hold those sections of hair separate with clips for now.
With the hair that remains in the back, part it down the back of the head. I did a zig-zag part.
Make a pig tail with each side & secure them with a rubber band.
Now take the hair from in front of the ear on the right side ...

Twist the hair inwards - towards the head. Make sure the hair is damp for this - it helps keep everything looking tidy.

Pull the twisted hair underneath the right ponytail across to the left ponytail. Using another rubber band, secure the twist underneath the left ponytail.

Putting it underneath allows those shorter hairs to blend into the pig tail on the under side of it, rather than sticking off on top of the pig tail.

Repeat to the left side - pulling that twist under the left pig tail and across to the under side of the right ponytail.

This is how it'll look in back between the pig tails.

Add a few bows on top of the pig tails if you like (sorry this picture is a bit crooked!) The bows are from All Things Ribbon.

And you're done!

And DON'T FORGET --- If you want to enter the Curlformers Giveaway -- Keep scrolling for all the juicy details! DO NOT ENTER THE GIVEAWAY IN THIS POST!!!

Curlformers Giveaway -- NOW CLOSED

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW OVER
as of 9/28/09 @ 11:59 p.m.

Can I get a big WOOT-WOOT!!

The long awaited "mystery" back-to-school

giveaway is officially starting!I'm sorry it took a bit longer for me to get this up and posted -- but ladies, these things came all the way to me from France - yes France!

This fabulous package of Curlformers isn't even available to the public yet - and won't be until sometime in November - so you get first pickin's of this cool kit! I am so stinkin' excited about this giveaway - you should be able to hear me squealing from your computer! Squeeeeeeal! LOL

Here's the scoop:

There are 40 -- yup -- 40 long & wide hair curling spirals AND 2 hooks in this kit. (These curlers are good on hair up to 14" long - but I use them on Bug's hair that is even longer and they work great too.)

Just to give you an idea - I bought 2 regular packs of these months back and they each came with 8 curlers in a package and the hook came separate. So I use 16 curlers in my girls hair and they work wonderfully. So this means you can have even more fabulous curls AND do them in your hair, or even share 1/2 of the package with someone else if you feel so inclined! :-) Could it get better than that?!

So here is what the top of the actual kit looks like - and you get a great case to hold these fabulous things in too (I use a ziplock! LOL) :

And here are the rules:

The contest will go through next Monday September 28th, 2009. It will close at 11:59 p.m. MST

And to say thank you for those who regularly check in with me -- aka an actual FOLLOWER-- you get extra chances to enter. So, yes, if you seriously want these, you'll have to consider breaking down and following me too! :-) (Over there in my right column under "Hair Obsessed!")

** You may enter 1 time & 1 time only if you are not a follower. And seriously - I'm really ok with it if you don't follow - I know I don't follow every blog out there either.

If you ARE a follower:

** You may enter 2x's every day. You can do it at the same time- back to back, or come back at a later time in the day & enter a 2nd time.

** If you blog about this giveaway, or write about it on Facebook or Twitter you get 1 extra entry that day. Make sure you tell me in that comment where you wrote about it (aka FB, Twitter, etc.)

So for you followers - you have 6 days you can enter at least 2x's (that's 12 entries) plus any extra work you want to do gets you an extra entry each day. So you have the possibility to enter 18 times if you really want to up your chances!

All you have to do is leave a comment saying really anything (as long as it's nice :-) or why you really want these! Don't forget to give me a way to contact you - as so many of you have no e-mail attached to your blogger ID! I don't want you to miss out and I have to give these to someone else if I can't contact you.

If you aren't familiar with what these amazing curlers can do - feel free to check out some of my past post -- My first attempt at using Curlformers or here are a few pictures of the girls

For this hairdo - go HERE


When I did the above hairdo - I seriously couldn't stop drooling at her curls ALL day long! I mean, seriously I LOVE LOVE HEART HEART these things to death.

So, enough blabbering. Go ahead & start entering! ALWAYS enter at this post. I hope to have other posts between now & when this is over, so I'll provide a link back to this post so you can enter in the proper place and get your comments entered. So get moving! :-)

Ponies & Ribbon Headband

I've been on a kick lately with ribbon, so I hope you don't mind. This could be done on any age and probably if your DD is older you could use thicker/wider ribbon. If you've been around long enough, you know that I hadn't been a fan of headbands until I came up with my favorite trick of all time - The Dressed Up Headband. Since then I've seen a lot of different versions out there on other hair blogs - doing the criss-crossed or twisty hair across ribbon, headbands, etc. I've never really messed too much with headbands on Bee, and since her head is still a little small I know they'd drive her nuts for too long of a time. So this is what I came up with to give her still a bit of a headband look without the annoyance of a true headband.

Part the hair just a bit in front of the ear & part clear across to the other side of the head in front of the ear. You can make your part further back if you like, but I wanted very small amounts of hair so I parted a bit in front of the ear. I made 5 ponies. Three would also work. You want an odd # though. Secure them all with rubber bands.
From the side - you can see 3 of the ponies. The top middle one and the two on the side.
Divide the top middle pony into 2 sections.
Now, part the hair that is hanging down in back down the middle of the head to form 2 pig tails. I did a zig-zag part. Take 1/2 of the hair from the front middle mini-pony, and then the other 2 mini-ponies from front and add them into your pig tail. Secure with a rubber band like as shown in the picture. Hopefully you can see the 3 sections of hair from the front min-ponies that I added to the pig tail.
Repeat to the other side. This is a view from the top where I've split that top middle mini-pony in half. You want your part down the middle of the back of her head to be in there!
Now you certainly could stop here and have a darling hairdo. But no - not me - nope! I took it a step further!

Grab your trusty child friendly needle & thread a piece of ribbon through the eye. You can pre-cut your ribbon if you like by draping it across the front of her head & guesstimating how much you'll need, or I just left it on the spool until I thought I had what I needed & then I cut it.
Thread the needle through a little bit of hair in front of the rubber band.
Sorry a few of these are blurry again. She had ants in her pants I think! Pass the needle through the hair in front of each of the rubber bands going from ear to ear, leaving a long enough tail to eventually pull it back towards the pig tails.
Then I took a 2nd color of ribbon and passed it behind the rubber band which makes it go underneath those mini-ponies. Again, be sure to leave a long enough tail on each side that you can pull it back to the pig tails on each side.
Once you've got the ribbons laced from ear to ear take the remaining ribbon ...
and pull it back towards the pigtail. Pass the ribbon that is behind the mini-ponytail rubber bands over the top of the pigtail (in this case it is my white ribbon) and the ribbon that is in front of the mini-ponytails underneath the pig tail.
Gently secure it around the pigtail rubber band and tie a bow. (If you pull too hard & tight you'll be pulling ribbon out from the other side making it all uneven.) Each half of the bow will be a different color! When I do this again, I'm going to cut a longer piece of ribbon so I can wrap it a few times around the base of the pig tails because towards the end of the day, they started slipping off the pig tail. Also, it would have been nice to have a longer piece of ribbon hanging down with the hair in her pig tail.
Repeat to the other side, making sure that the color of ribbon is in the same position on each of your bows. Here's a view from the back so you can see how I made the loops of the bows end out pink in the back and white loops in front.
When I got done doing this, Bee looked in the mirror and with a big smile said, "Pin-sess Hair Mommy! Pin-sess Hair!" It was a hit -- so much that I did it 2 days in a row (as you probably have noticed she's wearing 2 different outfits depending on the picture!) Best part was I didn't have to redo the ponies in front - just redid the pig tails and ribbon.
So there you have it - Pin-Sess Hair for your little girl. :-)

Flashback Friday

Every once & a while I love going back through my archives & looking at all the different things I've posted -- and it's fun to look at how much the girls have changed in just a year's time. You may not notice it since you aren't their mom, but I do. So tonight I was going back through a few things, and thought we'd have a "Flashback Friday!"

Hair 4 My Princess has mentioned re-posting some of her old stuff too, and I liked the idea. So I figure I'll do this every once & a while just to bring back some of the oldies but goodies that may have been forgotten & are collecting dust out there in the blog-osphere! So if you are newer to my blog - here's one of my old fav's of Bee. Especially because I can see how much she's changed, and I just love the video at the end. Her laugh has changed a bit from that now, so it's fun to re-watch it! Anyway, if you care to travel back in time with me -- (click on the title of the post to go there!)

Here's Bee with Baby Twists/Mini-Buns

Happy Flashback Friday everyone! Hope you have a great weekend.

Uneven Accent Braid into an Uneven Side Braid

First off --- I've had a few comments about hair classes from a few gals - one about possibly coming to Vegas (which actually might be a possibility cuz I might be heading there towards the end of the year!), and a few others w/questions. Only problem is -- I can't e-mail you back, as you have the "no reply" issue through google. So I've tried to reply on your blog -- but your blogs are private. So I can't answer you at all! Please e-mail me direct, if you want more info! My e-mail is babesinhairland [at] g-mail [dot] com! I hate not to be able to get back to you if you really are interested! :-)

Ok, so sorry, I didn't know what to call this, but for a long name, there really isn't much to it. I did this on Bug Sunday, and didn't take step-by-step, but I think it's pretty self-explanatory.

If you don't know what I'm talking about when I say "Uneven 3 strand braid" -- Go HERE -- that'll show you the technique for this. Once again - nothing really hard about it - it's just like it says - an uneven 3 strand braid!

Part the hair off to 1 side. I did a random zig zag part on the right side. Then part straight down from that part to the ear. Proceed to make an uneven 3 stranded braid with that section of hair & tie it off w/a rubber band.
Take the rest of the hair that is remaining and smooth it back to start making an uneven braid offset to the left side of the head. Once you've got your 3 sections of hair, ready to start braiding, make the first plait (do 1 round of the braid!), and when you go to cross the section from the right over, include your accent braid that you made just a second ago. So you will be incorporating your "accent" braid into the braid that starts at the nape of the neck. You want to have the braid off set to the left of the head, so the accent braid appears to "wrap" across the top of the braid.

I made the braid at the nape of the neck uneven as well, but it's not as noticeable with the thicker hair, as it is on the accent braid on the right side of her head. You can do a regular braid or whatever type of twist you like for that part.
I left the rubber band in the accent braid, and it just got hidden in the hair as I braided. You can remove it if you want if you have a band that's color would be noticeable in the hair. Braid down as far as you like. I stopped half way down and secured it with a rubber band. Curled the end with my flat iron & away we went. The darling white bow is from Flowerz in Her Hair.

There you have it - quick & easy ready for church!
And remember, if you didn't read my last post -- you might be interested in my upcoming giveaway. So scroll on down!

Hair Classes? & Upcoming Giveaway

Happy Labor Day everyone. Hopefully you're enjoying your day off w/no school and such. I know I am!

I just wanted to throw this out there because I've had several inquiries about hair classes and such. I have done countless heads of hair for special occasions like proms & weddings etc., for friends & family. And recently I've been asked to teach a hair class for a "Super Saturday" at my church. But just as a reminder I do not, in any way, consider myself an expert, just someone who loves to do hair & help others along the way!

I've given this a lot of thought for quite some time, and as people have inquired, and since I'm doing it for my ward/church I wanted to let you know, if there is anyone out there that is looking for something like that, for a group of ladies, you can contact me and we'll see if we can work something out. Obviously, you're group would have to be w/in a reasonable distance from where I live! So many of my friends/neighbor's joke about having me show them how to do some of the things I do on my girls hair - but then never think I'm serious that I'm willing to help. So - if this is something you are interested in, by all means, if you can get a group of ladies together - shoot me an e-mail and we'll chat! :-)

Also -- I am soooooo excited about an upcoming back-to-school giveaway that I have in the works. I'm only going to say 1 thing about it --- YOU WILL HAVE TO BE A FOLLOWER --- to participate (that means you have to be part of the "Hair Obsessed Club" in my right side bar.) So if you want to participate & you aren't a follower yet -- you might want to reconsider! Here's the teaser for what is going to be up for grabs:


So stay tuned for the giveaway -- it'll probably be sometime w/in the next week or two - but I'm so excited I couldn't keep it a total secret! Eeeeek (that's my squeal of excitement because I'm so giddy! LOL!)

Monthly Hair Share

August was a crazy busy month, so I sort of forgot to post the pictures some of you had sent in the July/August time frame. Sorry about that. Sometimes I seriously think I'm loosing my brain -- ya know - mommy moosh! Pure moosh - or is it mush!? Either way - I'm loosing it!


So for starters, these first ones are from my friend Haylie, and are of her oldest daughter. In her e-mail w/these attached she called her "goofball" and from this first picture you can tell that she's just a silly one! Miss A is such a cutie and has got silliness down to a T! Also - if you haven't noticed the button in my left column - you should go check out Haylie's website - HazelBee Photography. She's simply amazing w/a camera -- and she's got a fall special going on!

These next ones are from Leia and are of her 6 year old daughter Miss D. This was her 1st day of school & she was sporting my Lost Bow do.
I just love that big purple flower!

These are from Becky of her little daughter Miss A. She says her daughter doesn't have much hair on the sides, so what a perfect way to make use of the hair she's got! Love it - too cute.

One of my regular's Amanda, sent me a couple differen't do's this time. For a trip to the park they did a fun braided wreath around her head, including her bangs in it. Perfect for keeping the hair out of the way on a hot summer day.
And the 2nd set of pix she did a star hairdo w/a messy bun when they went to the zoo. Once again, excellent for keeping the hair out of the face, as well as off the neck on a scorcher of a day.

And that's it folks! Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend. If you want your pictures included for next month's hair share, don't forget to send them my way! And remember, the pictures don't have to be of do's off my site - or they can be made up by you! But if you know where the hairdo is from, please let me know so we can give them due credit! Thanks.