Bloggy News

Hey all,

I've been debating about this for a while now, because I have enough on my plate and haven't wanted to add more to an already crazy life.  (No, I'm not quitting blogging!)  But I've had several more people approaching me to host giveaways and such lately and as much as I've wanted to, it's also slowed down my ability to just do hairdo's on this blog.  So I've started another blog - much like Hair 4 My Princess has for her giveaways.  Well, ok, pretty much the same!  Like I said, I really had hoped I could keep it all in one, but with the regulations of ad campaigns & also wanting to keep most of what I have here tutorial related I've added one more thing to my plate - a giveaway blog.

So, as redundant as it may seem, if there is a giveaway that I am having or hosting or whatever, I'll post some little ditty over here about it, sending you to my new site where you'll have to enter.  Like I said, I'd hoped to not have to do this, but we're going to give this a shot.

So our new giveaway blog is Hairland's Shareland - (cheesy huh?! :) ).  So in the future, if you want to head over and check it out, I've got a button over in the sidebar somewhere that looks like the one above.  Right now there are just my last 2 closed giveaways posted over there - nothing new, but I'll let you know when there is something new to check out.

Anyway, thanks for your patience & understanding w/this new way of doing things.  This way, those of you who aren't fans of giveaways can just get the tutorials here, and if you so desire, you can join in the fun and check out the giveaways over at Shareland!

Half Up Messy Bun

Recently, Brittany from Food for Thought e-mailed me looking for something to do w/her hair with it half up with a "bump" at the crown.  I had this one floating around in my inbox, and I'm not sure if it's what she's looking for, but this came to mind as soon as I read her e-mail.   Figured I'd share it w/the rest of you too!

Anyway, if you know how to do my version of the messy bun (or if you don't go watch my video HERE) that's all you need to know for this hairdo.  Because Goose has so much hair, it's sometimes nice not to have to deal w/all of it making a messy bun.  So back in the summer we did a 1/2 messy bun on top w/the rest of the hair down and it turned out quite pretty.

I don't have step-by-step pictures, so I hope that's ok.  I did a side part on the right top side of her head, then parted the hair from ear to ear.

Pull the hair into a ponytail on the top of the crown & secure with a rubber band.

Then using another rubber band, wrap it around the ponytail a few times, and on the last wrap, don't pull the hair all the way through - leaving a big ol' loop, and hair hanging down below the loop.

Then do as my video shows, pulling a few sections up & securing them with a bobby pin.  Then instead of leaving the ends "spraying" around the bottom of the messy bun, I took my flat iron & curled the ends a bit.

I flipped the ends of her hair that it hanging down on her back with my flat iron as well.  Add a nice big flower on the side & you're set.  This is one of our fav's that came from Every Little Detail.

Oh, and her dress came from All Things Ribbon - Megan's Dress Closet.  Put all of it together & you get one smiley girl!

Combo Toddler 'Do

I didn't know what to call this, because there are like 4 different types of "things" in this do - so to keep the title short, we'll call it a combo do! So for today's hairdo ....Start by separating the hair on the top of the head out and secure out of the way w/a clip. (Basically part the area straight back from each temple and then around the back of the top of the head.)
Starting on the right side, section off hair by the right ear. Secure with a rubber band to make a ponytail.
Part off another section of hair - like you're making puffy braids. I was parting down the middle of the back of the head for this next section. Add the first ponytail into it and secure with a rubber band.

Make a 3rd section (working towards the left side of the head.) Part off just before you get to the left ear. Add the 2nd ponytail in and secure it all w/a rubber band.
Now with the top part of the hair, divide it in 2 sections and do a twisty braid/corkscrew with each of them. If you need a refresher on corkscrews - watch my video. You can tie the ends off w/a rubber band, but because you won't leave them in, I just used a little claw clip for the temporary hold.
Take the remaining hair that is still down by the left ear and get it all smoothed up to make a ponytail, and also add the back corkscrew twist into it as well.
Now take the front corkscrew twist and cross it over the back one, and add it into the 2nd ponytail behind the left ear. Now you have no loose hair hanging anywhere, except 2 pony tails.
Now take a rubber band and join those 2 ponytails into one.
When wrapping the rubber band around, don't pull the hair all the way through the last time. It will form a loop/messy bun.
I didn't want to leave it as just a loop on the side of her head, so I made a quick version of my messy bun (using little bobby pins and not pulling up as many sections since she has less hair.)
And then you are done. Add your choice of accessories and you're good to go.
Sorry about the different pictures now .... I've done this hairdo many times so I've gone through and picked out the best pictures from the lot of them!
These darling clips are from Gimme Clips. I think these are from their Petite Petals collection - Peppermint Stick. They are just the cutest things ever. We use them a lot.
Nothing but spazz from her this day! (My husband saw I put "spazz" and said that really dates me! LOL)
Seriously, can clips get any cuter?! L.O.V.E. these babies! We have had so many compliments on this do & the clips when we are out. It's so funny to watch Bee when someone asks to see her hair, because she just turns her head all around for all to see cuz she knows the routine! It's hilarious!

Ribbon Headband

Sorry for the lack of posting lately. I've got just 2 words -- Potty Trianing. 'Nuf said! (If any of you have any sage words feel free to impart them - as things aren't going well!)

So - any of you have an extra cute piece of ribbon laying around the house? Don't know what to do with it because it's not enough to make a bow or something out of it? Well, that's me for sure. And if you've been around my blog enough to know, headbands were not my fav, but as we've come up w/new ways to use them, I've started loving them.

Normally if you were to just tie a ribbon around your head for a headband, chances are it doesn't stay in - right? Falls out within no time? Or if you tie a scarf on or use a scarfed headband, you have that big knot at the nape of your neck, and then your hair separates in the back or it makes some funky bump in back from that knot?

If you have had any of those things happen, well then try this. It worked wonderfully for us, and stayed in all day.

Start by making "Barbie bangs" as we call them. These work great when you wear a real headband as well.

Part the hair off center on the side of your preference. Then part the hair from ear to ear. I took the rest of the hair hanging down in the back & pulled it up in a clip just to keep it out of the way for the time being.

Starting on the left side, once you've parted the hair out, take a tiny amount of hair from the nape of the neck, and combine it with the hair you are smoothing down on the left side. Secure them together with a rubber band. Repeat on the right side. Be sure to do this far enough under the hair in the back, so you can't see it from the side.
Then take your ribbon of choice and secure the end of it with another rubber band to the "ponytail" you made making your Barbie bangs.
Bring the ribbon over the top of the head, towards the other ear. Be sure to pull it so it's snug, or it will just slide off her head like a normal ribbon would. Again, using a rubber band secure it to your little ponytail underneath the hair. You could probably do this whole thing in 2 steps, securing the ribbon at the same time you do the ponytail, but I wanted to make sure the hair laid right for me first, before I added the headband.
That's it - you're done. I wish I would have had the ribbon sitting a little bit more forward, but it still worked nicely and stayed in without any problems. Best part was, she really couldn't even tell it was there - no tight headband bugging her, or no worries of her loosing the ribbon.
Funny thing was - she wore this to church & her primary class teacher said, "Oh, look she doesn't have her hair done today!" I was thinking - what the heck? Yes she does. But I guess normally it's up and "fancier" or curled and she was just "normal" looking to her teacher or something! Anyway, let me know if this trick works for you using a ribbon this way!

Twists & Curlformers

Let me just preface this by saying there really is no rhyme or reason to how I did this hairdo. Not an exact science to this one. And upon hearing that- many of you may not want to try it. But I challenge you (in a good way) to attempt something similar - not that this can't be recreated - but just trying to put together the tutorial on this one had me thinking "What in the heck was I doing and how am I going to explain this?!"

There really is no wrong way to do this. And you may be saying, "Well, I don't have Curlformers." That's ok -- just curl the hair first into ringlets or whatever your favorite curl or wavy look is. The biggest thing I did was just section out individual ringlets/curls and twist them up onto her head & tack them down with bobby pins. I put my bobby pins in like I show in the 2nd video from THIS POST. They stay in quite well this way, but if you feel like it's not enough, you can always add a few pins to each twist. If you want to see more/read more on Curlformers from my blog go HERE. You'll find out where you can get them, etc.

Just an FYI - Bug's hair is longer than for what these certain Curlformers are really intended. Normally I pull them snug to her scalp causing the ends of her hair to poke out of the bottom of the Curlfomer (which I later curl w/my curling iron.) But knowing I wanted to go twist crazy, I wanted the roots to be straight. So I pulled the curlers away from her head, allowing the ends of her hair to be encompassed by the curler. I only used 16 of these - 2 "starter packs."

Before I put her hair in the Curlformers, I did a zig-zag part off set on the right side of her head. I'd never done that before w/the curlers, and I really liked the affect it had once I was all done.
Ok, so I've put a bunch of arrows on the pictures to help show where I anchored the section of hair with a bobby pin. I really can't give verbal step-by-steps on this too much, because I really just took a curl at a time from hair around the ear and forward and pulled them up in twists. So I'm sorry if you are hoping for more verbal instruction here.

I started on the left side of her head. You are sort of working from the ear and moving forward- to the front of the head. You'll sort of be layering the twists on top of each other as you go.

Grab a section of hair in front of the ear and pull it backwards towards the top of the head. Slightly twist it to the right & secure w/a bobby pin. (Where the tip of my arrows are in each picture- that's where I've stuck the bobby pins.)
Take the curl above the ear, twist it and pull it over the first twist, anchoring it with a bobby pin on top of the first twist.
Hopefully you can see how I'm just using each curl and positioning it randomly! Pull the next curl backwards past the ear, and anchor it with a bobby pin (where the end of the arrow is pointing.)
Now you've got just 2 sections left. Take the next one, twist it pulling it down towards the ear. Place a bobby pin to secure it below the last twist you made.
Here's a shot w/o arrows, to see how it looks at this point. Enlarge it if you need a better look. You still have 1 curl right up front you're going to work w/next.
Pull that very front curl in the direction the arrows show - in a rounded motion, and anchor in a couple places to ensure it stays put. Don't pull it tight, because you want a more relaxed look up front.
Moving to the right side of the head. Again, start further back on the hair and working your way forward.
Twist it in towards the head, and anchor w/a bobby pin on the top/crown of the head. (These should sort of be close to some of the twists you anchored up there from the left side.)
If your ringlets are rather thick, feel free to divide them up into smaller ones. That's what I did a bit to make the hair go further on this side.
Pull this one up so it's pulled over the first 2 twists you did on this side. Secure w/a bobby pin or two.
Move on to the next curl -
This one is right above the ear. Pull it straight up so it is on top of all the prior twists. Anchor w/a bobby pin.

Take the curl closest to the front of the face next
Don't pull this next one too tight. You want to twist it tightly, but sort of "swoop" it back and anchor it underneath some of the other twists.
Here's a look of things so far.This is the last bit of hair hanging down above/in front of the ear.
Twist it and pull it over all your other twists and anchor with a bobby pin on the top of the head. Kind of arrange the curls around as you go - because they may be in the way of where you might want to anchor your twist. So just gently move them around so they hang how you want them.

That's it. You're done! Here's a look w/her head tipped backwards. I added our trusty little rosettes (sorry if you're getting tired of those!) because they covered up some of the bobby pin mess that was on the back of her head!
Right side view:
Left side view:
And again from the back. I seriously couldn't stop looking at her hair the day I did this! Those curls were just to die for if I do say so myself!
For the full affect - here's a quick video of the whole hair do. I really did this because I seriously was drooling over her curls & I wanted this for posterity! LOL. I apologize that the video's not the greatest, and Bee is in the background giggling. Bug didn't know what I was wanting her to do so she was spinning really fast & she has this "scowl" on her face that she gets when I just tell her to have a "normal or natural" face (not that that's normal for her!) She hasn't learned that you can just have a relaxed look on her face yet!



And just because she's so silly ....
She LOVED her hair on this day! She skipped all over the house just to feel the bounce the curls had! Sad part was, I did this on a day we didn't even end out going anywhere!
Again, I'm sorry that this is one that has no exactness to it. But because it turned out so beautiful, I couldn't NOT post it! :-) Oh, and you could totally use fancy bobby pins for this so you have jewels or bling throughout the hairdo. That would be fabulous!