Combo Flower Girl Style

Wedding season is quickly approaching - or for some - it's here.   Seems like I've been getting a lot of request for things lately - which is cool because it definitely keeps me on my toes to come up with new & original hair ideas for you guys - so keep 'em coming!  Anyway, a couple weeks back you may remember THIS flower girl hair style I did for Jennifer H.  Well she wrote me again because her dd yet another wedding line to be in and needed another style that was half up/half down and that she could could put a big 4 inch bow into.  I struggled a bit as I thought about it, because I figured having a big bow in it would just cover up the style and it would be pointless to have more than the hair simply pulled back.  But I was really pleased with what I ended out doing, and hopefully she is too.  This is kind of a hairstyle that combined several different ones - so I hope you like it!

I did this after Bee's bath so her hair was fairly damp.  Part the hair right down the middle (sorry if this one looks a bit crooked!)  Then part it from ear to ear ...

Divide each side into 2 sections and make a ponytail with each of them - so you'll have 4 ponytails.

Then with a bit of the hair behind the part that runs from ear to ear part it out like I did in THIS old hairstyle (sorry I didn't get a better picture of this) - but you're basically parting from the right lower ponytail to the left lower ponytail and pulling it into a separate ponytail on the crown of the head.

You can see it better here in this next picture how I pulled up the hair - on the last wrap of the rubber band as you're making the ponytail don't pull it through all the way - leaving a loop for a messy bun in a minute.

Here's a view from the side:

Now split the top 2 ponytails in half and join the right half of the left pony & the left half of the right pony with a rubberband in the middle above your messy bun's rubberband.  It'll kind of make an 'M'.  Let the "tails" of that section straddle your messy bun loop.

Then take the ponytail above the left ear, and the remaining half of the top left ponytail and twist them to make a twist braid/corkscrew - secure it temporarily with a clip.

Repeat on the right side and secure it with another clippy.  Now it's going to sort of look like an M with big long twisted sides!

For a moment take and clip the loop/messy bun up out of the way.

Take the twist braids/corkscrews and join them with a rubber band underneath the loop/messy bun.

Drop the loop back down and make a messy bun.  Since you're not working with much hair for this messy bun, just randomly pull the loops up and bobby pin them as you think looks best.  I still used my messy bun technique - but was working with a lot less hair!

Then I dried the rest of the hair hanging down and curled it.  It was still damp in spots, as we didn't have much time before I had to leave, so I didn't curl it as much as you may want to - to fancy it up!

Put your big bow underneath the messy bun and you're set.  I got this darling pink & brown one from All Things Ribbon and I think it's bigger than 4 inches - but that way I knew this would hopefully work for Jennifer!

Be sure to put your bow low enough that you can hopefully still see the twists ... on this pic you can't seem them as much on the left side.

She hasn't yet learned how to smile with gum in her mouth - without the gum coming out too!  So hopefully this doesn't gross you out! LOL

There you you have it.  A half up/half down flower girl hair style that will work with a nice large bow!

Recycling Do's

Happy Earth Day Everyone!

I was actually wishing Earth Day had been yesterday here at my house, because we had rain much of the day and everything was looking oh so wet, clean and green!  Only appropriate I'd say!  I thought I'd keep in  tradition with the post I did last year on Earth Day and  "recycle" some of our hairstyles from days gone by.  Hope you don't mind!  I find it fun, actually, to dig deep into my archives sometimes, because I forget about so many of the styles I've done!  Just click on the title of the hairdo to head over to have a peek!

First on the list is from July 2008-

Baby Twists - Mini Buns

And I've got to say this makes me almost cry at how cute & short Bee's hair was clear back then!  I can't believe how big she is now since my first starting this!

The 2nd one comes from not as far back - May 2009-

Wrap Around w/Little Braids

I really think this is one of my all time fav's.  So simple yet totally beautiful.

The 3rd one is from December 2008-

Hair Fancy's

You might have seen something similar to these recently over at Hair 4 My Princess and I'd  sort of  forgotten about the ones I had in my drawer from when I'd done the 7 Days of Christmas back in 2008.  These are a really fun & different hair accessory if you've never tried them out. Links to where I got mine are included in that post!

4th on my list is from June 2009-

Single Knots Criss Cross

I love this one because it looks harder than it really is!  And with the warmer weather coming it gets the hair up off the neck.

And the last one on my recycled hairdo list for today comes from April 2009-

Messy Bun - My Way

I just love these - if you haven't noticed!  Plus I love the accessories with it in this post.  It's amazing how dressy or messy these can look depending on how you do or don't accessorize them!

Remember -- every day really is Earth Day!  So turn off your lights, fix those leaky faucets, plant a tree, don't dump stuff down the drain that you wouldn't want in your drinking water, use cloth bags when grocery shopping, don't litter, car pool or take the bus/light rail, etc.  The list goes on and on.  There are SO many simple things we each can do individually each day to help make a better world for our children and the generations to come.  So please, pitch in and do your part!

Simple Bang Pull Back #2

Ok, so I've to say I'm soooo apprehensive to post this - because my girls aren't the ones "starring" in this video.  It's well ... ME!

I did a couple video's on Goose doing this, but I just wasn't liking it as much since she doesn't really have bangs.  So last night I locked myself in the bathroom and made this really quickly.  I've got to admit I HATE having myself be the one front and center for this - but alas, I couldn't show you the way I wanted to unless I did use my hair for this.  So please try not to laugh too hard & don't make any mean comments.  There are reason's I'm the one usually behind the camera and my cute girls are front & center!  I certainly wasn't born to make movies that's for sure! LOL.

Anyway - I've seen lots of girls - and adult woman sporting this and I think it's totally cute so I hope you don't mind me sharing!

Here's just a few pictures of when I did this on Goose a couple days ago.  Her hair is so thick, it comes out looking rather different than on my puny bangs.  Also, because of the thickness of her hair, I preferred to anchor it making an X with my bobby pins to secure it.

Then we just let the hair fall back down over it to hide the bobby pins.

And that's it.  Really quick & easy.  Sorry - no pix from my bangs sporting the look!  Like I said - I prefer to stay behind the camera!

Anyway - hope you get the idea from what I tried to show in my Hollywood-esque video! hehe  I just wanted you to see that you can do such a fun & cute twist with as little hair as I have for my bangs.  So if your dd has shorter hair - this still can work for you!  Let me know if you have any questions.

Simple Bang Pull Back

I got an e-mail from one of my readers, Becks, recently - and this is what she said:

" . . . there's a specific hairstyle I'm looking for and google is turning up nothing, which is so annoying because I've seen this style all over tv lately. It's this super simple hidden bobby pin thing, where they pull frontal strands over other strands and then tuck underneath back strands to hide the bobby pin/hair clamp. It's really sleek looking but 'hidden bobby pin thing' is turning up nothing in search engines. Do you have any idea what I'm talking about?"  I hope this is what she's talking about ... I'm sure everyone out there knows what she's referring to - but anyone got an idea if it actually has a name?

Anyway I don't know that this really has a name - but if you are in the process of pulling back your bangs, or just want a quick & simple thing to get the hair out of your face, this works great.

I also have a video that I hope to get posted soon of a different version of pulling the bangs back, but I've got to edit a bit and I didn't have time to do that today - so as soon as I can, I'll post that too.

But I find the trick and key to any of these pull backs, is #1 -how you secure them with a bobby pin & #2 what kind of bobby pin you use.  For the bobby pins that are my fav and are truly superior - go HERE to read about those.  Clear back at the end of 2008 I did a post on bobby pins - and in it I showed a couple different ways to secure hair with bobby pins.  Go back HERE and watch the 1st and 2nd videos in that post.  The 2nd one is my all time favorite way of securing hair.  It may seem tricky - but it works like a charm.  If you're working with really thick hair, however, you may be better off doing making an X with the bobby pins, as shown in video #1.

I did this a couple nights back after Goose had fresh washed hair & I'd just finished drying it.

Part the hair on one side.  Section out with your fingers the amount of hair you want to work with.  Don't do a "real" part with a comb for this section to give it a more loose/natural look.

Then twist the hair inwards towards the head - however tight or loose that you want it.

 Push a bit of the hair out of the way and then anchor it with a bobby pin (using the technique shown in video #2 in THIS old post.)  This one takes a bit of practice to get it to hold in the hair - so if you aren't positive it's going to hold for you - try just making an X with 2 bobby pins instead!

 

 Let the hair drop back down to hide the end of the twist & bobby pin.  If you like, you can just secure it on top of the hair if you don't care about hiding the bobby pin.  This just kind of tucks it back and hides it nicely.

 

Perfect for a morning when you wake up late and have to rush right out the door!

Or you can do a quick braid in that same section of hair - I made it loose, again to give it a more natural not-so-fancy look!

Then because her hair is so thick, I did the "X" technique shown in the 1st video in the before-mentioned post, to keep it in place.

Let the hair from the back come back over it and hide the bobby pins - and you're good to go.  If you've got more time, curl the ends of the hair a bit to fancy things up a bit.

There you have it.  Quick - Simple and Pretty.

Becks - I hope this is what you were talking about .... stay tuned for that video!

Curlformers on Bee

At the beginning of the year our church time changed to a later time, which leaves plenty of "hair doing time" on Sunday mornings!  Up until recently, I'd only ever used the Curlformers in Goose & Bug's hair because they have no problem sleeping in them.  I knew, however, that Bee would have nothing to do with sleeping with anything like that in her hair, so I'd been waiting for the chance when I wanted her all "prettied up" and knew she'd have the time to wear them for a good chunk of time while awake.  So with our church changing to 1pm I decided I'd give it a shot a couple months ago.  Then I forgot about these pictures!

Anyway, I bathed her first thing in the morning and then pull our 16 Curlformers in her hair.  I think she thought she looked weird so I had to chase her around the house to get some form of a picture!

 She only wore them for probably just over 4 hours or so, and then I blew them dry just a little bit to ensure they were dried enough to pull them out.  They could have used a bit more time - but even so, I was pleased with the curl we got. Once again, fabulous results from my favorite curlers!

I touched up the curl that's closest to her face with my curling iron, but other than that didn't have to do anything with them - her hair took the curl nicely considering she'd only worn them for about 4 hours.

She was antsy as all get out this Sunday because we'd recently rearranged her room & bed, so she wouldn't sit still at all.

For the "tutorial" on this one - I simply combed through the curls with my fingers to just break them up a bit and get rid of the "parts" that form from having the curlers in.  Then I took a section of hair up front on the left side and did a twist braid and then secured it with a bobby pin or two.  Then covered the bobby pins up with a flower from Gimme Clips.  Of course, you need to stick out your tongue to get "just the right look."

And on the right side I just pulled another section of hair and twisted it a few times towards her head, then secured it with another bobby pin or two and hid them with another flower.  Also - stick out the tongue again for the full affect. LOL

This was such a pretty hairdo on her - the curls made her look so much more grown up.  Not sure I liked that part though!   Now that I re-discovered these pictures, I'm going to have to make it a point to put them in her hair when there's even more time so I can see the full affect they'd have if her hair had the chance to completely air dry.

Anyway - I'd have to say hair like this on an almost 3 year old (at the time this was taken she wasn't yet three!) isn't too shabby - wouldn't you say?!  Despite not really being a huge fan of these in her hair, she did love running around showing me that her hair was "bouncy!"