Grrr!

The reason you should not let your 3 year old (or any age child for that matter) play music conductor with your Curlformers hook:

For those of you who have purchased one of these - yes, I know they come in 2 pieces -- but they aren't meant to come apart.  Despite being told not to play with the hook, Bee secretly played with our hook & snapped it in half.  Needless to say, I am not impressed!  So just a bit of advice -- keep these out of little ones hands because they do break when they are repeatedly hit against the wall for the drummer solo!

Twists & Loops - Homecoming Style

I got an e-mail a couple weeks back from one of my readers, requesting a style for her homecoming dance that is this next weekend.  As I've stated before, it's always tough trying to come up with a style that will be "the right fit" for the person requesting the style.   I don't know most people's personalities and face shapes, etc.  For this request all I know is that her hair was about shoulder length & not overly thick.  So my hope with this style, is that regardless of length or thickness - pretty much anyone could do this. (Unless your hair is as short as mine, of course!)

Begin with sectioning out hair at the temples to make a "poof" in the front.  Give it a bit of a twist.

Secure with a few bobby pins.  You can push the "poof" forward as much as you want for height up front.  Because I think the whole "poof bang" look is a bit mature for Goose I opted to only give her a little bump up front!

Next section off the hair from the ear forward.  Do that to both sides.  I clipped off the hair hanging down in back to keep it out of the way.

Part off a small section of hair on the left side, just in front of the ear.  You'll be making a vertical part for this section.

Comb it upwards and start twisting the hair, pulling it to the right side of the head (hopefully covering your bobby pins from your "poof bangs."  Secure it with a bobby pin on the right side of the bobby pins you are covering up.  If you can't get your bobby pins to stay -- go HERE and watch the 2nd video in the post.  That's the method I use to keep bobby pins in.

Here's a look from the right side of the head once you've secured that first twist with a bobby pin.

Repeat on the right side - parting off a section and twisting it over to the left side of the head & securing it with a bobby pin.

 It should look something like this.  You've basically made a bit of an X with the two twists.

On the left side, part out a "triangle" section of hair - sort of on an angle anyway.

Hopefully you can see the part a bit better in this picture.  Comb the hair up and back and twist it.  Bring it across your other twists to the right side of the head.

Once again, secure it over on the right side of the head with a bobby pin.

 Repeat on the right side of the head - bringing the twist over to the left side of the head.

Secure the last twist with a bobby pin on the left side of the head.  Again, you should have made a bit of an X with these two twists.

With the remaining hair that is hanging down by the ears, take the section on the right side & mist it with hairspray, combing it up and towards the back of the head.

 Take a little clip & secure it to the middle of the back of the head for a moment.

Take the hair on the left side & smooth it up as well.  Pull it towards the middle of the back of the head to join with the right side hair you clipped back there.

Secure the two strips of hair with a small rubber band.  Technically you could be done at this step & add some curls.  But I went a bit further.

Hopefully as you secured the twists on each side of the head, they all ended up in the same area.  You should have a section of their "tails" hanging down on both sides underneath the hair you just pulled back.

 Starting on the right side, take the tail from the right side twists & make a loop like this.  I basically did it like my video HERE shows - except using a lot less hair.  Secure it at the bottom with a bobby pin.  I also ended out using a hair pin in the top of the loop to keep it from flopping forward too.

 Make a middle loop using the "tail" from the hair you secured with the rubber band in the middle.  Make a 3rd loop on the left with the "tails" from the twists that came over on the left side.

When you're all done it'll should something like this from the top front & top back.  I did a lot of this dry, so sorry about some of the fly aways.  I just didn't want it to look totally "slicked" back!

 Views from the sides:

To finish it off, I curled the ends of her hair under with my flat iron.  Then I did a bunch of random ringlet curls with our small curling iron.   Make sure you curls the tails of the loops when you make your random curls.

She got a ton of compliments on this when she wore it at church, so I'm sure it'd be a hit for any dance of formal even you have. I hate to admit it, but combining this hairstyle with the little high heels she was wearing, it made her look a bit too grown up for my liking!  I sure wish I could bottle them up & keep them young & innocent for a lot longer!  They grow up way too fast!

4 Strand Braid with Ribbon In It - Video

Sorry for the delay on this.  Hopefully this helps those of you that learn better by watching a video.  To see one of our styles using this go HERE.


Let me know if you have any questions!

4 Strand Braid with Ribbon In It

If 4 strand braids are no biggy for you, hopefully you can figure out how I did this with the few pictures I took.  But if you still aren't sure how to do them, have no fear - I'll get a video posted for you soon.  I've just been playing "single mom" for the past 2 weeks and I haven't had a lot of time to sit & edit the video.

Start by making a ponytail & securing it with a rubber band.  Take a nice big piece of ribbon and slip it underneath your rubber band.  My ribbon was about 2x as long as her ponytail, plus a little bit more!

 Slide the ribbon down around so it's on the under side of the ponytail.

 Divide the ponytail in half.  Instead of having 4 sections of hair you'll only have 2 this time.  Pull the ribbon into the middle of the ponytail - the ribbon is going to act as the other 2 strands of hair.

Position the hair in your left hand just as you would to make a regular four stranded braid.  But instead of having hair for the middle 2 strands it will be the ribbon.

Start doing the 4 strand braid as shown in my video - but each time you make a plate you'll be using one section of hair & one piece of ribbon.  I almost think it was easier to braid like this because you aren't working with as many sections of hair.  The ribbon doesn't have "fly aways" and such! :-)

Braid down the whole pony tail continuing the 4 strand braid method.  When you get done the ribbon should come down nicely in the middle of the braid.  It looks the same on the underside as well.  You can tie it off at the bottom & leave it like this, but we went a bit further with it on this day.

Tie the end off with a rubber band.  Then loop the braid up and to the left to form a loop.  Take the remaining long ends of ribbon and wrap them around the base of the pony tail securing the "tail" to the pony tail base.  Wrap it around until you're sure it's not going to slip.  For extra "reinforcements" add a bobby pin or two!

Once you've wrapped the ribbon around a couple times, tie a nice little bow to give it a finishing touch.  I then slightly turned the ends of the "tail" under with my curling iron so they sprayed off to the right side of the head.

 

 

 

I've got a couple other ways I've used this 4 strand braid that I'll post eventually.

*** To watch the "how to" video - go HERE ***

Also - if you're in Utah - don't forget:

At noon today, 9/22, the Barnum’s FUNundrum! 
Circus Parade will begin! 

The fun will start at 200 South Rio Grande St., 

at the center of the Gateway mall.

Children of all ages and families are welcomed to gather together to celebrate the Grand Parade of The Greatest Show on Earth.  Best viewing will be from the either side of the Rio Grande Street up through the Gateway Mall.  Come early for a great seat and be sure to visit local stores at the Gateway Mall to receive your FREE Ringling Bros. clown nose (while supplies last).

The parade will feature 130 performers, speaking 15 different languages and the mystical sounds of 100,000 pounds of  Asian elephants, Bengal & Siberian tigers, horses, ponies, llamas, Pygmy and Nubian goat, and a rare Watusi – all joining forces with human performers from the four corners of the world as they disembark in Salt Lake City.   The elephants will raise their trunks and remember the town they’re in. Man and beast will work to get ready for that grandest of traditions, “The Great Circus Parade.”

Sounds like a real fun way to spend your lunch hour with the kiddos!

Oh, and also don't forget -- today is the last day you can enter the dress giveaway from All Things Ribbon.  Head over HERE to enter if you haven't yet!

Curly Pom Pom Ponies

First off, the last & final winner of circus tickets has been announced.  Head over HERE to read about that.

Today is Miss K's last day with us and so I thought it only appropriate that she gets the spotlight today!  Nothing really new here, but it was fun for me to do these because of her amazing curly hair.  They totally reminded me of a cheerleaders pom poms, hence the name!  Maybe they are more a "bun" than a pony though?!

I've done these with my girls hair, especially when they were smaller and had less hair, but they never looked this cute because I had to curl the ends with the curling iron & or course that doesn't get the same result as you do with naturally curly hair!

Like I said, nothing rocket science or new here - but while Miss K. was with us, I'd been trying to do easy and quick styles for her dad to be able to do once he is having to style her hair every day instead of me.  I'd hoped to post more styles on here using her hair, but it's been a struggle just to keep my head above water lately.

Anyway, I put a bit of our favorite Garnier curl product in.  Part the hair from front to back & make 2 pony tails.  On the last wrap of the rubber band - don't pull the hair all the way through - basically leaving a loop.  Kind of a messy bun I guess - but with the curls it changes it for me!

Let the "tail" of curls fall down over the loop.  Fluff them up nicely to make your little "pom poms."  I like doing these because it kept her curls from getting really tangled throughout the day & of course her hair seemed shorter - also lessening the tangles.

She is a little wiggler & so unfortunately I couldn't get a decent shot of the finished product!  With the way the curls fall so cute on top of the loop, I don't even think a flower or bow is needed.  But that's just me!

She did hold still long enough for me to get a little smile from her.  I'm going to sure miss her pretty blue eyes and cute curls.  She's been with us for about 2 months now & things are going to quiet down for sure & I don't think Bee is going to know what to do without Miss K. around here!

Thanks for letting me play with your hair Miss K!  We will miss you. :-)

Reminder ...

I just wanted to remind everyone this is the last weekend to enter the circus ticket giveaway.  This is the last of the 4 packs of tickets that we'll be giving away.  Also-- I still haven't heard from the winner for last week's giveaway.  If I haven't heard from you by tomorrow, I'll be forced to pick another winner.  Head over HERE for the details on this week's giveaway & HERE for last week's winner.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend.  :-)

Looking for an Amazing Dress?

If you are .... then this might interest you.... I know you already heard from me today -- and maybe I shouldn't share this because every once & a while I like to be selfish .... but Jen over at All Things Ribbon is having her annual dress giveaway on her blog - Megan's Closet.... so head over HERE to see what simply stunning dress she's giving away! (and it sells for almost $70 on her site -- so this is one you'll wanna try win!)   She's also got a matching headband  that is just beautiful & she's adding it to the giveaway!  Like I said, I'm tempted not to share so I could win ... but because I love Jen & all her stuff - you are entitled to enter too I guess! :-)

Criss Cross Rope Braids

First I just need to let ya know that I haven't heard back from the winner of the 3rd pack of circus tickets.  So if you entered last week's giveaway - go see if you're the winner over HERE! 

So - This isn't the hairstyle I wanted to post today, but as I'm trying to limit my time on the computer due to this headache that is not letting go, you get a short tut' today - and sorry there's not really step by step pictures from me.  Nothing really new here - in fact it's simply a twisted version of THIS Hair Today's style from ages ago -- it's seriously one of my fav's!  I don't know why I think it is just so stinkin' cute to have those little "piggies" sticking out from the sides of the head.  Maybe it sort of makes them look "little" again (when all they had was 1 or 2 spouts of hair coming off their head!) & sometimes I like that!  And I guess these have been on my mind lately since I did THIS on Goose a while back.

** Part the hair from front to back - however you like - straight - off center - zig zag.  I did it off center & then zig-zagged down the back.

**  Make 2 pony tails.  Make each of them into a rope/twist braid.  Go HERE if you need help on that.  Secure the twists with rubber bands - leaving a bit at each end for a "tail."

**  Pull the left twist over to the right side & secure with a rubberband to the base of the right ponytail.  Then pull the right twist over to the left side.  Pull the tail of the right twist through the rubber band at the base of the left ponytail.  This will hold it in place. If you need to see step-by-step pictures - refer back to Hair Today!

And see -- there's something about this style .... you let her have cute little piggies sticking out on the sides and she even starts acting silly & won't do a normal smile!

Curl the tails of each twist that stick out on the sides, add a little flower & you're good to go.  We had so many people at the store comment on how cute her hair was!  This one's always a crowd pleaser!

 

Don't forget, this week is our last giveaway for the circus.  So if you've yet to see how you can enter -- head over to Hairland's Shareland for details.