Rubber Band Wraps & Messy Bun

To preface this, this isn't something I made up - in fact if my memory serves me correctly, I saw it first on an old hair blogger - Pretty Pretty Princess Hair but for whatever reason when I went to link her, all her posts are deleted, so I did a quick video on how I did these instead.  If you've been "around" long enough w/all us hair bloggers, you may have seen them elsewhere, but I'd bookmarked her post forever ago, and now her post is gone.

I don't have step by step pictures on this, but this hairdo is one that certainly isn't rocket science.  I love doing these, especially in Bee's nice blond hair.  If you need to know how to wrap the hair with the rubber band - feel free to watch the video.

Start by parting the front of the hair from ear to ear.  Secure the whole back section of hair with a clip to begin with so it stays out of the way.  Then I made an off center part on the left side of the head.  Start making a little ponytail securing it with a rubber band.  After you've wrapped the rubber band around the base of the ponytail a few times, proceed to wrap the rubber band up around the pony tail until you can't wrap anymore.  Continue adding rubber bands, over lapping them, until you get to the end of the ponytail.  Just let it hang there for now.

On the right side of the head, I divided it into 2 sections and wrapped the rubber bands down the entire section of hair until I reached the end.  Let them hand free for now.  Take the hair in back and make a ponytail, and then join the 3 rubber band wrapped ponytails from the front into it as well.  Then I did a messy bun - my way to finish it off.  I love the length of her hair right now because it makes theee best messy buns! :)  With the rubber bands wrapped around the hair like this, it tends to bunch the hair up a bit, but I just pull them a bit and stretched the hair back into the ponytail to space the "waves" out a bit.

Here's a view from the back.  This fun basic bow is from one of our favorite places All Things Ribbon. 

 

And lo-and-behold ... she can give a real, true blue smile! 

And these lovely wraps make the most amazing waves after she's worn them all day.  Major "wild woman" hair going on before bath time!  I almost like these waves more than those we get from regular braids.

And just as a side note - our "little" Bee turned 3 recently - and so I thought I'd share our cheesy picture of us two and the cake I made for her birthday. I just love the fact that I get to do everything girly at our house! :)

Pull Through's & Cascading Curls

First off, you should know that I had no idea where I was going with this when I did this months ago, and secondly, I seriously think Bee had ants in her pants, because I took countless pictures, and had to delete the majority of them because they were all a total blur.  So please pardon the quality of some of the pictures!  Oh, and thirdly, I had no idea what to call this, so work with me here! :)  (And yes, I realize the flowers look like eyes or something on the back of her head.  She seriously wouldn't hold still to let me anchor them where I'd really wanted.  Ah, the joys of an almost 3 year old!)

Part the hair off center on the top of the head.  Then part from ear to ear.  On the right side of the head make a corkscrew/twist braid/rope braid and secure with a clip temporarily.

 

 Repeat on the left side, and temporarily secure it with a clippy or rubber band.  Let the twists hang out of the way for now.

  

With the rest of the hair hanging down in back, part it about half way down the head - again from ear to ear - but this time horizontally.  Secure each part of hair with a clip to keep the sections of hair apart.

  

 Leave the bottom section secured with a clip.  With the top section of hair, divide it into 3 smaller sections and temporarily hold them with clips.

  

With the far right section make a ponytail, and then do a partial pull-through (coming from underneath the ponytail.)  Don't pull it all the way through.  Leave a loop, and have the "tail" coming out on top of the ponytail.

  

 Repeat on the left side - forming a bit of a loop.  Cinch the hair tight at the base of the rubber band (as you would if it were just a pony tail & you wanted to cinch the ponytail tighter) to help secure your semi-pulled through hair.

  

Now, take your twists/corkscrews that have been hanging down in front and pull them back towards the middle back section you have parted out.  If you need to, twist them a bit again to ensure they are tightly twisted, as they sort of relax when not totally secured to anything.  Secure the 2 twists with the middle back section of hair with a rubber band, making a ponytail.

 

Take the ponytail and make another pull through - coming from the bottom up through the top of the hair.

This is where we encountered major "ants in pants syndrome" and pictures had to be deleted because they were total blurs!  So sorry there's a few pictures missing! Once you've finished the pull throughs up top, take the bottom section of hair that's been held separate with a clip and divide it into 2 sections.  Make 2 more ponytails, and flip them with pull throughs - again leaving loops and not pulling the hair completely through.

And again, after this, I just have "finished hairdo" pictures.  But with all the loose tails that are flipped over the top of the ponytails, curl them all nicely and arrange the curls to cover the parts, etc.  You can secure them with a few bobby pins, here & there if you need to. I was hoping this would make Bee look like she had more hair than she did, and had she been less wiggly on this day, it might have seemed like it, but I'm afraid, this style didn't do that for us!  I still liked it though, just didn't do what I was hoping for!

So nice that she finally held still for me to take pictures ... of the top of her head!

  

  

   

"It always feels like ... somebody's watchin' me ... and I have no privacy!!"  Stinkin' flowers! :)  Sorry - my husband made me do this!  Ok, so I had fun doing it - but I was so frustrated when I did this hairdo that she wouldn't hold still for me, and that the flowers looked like eyes!

And a mischievous -evil grin for the finishing touch!

 

Toddler Version of an Old 'Do

I guess when you get down to it, you might think that this is just "glorified puffy braids," but after I got done, it really reminded me of one of my favorite hairdo's I did forever ago when I'd first started my blog.  If you've been around from the beginning, or have gone back through my archives, you might remember THIS 'do.  It wasn't puffy ponies - or whatever you call them, but for the toddler version - that's what I had to do.

Sorry - I forgot to take a picture of the left side of her head first.  But being by parting the hair off center.  I switched things up a bit, and did the side part on her left side.  Then part down to the left ear and make a little ponytail.  Secure with a rubber band.  Then with the hair on the right side, make a diagonal part so that you make a triangular section of hair on the top of the head.  Secure with a rubber band.

With the remaining hair that is on the right side, part it off to make another ponytail, and include the one you just made on the top of the head in it as well.  Secure it with a rubber band.  (Sorry if it looks like she's picking her nose in a couple of these pictures!  She had a little cup of water and was dipping her finger in it and "painting" her face!)

Here's how it'll look on the right side of the head.  At this point, you'll have 1 single pony on the left side, and 2 on the right side (forming 1 pony tail.)

 

Take the ends of each ponytail and bring towards the back of the head.  Secure them with a rubber band off center - on the left side of the head.  Make sure the hair is slightly damp for this - it works much better.

 

Then part the hair from around the back of the head from ear to ear.  Smooth the hair and include the ponytail from above.  Use a rubber band and form another pony tail.

 

 This is what it'll look like form the right side at this point.

 

Depending on how much hair you're working with, or the size of your dd's head, you can make more ponytails, and make the sections smaller.  We were in a hurry, so I just made 1 more ponytail with the remaining hair at the bottom and secured it with a rubber band.  I then curled her ponytail with my small barreled curing iron.

 

 

Add a fun accessory of your choosing and your done.  This fun cute flower is from Every Little Detail. 

 

So am I off my rocker, thinking Bee's hairdo resembled this old hairdo I did on Bug forever ago?  Just a simpler and quicker way of doing it.  In the below hairdo, I didn't include that top ponytail in any of the other sections.  I did include it in the toddler version.

Anyway - Bee was being extra silly the day I did this, so we got silly & major cheezy smiles this day!

 

Ni Hao Kai-lan Anima Buns

Weeks ago I was messing around here on my blog, and I noticed over on the left where my ads run, there was a cute little cartoon girl staring back at me!  Upon further investigation, I found out that the ad was for a TV show on Nickelodeon - or Nick Jr. called Ni Hao Kai-lan.  To let you in on a little secret -- we don't have cable TV (gasp - I know!)  We've never had it & don't need it - so there are so many shows out there I have never heard of - this being one of them.  Anyway, although I think this would look more "official" if my girls had dark hair, I thought Kai-lan's cute little "Anima buns" would be a cute do on Bee.

I started by parting the hair completely from ear to ear like you are going to make a 1/2 pony. But take the part more straight across around the back of the head.  Then I made a zig-zag part and sectioned it off into 2 little ponytails on each side and secured them with rubberbands.

I also left a tiny bit of hair out up front by the temple on each side, so I could give her some cute little curls up front since Kai-lan has bangs and some hair up there too!

Now, Bee's hair isn't overly thick, and to get the cute rounded "anima buns" we went for the rolled up sock trick.  Conveniently I had one of her little socks that had a hole in it, and so I just cut a hole in the other sock and we were in business.  You may have seen this on other sites, but just in case .... this is a fabulous way to give a bun a fuller look if you or your little one lacks in the hair department!  Take a sock - and because I'm working with Bee's hair we used one of her little socks.  (Use a sock color that won't show through the hair too!)

Cut a little hole in the toe of the sock.

Then roll it up so it has a more "flat" side --

and a more tire or donut looking side.

Put the flat side against the head and pull the ponytail through the little hole.

 

So in the end it looks like this - almost like you've got a round scrunchy that fits nicely around the ponytail.

Then spread the hair around the whole rolled up sock.  I experimented a bit, and on one side I ratted the hair a bit, and on the other side I just left it plain.  If you rat the hair a little bit, it gives it a fuller look to the bun, which in the end I preferred.  Anyway - spread the hair around the sock like this ...

Then take a little rubber band and stretch it around the whole "bun" so it holds the hair around the sock.  It'll hide up underneath the sock giving it a "donut" look.Spread the hair around as needed if you have gaps where the sock shows.

Then gather all the loose ends together and wrap them around the base of the bun.

Use a few bobby pins to secure the hair underneath the bun.

See-  the bun on the left is a bit fuller (plus her head is tipped funny) but that's the side I ratted the hair, and it gave it a bit fuller look.

When we got to this point of picture taking, she decided she was no longer in the mood, and I have a bunch of pictures of her scowling -- so just ignore all that, as well as her red little chin that she's decided she needs to lick all the time & cause to chap!

After we got the buns done, I curled the ends of her hair, as well as the little bits of hair I'd left out up front.  I sprayed those with a bit of hairspray first, to ensure they held the curl and stayed in "ringlet" form.

  

 

We almost forgot our little flowers like Kai-lan!  They added just the right touch!

 

And finally a smile!  She really liked her buns in the ends, and thought it was so much fun to tell everyone she had "socks" in her hair!