Fishbone Braid Tutorial

I know most of you probably already know how to do a fishbone braid. But in case you don't, here is a tutorial. It helps to know it for the new hairstyle....

Fishbone Piggies

Thanks everyone for being so patient with me. It was so nice to hear everyone who likes my ideas. It sure gives me incentive to keep 'em coming! I am sorry I have really let this blog go... I guess being PTA President and mom to six is more time consuming than I thought it would be! As a thank you, I have a giveaway coming right up for all you faithful followers....

Now, on to the long awaited hairstyle (I sure hope I don't diappoint. And I apologize if it's already been done somewhere else already. ;P In my busy life, I haven't been keeping up on all the other fabulous hair blogs.)........

When my daughter wears her hair like this, people stop her and try to figure out how it is done. It really is easier than you'd think. And it happened quite by accident one day, but I love the result more than what I had originally intended.....

Stay Tuned

If anyone still comes here, stay tuned.....I'm still around! I've got a fun and easy one that will get people wondering how you did it. Just as soon as I get an uninterrupted minute. ;)

Curly Hair Do #1

My daughter had her little friend over one night and I couldn't resist playing with her hair. Normally, her hair is a much tighter curl, but she has been having it relaxed. While it makes it much more manageable, there are some styles I used to be able to do, that I no longer can. But hopefully, this (and the future posts) will help some of you out there working with curly hair.

I'll leave the cornrows to the pros. But for a darling, easy do, and to pull back the short hairs that she cut herself, I did five little Pixie Flips (topsy tails...I just like the sound of Pixie Flips!) The rest I left down and simple....for now.

Isn't she cute?!

I don't claim to be an expert by any means...but as with any curly hair (natural or otherwise) CONDITIONING is essential.


Stay tuned for more curly hair styles!

Back in Action

I know, I can't believe I have been MIA so long. I really didn't intend to. Life just gets crazy sometimes. But summer is here now, and life becomes mine again.

We love swimming in the summer and go every chance we get. However, the hair in our house is pretty blond so we have to take extra precautions to keep it from being damaged over the summer.

If you or your children swim in chlorinated pools, here are some hair-saving tips to remember...

**Thoroughly WET and CONDITION the hair before swimming. Do not rinse it out. The conditioner helps seal the hair from the chlorine.

**Pull the hair up, away from the neck. The longer the hair stays in the water, the more damaged it becomes. A bun high on the head is perfect.

To hold the bun super tight on thick, wet hair use an elastic headband to secure the bun tightly. Fold it in half to ease the wrapping of the bun. It holds even in water!

**If the hair still turns green, reach no further than your fridge for the solution. Don't spend money on "clarifying" shampoos. Ketchup is far more effective, and less expensive. The acid in the tomatoes neutralizes the chlorine.

You'll have better results if you wash it while it's still wet from swimming. Put a generous amount of ketchup in the hair and massage it in. Leave it in for up to ten minutes (depending on how green the hair is.) Rinse and then wash with shampoo, like normal. Don't forget to condition the hair after the ketchup.

Happy Swimming!!

6 Things That Make Me Happy

My friend, Mindy tagged me. Since this is a hair blog, and I've been wanting to highlight my 'must-haves', these are some hair things that make me happy......

#6 El Cheapo Brush

Yup, remember these brushes? They area my absolute FAVORITE tool for smoothing the hair back into a ponytail. They are not for brushing through all your hair. Do that first with a pin brush- you know, the ones with he rubber thing with all the thingies sticking out like a hedgehog?

Combs can't stand up to the smoothing power of these brushes! Just spray a little water and smooth away. Buh bye fly-aways!

BTW- don't get the natural boar hair brushes if your daughter's hair is thick at all- they aren't strong enough smooth all the layers. I could only find these online recently. If they are more than a couple dollars or so, they don't work as well.

#5 This little contraption. A flat iron comb.

It goes hand in h and with the flat iron. It holds and combs your hair and works like a charm. No

more burnt fingers, and your hair will be S-MOOTH!

#4 My flat iron.

What did I ever do without one of these? Need I say more?

3 Biolage Smoothing and Matrix Sleek Look Shampoo & Conditioner

We alternate so our hair doesn't get used to one shampoo. My all-time favorite shampoos/ conditioners. And yes, all my kids use them, too.

#2 TIGI Curls Rock Curl Amplifier.

LOVE IT! This stuff is amazing! and the best part is, your hair will not be crunchy or stiff. The curls will be soft and stay all day!

#1 Of course, my family.

They trump all. And without them, who's hair would I play with?

Twisted Heart

One last heart before all the festivities are over....These pictures really don't do it justice. It was darling in person!

I saw this here and loved it! It is one of the only heart styles that lasted all day on my middle daughter. I tweaked it just a little...

Part the hair like I showed you in the Puffy Heart, only this time, secure the REST of the hair in a ponytail to keep it out of the way. Again, I pulled a section across the front so she didn't have a part down the middle. French twist toward the back of her head, following the curve of the part.

When I get to the end (she didn't quite have enough for the twists to meet...maybe next year!)I tack it to the rest of the hair by grabbing a section right where I wanted it to stay and secured it with an elastic. I actually do this anytime I do a hairstyle like this- it makes a huge difference in how well this stays.

Add a bow if you'd like (I needed to to cover up the fact that her hair is so short.)

HAPPY VALENTINES'S DAY!!!

Hair Cutting 101....take 1

Swoosh Bangs....
...as my niece calls them.

Disclaimer: I am not good in front of a camera...never have been, probably never will be...so, yes, I do know that a full revolution is 360 degrees...not 365 like the number of days in a year. It's just my nerves, and I wasn't about to keep trimming my bangs to get the perfect take!

I used some root lifter and my flat iron to style them. If you like, you could use gel or mousse, even some pomade. Whatever works on your hair. I personally don't like my hair too stiff, so that is all I use. And as you can see, they blend nicely into the rest of the hair...even when I actually DO my hair and wear it down, it blends. Today was not one of those days!

Voila!

Puffy Heart

I'll get to the haircutting and other requests later....but for now, I thought I'd post another 'heart' do. I did one sorta like this after I saw this one. But I couldn't get it to look much like a heart- so I never posted it. So I tried it upside-down and this is what I got:

Start by sectioning off the top hair almost like a half pony. But really try to get the arch at the crown...like a heart.... (you'll take out those red elastics when you get there.)



Pull the hair all the way down to the nape, as far as you can, and make a piggy...as tight as she'll let ya!

Divide that piggy in half and section off another piece. Tie this one off a higher up, to the left.

Repeat on the right side....and again on the left, even higher....same thing on the right again...

Work your way up to the front, forming the heart shape. I took a section and swept it across the front for a cute part, like this:

Add that hair into the section off to the side. On the last section (the middle, bring all the hair from both sides together.

Curl the pony or make a messy bun if you have more hair than this. I used a comb to smooth the sections with pomade and sprayed ita ll with hairspray to keep the fly aways at bay. You can add ribbons or bows if you'd like. She insisted on THIS bow with THIS mu mu. She's two, so hey.....whatever!

You Tell Me....

OK gals....I need your input. I am in rut. My oldest daughter is not thrilled with me trying new things on her hair (she is going to read this and tell me otherwise....but really, you should see her face when I try it.....love ya, girl!) Most of what I do in her hair, has been done at some point on these other fabulous hair blogs. And my other two daughters have such fine "wimpy" hair as it has been called. And I think "Jackie and Kassie's Sweet Do's" does a fantastic job. Is there something you want to see? Or some trick you'd like to learn? I am not fancy or intricate. And I don't get overly complicated, but I can do the basic. I know hair. My only regret (OK, so not my ONLY) but a big regret is that I didn't go to cosmetology school before having kids. Would you like more tutorials?

Maybe a home hair cutting 101 video?
More french braid tutorials?
More curling techniques?
Or pixie flips (topsy tails?)

You tell me......

Curl Tutorial

Here is a little tutorial for two types of curls- spiral and ringlet. I apologize for having to be the model and the demonstrator.....my daughter is less than thrilled to be the model as of late. So you are stuck with me! He he!

After you curl each section, you have a few options:

~You can spray it and leave it alone for separated curls

~You can finger through it and then spray it

~You can use a blow dryer on the low setting to separate the curls that way

~You can gently go through curls with a pick

But please, wahtever you do- don't use a brush!

If you want a little height on the top, use a root lifter while the hair is wet, along with the curl amplifier (the TIGI products I showed in the video.) Then after curling, you can careflully back-comb the crown to add height.

Also, I find that if I use too much product on curls, it actually weighs my hair down and is counter-productive. So just experiment and see what works for you! Also, when spraying curls USE AEROSOL- a pump hairspray is too wet. With that being said, Here is the finished do. These were the spiral curls, without any product...but it was a very humid/foggy day. They are usually much cuter. Had I realized how foggy it was, I would have used the handy-dandy product I recommended!

Valentine's Heart

Edited to add: I just noticed there is almost the exact same style here. We must have been on the same wave length or something! Go check hers out, too! She is amazing!!


These pictures are from last year, so I don't have a step by step or tutorial. I'll put one up if anyone's interested.

Start by parting the hair down the side, only on the top. Now start the braid by FACING your daughter. Just take a tiny bit of hair for the start of the french braid. These braids were done only taking hair from one side of the braid....so they flipped inside-out. But you could do it the regular way, too. As you come to the front of the head, curve the braid around by taking larger sections towards the front half (does that make any sense? Kind of like rowing a boat...if you row harder with one oar, you will turn...) Then just continue the braid all the way to the back and secure it temporarily while you braid the other side the same way. Bring the two together and add a ribbon or bow (it covers up any funky bubbles you get when you add the two sections.) And by parting the hair on the side, you'll end up with a lop-sided heart....I like 'em that way! But if you prefer, you could do a center part. Either way, she'll be darling!

My younger daughter has very fine, thin anbd short hair...and it's still possible!

My older daughter..with her thicker hair you can see the parts a little better....

Back on Board

I apologize to anyone who has been patiently waiting for a new post. The holidays are a fun, yet busy time at our house. So even though I had three models home for two weeks, that also meant I had six monkeys and a husband in the house all day. Good times, great memories.....now back to bloggin'! I had a few requests for a french braid tutorial. And specifically for baby hair. So here ya go!

Super Short Up-Doable

Here's one I have had sitting in my 'hair folder' for a while....

This is by no means original. Everybody does what they call "puffy braids". And I'm sure this particular style has been done a gazillion times before, but here it is anyway. I tend to stick to the tried and true, more traditional styles. And things that will stay in ALL day. My kids play hard and I don't like them to walk in the door and look like I never did a thing to their hair before school. I don't even know what I call this. But this is something I can do on her super short hair that makes it look like she has longer hair than she does. She wasn't thrilled at first, as you can tell.

Start with damp hair. Part it down the middle (I part down one side on top, and down the middle on the back since she has no bangs.) Use butterfly clips to hold one side out of the way- that's the tricky part. Using a rat tail comb, section a little piece at the bottom and secure it with an elastic. Part another section above that (keep the hair above it out of the way with more butterfly clips.) and secure that. I did four sections on both sides (but it really works better with more, smaller sections since her hair is so short.) End each side with a flipped piggy/ messy bun on top. Put some bows in, and you're done! Super cute, even if unoriginal! ;)

Zig Zag Piggies

One of my favorite things to do on my younger two is to only use the top section of hair for piggy tails and leave the sides down. I don't know why, but I love it so much more than making regular piggies. Maybe I like how it frames their face better than pulling it all up. Maybe that's the same reason I don't ever do half pony tails. I dunno....

To make each side have the same amount of hair, try a zig zag part....

You could also do a smaller zig and zag for a different look. Add some bows and you are so done in like two minutes. Great for when you are in a hurry (Yah, yah, I know we should just wake up earlier, but what can I say....that's the reason for the crooked bows.) The curls are definitely optional but cute!