Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Halloween Hairdos: The Great Pumpkin

 "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!"
This is a French Twist Crown that we've made into a pumpkin.  Start along the bang line for your French Twist and just continue it all the way around the head.  Be sure that your added strands are combed nicely so the finished product looks clean. 
 My princess's hair is quite long so we had to continue twisting long after I had finished adding hair and then we just bobby pinned down the excess.  Grab some orange ribbon, measure the length of your crown and then double it.  You will be using a plastic yarn needle for this hairstyle. Thread the needle by folding some dental floss through the eye, placing the ribbon in the dental floss and then pulling the floss with the ribbon back through the eye. Now weave around the pumpkin, tie the ends together, and cut off any extra ribbon. 
 If your princess has long hair as well and you have to double up some of the crown, just make sure you only weave once in that area. 
 Now for the stem you can use a green bow, some green ribbon, green yarn, or a pipe cleaner.  We've used a green pipe cleaner, poked it through the hair and then shaped it into a stem.  Wrap the extra pipe cleaner around a pen to curl it for little vines. 

Monday, October 11, 2010

Halloween Hairdos: Dancing Skeletons

We have come up with a whole bunch of fun Halloween Hairdos for you.  Many of them are done by recycling little Halloween decorations or favors.
 
You can find these cute little straws all over the place.  I've seen them at craft stores, Walmart, and the dollar stores.  They usually come in a pack of 4.  Grandma gave these to the kids and I immediately wanted to use them as a hair accessory.  (My mind is twisted like that.)  :) 
Start by parting the hair from ear to ear and then dividing that top portion into 4 equal areas. 
Secure each area with an elastic and then create a Pull-Through.   
Now grab two skeletons and take them off the straw.  (I also glued a bow to one of them so we could have a boy and a girl.) 
 Start with one of your middle sections and grab the little ponytail.  Divide it in half and feed half of the hair through the top portion of the skeleton using a Topsy Tail.  When the skeleton is placed where you want it, grab the other half of the ponytail and tie an elastic around both halves to hold it in place. 
 Now divide the ponytail in half once more and feed half through the bottom portion of the skeleton.  Get it into place and secure it by tying an elastic around both halves of the ponytail again. 
Follow these same steps for the second middle section of hair until both of your skeletons are securely attached.  Pull the two side sections and all the rest of the hair back into a low ponytail and finish it off with a ribbon.
  As your princess walks around the skeletons will move ever so slightly and it looks as though they're dancing.  :)

Sunday, October 10, 2010

The Biggest Loser Hair

I was watching the latest episode of "The Biggest Loser" and saw a darling hairstyle on the host, Ali.  My daughter had a birthday party to go to and I thought it was a nice opportunity to give it a shot. 
Get the hair nice and wet and grab a small section of hair from the bang line.  Begin to French Braid it off to one side of the head. 
Continue braiding as if you were making a crown around the head.  Make sure that when you gather the hair on the top half of your braid that you gather just a little bit of hair from right next to it.  You want most of the hair on top to not be included into the braid.  When you get down to the bottom (right about the middle of the head) put a clip on the braid to hold it in place. 
 Comb all the remaining hair back to where the French braid has stopped  and then unclip the braid and add everything together into a ponytail. 
Grab a small section of hair from the bottom of the ponytail and braid it.  Wrap that braid around the elastic to hide it and then pull the ends through the elastic with your Topsy Tail. 
This is where they finished it on the show but my princess was going to an Alice in Wonderland party so we added a few more things. 
 We braided the rest of the ponytail and added some coordinating hair clips. 
You have to wear Alice to a Wonderland party!  :)
*HALLOWEEN HAIRDOS BEGIN TOMORROW*

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Infinity

We couldn't come up with a good name for this hairstyle but I told her it looks like the sign for Infinity so that became it's name.  (My daughter's favorite part of all of this is making up the names of the hairstyles!) 
I went digging through my princess's old toddler boxes to find some ribbon sculpture clips that I made back in the day.  I don't know why I ever put them away because she can still use them and she was actually quite excited to see them.  (I'll add them into hairstyles once and a while so you can see some of them.)
 This is "Alli" and this whole hairstyle was designed by my princess just for this clip.  :)  She wanted her to have a swimming pool right on her head.
We started with a regular ponytail right in the middle/back of her head.  I separated the ponytail into two halves and made a Corkscrew out of each half. 
Now I pulled each Corkscrew down first, then around by the ear and finally back to the ponytail elastic.  Add a bobby pin here and there as you wrap it to hold it in place. 
Now bobby pin the ends of your Corkscrew under the ponytail elastic and it will give you two rings.  (Do you see how it "sort of" looks like the infinity sign?  I know it's a stretch.)    :) 
  Add whatever clip you like over the elastics and bobby pins to hide them.  We added "Alli" into her very own swimming pool.  :)
*We've used this style for another one of our Halloween Hairdos starting next week so get excited!  My princess and I got a little over-creative with some!  :)*

Friday, October 8, 2010

Puppy Dog Ears

I usually refer to these as "Heidi Braids" (which is their true name) but my princess really wanted to call this post "Puppy Dog Ears" - and so it is.  :) 
 Part the hair in half using any part you like.  I just used the "Butt Crack Part" because we were kind of rushed that morning. 
 Pull each half of the part up into a piggie and then braid it. 
We've done the Quad Braid on each of ours but I've found that it's cute with any type of braid. 
 Now pull the bottom of the braid up to the top elastic and secure them both together using a second elastic and wrapping it around the entire braid.  Have the bottom of the braid lying on top when you secure it so that the ends are sticking out perfectly, 
Wet down the ends of the braid and add a bit of gel or mousse.  Curl them over your fingers and they will dry that way.  Now you can add some hair clips to finish it off.  :)

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Meet in the Middle

This is a traditional double French Braid with a bit of a different look. 
Start by parting the hair into two sections.  Set one section aside and begin with the other. 
French Braid that side down to about the middle of the head and then secure it with an elastic. 
 Now have your princess lay on her tummy on her bed to make it easier for the bottom half.  Start the bottom French Braid at the neck and braid all the way to the end of the top braid. 
 Combine the two together with an elastic.  While you princess is still on her tummy, start the bottom braid on the opposite half. 
Tie it off with an elastic in the middle of the head again and then finish off by French Braiding the top half and combining it together with the bottom by securing it with an elastic. 
You should now have to piggies that both have two French Braids feeding into them. 
You can leave the piggies plain like we've done here or finish them off with braids, Corkscrews, or buns. 

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Tied Up and Twisted

Make sure the hair is wet and part the hair from ear to ear.  (You'll be working with just the top half of the head so these directions will apply only to that area of the hair.) 
 Divide the hair into two equal halves and set one half aside. 
 Now make a diagonal part going from the corner of the middle part up to the bang line. 
 Pull out a small section on the lower half of the diagonal.  It will be about 1 inch thick and just above the ear - set that aside for a minute.  Now take the top half of the diagonal part and divide it into two sections and tie them together (It's the same as the first step of tying your shoe.)  Now combine the tied hair with the lower section of the diagonal and secure it with an elastic.
  Now grab that small bit of hair from above the ear and twist it together with the combined diagonal sections. 
Hold it together with a clip while you move to the other side to repeat the steps.
 
 Make sure your second diagonal part mirrors the original one. 
 Once you've done all the steps on the opposite side, combine the two twists together in the back of the head.  Spray for hold and then add a hair clip.