Flashback Friday: Toddler Piggies & Curls

I've decided that I'm going to try something fun for some of my Friday posts and do a "Flashback Friday".  Many of you have younger girls with not so much hair so I'm going to share some of the ideas we've used for my princess throughout the years.  (Keep in mind that the pictures may not be fantastic but hopefully they will at least give you some ideas!) 

This is my princess in April of 2007 when she was 3 1/2 years old.  She had some bangs that we always curled under.  Her hair is sectioned on top from ear to ear and then divided in half for two top-piggies. 

We flipped the bottoms of her hair up and out and added some ribbon clips to her piggies. 

I miss doing fun little toddler do's!

5-Strand With Flair

So a couple days ago our blog was featured over at "Every Day Mom Ideas" and we did a new hairstyle called "4-Strand With Flair".  I was playing around with it a little bit and decided it would look really cool with a 5-Strand as well so here it is:

Separate the hair you want to braid into 5 equal strands.  Take the strand farthest to your left and go over the adjacent strand, under the very next strand and over the very next strand.  (That left strand should now be one strand in from the far right side.)  Now take the strand farthest to your right and go over the adjacent strand, under the very next strand and over the very next strand.  (That right strand should now be one strand in from the far left side.)  Begin the pattern again with the strand farthest to the left, going over, then under and then over,  and continue until you get to the bottom of the hair, leaving about 1.5 inches unplated. 

Now, starting at the bottom of the braid, gently pull at the far right and left plates of the braid to loosen them up a bit and make them flair out more than the inside plates.  Continue doing this up to the top of the braid, gently playing with those outside plates to loosen them up.  When you've done that, go ahead and secure the bottom of the braid with an elastic.

 Easy as that!

Pull-Throughs to Parallel Braids

Begin by separating 3 sections at the top of the head and tie each section back with an elastic.

 

 Grab your Topsy Tail and create Pull-Throughs out of the 3 sections. 

Now take the remaining hair, between your last section and the ear, and create a braid out of it. 

Do the same on the opposite side of the head as well. 

 Bring the two braids to the back of the head and combine them with an elastic.  (You can cover that elastic using a small claw clip or a ribbon.) 

Now grab another small section of hair, below the first, for a second braid on each side.  Have your princess hold the two braids while you pull the rest of the hair into a low ponytail. 

 Bring the two braids around the back of the head and wrap them around the elastic holding your ponytail.  Pull the ends of the braids through the elastic using your Topsy Tail to secure the braids.  

This hairstyle held really tightly all day long so it's a great one for those play days! 

Lovely Lacing

I am the first to admit that Dutch Braids are my downfall but I've found a way to mask some of my mistakes.  Cover it up with ribbon!  :)

Begin this hairstyle by dividing the hair into two halves using your favorite part.  Now create a Dutch Braid on each half of the head.  (Dutch Braids are just like French Braids but you will plate the hair by going under with the outside strands instead of over.)

Now you can either use one long strand of ribbon for each braid or two different strands tied together at the top. We've done two strands tied together because we wanted two different colors. 

 Grab a plastic yarn needle and thread your ribbon through the eye. Pull the very center of your ribbon underneath the very top of your braid.  (This will conceal the area where the ribbon is tied.) 

Now start stitching on one side of your Dutch Braid by feeding the needle back under the hair, the length of one plate on your braid.  Pull the needle back up from under the hair directly in the middle of that previous ribbon stitch.  Make sure your needle come through on the outside of the ribbon and not inside by the braid.  Also be sure that your ribbon does not get all twisted as you stitch.  Feed it down into the hair again, another plate length.  Continue stitching down to the neck and then go up and finish the other side of your braid. 

 Tie your ribbons together in a bow when you reach the neck.  Follow the same steps for your second Dutch Braid.  I really liked how the ribbon covered up some of my messiness with the braids.  :)

Absorbing Braid

I recently saw this braid done somewhere else and I thought it was a great idea to share.  You'll understand the name as you read the directions.

Begin by parting off the top section of hair from one ear to another.  Secure it all into an elastic and create a 3-Strand Braid.  Braid all the way to the bottom of the hair and then tie an elastic to hold it together.   

Now make another part along the middle of the head from one ear to the other. 

Divide that section into two large pieces and begin another 3-Strand Braid, using your original braid as the 3rd strand.  Braid all the way to the bottom of the hair and then tie an elastic to hold it together. 

Now divide the remaining hair into two large pieces and finish it off with another 3-Strand Braid, using that previous combined braid as your 3rd Strand.  (Now does the name of the hairstyle make sense?)  

Finish off the hairstyle by removing the previous elastics at the bottom of the first two braids and securing all of the final braid with one elastic.  Add a ribbon over the original elastic at the top of the head and a flower over the bottom elastic and it's done. 

Rapunzel Braids

We actually did this hairstyle before Christmas but decided not to post it until we had seen "Tangled".  (Darling movie!) 

 These are our version of Rapunzel Braids.

We started with a small section of hair in the front where we created a Pull-Through and then we parted the rest of the hair straight down the middle. 

 Now pull each half of the hair up into a side piggie.  Grab two small sections from one of the piggies and create 3-Strand Braids out of both of them. 

Comb the rest of your piggie out so that it's nice and smooth and then wrap the two braids around the piggie. Make sure your braids are wrapping in opposite directions.  Secure it all together at the bottom with an elastic. 

 Repeat the same steps with your other piggie and you're finished! 

Maiden Braid

Here's a hairstyle that just sort of happened one morning. 

 My princess named it the "Maiden Braid" because I said to her, "Oh, you look like a fair maiden."  :)

We began with two semi-diagonal French Braids along the bang line. 

The "French" part was about 5 inches long and then the rest was just finished off with a regular 3-Strand Braid. 

 Gather some hair from the front of the head, on the opposite side of the French Braids, and create a regular 3-Strand Braid. 

Now pull all three braids to the back of the head.  Have the single braid lay right between the two braids from the opposite side and bobby pin all the braids together. 

You will have little ends sticking out on each side so grab a small section of hair from each side of the head and pull it over the loose ends to hide them.  Combine the new hair in the back with an elastic.  Gather two more sections from each side of the head and combine that in the back with an elastic again.  Now gather all of the hair that is down and create a low braid. 

 Finish it off with a fun little clip and you're all set to go.  The cupcake clip is fun for birthdays so feel free to copy the idea if you like it!