4-Strand With Flair

I found this post in my archives and realized that it had never been published.  I haev doe a 5-Strand With Flair but never this one.  So here it is!

This hairstyle works great on either wet or dry hair. 

Begin by parting the top of the hair directly down the middle.  Now grab two sections of hair from the front - one on each side of the part.  Put one section in a clip and set it aside while you work with the other. 

Separate the section into 4 equal strands.  Take the strand farthest to your left and go over the adjacent strand and then under the very next strand.  (That left strand should now be in the middle/right position.)  Now take the strand farthest to your right and go under the adjacent strand and over the very next strand.  (That right strand should now be in the middle/left position.)  Begin the pattern again with the strand farthest to the left, going over and then under,  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.  Unclip the section that you set aside and create the same braid using the same plating pattern and the same loosening technique. 

Once that second braid is complete, combine it with the first braid at the back of the head, using an elastic.  (You can remove the elastic that was temporarily securing your first braid.)  Unplate any braids below the elastic so that the hair is loose. 

Now grab two more sections from the from of the head, just below the original sections. 

Create the same braid out of those sections and combine them at the back of the head as well. 

 Make sure to include the extra hair from the first two braids into that second elastic.  Unplate any braids below the elastic and lightly curl all the ends of the hair under.

Add a hair clip to the back of the head to hide the elastics and you're all finished!

Half Braid Heart

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!  I thought we would throw this post up really quick since it is that last of our Valentine's hairstyles for the year.  It's called the "Half Braid Heart" and it's made with a French Braid that only gathers into it's plates from one side of the braid.

I started by dividing the hair in half directly down the center of the head.  I then created a small arch on each side of the part and began my braids inside the arch next to the original part. 

Do one side of the head at a time and as you create your braid, only gather in hair to the outside (closest to ear) plates of your braid.  This will give it the floating effect but still have it secured into place.  Once you have gathered all of the hair from that half of the head into your braid, secure it at the nape of the neck with an elastic. 

Move over to the other side of your head and repeat the process.  Once your second braid has gathered all of the hair, remove the elastic from the first side and combine the two sides together.  Now secure those with the elastic.

This will complete your heart shape.  We finished our ponytail off by creating a 5-Strand Braid but you can curl it or use any braid that you like.  Add some cute Valentine's hair clips and your princess is ready for a fun heart day!

We hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day!  From our family to yours!

 (Pretend that she's holding a mini Snickers.)  :)

Heart Line

I don't know if you remember or not, but back when i had posted our "Heart Topper" hairstyle I promised to have another hairstyle up soon that uses the same concept.  Well, here it is!  Basically it's just a line of Heart Toppers going down a ponytail.  You can find the original post here and that will help you know what technique to follow to create your hearts. 

 I started with a small heart Pull-Through up at the front of the hair before pulling it all back into a ponytail. Once all of the hair was in an elastic I added some ribbon.  I added 3 strands of red that were the same length as the ponytail.  (The halfway point was secured under the elastic so I actually ended up with 6 strands of ribbon hanging down.)

  Looking back I wish I had done 3 different colors but I didn't think about it at the time.  It would have been cute to have different colored hearts.

I created a "Heart Topper" and simply made sure to pull one ribbon strand in with both sides of my heart.  I continued this same process down the ponytail making one heart directly underneath the previous.  Also, be sure to alternate which ribbon strands you use so that you don't run out of ribbon.

When I got down to where I wanted to stop I secured one final elastic around the entire ponytail and then just clipped any remaining ribbon.

I added a heart hair clip to the bottom of my "Heart Line" and then curled the ends of the ponytail. 

*I think this hairstyle would be just as cute without the ribbon as well!*

Friday's Film: Triple Heart

This is a new hairstyle that my princess thought up this year and she named it the "Triple Heart". 

It's a really simple idea but I wanted to show you how to create the individual parts and then let you see how it is assembled.

Here are some pictures of the finished product.

This side view help you see how I divided the top sections before creating the Pull-Throughs.

I only left about 2/3 of the hair out on the bottom and used the rest for the tops of my hearts.

Once you make your Pull-Through, separate the two braids on either side to create the top of your heart.

Bobby pin the hearts into place once you've created the shape that you want. 

The last step is to add a fun Valentine's hair clip.

Now your princess is all ready for her big day - plus you will get some beautiful waves out of these braids for the next day!

Valentine Hairstyles

I wanted to give you a bunch of fun ideas for Valentines ahead of time so that you will not be rushed when the big day comes.  Here are some of our favorite hairstyles for Heart Day.  Just click on the name and it will take you to the original post.



Linked Hearts

X's & O's

Woven Heart

Two Hearts Become One

Half-Up Heart

Puffy Heart

Sweethearts

And for some of our more recent:

Cupid's Heart

Heart Topper

Heart Headband

Heart

These are some great ones but we do have a couple more coming before Valentine's Day so keep checking in and have fun with these hearts!

Heart Headband

 This is another fun style that is fast and easy and can be used for the upcoming Valentine's holiday.  We call it the Heart Headband because it gives the illusion of being a headband and the Pull-Throughs look a lot like hearts. 

Start by creating a part from ear to ear across the top of the head, exactly where a headband would lie. 

Divide that top area into as many small sections as you like and secure each section with an elastic at the very back of the section.  (So that all of your elastics will lie right on that original part.)  Grab your Topsy Tail and create a Pull-Through out of each small section. 

Now you're going to follow the same process as we did on our "Puffy Pull-Throughs" hairstyle a while back.  (You can find that hairstyle and directions here.)

 Basically you will be pulling some of the strands of hair from each Pull-Through out so that they puff up and look like the top of a heart.  Do that with all of the Pull-Throughs to create your "Heart Headband".

 Comb the rest of the hair straight down and you can leave it that way or curl it.  We had some braids in the day before so she has some waves from those. 

Superbowl Football

It's that time of year again! SUPERBOWL!  It's kind of a big deal at our house and we decided to do a fun hairstyle in honor of that.

You will need some 5/8" white ribbon and some 3/8" grosgrain ribbon that you will make your football stitches with.

I just hot glued the ribbon the way that I wanted the stitches to look and then added some bobby pins on the back of the stitches so that it would hold in place on the hair.  (You'll notice that in the actual style I cut off one of these stitches because I had made it a bit too long.  Learn from my mistake and measure first.)  :)

You will want to work with wet hair.  I decided to make a little goal post design on the top of the hair by sectioning out a small square in the front middle that I created a Pull-Through out of.  Just behind the square, a divided the hair in half by creating a part directly down the middle of the head.  Pull each half into it's own piggie - making sure to add in your Pull-Through to the side that it is lying on. 

 Make a braid out of each piggie and braid it as far down as possible before securing it with an elastic.  Pull the right braid over to the top of the left braid and add it in with another elastic which will lie directly over the top elastic of your left braid.  You don't want to pull that braid too tightly over because it needs to be able to create a little bit of an arch for the top of the football.  Use bobby pins to hold that arch in the position that you like.  Now pull your left braid over to the top of the right braid and, using a Topsy Tail, pull it right through the very first plate of your right braid.  This will hold it in place while you bobby pin the bottom arch of your football into position. 

 Now take the ends of your braids and tuck them under the elastics and braids however you can to hide them.  Use bobby pins to keep them nicely tucked under.  Go ahead and spray the whole head with hairspray at this point to give it that extra hold. 

 Now grab your 5/8" ribbon and cut two strands that will be long enough to wrap around the ends of your football.  Use your Topsy Tail to feed the ribbon through both braids on the end of your football and then pull the ends of your ribbon up on top of those braids and tie the ends into a tight knot.  Cut off any excess ribbon from beyond the know and then twist the ribbon so that the know goes under the bottom braid and is hidden.  Repeat the same process on the opposite end of your football.

  Your final step is to position your stitch clip into place directly in the middle of the football. 

 Now you're finished and all set for the big game!  My princess wore this style to church and it was great because usually the women come up and comment on her hair but today it was all the men coming up and commenting and taking pictures with their phones.  Too funny!