Happy Mother's Day 2012!

I just wanted to give a shout out to all my lovely ladies out there in blog world.  I hope that you have a wonderful Mother's Day and take it easy!  Here's a style from last year for the big day:

It says "MOM" and you can find that original post here.  Sorry I did not have time to get a video up for this one as requested but there are written instructions on the post that will hopefully help.  :)

Have a great day all you wonderful moms!

Friday's Films: French 4-Strand & French 5-Strand

We've had more than a few requests for these videos so I'm finally getting them up for you. 

First of all we have the French 4-Strand:

 Hopefully that makes sense for you and will help.

Here's a picture of the finished French 4-Strand.  This is cool because it's half a French Braid and half a Dutch Braid!

You can see that this side is the "French" half.

And this side is the "Dutch" half.

We just finished it off with a 4-Strand Braid and secured it with an elastic. 

Next we have the French 5-Strand:

The fingering it definitely a bit more tricky as you plait this braid but it is one that gets much better after a couple practices.
 

Here's a picture of one of our finished French 5-Strand hairstyles and you can find the original post for this one here.

There is also this hairstyle that we did a couple weeks ago and it's a diagonal French 5-Strand.  That original post is here.

A Rose for Mother

This is our version of a little rose on the back of the head especially for mom on Mother's Day.

  Begin by sectioning out the hair on the top of the head from ear to ear.  Go ahead and create a part in that new section so that you end up with two halves.  Plait each half into a Regular 3-Strand Braid and secure them at the ends with elastics.  Now pull the rest of the hair back into a ponytail.  Break that ponytail into two equal sections and braid each of those as well.  You should now have 4 braids.

  Take your two top-side braids and cross them over the top of the middle elastic and then wrap them around each other in no particular order so that it makes a bun with the middle two braids still hanging down in the center.  The ends of your braids should be flaring out underneath the bun and you can secure them together with another elastic. 

Now take your right center braid over the bun and tuck it underneath the right side braid that is coming across the head.  Do the same with the left side as well.  Form them both into little leaves on the side of your bun and then wrap the remainder of those braids in with the rest of the bun to create your rose.  Have the ends of those two braids flare out underneath the bun as well and secure those in with the other ends by using one last elastic.  Tie a colored ribbon over those elastics to hide them and you're all set!

Mother's Day Flower

I thought this would be a great hairstyle for Mother's Day because it's a simple flower and what mother doesn't love a flower on that special day?!  :)

Begin by pulling half of the hair back and secure it in with an elastic. 

Now go ahead and pull out little sections of that new ponytail and Barrel Roll them into the head and then secure them with bobby pins.  (You can see a video tutorial on how to do a Barrel Roll here.)  Keep sectioning out the rest of that ponytail and creating a ring of Barrel Rolls out of them but make sure to keep one small section in the very center of the ponytail separate. 

Once all of the rolls are made you will take that center section and twist it as tightly as you can.  When you can't possibly twist it anymore, let it twist itself up into a "worm" in the center of your flower.  You can bobby pin that into place as well and then hide the bobby pin with some hair from your Barrel Rolls.  Now you've got a beautiful flower just perfect for Mother's Day!

Friday's Film: 4 Strand Headband With Flower

My princess came up with the idea for this hairstyle this morning and it's a fairly simple one.  Be sure to start with wet hair and have some small elastics, bobby pins, and hair accessories ready. 

I apologize for my voice, I had just recently gotten over a cold. 

For our finished product I went back and did one more 4 Strand Braid and another flower. 

The 4 Strand Braids do not need to have the "squished" effect but I was just looking for something that wasn't so linear. 

My flowers are different sizes but you can really shape them to be any size you like. 

I left the rest of the hair straight down but you can finish it off any way you like.

Bun Spiral

 My princess has her hair in buns all the time for swimming and dance but they always seem to be falling out when her activity is over. 

 I grabbed this handy little tool in the hopes that it might solve our problem.  It's called the "Bun Spiral" by Goody and I picked it up at Walgreens. 

You start by pulling all the hair back into a ponytail as usual.   

Now twist that ponytail and wind it around your elastic to create your bun.  Tuck your ends under as best you can at this point.  Now grab the Bun Spiral and slip it over the bun - so that the purple tips are next to the head. 

Now simply spin it clockwise until it won't spin anymore and this locks it into place.  I have to admit that I was pretty impressed.  It holds that bun VERY tightly in place and her bun looked just as beautiful after school as before.  I give this one a thumbs up!

Messy Braids

You've all heard of Messy Buns but here are some Messy Braids. 

These are very simple and need to be done with dry hair.  Simply braid the hair with Regular 3 Strand Braids and make sure to plait just past the halfway point and then secure it with an elastic so that the rest is still loose. 

 Now slowly start pulling those plaits loose - working from the bottom plaits up toward the top plaits.  They should not look even and should look more disheveled and messy. 

 Most of the hair that was previously left loose under your elastic will be pulled back up into the braid as you play with it but make sure to leave enough hair beneath the elastic so that the braid does not com apart. 

You will notice that the braid really fattens up when doing this process and actually has a really pretty look to it.