Magic Wand

Today we have a really easy style that you can take pieces of to dress up any average ponytail.  First you will want to pull all of the hair back into a ponytail.  It can be low or high - doesn't really matter.

  Now grab a Topsy Tail and divide the ponytail into 3 equal parts, 1 in the top middle and two on the sides.  Begin with that top middle piece and feed it through the loop of your Topsy Tail.  Poke the tool down behind the elastic and pull the hair through.  Hold on to a bit of the hair that is closest to your elastic so that is does not get pulled all the way through with the rest of that section.  This will create a little bump right at the top of your elastic. 

Now take one of your side sections and repeat the steps, just making sure that you feed your Topsy Tail sideways behind the elastic.  Take your final piece and create your last side bump.  Now you will have three sections of hair coming out of the ponytail, behind the elastic. 

 

You can stop at this point and curl the ends if the hair is not too long.  For the longer hair you can use the three sections to create a Regular 3-Strand Braid. 

The braid will be the stick of the wand and the puffs above will be the top.  You could even jazz it up with some spray glitter if you wanted to.  :)

Variation on Pull-Through Crown

We came up with this after first creating our Pull-Through Crown.  Directions for that can be found on our post from last Monday which is here. 

We decided to take that hair that was hanging down and twist it up to create a more formal updo. 

Starting on the left side, we divided the hanging hair into small sections and made twists out of them.  Each twist was draped below our crown and the end was secured up and over it with a bobby pin just behind the original crown. 

We did this several times creating several draped twsits. 

This was done on the right side as well.   

To finish it off we just added some small flower hair pins and she was ready to go. 

Friday's Film: Butterfly Weave

Here's a video showing you a new twist on one of our all time favorite hairstyles, The Butterfly Wings.  (You can find the original post for Butterfly Wings here.)

It's very simple and had people stopping us all day asking how it was done.

Here's a closer look at the style. 

We started with an off-centered part on the front because I like how that makes the hair look. 

Depending on how long your princess's hair is, you should be able to just let the ends of your woven strands hang down.  If they are a bit short, you can secure them with bobby pins.    

You can also curl the rest of the hair that is hanging down for a more elegant look. 

4th of July Hairstyles

Happy Independence Day everybody!  I wanted to share all of our favorite 4th of July styles with you.  Simply click on the name of the style underneath the picture and it will take you directly to the original post!

American Flag

Fourth of July Star

Star

Glowing Star

The Firework
Hopefully these will give you some fun ideas for the fireworks tonight!
Happy 4th!

Pull-Through Crown

This is a style that we will be using over and over again because I love the look of it and it holds all day long. 

You have to start this style by first creating the Butterfly Wing style found here.  Make only three butterfly wings instead of gathering all the hair as done in the original post.  Once you have your three rows of butterfly wings you are ready to move on. 

Begin on the left side of the head and grab a small section of hair just below the bottom twist and right next to the ear.  Comb it smooth and then feed it through the hoop of your Topsy Tail.  Feed the Topsy Tail over the top of the twists and then down behid the back and pull it through. 

This is essentially creating a Pull-Through right over the Butterfly Wings.  Grab another small section of hair right next to your first and repeat the steps.  Do this all the way along that left side until you have come to your elastics in the middle.  (You can use as many sections of hair to create Pull-Throughs as you would like - they can be small or large, it really doesn't matter.) 

Now move over to the right side and repeat the same steps.  Once you have finished that you can complete the style by pulling the middle ponytail over the elastics in one final Pull-Through.  Pull that last one just tight enough to conceal the elastics but not to flip completely through.

Don't forget to click on the label "4th of July" on the sidebar for all sorts of fun hairstyles for Wednesday!

Friday's Film: Tied Updo

Thanks for being patient while we were on vacation for a couple weeks.  We had a fabulous time in Hawaii and I wanted to share this picture of a French Braid that we found in Oahu:

 They have taken individual palm fronds and wrapped them around the stems of the trees and French Braided them. 

 They did a pretty good job don't you think?!

The hairstyle we've decided to share today is called the Tied Updo and it's simple yet beautiful.  The original inspiration for this hairstyle can be found on my Pinterest board here.

My princess has such dark hair when it is wet but hopefully you are still able to follow the instructions.

Here is a picture of the finished product.  Cute huh!

 

I wish that our puff was a bit bigger which would be an advantage to working with dry hair. 

 

You can use as many bobby pins as you need when securing your bow. 

Good luck and remember that practice makes perfect!

Friday's Film: Double Stack

*Just a note that we will be taking a vacation for a couple of weeks so we will not have any new posts during that time.  We will be posting after that though so keep checking in!*  :)

We've called this style the Double Stack and I actually saw something similar to this on one of the awards shows on television but I have searched everywhere and I can't find the original source.  It's a very easy style but you will need to have two bun molds or rolled socks to accomplish this style.

I told you it was easy!

Here's a picture of the finished product.

You can see that it is taller than a regular bun but has a really elegant look to it. 

We used wet hair when creating this style and didn't have any problem with it holding tightly. 

Remember to really take the time to make sure the hair is spread out evenly over those bun molds so that your finished bun looks really clean. 

Happy Summer and we will see you after vacation!

Kissy Lips & Bendy Braids

You will definitely need a Topsy Tail or tool like it for this hairstyle.  It's got two parts to it - the "Kissy Lips" and the "Bendy Braids" but they both derive from the same components, Inverted Pull-Throughs and regular Pull-Throughs. 

Here is what the Kissy Lips look like.  First you will gather a section of hair at the top of the head into an elastic.  Then create an Inverted Pull-Through by poking your Topsy Tail up from under the elastic and pulling the hair through.  Next you will gather another section of hair right before the first and secure it into an elastic - making sure to add in that hair from your Inverted Pull Through.  Have your new elastic lying fairly close to your previous one.  Now create a regular Pull-Through with that new section of hair by poking your Topsy Tail down through the hair behind the elastic.  These two Pull-Throughs create your Kissy Lips.

I've sectioned out the hair and done two sets of Kissy Lips on each side of the head. 

The lower set of Kissy Lips lies in the middle of the head on either side.

The hairstyle is finished off with Bendy Braids that are created simply by securing an elastic around the ponytail - about 1.5 inches below the previous elastic.  Now grab your Topsy Tail and create and Inverted Pull-Through with that section of your ponytail.  Add in another elastic (again 1.5 inches down) and create a regular Pull-Through.  Continue this pattern down through the ponytail and then follow the steps with the opposite ponytail as well.  The two different kind of Pull-Throughs will create a bent look in the ponytail.  The picture doesn't really do these justice but they are pretty cool. 

Side Braid Bun

This is not a new hairstyle by any means but it is the first time we have ever done it.  You only need to know how to do a basic French Braid (We have a video for that here ) and all you need is one elastic, some bobby pins, and a flower clip.  This hairstyle actually looked a bit better when it was done with dry hair but we did use extra hairspray when doing it dry so that we didn't end up with a ton of fly-aways.

We started by creating an off-centered part at the front of the head that was about 2 inches long.  We started on the smaller side of the part and grabbed a section of hair that was divided into 3 equal sections.

This is where you will begin your French Braid.  Just make sure that your Braid goes across the back of the head rather than down the head.   

Work your way around to the other side of the head and gather in the remaining hair.  Once it's all been added in, finish plaiting the braid with just a Regular 3-Strand and then secure it at the bottom with an elastic. 

Wrap that 3-Strand Braid around itself and secure it against the head with bobby pins.  Make sure that you have all of your ends tucked under the bun so they won't show.  Add a flower clip to the front of the bun and it's finished. 

Friday's Film: Basket Weaving

This was another hairstyle that we got SEVERAL requests for a video on.

 It's our Basket Weaving hairstyle from last week and it's very easy as you will see.

The original post for this style can be found here and it's got the written instructions plus some more pictures.

There are several ways you could end this hairstyle.  Here we have two piggies and in the video we have a 4-Strand Braid.  You can use whatever you like.

Back & Forth Puffy Braids

This style is a variation on one of our favorites, Puffy Braids.  You will be creating a series of horizontal parts as usual but the difference is that there is no vertical part down the center.

 

Start by creating a horizontal part from ear to ear and making a small section of hair along the bang line.  Secure it into an elastic that is pulled to the left side.  Now create a parallel part behind the first that you will secure into an elastic over on the left side. 

Create a 2 inch braid out of your left ponytail and have your princess hold it while you create a third parallel part/section.  Pull that section over to the left as well and add in the braid before securing it with a new elastic.  (Your braid will be lying over the top of your second section that is over on the right.)

Now move over to your right ponytail and create a 2 inch braid out of that as well.  Create a 4th part/section and pull it to the right where you will add in that braid and secure it with an elastic.

Now move back to the left and repeat the pattern back and forth from left to right. 

When you get to the bottom of the hair you will have one braid that ends higher than the other.  Finish off your final ponytails with Regular 3-Strand Braids and you are all finished! 

Friday's Film: Python Piggies

(This is a day early but we are headed out of town for Memorial Weekend and I wanted to get this up for you!)

Here's a fun hairstyle that is not too hard but does take a good 15 minutes to complete.  Start with wet hair and make sure you have a Topsy Tail or similar tool handy. 

You can make your top section that you keep out as big or as small as you like depending on what you want your wraps to look like. 

Here is the finished product.

This angle shows you what the top looks like as you begin to wrap the hair around.

This one also shows the way we created our parts.

Very easy and really cute!