Awesome New Tip

I've tried many different ways of organizing our hair supplies and I've posted several of them in my Accessory Organization post. 

Click on the link for some great ideas for your ribbon, small clips, elastics, flowers and other hair supplies.
I've always struggled with organizing headbands.  They are bulky and don't fit in small containers. 

You may remember my post on the Cure for the Headband Headache (instructions are on the link) and this is definitely a great solution but I found that I only had room for two of these containers on the dresser and we had many more headbands that needed a home.  I was browsing my favorite new site, Pinterest, and came across another idea that I had to try:

They are paper towel rolls that I attached to the inside of the bathroom cupboard door.  The original that I saw was attached the wide way but I needed two so I attached mine the long way.

I took an unused roll of paper towel and covered it with some fabric. (Zebra is my princess's favorite)  I stitched the fabric together for the length of the paper towel, placed it over the roll and then just hot glued the two ends in place.  It works perfectly for us and hopefully it will be a helpful idea for you!

Securing A Stretch Band

My princess loves wearing the stretch headbands but I've always hated them because I can never get them to stay in place.  After a few trials and errors we finally found our solution. 

I usually start by creating a small, off-centered part in the bangs and I brush them towards the ears. 

I then pull a bit of hair next to each ear forward before placing the headband on the head. 

 Get your headband in place and then pull the two pieced of hair over the band and secure it with another small piece of hair behind the elastic.  Use a small elastic to join the two pieces on each side. 

 Now lift all the hair up and pull a small section of hair out from underneath the band right at the nape of the neck.  Pull it over the band and secure it with s bit of hair under the band with an elastic.  Once these three elastics are in place, the band will not go anywhere! 

You can leave it like this or finish of the hair however you like. 

We've done a Corkscrew next to each ear that we joined in the back of the head with an elastic. 

I straightened the rest of her hair and then added a flower clip to hide the elastic.  Her hair looked as good at the end of the day as it did at the start!  Hope this tip helps!

Cure for the Headband Headache

This is not a new idea and I've seen it on the web several times but it's the first time that I've actually made my own. 

 If your princess is like mine, she has a basket full of headbands that are all tangled and messy.  Here is our solution:

Simply grab a large container of oatmeal cereal at your local store.  There are a few sizes so just make sure you get the one that is "headband-size".  :)  Empty your oatmeal into a gallon Ziploc bag so you can still use it.  Grab your favorite scrapbook papers and cut them to size and wrap your container.  We've also added some decorative ribbon to the top, bottom and middle of ours.  The nice thing is that you can also store your stretchy headbands inside the container - just open the lid.  :)

  Hope this helps some of you out there that may be as frustrated as I was with headbands!  

Flashback Friday: Pink Curlers

It's Flashback Friday time again.  Remember these pink overnight curlers that our moms used to torture us with?!  Well, I used to torture my little princess with them too.  (Until I found Curlformers that is!)  My daughter is 3 in this picture but I started with these curlers when she was about 2. 

I used to get my princess to hold still by letting her color at the table, watch a show or I'd just do her hair while she was eating.  :)  Make sure the hair is wet when you put these curlers in.  We dried and curled her bangs under and then pulled her hair up into her little top-piggies BEFORE putting the curlers in.  

After about 3 hours her hair had finally dried (she has VERY thick hair) and we were able to take out the curlers.  She looked just like Shirley Temple!  These curls were great too because we had church the next day and they had loosened up perfectly by then!

Instructions for Snowflake Clips

I've gotten some requests and lots of emails about these snowflake clips so I thought I would post instructions for anyone that is interested.

Supplies Needed

*White 3/8" grosgrain ribbon

-4 that are 5 in. long (a)

-2 that are 3 1/2 in. long (b)

-2 that are 2 1/2 in. long (c)

-1 that is 1 3/4 in. long (d)

*11 clear rhinestones

-1 medium size

-10 small size

*1 lined alligator clip

-I use a double pronged clip (from Sally's) because the ribbon lies better on them and their more versatile when being clipped into the hair or onto bands.

-You can line your clip with any color 3/8" grosgrain ribbon.

*Hot glue gun and glue sticks

*One toothpick

Instructions

1.  Seal all the ends of your ribbon pieces with fabric sealer, a lighter, or a wood burning tool - which is what I always use.  (They can be found under $10 in the craft area at Walmart.)

2.  Grab 2 ribbons that measure 5 in. long (a) and one ribbon that measures 3 1/2 in. long. (b)  Place a dot of glue on one side of (b) at the very end and attach one (a) so that the ends are flush. 

3.  Flip over ribbon (b) and place another dot of glue on the exact same spot and attach the second (a) so that the ends are flush.  You should now have three ribbons (two the same length on the outside and one shorter in the middle) that are all attached at one end.

4.  Place a dot of glue on one side of (b) at the other end.  Make sure you grab the (a) ribbon that is on that same side and attach it so that the ends are flush.

5.  Flip over ribbon (b) and place another dot of glue on the exact same spot and attach the second (a) so that the ends are flush.  Now these three ribbons should be glued together at both ends.  

6.  Place a dot of  glue in the very middle of (b) and find the middle of ribbon (a) from that same side and press it down firmly on the glue to attach it. 

7.  Flip over ribbon (b) and place another dot of glue on the exact same spot in the middle and find the center of the second (a) to press into the glue. 

 

8.  Place two more dots of glue on both sides of that center dot on ribbon (b). (Make sure the new glue spots are centered as well.)  Ribbon (a) should look like it has 2 humps now.  Find the center of those humps and press them into the new glue dots.

9.  Repeat this step on the opposite side of (b).

10.  Your ribbon (b) should now look like it has 4 humps on each side.  Grab your toothpick and spread a tiny strip of glue on the inside center of each hump and pinch it together. 

11.  Repeat steps 2-10 with your remaining (a) and (b) ribbons.

12.  Grab your (d) ribbon and your two (c) ribbons and repeat steps 2-7 with these shorter ribbons. 

13.  Now your ribbon (d) should look like it has 2 humps on each side.   Grab your toothpick and spread a tiny strip of glue on the inside center of each hump and pinch it together.

14.  Find the very center of both of your (a/b) ribbons and attach the centers together with glue.  (Make sure you attach the broad sides of the ribbons.) 

15.  Add another strip of glue inside by the center of your (a/b) ribbons and press the end of your (c/d) ribbon firmly into the glue. 

16.  You should now have the look of 5 arms of the snowflake shooting out.  Let the glue cool completely and attach the snowflake to your lined alligator clip.

17.  Attach your medium size rhinestone directly in the center of the snowflake. 

18.  Attach 5 of your small rhinestones to the very end of each arm of the snowflake.

19.  Attach the remaining 5 small rhinestones to the pinched together part in the center of each arm of the snowflake. 

20.  You're all finished!  These look darling in the hair or attached to a beanie or band.

PARTicularly PARTial to These PARTS

It's a PARTS  PARTy.  :) 

I use different parts in a lot of my hairstyles so I thought I'd kill some time while we were in our hotel and get pictures of my favorites. 

 This is the "Butt Crack"  (Thanks to my sis-in-law for the great name.)  :) 

This is the "Zig Zag".  (My princess thinks they look like "greater" and "less than" signs.)

  You can make your angle at whatever degree you like and they can be as tight or as wide as you like.  

 Here's the "Swirlie". 

Just make the "S" shape down the scalp.  

We call this one "Blocks" because it's kind of like blocks stacked on top of each other.  

 Just  create 90 degree angles down the head - making sure to keep the lines parallel. 

 This last one is the "Heartbeat". 

Notice how it's only on the top half of the head and the bottom is the "Butt Crack" part.  You can mix all different parts together for a different look. 

This is the best comb to use for making parts.  It's a rat-tailed comb that I picked up at Sally's Beauty Supply for a couple bucks but I'm sure you can find it other places as well.  I use this comb for everything and would suggest picking one up if you don't already have one.

Remember that parts can be made anywhere on the head and do not need to always be centered.  They also don't need to cover the whole head.  Be creative and you can come up with all sorts of fun stuff. 

Summer Highlights

My sweet niece is visiting for a few weeks and she wanted a change with her hair. We decided to try the Herbal Essence Highlights kit. She was so brave to let her less-than-qualified aunt attempt this on her. She wanted some lighter streaks throughout her hair so this is how we did it. We left it in for 30 minutes and then washed everything out. I should have taken a before picture but she went from being all light brown to having subtle streaks of blonde. It looks great with her skin tone. I like that it's still a bit darker underneath but is all fun and "summer-y" on top. It's always fun to have a change and I think she looks beautiful!

Accessory Organization

I don't know about you but my daughter has MANY hair accessories and sometimes it's hard to find a way to store them all but still keep them accessible when you need them. Here are some ideas and you can pick and choose the ones you like. We use all of them at our house and they've been helpful because everything fits nicely in my daughter's space and isn't spilling out into the rest of the house. :) My daughter has two bookshelves flanking her bed and we have these vases on a shelf on each side. It's a fun way to store your flower clips and add some color to the room. The stems are simply skewer sticks from the grocery store that I've painted green. The flowers easily clip on and off and there doesn't have to be any order to them. There are many types of magnet boards out there you can use and this is one of my favorites. The hair clips will just cling right to the black circle magnets on the board. This one is also nice because it has these looped ribbons on the bottom that are great for holding those tricky headbands. I was in Target recently and came across these ribbon boards in their dollar isle. They were in the $2.50 section so I bought 4 of them. I only had to make a $10 investment and now we have more clip storage behind her bedroom door. That was a pretty good deal to me! You can find ribbon boards like these all over or you can make your own so that it's personalized for the room. Inside her closet we have a wall of 1 1/2 inch thick ribbons that we clip her bows to. The hanging ribbons make the clips easy to see and you can squeeze several together.

Now for the little itsy-bitsy, easy to lose accessories: On the back of my daughters door we have this hanging organizer that my sister gave me. I'm not sure where she got it but I've seen similar ones at Wal-Mart and Target and also at some teacher supply stores. This one is nice because it maximizes our space thanks to it being reversible. I love the look of ribbon in my daughter's hair, whether it's weaved in or just tied on the ends so I like to have it right within reach when I need it. These ribbons are hanging on her bathroom wall. They're great because I just stuck a dowel through all the spools and placed the dowel on two wall hooks. The spools spin freely and I can take the dowels on and off easily if I want to add new ribbons. I also keep a pair of scissors hanging on one of the dowels so I'm all set. (This is also a nice idea for a craft room.) Last but not least are the handy craft boxes. I get mine from Wal-Mart for $2.00 in the craft section. They come in two different designs, squares or rectangles, and I find that they're both really nice for different reasons. The square one holds the small alligator clips and the rectangle one is great for the bobby pin accessories. These craft boxes are also the best way to successfully organize your colored elastics and hair beads.

Hopefully you've been able to grab a few ideas that might work for you!

Tips and Tricks

These are some of the tips and tricks I've picked up along the way.

Hopefully they'll help!

The biggest tip is to ALWAYS wet down your daughters hair before styling. It will dry in place and hold MUCH better. Make sure that you dry any areas that you will be curling or straightening because it’s not healthy for the hair to apply high temperatures to it while it’s still wet.

Sitting Still – Start as young as possible with your girls and they will learn to sit more patiently and cooperate better.
-You can usually get them to sit still by playing a game with them (I.E. “I Spy”) or letting them watch TV, play with a toy, eat cereal, play on the computer or read a book while you do their hair. Also let them be helpful by handing you the items you need if they are old enough. Keep them interested by letting them pick their own hairdo’s too.
-When my daughter was little, I used to do her hair while she was in her highchair. I’d also let her suck on the spray bottle and that seemed to entertain her well.

Products – If your daughter has fine or hard to manage hair, think products! They help to add texture and also hold those stray hairs in place. Hairspray is the easy go-to product but also try gels, mousse, or pomades. I personally like the Garnier Fructis products because they’re not too expensive, they work well and they smell great. For super hold try “Got2b”, “Spiking Styling Gel” or “Blasting Freeze Spray”. Your hair WILL NOT MOVE! If you’re scrunching your daughters hair and she doesn’t have much natural curl, try adding two whipped egg whites to the hair along with the gel. This holds the curl really well but be sure to wash it out when the day is through! Also, we have very little humidity in our desert air so try to treat the hair with some type of leave-in conditioner on days you don’t wash it. Keeping the hair moisturized prevents breakage.

Shampoo and Conditioner - The brand does not really matter, it’s all just personal preference and what works best on your daughter. Change it up every once and a while because the hair adapts to certain products. The hair will react better if it’s not constantly being treated with the same shampoo and conditioner. You really only need to do this a couple times a year. Try not to wash the hair more than every other day unless it’s needed. Too much washing will dry out the scalp and hair.

Combs and Brushes – The Rat-Tail comb is the best and can usually only be found at beauty supply stores. It tends to make a better part and is great in wet hair. We use ours every day since most hairstyles call for it. The best brush is one that has a cushion on the interior that is made of plastic and not rubber. It glides through the hair with a lot more ease. Also, make sure that the bristles have round tips so it won’t agitate the scalp. Refrain from any brushes that have rubber handles because the hair can easily get pulled if it gets stuck to the rubber. (I know from experience!)

Hair Types – Thick hair tends to hold the styles best but thin or fine hair can still hold a style well as long as you use product to create texture and hold. You can also improvise with each hairdo for different hairstyles. (i.e. if you have short hair or bangs.)

Upkeep – Make sure you get the ends of your hair trimmed whenever they start looking raggedy, split, dry or get hard to comb through. There really is no time frame since everyone’s hair is different. It’s important to keep your hair trimmed up so it stays healthy.

Drying – You can either air dry or blow dry the hair and both ways work great.
-Air drying as often as possible will promote a nice healthy shine in your daughters hair. After washing, make sure you blot the hair with the towel instead of rubbing. Rubbing causes damaged cuticles and split ends. Apply detangler to prevent tearing while you brush. It also promotes healthy cuticles and shine. In the morning you just spritz it with the spray bottle and you’re ready to do your hairstyle.
-When blow drying, blot out as much water from the hair as possible. If not, you’ll be drying for a much longer time and the extended period of heat can damage the hair. Keep hair dryer at least 6 inches from her hair. Start at the roots and work your way out. Dry until damp because some moisture helps with the hairstyle. If you are doing a style that requires a heating tool, make sure you dry the hair completely. If you choose to blow dry, be sure to finish off with a cool blast of air as it closes the cuticles and provides a healthy shine. Find what works best for you and go with it.

Parts – It doesn’t matter which side of the head you choose to part the hair on. Parts work best with rat-tail comb. Your parts can be zig-zag, curved, straight or any other design you come up with. The more interesting the part, the more unique the hairstyle will be.

Sunscreen in Parts – There are 3 options and you just need to find what you like best:
-Spray-On Sunblock applied to the parts. (can tend to make the hair look greasy but is fast.)
-Sunblock applied with a Q-Tip. (Effective but you always need Q-tips when you’re out.)
-Use a 50 spf sunblock stick. (My personal favorite.) It’s nice and portable and easy to apply. Hold the stick at an angle and run it along the part. Run your finger along the part to press it into the scalp and also remove and residue that may be left on the hair.

Sharks – Sharks are the tiny bumps that sometimes stick out of your otherwise perfect braid. They are completely annoying but are easy to fix. Grab a bobby pin and place it directly over the shark. Insert the bobby pin into the braid so it’s hidden and the shark will disappear right along with it.

Bands/Elastics - *Cut out small elastics to avoid tearing the hair or causing discomfort for your daughter*
(I like to use a seam ripper from my sewing kit.)
You can also double up on rubber bands in one hairstyle for extra hold if needed.
Types: (I find that “Goody” seems to be a great brand)
Ouchless Thick Bands – for single ponytail or holding bunches of hair together or buns
Ouchless Thin Bands – for smaller braids and ponies
Ouchless Clear Plastic Bands – for tiny braids, pull-throughs or ponies
Ouchless Colored Bands – for smocking or decorative hair weaving
*AVOID any type of rubber band because they pull out the hair and ALWAYS need to be cut out instead of just removed.

Organization – Keep Clips, elastics and pins separated in clear craft/tackle boxes. This way you can see what is in your boxes and everything stays neat and tidy. One way to have access to your ribbons is to place your spools on a dowel and then hang that dowel by two hooks on your bathroom wall. Another great tip is to use hanging door organizers. They give you more storage and they’re out of the way. Keep brushes, combs, your spray bottle and other often used tools readily accessible. We have ours in a small caddy on the bathroom counter.

Bow Holders – There are several ways to display your daughter’s flowers and bows.
-Hang your bows on pieces of ribbon attached to the wall. I attach the ribbon to a plastic craft “O” and then hang that on a 3M Easy Release wall sticky. (I don’t know what their official name is.) The flowers and bows easily clip to the ribbon and they become nicely organized and easy to see.
-My favorite is the magnet board with flowers stuck to circle magnets. Not much storage but totally darling!
-A decorative organizer is a vase with tall/skinny wooden skewers painted green in it. The flowers are clipped to the top of the skewers. It looks like a vase full of flowers in your room but it’s actually hair bows!
-A simple solution is a flat painted board with different ribbons attached down it. The flowers then clip to the ribbons.
-The “no work needed” solution is an over-the-door shoe organizer that you just put all of your bows into.

Getting Your Bows to Stay In – Simply wrap a small elastic around the back of the clip and through the front prongs. This will help the bow to stay in place and not slide around on the hair. It’s also helpful to line the inside of your clips with a small piece of shelf liner rubber. The liner helps the clips to hold to the hair and not move as much as without the liner. I do both because I’m sick of losing bows and flowers all the time.

Frayed Ribbons – Treat your frayed ribbons with a lighter or wood burning tool to singe/seal the edges and prevent any further fraying. (Important: do not attempt to do this if the ribbon is already in the hair!)

Cleaning Your Irons – Don’t you just hate that residue that builds up from hairspray on your irons? Start with rubbing alcohol as this will clean most problems. If you have a deeper residue problems you can try ammonia, a cotton ball with nail polish remover on it, or a bit of over cleaner. There is also a product at Jo Ann's called "Hot Iron Cleaner" and it works great. Any of these will work and will help keep your irons in top condition.