Redpunzel

Valentine's Day and some Puppies!

2012-02-15T07:19:00.000-08:00

As you can see, my blog has become one of the bottom things on my priority list. I'm a bit sad about it, but soon (APRIL!) I will be finished with my Master's program, and I can get back to the important things of blogging about hair! :)

Maia got a haircut last week, so we have been dealing with the short hair styles. I know I saw this one around on one of the other blogs, but this is what we did yesterday for her hair. Emma had this traditional one, but of course she snuck out of the house before I remembered to take a picture. :)

In other news, my mom has English Cream Golden Retrievers that she is selling- there are only 3 left, and they are the perfect family dog. They live at our house, so they have been raised with my kids, and are super fun and playful. She only has 2 girls and 1 boy left. She will ship them at cost within the US. Check out her blog for available puppies and prices, and for contact information. :)

Brookside English Goldens

I caught the three playing tug-o-war yesterday. It was sprinkling here in Las Vegas, so they were a little wet, not their usually fluffy white selves. :)

Inspired by: Pinterest!

2011-12-04T18:01:00.001-08:00

Pinterest is absolutely addictive. If you haven't signed up yet, you should. They have an entire section just for Hair & Beauty, but make sure you've got some time if you check it out. (Here is my hairstyles board if you'd like to follow it!)

I found this style a while ago, and tried it last week- super simple braids, but tight at the base of the head. It was a great one to do when my hair was wet, and worked well on my somewhat wavy hair, but would also look great on curled or straight hair as well.

I only used 2 rubberbands and a few bobbypins and it held all day long. It even looked better as it dried throughout the morning. (Also, I did a two-into-one braid on one side, as my bangs still aren't quite long enough to reach without falling back...) So here's the video, although it is long, and a little boring, so feel free to skip through the steps. :)

A fun Formal Style...

2011-10-20T14:20:00.000-07:00

So first of all, I would like to apologize for not posting lately. My class is getting nice and busy near the end, so I'm all sorts of busy with that in addition to all of the regular mom duties. The end is in sight though! :)

My niece had her 17th birthday party this weekend, and I had the chance to do her hair. I've started to get into doing coloring, do any of you readers like to dye your own or others' hair? I'm not professional in the least, but I've had fun learning new tricks. I started off with Savannah going to a light golden brown (she's naturally a dirty blond, but she's been dying it lately...) She wanted a fun touch of color, so I added the teal streak.

I started by ratting the crown of her head to make the big bump, then wrapped the hair around and used pins to secure. I did this while the hair was still straight, so I wouldn't have to mess with the texture on the front part of the style. It worked out great, and then I just curled them with my small Frankenstein curler for a wave style- not ringlets. The curls got more and more wavy and loose, and looked great throughout the night.

I thought I'd be able to hide the pins, but at the end, I needed a fun accessory to cover them. I tried this big bow, but it just didn't look perfect. I had some netting, feathers, and flowers, so I made this quick clip that looked perfect with her dress. (Sparkly pink and zebra print)

Here she is with her makeup and dress on- so beautiful! Happy Birthday, Savannah!

Sock buns!

2011-09-02T07:53:00.000-07:00

I just recently did a little YouTube research on sock buns- I'd never used them, and thought it was more of a pain since I could just pin the hair and have a little bun. I was wrong! So easy, and the way these are wrapped, with the hair wrapped up inside, there's no extra hair to wrap around the base of the hair. I did use two pins just to make sure they didnt unroll during school.

I used an old toddler size sock for these two buns, and I currently have a big sock bun in my hair too that I used a regular size sock for. So easy!

Today's project...

2011-09-01T13:50:00.000-07:00

I wanted a set of these little color matching people that I found on Pinterest, so this was my project today. I made some extra sets for friends that wanted them and built a cute little peg girl army. I think I love them. :)

(The little girls come out of the cups so kids can learn their colors.)

Curly Momma Do

2011-08-31T16:14:00.000-07:00

My hair has gotten more and more curly with each baby, and sometimes it's easier to deal with the curl than try to get rid of it. I just recently found this mousse by Suave, and I have to say it is one of my favorites. It goes on more like a lotion and less like a big sticky foam. (It's even called "Whipped Cream Mousse" Yum.) :) My hair doesn't feel weighed down like it does with usual mousse, so I would recommend trying it to anyone that might need mousse. I think it was maybe $3.

After that plug, here's the do.

I used:
3 rubberbands
1 big hairtie
10 (or so) bobby pins

Start by flipping your head upside down and add the mousse to damp hair. At this point, I gathered some of the back hair and did a simple braid.

Now, the cute little front bump, and two side braids. (I rubberbanded each of them, and then took them out after the big ponytail.)

Gather up all the hair and make a ponytail, then pin in place to bundle the hair into a little messy looking poof.

Super Simple Milkmaid Braids...

2011-08-31T08:26:00.000-07:00

Here's a super quick style for a short morning- simple milkmaid braids using a topsy tail. Takes maybe 10 minutes for all of the steps.

You'll need-

4 Rubberbands (I used two black, and two clear)
Bobby Pins
Topsy Tail

1. Start with basic pigtails- place them a little more forward than normal pigtails, these were a little too far back, I usually try for right above the ears.

2. Use a topsy tail to flip the pigtails up. (blech, sorry about the melted popsicle in the sink!)

3. Now braid the hair into simple braids and tie with a rubberband.

Now just flip them on top of the head, and pin into place. I try to hide the ends in the little "flip crevice" that was made from the topsy tail.

These are Emma's new prized possession. $15 at Target. Nice. :)

Simple Curlformers Style...

2011-08-28T08:37:00.000-07:00

I really like Curlformers, but have gotten out of the habit of using them. I think it's been a good 6 months at least since I'd done much with them. BUT, they are so nice and really make some cute styles really simply.

I put these in last night, using just some leave in conditioner to moisten the hair, and took them out this morning. I don't usually curl her bangs in with the curlers, but she wants to grow them out, so they're a little long for just keeping in her eyes. Anyway, I just used some bobby pins to pin back her bangs, and separated the girls a bit with some hair spray. Nice and cute!

Have any of you been to the Lowe's Build and Grow program? I took Emma and Michael for the first time yesterday, and they really loved it! A fun free program every Saturday. They do different projects, and when they finish they give them a cute little patch to sew onto their apron. We're planning to go back again soon.

Flip Through Ponytail Bun

2011-08-26T09:04:00.000-07:00

I'm positive this can't be original, but this was the first time I have done it, so it's original to me. :)

All you need is a ponytail, a topsy-tail, and a couple bobby pins.

1. Start with a simple ponytail, then use the topsy tail and pull it through the top. (So the loop is at the bottom, and the point is going up through the hair.) This picture is pulled through once.

2. Repeat! Just pull it through again, leaving this cute little bump. I just pinned the ends in a few places, and it was good to go. It looked great throughout the day, and took maybe 3 minutes total. I think it would have looked much cuter with a bow or something covering the "part" of the hair right above the ponytail, but Em's against bows at the moment. :)

Inspired by: Heidi Klum

2011-08-25T09:07:00.000-07:00

So I'd like to apologize in advance about my pictures- my kids got my "real" camera, and it's having some issues, so I've been using my phone instead. Not great pictures are the result. Too bad my husband doesn't think this is a big enough issue to get a new iPhone with a better camera. :)

Anyway, I caught the end of a Project Runway the other night, and of course, Heidi Klum had great hair like always. So here's my take on it...her's was a little fancy for laundry day, so I did a more casual version. :)

1. Start out with a small bun with the back half of your hair...Nothing fancy here, just a not-pulled-through-ponytail.

2. Now, with the top section, shape the little bump by smoothing the hair, adding a small twist, and then pinning in place. (If you X the bobby pins, they will hold better.)

3. Take the side section, smooth and twist a couple times. I just pulled this back to the bun and used a rubberband to keep in place.

4. Repeat on other side...(This is where a nicer phone would come in handy...check out that quality photography!)

There ya go! I super simple, easy style that looks great for any occasion. Best part is it takes all of 5 minutes, and you can do it with wet hair.

If it were a fancier date or something, I would curl the hair first, leave the hair in a ponytail during "construction" and then pin in into a messy bun after the front was all fixed into place.

Who needs expensive spas for mud baths?? Just have your brother dig a big hole in the backyard and fill with water. :)

M.I.A. Again...

2011-08-13T15:15:00.000-07:00

So I've been completely ignoring this blog again. I'm hoping once school starts again, we'll have some more styles and different stuff. It seems like we do a lot of braids and ponytails when we just hang around the house.

One thing I did the other day that was a little fun on Emma's french braids for gymnastics was to start them on the top of her head so they would just go straight down her head, instead of curving from the front and going back. Here's a quick shot. Just shows that tiny little changes can make a cute difference on a simple style.

Also, Emma was baptized this past weekend- she did so great, and we had a lot of fun family over to play that Saturday. I had to plan something that wouldn't require any work afterwards, so I went with some braids. Here's a picture of how I finished it- just kind of tied it in a little knot and twisted the ends around to hide them.

In other news, here's a fun project that I've been working on for the past week. I love refinishing furniture, but this was a HUGE job, and really tested my patience. I really loved the end product though, and it was totally worth the work.

Hope everyone is doing well and is having a super fun summer! (Although I know some of you have already gone back to school- we still have 2 weeks left!) I have some fun mom-dos planned for the next bit, and hopefully will have the tutorial up for the cute twisted flower that Emma wore with her baptism dress...they are super fun and easy to make, and you can add them to anything- bobby pins, headbands, ribbons, etc...

7 Bobby Pins and an iPhone...

2011-08-03T08:28:00.000-07:00

Sleeping on wet hair is not good for me. At least I used some product last night so it wasn't a complete frizzball-

I built a little bump using 3 bobby pins. If you have thinner hair, you'd get away with only 2...just make sure to cross them into an x and they'll hold all day. (And I know you can see that really well in this picture.) ;)

With the smaller section of side hair, I just did a regular braid and pulled it back and pinned with two bobby pins over the starting pins...

On the side with more hair, I had to do a twist to keep the front back, and then about 3-4 twists down, I brought that into a simple braid...kind of tricky while taking pictures. :) Pull it back and pin it with the others.

All finished! A cute 7-bobby-pin hairstyle! (This looks a little poofy from this direction, but you get the idea.) :)

I also thought it would be fun to show you my daily makeup. As a mom of 4 kids, 3 of which require hair fixing time, my mornings are pretty short. I've gotten my "face" down to about 5 minutes or less. I use mostly all drugstore products. Here are my favorites:

1. Maybelline Falsies mascara
2. Maybelline brow pencil in blonde (I just found this, and love it.)
3. Covergirl eye shadow brush. I have other brushes, even fancy MAC brushes, and this one is still my favorite. Just a short stubby brush that works great.
4. Almay eye shadow for hazel eyes.
5. Aveeno tinted moisturizer- It's hot here in Vegas, and heavy foundations just melt off of me. This one works great and gives me just the right amount of coverage.
6. Olay face lotion.

And that's it! That's what I use every day. (Well, every day that I actually put makeup on!)

Here's my total drawer- I like these little baskets because when the little girls are getting too grabby with it, I just take them out and put them in my closet shelf. You can see I have more than what I use, and I have more under the counter too, because I like trying stuff. Any suggestions on great products I should try?

Now, off to my day of freezer cooking!!! Does anyone else do freezer cooking? Any great recipes that you have? I'll post our finished products, but as a teaser, we bought 40 lbs of chicken and 20 lbs of hamburger meat. (for 3 families) Wish me luck!

Pinterest and Hair Romance...

2011-07-25T07:26:00.000-07:00

So, as I was wasting time on Pinterest* the other day, I came across this blog - Hair Romance - with some amazingly fun hairstyles for Mom's- She did a 30 day challenge of "twist and pin" hairstyles. Check it out!

*If you don't know what Pinterest is, save yourself some valuable time and don't find out. If you're a fan of getting sucked into amazing images and ideas, go ahead and look. :) If anyone would like an invite, let me know and I'd be happy to send you one!

Special Occasion Hair...

2011-07-14T17:41:00.000-07:00

In our religion, kids can choose to be baptized when they are 8 years old. It's a big deal for most kids! Emma had her birthday at the end of June, so her baptism is coming right up. We have a lot of out-of-town family that will not be able to come, so we decided to send out an email with some photos of her in her dress for those that can't make it, and the church info for those that will be able to make it.

This was a really fun and simple style- just a ponytail that was tightly curled and pinned into place. You can see from the pictures that I pushed almost all of the hair to the front of her head since it was only for photos.

Another super fun thing was the headband. I made it myself after seeing some around blogland that I loved, and was really proud of how it turned out. I was a little worried that it would be too much with the netting and the feathers, but it worked perfectly. I'm planning a tutorial on those soon, so make sure to check back for updates!

Topsy-Tail Piggies and CinderBooty...

2011-07-08T14:24:00.000-07:00

I know this cannot be an original, but I had a dream about this hairdo last night. (Crazy that I think about hair that much, huh?) Pretty simple instruction wise - you just need a few rubberbands and a topsy-tail.

1. Separate the hair into two sections. We did a zig-zag just for a more fun look.
2. Starting with one side, band a small section and do a pull-through with the point of the topsy-tail pointing to the back.
3. Pull this section and the next piece of hair into a band, and repeat the pull-through.
4. Repeat as many times as you can.
5. On the last pull-through, I did it opposite- with the point of the topsy-tail pointing forward...this just gives the ponytail a little more bounce and volume.
6. You could just leave this down, but we curled it. You could also add some messy buns which would turn out really cute.

Just for fun, this is the style that Maia calls CinderBooty. Not sure where she came up with that name (my guess is a mix of Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty) but she requests it often. Just simple ringlets with her bangs pinned back. :)

Happy July 4th!

2011-07-04T22:03:00.000-07:00

Happy Fourth! Thanks to all of those men and women who have served to protect our freedoms in this great country! I am so grateful to all of you!

-Rachel and the girls of Redpunzel

(Yes, I know it's been almost a full month of no posting! I ran a marathon, had a big 8th birthday party for Emma, finished a huge project for one of my Masters courses and just did the general busy mom thing with kids out for summer break. A bit busy, but hopefully I can get some cute hairstyles up soon!)

5 DAYS!!!

2011-05-31T09:20:00.000-07:00

...until I'm running my guts out at the San Diego Marathon. Aack!

For some extra fun, I went from blue streaks to PURPLE! I think I might love them. :)

I need some help- I'm working on my playlist- I'm wanting about 6 hours, hopefully it won't take that long, but just in case. I need some good upbeat music- any suggestions? I'm more of a rap girl than a rock girl, but any suggestions will help!

I'm also thinking about my hair. Something out of my face, but still cute. Twist backs into pigtails? One ponytail? Braids? Hmm...This is how I had it at the 1/2 I ran in March...rubberband "headband" back into pigtails. (It was a St. Patrick's Day race...I don't usually sport crazy socks.) :)

Quatre

2011-05-25T07:50:00.000-07:00

Emma's hair has been long and down the last few weeks. She's on a hair strike. Not so fun for a mom with a blog about fixing hair. :)

Anyway, today I finally fought the good fight and she let me fix it. And fix it I did. 4 small inside-out french braids. (Or dutch braids- would these be considered corn rows? I've never been clear on that...)

Here's the pictures! Hope everyone is having a good Wednesday! We've got storytime and laundry on our schedule. What's everyone got planned for summer? Anything super exciting? I'm running a marathon in 2 weeks!!! Aaak! I'm pretty nervous for it. :)

You could easily make this an up-do look by making little buns out of the ponytails. Messy buns would also be super cute at the base of the neck.

Momma Do at Naptime...

2011-05-05T13:16:00.000-07:00

I have been MIA on this blog for a bit. We had our spring break a week ago, traveling 14 hours (one way) in the car up to Idaho for a family get together. We went to Yellowstone National park, as well as just general lazy family fun. :) Needless to say, there wasn't much time or effort put into any cute hairstyles. Even since being home, the girls have been sporting simple ponytails or braids.

I just thought I would post this- it's very similar to the Momma Do video I posted last, but the back is just two flopped piggies (just not pulled out all of the way) instead of pinned. I've found that I have worn this style many times the last few weeks- it's fast (about 10min) and easy, and you can do it on wet, dry, or crazy bedhead hair. (The last is my preferred style lately.) AND, it works great for any length of hair.

Plus, it stays in really well throughout the day- even when running like crazy, or I'm sweating my pants off to the Ripped in 30 video by Jillian Michaels. (Only 4 days in, but a great workout...I love her 30 day shred too if any of you moms are looking for super quick workouts.)

So that's it. Sorry for slacking on the styles! And these pictures were taken while I'm sitting in the little girls' room trying to get them to sleep. Both girls have taken to me either holding their hands while they fall asleep, or at least being near them in the room. Good thing there's laptops. :)

A Momma Do VIDEO!

2011-04-17T09:23:00.000-07:00

So, like most people, I dislike being on camera, but I've had a few comments and emails asking about how to do the twists that are in some of the common hairstyles that I do. So, here's a simple updo that uses the twists braids as an updo. Super simple and pretty quick.

All you'll need:

- 2 rubberbands (or any hairtie to make two pigtails- I use 4 rubberbands just hold my thicker hair better)

-hairspray

-bobbypins (I used about 10)

-flat iron or curling iron to curl your hair.

The video is about 5 minutes, but I did cut out the curling of my hair, only because mine takes forever to curl it all. You can also do this without curling and without pinning the pigtails up, and it makes for a super cute casual weekday do. Also, if leaving it down, I'll try to put my pigtails pretty close to the back center of my head...I'm not a fan of little 5-year old pigtails on adults. :)

My Favorite Fancy (but Fast) Hair...

2011-04-15T08:53:00.000-07:00

So, anytime I do this hair on one of the little girls, I always get comments on how long it must have taken, and how cute it is...little do they know, it takes maybe 5-10 minutes and is great for those days when you need something cute, but fast.

Hope you like it!

A French Braided Bun...

2011-04-14T11:09:00.000-07:00

This was a fun one that I had originally had done on myself, but redid on Emma because it was so quick and easy, but ended up super cute.

Start out with a regular french braid on once side, and braid down to the bottom of the hair.

On the other side, start the french braid, but when you get about 3/4 finished with the main braid, bring the right side over into the left braid. I just incorporated it into one of the 3 braiding sections...

Finish the braid all of the way down. You'll end up with one braid on one side of the head.

I just took the braid and twisted it around into a little bun shape, but you could easily do a bun on the side of the head, or just leave that long braid instead. (Or you could tie it off closer to the head and then curl the ponytail for a fancier do...)

Here's how mine turned out- although my hair is not as photogenic as Emma's. :) You can't really tell, but because mine is shorter, it wasn't twisted around as much as Emma's- the one left braid was just pulled over to the right and pinned in place. Also, as the day went on, mine started pulling out a bit because of the shorter hair. It actually ended up looking like one of those super cute really messy braids. We went out on a little date this night, and two of the waitresses asked how it was done.

Fun with Pigtails...

2011-04-14T10:57:00.000-07:00

Next time you're in a rush, but want something a little different, try switching up the standard 2-pigtail look. This was a get-everyone-ready-in-20-minutes-day, but we were going to church so the girls couldn't go with scraggly hair...So, Maia got 3 lower pigtails, and Ruby got 4. Easy day, but I got a lot of compliments on how fun the extra pigs were. :)

(these looked nicer, but Maia decided to rub her head on the couch before we left...silly girl.) :)

Speedy Momma Do

2011-04-05T09:54:00.001-07:00

This one was super simple- tied my front hair back with a rubber band, then did two simple pigtails. Added some gel and hairspray to the pigs, scrunched and randomly bobbypinned in place to form a flippy poof in the back. (notice that it doesn't look like pigtails, just one bunch of hair)

This one took maybe 5 minutes with wet hair- perfect for a busy day!

Happy Tuesday!!

Virtual Racing...

2011-04-03T11:45:00.000-07:00

So this isn't a hair post, but I know many of you moms are looking for a way to get motivated about exercising and all. I've been doing lots of running lately, training for the San Diego 1/2 marathon in June.

Anyway, I was trying to find a 5k to run in Idaho during our spring break vacation, but stumbled upon this fun virtual race...sounds like a good way to combat all those extra sugar calories on Easter weekend. :)

JellyBean Race