Hair Today

A Swirl Braid by the 12-Year Old

2012-11-03T17:27:00.001-07:00

Someone once asked me to post what hairstyles my 12-year old comes up with. She was at a Young Women's Autumn retreat and from the brief explanation I received before she ran off again was that they spent a fair amount of time doing hair. She did this one on one of her besties.

She started in the middle and went from there. Not to shabby.

Triple Buns

2012-10-09T05:00:00.000-07:00

I did this one a little over two years ago on my oldest. We were sitting in church and the woman behind me just couldn't stop commenting on it. What a flattering moment! We have been waiting until Tess's sweet A-line bob grew out long enough for high ponytails. Turns out today is that day.

Triple Braid to a Side Ponytail

2012-10-02T13:25:00.000-07:00

This is a super easy tweenage style for the days they want a regular ponytail, but you want something just a little more eye catching. Super easy, excuse the flash, I don't normally like to shoot with a flash, but when I am doing hair at 6:30 in the morning and I had to beg her to let me do her hair, a flash is what I get.

Braids Squared

2012-09-25T05:00:00.000-07:00

Some days I will get started on a head of hair and remember that I have a blog, which is the case with this one. *face palm* Oh well. Hopefully everyone knows how to part hair and braid. Because that is where you start with this little lovely.

Bubble Braid

2012-09-18T05:00:00.000-07:00

While she is growing her bangs out, there are some things that she needs to be able to do with her hair pulled back. I just pull out some of the shorter front bangs and curl them.

This post is a flashback to the 80's. Anyone who watched "Saved by the Bell" has seen this in it's many variations. Sophie has been asked to perform in our county fair and has a dance rehearsal today (obviously, this was done in the middle of the summer and scheduled to post later) after a couple of months of not dancing. She has a tendency to play with her hair if it's loose and this helps remedy that.

Skip a Beat Braid

2012-09-11T05:00:00.000-07:00

Growing Out Bangs...Twist

2012-09-04T05:00:00.000-07:00

Most of the time Sophie only wants a ponytail. There are only so many things you can do with a ponytail when you are growing out those blasted bangs. Here we have a twist to a low side ponytail. Super easy and off the neck for hot summer days.

If you haven't mastered this twist, here is a link to an old tutorial.

Growing Out Bangs...Triple Dutch Braids

2012-08-28T05:30:00.000-07:00

My sweet niece came to spend the day with us.

A little story about her. Several years ago she found scissors, and we all know that NEVER ends well. Her hair was in the process of growing out and she had some bangs that she wanted trimmed. Well, my sister wouldn't do it "RIGHT THEN" so she found another set of scissors and took matters into her own hands.

When my Sophie originally wanted "no more bangs", she thought it meant we had to cut them off. We reminded her that is what my niece did and Sophie remembered and changed her tune.

So little missy has been growing her hair out. I have taken it upon myself to be in charge of her hair. She is good with it, I am good with it and my little sister who is self-described as "not girly at all" is good with it.

Here is another little "growing out the bangs do. Because her hair is at different lengths, there are some wispys with the bang ends. With the finished style, you can hardly tell.

Messy bun tutorial

Growing Out Bangs...Making it Match

2012-08-21T05:30:00.000-07:00

This little one starts her second year of preschool in a couple of weeks and it's time to start training her hair. She has started having a VERY big opinion about her hair. I can't cut it, and she wants "no more bangs" and either VERY straight or "magic wand curlies". I am a little back and forth on this one. She has such a big forehead that I feel she just looks better with bangs. Plus they are so little girly that it makes me feel a little sad.

Sometimes it's as easy as tiny ponytails in colors that match her outfit.

No bangs just makes me feel like it's official. My last baby is growing up.

Summer Simple...Two Knotted Ponytails

2012-08-14T06:59:00.002-07:00

It's summer. For the most part, we are lucky if hair gets brushed, let alone done. We found some super cute hats at the beginning of summer and most of the time my little girls just plop those on or we spend most of our days lazing around "the Hill" at the pool and the hair looks a chlorinated, tangled mess. But on rare occasions, I do get their hair done, and it's simple in the summer.

This one is an old stand by. Two ponytails flipped into knots. Nothing fancy, no ropes or twists or braids. Just something to keep their hair out of their faces.

****Just a little aside, we always ALWAYS start with wet hair to keep their hair fly-away free. My girls have lightweight, soft hair. The smooth usually only lasts for a little while unless they are straight out of the shower. I like them to bathe at night, so the two don't mesh well. I've tried every product on the market and one day in a moment of desperation, we discovered our secret weapon.

Warm water, infusium 23 leave-in treatment and conditioner. We had this on hand, which is fine because we all love the coconutty smell. I fill up the spray bottle with warm water, drop in about a teaspoon of conditoner and two-ish tablespoons of infusium 23. It's like freshly conditioned, wet hair without having to rush to have one more person in the shower in the morning. The weight of the conditoner helps so much and the infusium 23 keeps the flyaways to a minimum...unless your daughter wraps her head in a fleece blanket and wears it as a disguise. I'm afraid nothing can help with that.

Tween bun for lazy days

2012-08-07T10:30:00.000-07:00

Hi. Remember me? It's been a while. Almost three years to be exact. Life has been fun. We built a house, moved, had girls grow, figured out how to live with a child who has severe allergies and just plain enjoyed life. My girls are getting older. Remember this one? My sweet first born who was eight years old the last time I posted is now turning twelve and entering junior high. We have transitioned from a house with little, little girls to a tweenager home. It has been really fun. I don't mean that in an "I have moody, obnoxious children" way. I mean it in a "This is the SWEET spot of life. I have real, deep conversations with my girls who are smart, fun, sweet with just a tiny bit of sass" way.

In regards to this style, the television has been on consistently lately. We love watching the Olympics. My little ones especially LOVED watching women's gymnastics and watching Gabby soar to the gold but felt so bad for her because the press went on and on about her hair. Really? Around here... maybe it's just Utah...all of the tween/teenage girls are wearing their hair in high ponytails pulled into a messy bun or left down but up high and full. My own tweenager is no exception.

I rarely do her hair anymore. She is in full independent mode. Today she let me have at her, and you know what? It is hard for me to do her hair! I am out of practice with it's texture and how it moves. But she humored me and let me have at it anyways.

Twirly Skirt Tutorial

2009-09-22T22:20:00.000-07:00

I know this is my hair blog, but I ran into a follower and one of my girls was wearing one of these skirts with a cute white sweater and a coordinating headband. She asked if I would share. Here you go!

Threeish years ago, we had to have outfits for a Pioneer parade and I had NOTHING for my girls to wear, so the night before I grabbed some calico I had sitting around and made your basic, gathered floor length skirt for each one of my girls and a basic white apron. It worked for the time and through some tweaking, it has evolved into a fun skirt my girls love to wear. We go to the fabric store and I hear "I would love THIS for a skirt, Mom!!!" Since I am a sucker for fun things for my kids to wear, I happily oblige.

And as a disclosure, I don't like sewing with patterns and I have no idea what I am doing at all. I just get an idea in my head and I start cutting and sewing. I couldn't tell you what a bias is to save my life. Don't judge, mmmkthx.

First I head to my favorite fabric store...side note, I just found the BEST fabric store by where we are currently living. They sell Moda AND Amy Butler! If they carried Heather Bailey, my life would be complete! Okay, back to the tut. I buy a yard of my base fabric, and then 12 inches of a coordinating fabric. Then I measure it on my girl. Usually it ends up being half a yard that I use. For the smaller kids I shorten that. Hence the problem of not using a pattern. Also make sure that you add on about 3 inches for the casing.

I then cut two lengths of fabric for the main body of the skirt from selvage to selvage.

And I repeat with the coordinating fabric. I cut it six inches.

Fold the coordinating pieces of fabric in half and press.

The place the raw side of the coordinating fabric to the right side of the body material.

Sew.

I use a straight stitch. If you had a serger... which I do but it is currently somewhere in two vast storage units whereabouts unknown...You would serge this part together and then straight stitch next to the serged edge. Instead, I have trimmed it with pinking sheers.

Unfold the two pieces and repeat with the other two pieces.

(I didn't actually trim this one with the sheers because it was late on Saturday and when you are thinking "Dang, my girls have nothing to wear to church tomorrow" and it's midnight, well, sometimes you forget things.)

Then press the fabrics flat.

Now, I take and put the two pieces together. The front and back if you will. Right sides together. Then I sew in just over an inch from the selvage. Start from the bottom to make sure your coordinating fabric joints match up.

Like so.

Then trim...or serge.

Now I measure around my daughters waist. I pull the elastic snug and then overlap by half an inch.

Then I make the casing. On the top of the skirt, I fold down the raw edge, depending on how close my fabric is on either side determines the first fold of the casing. That is why I go three inches, because I am not an accurate seamstress and I need to leave room for error. I make one fold and press it down, then I fold that first fold over and measure how much room I have for my elastic and press the second fold down. You can see the press marks in the above picture.

I have plenty of room for the elastic.

Next, I sew a straight stitch around the top of the casing. This step isn't necessary, however I have learned that it keeps the elastic from twisting and makes for a prettier top.

Then I sew the bottom half of the casing, leaving a two to three inch opening.

Like so.

Then take two safety pins and attach one end of the elastic to the fabric and attach the other safety pin to the other end of the elastic.

Then thread the elastic through the casing.

I pull my lead out and attach it to the other safety pin while I even out the fabric as much as I can before sewing it up.

I overlap my elastic by an inch and a half and sew a square around the edges and an X from corner to corner.

Then I pull the skirt and stuff that elastic up into the casing.

Pull the casing flat and sew. Remember to back stitch.

Spread the fabric evenly and VOILA! You have a super easy, fun skirt.

It only takes me 20-30 minutes to make one of these puppies and we have tons of them now. Hopefully these instructions make sense. Let me know if you have any questions!

With a couple of tweaks, you can do so many things with this skirt. I have done an overlay and and under skirt. I have made a plain edge without the coordinating fabric and just hemmed it. I have wanted to sew strips together and make a striped skirt with the coordinating fabric on the bottom, but I haven't gotten around to that yet. My friend thinks it would be darling to put belt loops on the casing and thread a ribbon through. I agree with her.

Next tutorial, the super easy headband.

Golden Globes Hair---Nancy O'Dell

2009-03-03T21:20:00.000-08:00

This is the look we are going for...now, to be fair, this is a delicate hairstyle. It works FANTASTIC on my oldest, who is a little less...um...playful. Playful is a good word for it.

We modified it a bit for my little girl who can't stop on putting dress-up or hiding under rugs in IKEA. This is pre-crimping. Don't cringe when I say crimping. This is not that horrid triangle iron you had in 1987, this is a great 3-barrel curling iron. Don't shoot me when I say this, but DO NOT buy the cheap knock-offs of a 3-barrel curling iron found at big box stores!!!! I KNOW THIS FROM EXPERIENCE! Just don't, K! The more expensive ones have a center that lifts up, where as the cheapy's do not, and that my friend MAKES ALL OF THE DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD!!!

Yeah, I was a skeptic too, until one of our ultra-cool babysitters corrected the error of my ways. The cheapy was given to Goodwill where someone else will have to learn from my experience.

Remember THIS twist? You'd better, because that is the only way you will be able to do this very exact hairstyle! (As a side note, the model in that tut is a year older and looks it! Happy Birthday Lana!)

Spray the hair with hairspray (a very important step) and just use the curling iron as instructed in the manual. It takes time to get used to it, I still struggle.

As you can see in this picture, I pulled out some of the hair above where the two twists meet. You don't have to do this, it looks darling without it. I was just going for Nancy O'Dell. On a four-year old. A child who is 100% static by the end of the day.

And there you go!

Hollywood Hair...Jennifer Aniston at the Oscars

2009-02-23T08:14:00.001-08:00

I have a secret. I watch the Oscars and Emmy's. Not to see who wins, but to see their hair. Last night's favorite was Jennifer Aniston. She was beautiful! LOVED her hair, it wasn't over done or swept back into an updo that wasn't her at all. It was simple and fresh.

This morning we did her style on my oldest. She is getting past the point of piggies and wants her hair down and older (WAH!) so this style fit the bill.

All we did was part the hair at an angle from above her eye to her crown. About an inch and a half up the part, I parted her hair again to the other side. I pulled the extra hair into a ponytail so I didn't inadvertently pull excess into the French braid. I sprayed the hair with water and hairspray and braided down like so. I secured the braid with an elastic and then to make sure it didn't move, I threaded a bobby pin through the elastic and up through the underside of the braid.

Then I pulled the ponytail out and ran my flat-iron through pieces of her hair to give it some "UMPH"

How'd we do?

Coming up next:

Nancy O'Dells Golden Globes Hair

Vanessa Hudgens

Hearts take three

2009-02-12T10:07:00.000-08:00

I can't go off and enjoy all of the lovey dovey romance I have planned for my family without leaving you with one final style.

Super simple, remember those twists I did a couple of posts down? Simply do the same thing, only make sure that your final twist goes away from the crown. The secret here is in the parting. Start in the middle of the head and swoop forward in a curve towards the ears. Twist and secure and tie a romantic ribbon to the bottom. I should have grabbed a picture, but she is wearing some of her sisters babylegs that are black and pink stripes with hearts. LOVING the hearts!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!
XOXOXO

Stephanie

Sharing your hearts

2009-02-11T12:57:00.000-08:00

Thank you all so much for the wonderful comments about the hearts. I appreciate each and every one of them.

I have received some e-mails with pictures of some of the hearts you have come up with. Keep them coming! I want to see how many heart hairstyles I can get on this post!

This first one is from my friend that I have had since we were sophomores in high school. Our timing on everything is pretty consistent. Weddings were 20 days apart (she was my maid of honor, I her matron), first and last babies were within weeks of each other, we even live four miles apart. I love her. This is her sweet chocolate covered K girl. Look at how cute her hair is! She did the knot the opposite way of normal and proceeded to do a heart with little clips! Brilliant! It gives you so much control over the shape of the heart!

Thanks Itybtyfrog!

Next is one I received from Kelly. She tried the heart on her little Jillian. SO cute! Next time I will try the hot pink ribbon! I love the way it makes her hair POP!

Ammy had a great idea if you don't have a long enough ribbon, just twist the halves into ropes and secure into a ponytail! SO CUTE!

Perfect timing! My sweet little neighbor Naomi came over to give Tess a Valentine and I snagged a picture of her on my front porch. She looks so cute with the snow melting on her hair. Her mom pulled all of her hair into a ponytail and did an upside down knot and then rope twisted the hair and held it into place with cute little clippies! Thanks Naomi and Kera! (Kera does all sorts of fun things with her daughters hair...you will probably be seeing some more of her ideas regularly on here).

Check out how cute this one is! Becky did a puffy braid heart with just the top portion of the hair. Darling!

Cindy has been super busy with her daughter Paige. These are TWO heart hairstyles they have done recently. SO CUTE! Thanks ladies!

Debbee did a beautiful heart framing her daughters pretty blonde hair. Thanks Debbee!

Keep those pictures coming ladies! It does my heart good! Blackeyedsue2@gmail.com

Miss Tess as Fancy Nancy

2009-02-10T15:08:00.000-08:00

A while back, Tess was invited to a Fancy Nancy Gala with some of her best girls. She needed to get all dolled up and wanted her hair the way Nancy wears it way up high on her head. We had a problem, the underside of Tess's hair is short...way too short to be pulled up so high without most of it falling down within an hour.

A concocting we went.

First I combed most of her hair as high as it would go and I parted it across her hair from earlobe to earlobe. I pulled that section into a ponytail and flipped it into a knot where the hair came out the top instead of the bottom.

Then I parted another section from the top of the ear to the top of the other ear and pulled it into a ponytail as well. I also picked up the first ponytail and put it in with this new ponytail. Before I secured it with an elastic, I pulled some pieces out. Then I flipped that ponytail into a knot as well.

I pulled the rest of the hair and this ponytail together. As before, I pulled pieces out of the ponytail and secured the ponytail WAY up high.

Now, curl all of those pieces that you left hanging down. Just so you know, the bottom pieces when we did it THIS time were a little wonky. The first time I did this, I left longer pieces down, which is what I would advise doing.

Now, add your elastic tied with a bunch of organza ribbon (or bow or whatever is FANCY in your house) and fluff all of those curls.

Baby Do's. Puffy Braid

2009-02-09T05:00:00.000-08:00

Well, somedays you take what you can get on pictures. This one is a standby that I use on my babies while their fronts and sides are growing in.

Hearts take two

2009-02-06T05:00:00.000-08:00

No tutorial on this one, I wasn't sure if it would turn out the way I wanted it to. There are a few things I would change. That first ponytail that is in a triangle? I would put the ponytail down as far as I could. The two on either side, I would bring forward towards her face. It will give it more of a definitive heart shape.

Instructions are simple. Start with the top ponytail and split it in two. Add each part to a consecutive ponytail on either side and follow the elastics into a heart shape to the end.

Without a ribbon...

...and with.

Hearts take one

2009-02-04T15:37:00.001-08:00

In honor of Valentines Day and for something fun to do, we are going to do some "hair hearts".

First, start out with a ponytail from the part to the ear. Then tie a ribbon around the elastic. After I did this, I realized it was a waste of time because it fell out and I had to retie it. Forget what I said, just do the ponytail.

Then, flip the hair in a knot. Not one so the hair goes back on the head, but forward so it defies nature or gravity or something.

THEN tie the ribbon on. I promise, it's easier this way.

Now, split the ponytail in two and coat each side with gel or pomade and wrap the ribbon around like so (you want to make sure your ribbon is loooonnngggg. You want the ribbon to come up UNDER the sides...you will see why later. Wrap the ribbon around as far down as you can and secure with an elastic.

Now, ignore those for a minute. Part the rest of the hair in half and pull each side into a ponytail. The one underneath your ribbon wrapped hair, leave down, the one on the other side, only pull halfway through the last time you pull it through the elastic.

Now, have another elastic ready. Pull the two ribbon wrapped pieces into a heart with the bottom on the ponytail. Like so.

Secure them to the ponytail with an elastic. I didn't bother taking the elastics off the end of the wrapped peices. Who knows if the elastics would pop at dance class? I don't want to take any chances and I REALLY don't want to have to re-wrap her hair.

Make sure on that last pull through, you only pull it through half-way.

Tie the ends of your ribbon around the elastic and into a bow, and then tie another ribbon around the elastic on the other side

Like so.

Now curl those ends under and fluff them.

Voila...a heart! Can you see the reason the ribbon needed to go the way it did? It holds the curves on the top of the heart.

Double twists

2009-01-30T05:00:00.000-08:00

Another rather simple style. You could just as easily pull each side into one full ponytail or two ponytails.

I have found that when twisting the hair back like this, if you make your first twists go up towards the crown and then do the final twist to the ground, they don't flip by the end of the day. Does that make sense or do I need to add arrows?

Baby Do's. Two and a half ponytails?

2009-01-28T05:00:00.000-08:00

YAY! A fresh head of hair to add to my arsenal. People ask how my kids hold so still when I do their hair. Simple answer is I do it from the time they are babies. When this one hit a year, her hair started growing and it is getting super thick in the back. Could someone tell that to her front and sides?

Usually I do one or two piggies on top, but as they get a bit older and can sit for a bit longer, I get a bit more creative.

This one is basically a triangle in the front of the hair pulled into a ponytail. I parted her hair from the point of the triangle in the back down and made yet another triangle. I pulled that together and added the first ponytail. THEN I did another part on the other side and did JUST that into a ponytail. Sometimes I add bows. Okay, usually I add bows, but today I wanted just the color from the elastics.

And yes, I did curl her hair with a flat iron. Her hair is SUPER straight and if I don't, we get fly aways all day.

Out the door in sixty seconds

2009-01-27T08:20:00.000-08:00

Well. Sort of.

If your life is anything like mine has been lately, your kids are lucky if they get a comb ran through their hair and a barrette. Quite honestly, this third kid has made me a complete and total crazy! Mornings are SO much harder than it was when I had just two. Three people to get ready means I don't even shower til 3:00pm, if even then.

This is one of those hairstyles that adds a touch of simplicity. Normally, we don't do the curls and I just curl it under, but this morning went a bit more smooth than most and she was so excited to have curls. Isn't that sad? My kid feels neglected when I don't curl her hair. Poor baby! Rough life that middle child has.

For this you simply part the hair in the middle and make two little ponytails on either side of the part. So simple her dad could do it...maybe.

Oops...gotta go! The baby just gagged on a piece of cereal and threw up on her high chair...remember what I said about simpicity? Yeah...

Update on Legislation

2009-01-14T14:43:00.000-08:00

As many of you have heard...especially all 48 of you who have taken the time to e-mail me and tell me my information was incorrect, some in a not-so-nice way...they have added a "clarification" to the legislation that keeps second hand retailers safe. I read through the original bill, and there was nothing that mentioned second-hand retailers or consignment stores.

This clarification was released on January 8th. I posted on January 5th. At the time of my posting, no current specifications had been made and there are still quite a few holes that need to be filled.

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09086.html

I still maintain my position that products need to be checked at the source and the price shouldn't be passed on to consumers. I also believe that the government should specify information in the first place so citizens feel secure in their business and economics. To pass a bill that had so many questions and was so vague is very harmful. One can only wonder how many more clarifications will have to be made.

No more hate mail. Please.

February 10th...National Bankruptcy Day

2009-01-05T12:29:00.000-08:00

I know this is a hair blog. I am totally aware of that. However, today I feel the need to put something out there that may push readers away.

Soon, a United States law will go into affect that will have a profound impact on small business, including ALL on my sidebar. It is called the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. It is a law that in essence, prohibits anyone from selling products to children under twelve without rigorous lead testing. This includes ANY products intended for use by a child. Small businesses, Etsy, E-bay, Craigslist, Freecycle, thrift stores, garage sales, even hand-me-downs are included in this measure.

I am disgusted. That means no more give-aways. I could be prosecuted if I give something to one of my readers. I would by law be required to provide a "chain" to where I received the item, and the person who donated the item as well. Can we say McCarthy?

All items that haven't been tested for lead by February 10th will be required to be thrown into a landfill. I am disgusted that the country I live in, who boasts of its many freedoms, would do something as heinous as this. So much for "going green".

I understand the need to test for lead, however the lead problems are from China. Not the beautiful heirloom doll house my dad made for me when I was a little girl. According to the law, instead of leaving it to my girls, we will have to toss it. You won't be able to give those hardly used clothes to Goodwill or your neice or neighbor. Clothing prices at retailers will go through the roof because of the sheer cost of testing each article of clothing. I was thinking today that it reminds me a lot of why our country established it's own union. Taxation without representation. The bottom line is what matters. Forcing people to buy retail instead of buying used. They can't tax clothing that has already been sold. No more boutique clothes. No more homemade puzzles. No more toys that Grandpa lovingly worked on for over a month.

What makes me even sicker is that OUR house passed it with no nays and only a few in the Senate. I have a pit in my stomach. I can only imagine who is in the back pockets of these lawmakers.

For living in a country that boasts being a democracy, it sure feels a lot like communism.

To see more about National Bankruptcy Day SEE HERE

To see how it will effect the prices of your children's clothing, SEE HERE

An article to see how this will effect thrift stores SEE HERE

How it will effect small business like Etsy SEE HERE

For a Facebook group that helps you to see how you may be able to change the law SEE HERE

Write your congressman! I just did!!!