New Years Eve Updo

This New Years Eve hairstyle is actually from last year. I love it so much that I had to post it again!

A fancy schmancy updo for a special occasion. Maybe a New Years party, or even a flower girl hairstyle! She actually wanted a princessy type hairdo to go with her cute new Christmas dress.

Make the parts first. We did one section in the front for her "bangs." One across the back going from ear to ear. And four diagonal sections going from the front to the back part. Put each section in a temporary ponytail to keep everything separated.

Slick down the bangs and secure them above her ear with a clear elastic. Then, do some kind of a french braid in each of the four diagonal sections. We did french twist braids. If you don't know how to do that, we have a video tutorial at the bottom of this post.Place the finished braids up out of the way and pull the remaining hair into a ponytail. I did an upside down pull through in the ponytail to add a little volume.Next, gather all the braids directly underneath the ponytail and secure with an elastic. (You should now have 2 ponytails on top of each other.)Curl all the hair in the 2 ponytails.Now, to make the ponytail a little fancier: There is no exactness to this part. Just grab little sections of hair and sort of loop them around and secure them to her head with either bobby pins or little claw clips like this......Do as many sections as you want to. I think we ended up using five clips total. All done!
This sweet little dress came from "Madison Browne" via a blog contest on This Mom Can Shop. It was one of her favorite Christmas presents this year! She looked just like a little princess with her fancy hairstyle and dress.

Here is a tutorial showing how to make the french twist braid cornrows:
I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!! Ours was great. We'll see you all next year. :)

BFC Ink Doll Hairstyle

For Christmas The Princess got a BFC Ink Doll (Best Friends Club doll) named "Kaitlin." The first thing she and I noticed when she opened the box was the cute braided hairstyle this doll came with! Then of course The Princess wanted her hair done the same way to match. :)
This has to be the cutest doll hairstyle I have ever seen. We love bohemian braids, hippie braids and princess braids! I think this hairstyle fits into all 3 of those categories. :) Even though our recreation didn't turn out exactly the same as the doll hairstyle (our human hair isn't quite as thick) we are loving this hairdo. It was quick, easy, and fun to do!

Here's just a quick video of The Princess with her her new doll and hairstyle. It's always fun to get a new hairstyle idea. So, thank you BFC Ink for the inspiration! And just in case you are wondering where you can find these BFC dolls.... I'll save you the time. I bought this one online at Amazon. There are several dolls available (Addison, Calista, Kaitlin, Aliesha and Noelle.) You can go to the BFC Doll website to see all of the dolls and accessories they have. Walmart, Kmart, Toys R Us and Target also carry this brand.

Christmas Hairstyle - Easy

We've had a request for an EASY and quick Holiday Hairstyle that doesn't involve french braiding. I think this one should be doable for everyone!
Start by making 3 sections in the front.
This step is optional: Make a pull though going towards the top of her head with each of the side sections.
Now thread a ribbon through the elastic on each of the side sections and make sure the ends are the same length. (It may be easier for you to thread the ribbons through the elastics before you do the pull throughs.)
Take the ribbons and wrap them around the ponytails on each side. Then add both side ponytails in with the ponytail in the middle.
Add a cute Christmasy bow and you are done!

The Princess thought this hair style would be cute with a candy cane bow. I agree! We might make one IF we get some extra time before Christmas.


If you are going to a special holiday party or Christmas program or church and want to take the extra time to curl her hair, you could do that too. :) This Christmas hairstyle took all of 5 minutes!

Holiday Hairstyle

This would be a cute Christmas hairstyle, a holiday party hairstyle, or for any time. You could just change up the colors of the ribbons in the braids for your occasion. This really isn't difficult or as time consuming as it looks either. You just need to know how to french braid. See the "how to" video below.....
As a side note, this Christmas hairstyle would work on short or long hair. If your hair is long enough for a small french braid, you're good to go. And... can you believe how long her hair is getting? It grew back out after her hair cut quicker than I thought it would.

The hairstyle video tutorial:
These "Christmas ribbon cornrows" held up pretty well. We actually kept this holiday hair style in for several days! A Christmas bonus. :)

How To French Braid - 4 Strand

You may remember the 4 strand woven braid we posted a few weeks ago. If you figured out how to make that braid, this french braid shouldn't be too hard.

The video tutorial for making this braid is at the bottom of this post. These are just a few ideas for hairstyles that can be made using this french braid.

A 4 strand braided headband with a fake bun:
We added one of our homemade rosette headbands behind the braid just for fun.
For this next hairstyle, I just french braided a small portion in front and ended the braid with a decorative bobby pin from Hair Flair Boutique: And added a messy bun.
And lastly, another french braided headband with added ribbon and barbie bangs.

Here's the tutorial for making the french braid....

I love how intricate and different this french braid looks without being extremely difficult to make. After I posted the regular 4 strand braid, we even had a few moms on our facebook page get one step ahead and figured out how to do make this braid all on their own before I posted this video! Let me know how it turns out if you try it. :)

Holiday Crafts

Yeah, I realize this is a hair blog and this post has nothing to do with hair. But, my kids are going to be out of school earlier than usual for Christmas vacation this year. I've decided that instead of being super bored, we're going to do some super fun crafts and projects! Just thought I would share what we will be doing in case you're in the same situation. :)

All of these projects came from blogs that I frequent, or.......stalk. To see the tutorial for the project, click on the title of the craft, or the picture.

Santa Hat Craft
Christmas Cookies



Christmas Advent Jar (We already started on this one and my kids have LOVED it.)
Poinsettia Hair Clip



Graham Cracker Gingerbread House
Purse Craft For Girls



Fun, right? I hope we get to all of these.

Btw, we haven't forgotten all about hair. We do have a new Christmas hairstyle ready for posting. Watch for that next week. :)

Photo Contest Winners!

Our photo contest on facebook ended last night at 10:00 pm mst. There were so many great entries and I loved looking through them! You guys really have some adorable kids.

Here are the contest winners:

In first place, ending with 184 votes.......
2nd place, with 135 votes........
And 3rd place, with 90 votes......
Congratulations to our winners! I will leave the contest album up for viewing until Christmas, just in case you need some holiday cheer. :)

2 Strand Ribbon French Braid - Easy

I think this has to be the easiest french braid ever! So, those of you who have trouble braiding (especially french braiding).... give this one a try. You might surprise yourself! :)
I actually stumbled upon how to make this braid accidentally. I started out with a completely different idea and it just kind of turned into this. Now it's one of our favorite hairstyles. Love it when that happens! Here's the hairstyle video tutorial: It really is simple! Only 2 strands to work with and no braiding skills involved. Only twisting and wrapping.....
I've found that strips of fabric or thick/soft ribbon work best to create this braid. I'm thinking this would be a darling Christmas hairstyle with some red/green ribbons or Christmas fabric. You could even add in some holly or other Christmas decor if you wanted to.

Holiday Photo Contest

1st Place Prize - $50 Walmart gift card or paypal cash (winner's choice)

2nd Place - $40 Walmart gift card or paypal cash

3rd Place - $25 Walmart gift card or paypal cash


Here's how to play:

Choose a photo of your favorite holiday moment. (This could be pretty much anything from any holiday.) For example: Decorating a Christmas tree, building a snowman, a family gathering, even a holiday hairstyle.

By submitting a photo, you are agreeing that you own the photo, you are the legal guardian/parent of any children in the photo, and the photo is not under copyright. Send the photo to me in email (princesshairstyles at gmail dot com.) After you send me the picture, I will post it in an album titled "Holiday Photo Contest" on our facebook fan page.

Who will choose the winners? YOU WILL!

How To Get Votes For Your Photo:

To get votes for your photo, people need to LIKE it on facebook. What do I mean by "like?" In the "Holiday Photo Contest Album" (where all the pictures will be) if someone clicks on your photo, they will see a link underneath the picture that says "like." (To see the "like" link, the person voting does need to be a fan or "like" our hairstyle page first.) Every time someone clicks on "like" underneath your photo, you will get a vote. Easy Peasy! Facebook conveniently will only let each person like a photo one time, so you won't have to worry about someone voting on the same photo over and over. :) You can try to get votes however you would like (blogging, posting on facebook, sending emails to family and friends, etc.) Or just send the picture in and see what happens. *Yes, you ARE allowed to vote for your own photo. :)

How The Winners/Prizes Will Be Determined:

Whoever has the most "likes" on their photo when the contest ends will win the first place prize of $50. The photo with the second most likes will win the 2nd place prize of $40. The photo with the 3rd most likes will win the 3rd place prize of $25.

*By submitting a photograph, you are giving me permission to post it on our facebook page for this contest. Photos may be submitted right up until the contest closes. The earlier you get your photo in, the more time you will have to collect votes!

My intent is to upload your pictures to the contest album 3 times per day while the contest is running. I will do my best to get to your pic as soon as possible, but keep in mind.... it's a "one man show" around here. :) The photos will be added to the album in the order I receive them in email. *One or two (if you just can't decide) photos may be submitted per household.

This contest will close and votes will promptly be counted on Sunday, December 12th, 2010 at 10:00 p.m. mountain time.

Good luck! Can't wait to see your pictures!!

Ribbon Braid Design - Scunci Design Weaver

So, we recently got a new "hairstyling toy" from Hair Flair Boutique called the Design Weaver (made by Scunci.) The package includes a hair weaving tool (similar to a plastic needle) and 4 colored ribbons that look a lot like tulle or netting, but glide smoothly through braids and hair.

The weaving tool that comes in this package is nice because the eye is much larger than a regular craft needle (making it easier to thread hair and ribbons through.) If you wanted to do something like this woven basket hairstyle or this quick woven ponytail the weaving tool would really come in handy. :)

These aren't available in stores yet and can only be purchased online. If you click here: Design Weaver it will take you to Amazon, where they are available to purchase.
As you can see, we've been having lots of fun with this! This wrapped around french braid ribbon design is just one of many hairstyles we've created using this new tool. The Princess has asked for ribbons in her hair almost every day since we got our design weaver package! We'll probably be posting a few more hairstyles we have done with this in the near future, but I won't bore you with all of them. Lets just say, the possibilities are endless! This kind of reminds me of a hairstyle you might see at a renaissance faire or festival. A fun, colorful, princessy version of a side swept ribbon french braid..... And this is a more elegant, sophisticated, subtle version of basically the same hairstyle......
We also did a french braid going up the back of her head (with the black ribbon) and a messy bun for church. It was gorgeous, but unfortunately I didn't take any pics that day. Anyway, just an idea if you wanted something more elegant or an updo for a teen or tween.

And here are the video instructions to create this fun hair style:
The princess really loved his hairdo. :)