Fake French Ribbon Braid Video

We posted this quick and easy "fake" french ribbon braid quite awhile ago, but recently had a request to make a video tutorial on it. So, here you go.

This is one of our favorite cheats. :)

This is our short hair version (shown in the video) with double braids on top....

And here are a few more hairstyle ideas I dug up from older posts for you using this same technique:A headband ribbon braid.... One single french ribbon braid down the middle....
And, a single braid using thinner ribbon. (FYI, we've found this holds together better if the ribbon is a little thicker.)

Have fun with this hairdo!
Btw, it's the last day to enter the topsy tail contest if you haven't already. I will post the 3 winners on our giveaway blog and on facebook after I draw them either late tonight or in the morning (depending on when I find the time.)

Double Faux French Braid

Here's the "double fake french braid" tutorial I promised from the other day. It's pretty much the same as our "no french braid floating braid," just taken up a notch....
This is a fun hairdo because just looking at it, people might think it's some type of difficult french braiding. But of course, it's super duper easy! Our little secret!!
Oh, and if you want to make a fairytale princess hairstyle with the 2 braids on both sides of her head (like we did in the pictures last time) that would look adorable with these double braids as well.


Enjoy!

If you don't have a topsy tail, you can find one here.

"No French Braid" Floating Braid!

I know lots of you have been wanting to try the floating french braid, but haven't yet mastered french braiding. Here's an alternative "cheat" for you! Quick, easy, and absolutely no french braiding required. Hope you like!
The how-to hairstyle video.......
And, the picture tutorial:

Begin with an off-center section on top...
Make a braid on each side of her head and connect in the back.
Part the section on top in half.
Starting on either side, take a small section of hair in front and bring it through the braid with a topsy tail. (If you don't have a topsy tail, you can find one here .)
Here's what it will look like with the first section completed. Continue taking sections and bringing them through the braid all the way back on both sides of the part.
The finished "non-french floating braid".....
Of course, we needed to add a cute flower to finish it off. I'm loving flowers in little girls hairstyles lately! So sweet and feminine....

Oh and don't worry, the tutorial for the "double floating non-french braid" shown at the end of our video will be coming soon! :)

Hairstyles for Dance Competition, Recital

We had a request from Michelle on our facebook page for a dance recital hairstyle. Her dance group will be wearing their hair half up with a piece of fabric used as a headband. How convenient! I didn't even need to come up with anything new because The Princess's dance group uses a headband with their costume this year as well. So, I dug through our dance pictures and this is what I found....
The little girls in the Princess's dance group are told to put their hair up in a bun/hairpiece with the headband. But this style could easily be changed into a half ponytail by only bringing up half of the hair in the back.

I took step by step pictures for this hairstyle one time before a dance review, but half of them got deleted. So, we did it again for school the other day.
Start by making a part from ear to ear and add the headband, ribbon, or piece of fabric. This time we used a ribbon that is tied into a knot underneath her hair.
Part the hair in front on the side. Take the hair on the side where the least amount of hair is, spray it down with some water and twist it up. Now, this is what helps to keep the headband in place..... Grab a little piece of hair from underneath/behind the headband... And add it in with the twist on the other side of the headband. You'll want to twist this hair in fairly tight to keep the headband from moving.
At this point I thought it would be easier to make the ponytail before I did anymore twists. I had my daughter hold the twist I had already done while I put the ponytail in. Important: Before making the ponytail, I made sure to leave out 2 more pieces of hair behind the headband to add to my other twists. (One more on the side and one on top of her head.) You can see the one on the side in this pic. I then temporarily placed the first twist where I wanted it with a couple of bobby pins. (You can see the other piece of hair I left out on top for the next twist in this picture.)
You can now take the section in front and make your next twist. I added these both into the ponytail with an elastic at this point.
If you want the twists to cross over the headband instead of a V like we did with the blue ribbon, just switch the hair you add in with the twists in the back. (Add the twist on the right with the hair behind the ribbon on the left and vice versa.)
Now take all of the remaining hair in the front and make the final third twist (adding in the last strand of hair you left out behind the ribbon) and add to the ponytail with another elastic.
I took the easy way out and added our "fake hair" to finish off this messy bun. If you want to do a real messy bun, you can check out our messy bun video for long hair.



You can't really see the hair I added into these twists behind the ribbon, but having it twisted in this way held the headband in place perfectly for school and for dancing! Of course, I need to show this next dance hairdo as well, it's one of our favs. I stole this idea from the mom over at Babes in Hairland! You can click over to her site to see the instructions.
Hope you can find something you like Michelle. Good luck with the recital!

Also, it's the last day to enter our contest for the gift cards to hair flair boutique. 3 winners and not too many entries.... the odds are pretty good!

The Hairpiece Hairstyle

I'm sure most everyone has seen these hairpieces around. My daughter refers to them as "fake hair" lol. Anyway, I've always thought of them as being a little weird and didn't really consider buying one. But, we ended up having to get one for her little dance group because they wanted everyone's hair to look the same. Well, I've been sold! Both The Princess and myself have been using it a lot since! (Luckily we have similar hair color.) It's just a quick, effortless way to do your hair!!

I love messy buns, but the longer her hair gets, the harder it is for me to make one. This is so much easier. And so fast on school mornings!

Just pull the hair into a ponytail and wrap it all up into a bun. The best part is, you don't even need to worry much about what it looks like. The hair piece will cover up any little pokies or mistakes. I just wrapped a clear elastic around the bun and left the ends out where they wanted to go. This literally took me less than a minute and no bobby pins were involved. :)

The hairpiece we got is from Sally Beauty Supply and is called the Revlon Ponytail Swirlz Hairpiece for $7.99. They also have one called The Twister, but the color we wanted wasn't available at the store we went to. I've seen these all over though, not just at Sally's.
Anyway, it's super easy. You just wrap it around the bun a couple of times like you would a scrunchy and you're good to go. This is great for people with shorter hair too, like me. There was one morning I had to be somewhere and didn't have time to blow dry and straighten my hair. So I put my hair into a quick bun (which normally would look ridiculous and make me look pretty much bald) then threw this hairpiece in and actually looked somewhat presentable! If you have a little girl with short hair, this would be an easy way to make it look longer and fuller in lots of different hairstyles.

Here she is with her bun on the side and the hairpiece put in....

2 minutes and she's ready for school!

Cornrows, For Cheaters!

I've had several people tell me they want to try cornrows but can't because they don't know how to French Braid. I've tried to come up with a solution for you! This may not look exactly like French Braid Cornrows, but it's close. If you can do a regular 3 strand braid, you can do this!

I hope these pictures aren't confusing. Just ignore everything going on with the rest of the hair and focus on the section right in the middle of the picture. You start by parting out the row. I did ours about an inch across all the way down. Get the hair on both sides of the row you parted out of the way with some elastics or clips. Part out your first section in the row and start doing a regular braid. (You don't need to braid down very far.)Put a clip in to keep the braid from unraveling and part out your next section.Split the section in half.Take out the clip and put the braid through the middle of the next section.Using the braid as one strand and the 2 pieces of the section as the other two strands, continue braiding normally. Put in another clip, part and split the next section again and repeat all the way down. That's all there is to it! Here we are with the whole top of her head done. At this point I just put in some pigtails and made some braided buns leaving the ends out on top.





You can use these "fake cornrows" for any and all of the French Braid styles you've seen and wanted to try!