Fancy Princess Braids

I know some of your girls are planning on being a princess, a fairy, Rapunzel, a nice witch or wizard, a barbie, royalty, or maybe a medieval/renaissance type princess for Halloween. I'm thinking this Halloween hairstyle might work with a lot of costumes, actually!
This princess hair style is relatively easy to make (as long as you know how to french braid) but it does require fairly long hair. These pics were actually taken before our princess got her hair cut.
Start by parting her hair down the middle (into pigtails) and begin french braiding one side. As you're braiding- every so often, split one of the strands in half and put that section of hair to the side as you continue on. Braid down as far as you can go. (Btw, please excuse the mess in the background. Although I did try to block out the worst of it for you lol. What can I say? We are normal people. We have kids.... and toys.... and messes. :) After you tie off the main french braid, braid each of the sections of hair that you left out as well. Now you can french braid the right side as you add in the tiny braids from the left side all the way down as you go. Make sure not to pull the little braids super tight as you add them in so that they form a pretty little swag across her head.
In retrospect, I should have started each tiny braid up a little higher, as the last one doesn't really show.
There are lots of different ways you could finish this off. I ended up folding the ends of the braids up in half into a fluffy little bun thingy and added a hair accessory at the bottom.
I love how sweet and elegant this looks.
This hairstyle almost has an old fashioned/vintage look to it.
Of course, this one would be lovely anytime, not just for Halloween. This would be a cute hairdo for church, for a flower girl, or other special occasions! I remember doing this hair style one other time and added some flowers and ribbons in with the braids. It turned out darling, but I can't find the pictures. Anyway, you could get creative with it if you wanted to. :) To go along with your Princess costume, my friend Trisha has made instructions showing how to make a fairy wand!

Flower Girl Hairstyle

Since it's finally getting... warmish out. We wanted a fun flowery spring hairdo! I think this would be a cute hairstyle for a spring wedding/flower girl, or just for fun.

I realize this veil/elastic connector/spiderweb hairdo is nothing new. But I just loved how it turned out with the flowers!!
I've found the easiest way for me to make the elastics even and symmetrical with this type of style is to make the ponytails in a certain order. I begin with the ponytail in the middle/front. Split it in two and then work my way down both sides of her head before working on the middle. *Important: Notice that the second set of ponytails down (on both sides) are split in half and only one half is added in with the third set of ponies.
Now you can take the leftover halves from the second ponies and add them together in the middle. Btw, I have these elastics just sitting on top of her hair (I'm not adding in any of the hair underneath.)
For the last set, split the previous row of 3 ponytails in half and add two more elastics like so.......

Now for the fun part... adding the flowers! We used bobby pin flowers. These were quick and easy to add. I just stuck the bobby pins right through the back of the elastics where I wanted them to be. If you wanted to, you could use real flowers or fake flowers that aren't attached to bobby pins. I've added flowers to hairstyles before by simply wrapping an elastic around the stems.I thought of adding a few more rows of elastics, even going all the way down her hair. But we don't have that many flowers. I'm thinking of buying some more.!!
Oh and of course we had to add some ringlets in the ponytails with our curling iron.

Flower Girl Hairstyle

I think we've both been going through withdrawls not posting anything too "special" since school started. This was just the weekend fix we needed!

Recently I had one of our readers/friends (Bree) give me a challenge to come up with a "custom flower girl hairdo." Bree's sister is getting married at the end of this month and Bree's little girl is going to be the flower girl. How fun!

She wanted something unique and new. Something fresh and funky! The main stipulation was that there was to be NO french braiding allowed as Bree doesn't know how to french braid. And, she wanted the hair mostly down.

Well GEESH, what a fun challenge! Here's what we came up with. Could you picture THIS walking down the aisle?
Here's how......Start by parting out a section in front with 3 pull throughs behind, like this....... Next, make a half pony under the pull throughs (including the "bangs" in the front.) I added those bobby pins to keep the hair where I wanted it. I think they look cute just as they are, adding some "messy type flair." But if you don't like them, you could put a flower/bow there, or some kind of fancy clip.
Just another shot of what it should look like at this point.Ok, this next part is easier than it looks (I promise!) And there isn't any science to it. Split each of the pull though ponytails in half (6 total) and twist the cRaP out of each piece. When you get each piece sufficiently twisted, randomly clip it somewhere on the half ponytail with a little claw clip.Here we are with all the pieces twisted. There's no exactness to this, but I did try to get 3 on each side just for symmetry.Now, to hide that elastic. I just took a little piece of the hair in the pony, twisted it, then wrapped it around the elastic a couple times. Tie it off with another clear elastic around the bottom of the twist. (You can see it peeking through on this picture.) At this point, I adjusted a few twists that seemed "not quite right" and went to town curling her hair. I just used a regular old curling iron and some generic hairspray to create these curls. Definitely not your Grandmother's flower girl hairstyle, agreed?
What are we doing inside? It's summer for heaven's sake!

The princess isn't going to be a flower girl anytime soon. BUT this is a cute hairstyle for church too!
Thanks for the fun hair challenge, Bree! I'm sure she'll look darling no matter what you decide to do with her hair on the big day!

French Fish Braid Video

Someone on our Facebook Page (thank you Brandi) found and posted this hairstyle and was wondering how to do it. If you want to see the original version of what I was trying to recreate here, you can go to our facebook page and look under the "fan photos" to see it. I didn't dare post the picture on our blog because I'm not sure if it's under copyright or whatever. :) Anyway, I think it's adorable and HAD to try it out.


I did this with wet hair. I'm thinking if you want it more tousled looking (like the picture) dry hair would probably work better. Or, if you're lucky enough to be working with naturally curly hair, even better!
Btw, the princess is really into flowers right now. We got this adorable one from Pomegranate and Pink. I think it gives this hairstyle just the right finishing touch.


So, here's the french fish video. Basically you begin with 2 sections and start the same way you do a regular fish tail (taking a small piece from one side and crossing it to the other.) Then, after the first two pieces have been crossed, you continue with this same pattern, just taking your pieces from the sides instead of from the original sections the rest of the way down. That didn't make sense, did it? ;) I think if you can figure out how to get this started, the rest will be a cinch!
Thanks for sharing the cute idea with us, Brandi!

Twisted Half Ponytail

This is a variation of our quick flower bun thingy I posted last week. This one is more time consuming....yes. But fun and cute too:)

Start by making a half pony with a small part on top (either on the side or the middle, whichever you prefer.) Do a french twist braid on both sides and join in the middle. (Click on the link for a video if you need help with the braids.)

Don't worry too much about it how it looks where you join the braids in the middle. The bun will cover that up :)
Split the half pony in half and twist braid both sections.Make a knot with the braids the same way we did with the other hairstyle......
Join together at the bottom with an elastic......Put a few bobby pins in to keep everything secure.....Now you can add a bow and some curls! We got this fun bow from Flowerz In Her Hair.


Just another fun way to spice up a boring old half ponytail.PS- If you haven't already entered, the flat iron giveaway is still running. You have until 5/31 to get your entries in! Flat Iron Giveaway

Barbie Doll Princess Hairstyle

We had an appointment to get pictures taken. I wanted her hair mostly down to show the length and something fairly simple. One of our favorite Barbie Dolls was the inspiration for this one!!
Start by making 2 headband parts. Part the front headband on the side and put in temporary elastics to keep out of the way. (I put the rest of the hair in a temporary ponytail as well to keep things separate while I was braiding.)
French braid the back headband section all the way across, ending it with a clear elastic right above the ear.Pull all the hair in the back up out of the way. Put some gel in the front sections to keep the hair sleekly in place and using water, comb both sides smoothly, joining in the back underneath with an elastic. (Add the leftover hair from the french braid in with this hair as you bring it back, hiding the elastic up front.)Bring the hair back down covering the elastic underneath.Now you can either leave it like this for the sleek and straight Barbie look.Or you can turn it into a curly Barbie hairdo. I prefer to curl it when we leave her hair down because, left straight, it always ends up looking tangled and stringy by the end of the day. I'm loving the look of braided headbands lately. Something very fairytale princess about it. (She loved this look as well.)

Our own little "Princess Barbie."