French Braids for a Hat!

IP really wanted to wear this hat of mine with braids last weekend.  How could I resist, eh?  This do turned out better than I planned and will probably use it for school one day soon.

Cute, eh?!  I think IP thought the hat and braids made her look older because I wore my hair in similar braids and this hat a few days before...

Here is a view without the hat to show you that usually we add some clips or a hairband to keep the wispy hairs out of her face.  Since she wore a hat, we didn't add any on this day.

We did this do with dry hair and it worked just fine.  If I was going to do this again for school, I would probably use wet hair just to make things tighter.  What I like about this french braid is that we started way back behind her ear so the braids hung straight down instead of in the traditional arch.  First, part off a generous section of hair from the middle part all the way across her head to the temple.  Separate this section into three pieces for your french braid.

Continue taking generous portions of hair to add into the braid so that you end up with only 4 or 5 plaits to the whole braid.  Be sure to braid straight down behind her ear and you'll end up with these cute, quick "hat braids!"

One Sided French Braid

I was in a bit of a hurry this day so I tried to speed up the french braid process.  I think it worked well enough because these pictures were taken after IP got home from school and her hair was still mostly in place!!

I like to show her hair do from the front.  So many hair blogs only show the side and back but everyone sees a person from the front, right?  Even though hair pulled back is really just hair pulled back, I like to see what it looks like from the front... you to? :)

Here's how we connected the two braids in the back.  We just bought this pre-curled "wad" of ribbon on clearance somewhere and slipped it onto a bobby pin.  So nice and easy!

So, start with 3 strands and braid a few times as if you are not going to french braid.

Next, add a section of hair just from the hairline and continue braiding a few times before you add another section of hair from the hairline. 

By adding hair only once in a while, the braid goes very quickly.  Also, by taking hair only from the hairline, the rest of the hair hangs smoothly underneath and gives the braid itself a nice layered look.  We did this do with dry hair but I think it would go together more easily with wet hair.  If you try it, let me know how it goes! :)

Pretend French Braids... sort of !

This is a great hair do for those of you not so comfortable or confident with french braiding.

We stopped braiding a bit further up than usual so the cute, sparkly, pink fluffies had more hair to wrap around and, hopefully, not fall out during recess!

See how this has the look of a french braid?  Each section is connected without all the work of an actual french braid! :)

Grab a small section of hair right at the front and braid it using 3 strands as normal.  After a bit, part off another section of hair and divide it in half.  Now use braid from the front section as one of your three strands to continue braiding a regular braid.  After you've braided a bit, part off another section hair, divide it in half and use the previously braided section as your third strand to continue braiding.  You could continue to do this all the way down the back of the head but we decided just to do the front half... school day you know! :)

Messy buns - Rudolph Style!!

We LOVE messy buns because they are soooo easy!  Everyone seems to have a different way to achieve this perfectly messy look but we just use a lot of bobby pins. :)

Just couldn't resist a bit of Christmas cheer with the antlers and blinking Rudolph nose!!

These messy buns are SUPER easy!  Just pull the hair into two regular pony tails.  Spray them down with water and don't pull the hair all the way through the pony tail on the last time.  Then take lots and lots of bobby pins (we use Mini Pins because they are smaller and quite tight) to attach small sections of the looped pony tail here, there and everywhere.  We spray the buns with hair spay just to give them a bit of definition.  They last all day (through recess even!) and look great! Try them and let me know what you think! :)

Super Cute Christmas Bow with a Messy Bun

I just ordered this AMAZING bow from a local gal off her Facebook page.  If your girl loves bows/hair bobs at all you should check out her page.  They are really sturdy and BEAUTIFULLY made!  Just search for BowsnToes and she pops right up.  The clip IP is wearing is her most expensive one at $15 (of course... I can find the most expensive item whether I'm at Goodwill or Nordstrom's!!) but she has several different designs and I'm sure she can custom make just about anything you want.

Quick and Easy Do's Designed by IP

IP has started trying to design more of her own do's so I'm posting a couple of those to hopefully inspire your sweeties!

IP wanted two french braids that went "free" a little ways past the end of the french braid part!  I love trying to interpret her designs!! :)

This one is two regular braids she wanted twisted together and tied off at the end to make it look like one braid.

a couple more cuties...

OK... although we aren't as good about remembering to take pictures as I'd like to be, I am determined to post whatever pics we  do have.  IP and I aren't about posting just the do's that come out perfectly because we are just having fun and enjoying her hair.  With that said, here are a couple more cuties.  :)

WOW that flower looks HUGE in this picture!  Maybe it's the angle... maybe it' just really big !! :)

This ended up being a bit trickier than I thought.  We kept out a partial piece of the french braid every other plate but it was slipping and getting too loose.  That's what a great about big flowers... distraction!  :)

IP designed this one.   Twists into a twist!

Slightly lopsided but still cute, eh?!  And, yes, that is Webkinz in the background!! Ugh!!