The Ribbon Wrap (Ribbon Pull-Through Style #1)

Lately, I've been loving pull-throughs more and more.  They lie flat, they angle the hair in the direction you want it to go, they're easy, and they've got a little more style to them than a simple step pony.  And they look good on the youngest of little ones, tweens, teens, and adult women!  And almost any length of hair!  All right, enough of my love affair with pull-throughs.  :)  That being said, I wanted to find a way to securely attach ribbon to a pull-through... So I did!  I'm sure many people have done this before and have used variations of it; I was just happy that this works, and looks cute, so I wanted to share it.  I basically used the same method that I discussed in Three Little Ribbon Braids, with a slight variation.  And to celebrate, I've created five posts that use the ribbon pull-through method that I discuss below, and I will be posting them for the next five posts (this one included).  I think they have all turned out beautifully, and I'm excited to share... It's hard not to love anything with ribbon! 

How to Do a Ribbon Pull-Through
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Be forewarned:  This is in excruciating detail, which you may not need!  If you already have a method that works for you, do it!  Feel free to skip to the style at the bottom.  But if you'd like specific instructions, read on...

You'll need:  a rat-tail comb or other parting device :) , a Topsy Tail, 1/4" satin ribbon, scissors to cut the ribbon, and a couple of little elastics.  

Start with slightly damp hair.  Part out the section you'll be pulling through and tie it off LOOSELY with an elastic.  This is the main difference with a ribbon pull-through.  Just leave a little more room between the elastic and the head than you would for a regular pull-through. 

Cut a piece of ribbon (for the style in this post, cut it to about 3-4 times the length of hair you will pull back to the palm tree).  Grab a piece of the elastic and thread the ribbon through it to the halfway point of the ribbon (below).  

Wrap the two ends of the ribbon around the elastic, to hide it, in opposite directions:  around the back, then around the front, and finally tying them together in back (the underside).  When you're finished, it should look like this:

A nice clean look.  :)  You could stop there, or... continue with the pull-through.  Do a regular old pull-through now; just negotiate carefully so as not to snag or pull your daughter's hair.  It's bigger with the ribbon on, so requires a bit more finesse. 

Voila!  A ribbon pull-through!  (The ends of the ribbon are still there, loose and free; apparently they were just hidden behind the hair in the last picture above!)  Use this pull-through alone or read on for way #1 to use it in a hairstyle...

The Ribbon Wrap
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Start with a large box part on top of her head.  Part out a small section on the diagonal, as used in the pictures above, and do a ribbon pull-through.  Gather the rest of the hair from the box part into an elastic at the back corner opposite the ribbon pull-through.  Take the two ends of ribbon and wrap them around the piece of hair in opposite directions, making sure that the X's land on the top of the piece of hair.

Finally, secure the piece of hair, together with the ribbon ends, to the pull-back you created with the rest of the hair.

Wrap the ribbon ends around the elastics to hide them, as you did earlier for the pull-through, and tie a pretty bow.  All done!  Simple & sweet. 

The hair underneath was poofing a little, so I ended up adding a bobby pin to make it lie a little flatter...

Have a great day!  And watch for ribbon pull-through style #2...

Waves and a Palm Tree

Palm tree, whale spout, whatever you call it... this is a style that was born for shorter hair!  You can, of course, do this style with longer hair, but it doesn't produce quite the same spout-y effect.  Pull-throughs on the diagonal leading up to the palm tree create a nice visual effect, and I think they look a little like waves.  You could take this style to the beach!  (We took it to the carousel, as you can see.) 

Start with a large rectangle parted out on top of her head, as shown below.

Then part off the first section in the front right corner.  You can decide how big you want it and how sharp the angle.

Do a pull-through, with a Topsy Tail if you have one...

Then part off the next section and combine it with the first in a small elastic.  Do another pull-through.

And so on, until you get to the end of the rectangle.  Combine it all together and DON'T do a pull-through.  Tie it closer to the scalp to make it spoutier.  I ended up with four "waves" and then the palm tree.  They get a little bigger with each successive one, since you're adding the hair together as you go, so tie each one off just a little bit further from the scalp, to make it easier to pull them through.  You can tighten them after the pull-through. 

Ta da!  Happy hair-doing!

Braided Headband for Very Short Hair

My fingers have been aching to braid again!  I love doing all kinds of styles on my daughter's hair, but braiding and latticing/weaving are probably my favorites.  Thus was today's style born.  This is a version of princesshairstyles.com's "Barbie Hairstyle," which I've adapted for super short hair.  That being said, Little Miss' hair is a little too short even for this adaptation.  It's a little challenging to hold the braid with such short strands.  But we made it work.  Read on for instructions...

Since Little Miss' hair is in no way long enough for a complete headband, I only did the "headband" on the longer side.  So I started with her default side part, and then parted out the section of hair to be braided.  I decided to use a wavy part, although I did not make the braid itself curve back-and-forth with the part.  Honestly, that may have looked cuter, but I completely forgot!  Maybe I'll try that when her hair's a little longer.  :)  To make the wavy part, I first parted off the front ("bangs") section and secured it out of the way with a hair band temporarily.

Next, I made a wavy part parallel to the first, about an inch behind it.  I secured the hair after this second part with a few unadorned alligator clips, leaving the hair in between the two parts loose to be braided.

(Again, her hair is not greasy in these pics; it's the water I use to smooth her hair while styling it.)  Next, I did an inside-out French braid along the strip of isolated hair, cornrow-like.  I had to secure it a bit sooner than I would've liked, since the hairs got so short! 

Finally, I removed the hair band from the front section, smoothed it back with water and a comb, gave it a quick twist, and joined it to the braid with an elastic.

Add a bow, and you're done!