Ladder Pigtails

Little Miss' hair is ALMOST long enough for pigtails!  We didn't quite make it all the way down to include all of the hair in the back.  This style was helpful in getting all of the hair on the sides into the style, though.  And if your hair model has longer hair, this could easily be continued down the back of the head to make (more complete) pigtails.  I actually did this style on Little Miss for the first time just before she got her hair cut, and joined the two pigs in back to make a half-back instead of pigtails.  You can do that, too!  It's very versatile.  (By the way, these pics were taken during a warm spell a couple of weeks ago... so she's not out shivering in the December cold.  It was actually up around 60!  And we weren't out for very long.  ;)  )

Part the hair down the middle.  Part out a section at the front of the head as shown below; take not just the hair on top, but also the hair all the way down on the left (in this case).  Tie it off with an elastic.  I like to do all of the lefthand ponies in one color and the righthand in another color. 

Now, part back towards the back of the head right behind that elastic for an inch or so.  Then continue horizontally across the top of the head and down all the way on the other side of the head.  Include the loose hair in front from the previous row, but NOT the elastic you already tied off.  Tie this all off with another elastic. 

Part again towards the back of the head for an inch or so, right behind the most recent elastic (yellow in my case).  Continue the part down the left side of the head.  This time, include the hair from the first red elastic (in my case) and tie it off with another elastic.  The 'ladder' ponies are beginning to take shape. 

Continue to do the same thing now, alternating sides.  If you're good, you might be able to choose your parting angle such that you hide the little inch-long parts (that go towards the back of the head) underneath the ponies.  I didn't quite manage to do this this time.  Oh, well.  Next time's a charm! 

Try to make the last sections thinner, so that the very last elastics on each side are even with each other.  And you're done! 

Have a great hair day!! 

Easy Woven Pull-Backs

This style incorporates the same weaving technique as our Spiderweb Hairstyle, but on a much simpler scale.  And can I just say... We have sides up for pull-backs, people!  That's right, and without step ponies to help!  Okay, yes, I get excited about the little things, but I am thrilled with every millimeter of length that Little Miss' hair grows back!  She's been saying she misses her long hair; not sure if she can just tell that I do, or if she really does, or both, but hey, I'll take it!  :)  I'm sure I've seen variations of this style online somewhere, so as always, I apologize if I'm posting your style and not giving you credit! 

Start with four little squares up front, and tie them off with elastics.

And sorry, I didn't take step-by-step pics for the next parts.  But hopefully you can make sense of it all by looking at the pics below of the finished product.  Make an ear-to-ear part across the top of the head, and divide that hair into two pull-backs.  Tie them off with elastics, leaving out the four little ponies up front.  Next, take the two little ponies on the right and join them to the pull-back on the left.  Take the two on the left and, using a Topsy Tail or a plastic craft needle (not sharp) or your fingers, cross the first little pony OVER the first from the other side, then UNDER the second.  Do the opposite with the other little pony on the left.  Join them to the pull-back on the right.

Add bows, and you're off!  With winter approaching and days getting shorter (and colder), we're trying to find the best place to take pics inside, since it's still not light out and about 30-40 degrees F out when she leaves for school in the mornings!  So bear with us as we try different spots... :)

Have a great hair day!

Spiderweb Hairstyle on Short Hair

Happy Halloween (almost)!  I don't know about little ones at your house, but Little Miss was ecstatic when I reminded her this morning that tomorrow is Halloween.  As a result, this hairstyle was a hit.  I must say this is a spiderweb with artistic license!  I think it does look a little like one, though.  And Little Miss absolutely loved it, especially with the Halloween pony-o's that I made to go with it.  (I think she may be almost as ribbon-crazy as me these days.)  It was a little hard to get her to settle down for pics, but she finally did.  :)  The tutorial for the pony-o's is HERE.  Keep reading for the hairstyle...

Start with a deep circle part on top of her head: 

Divide that in half, and secure with temporary hair bands: 

To one half, divide in half again, and divide each of those halves in half again.  (There will be a total of 8 sections, 4 per half.)  Tie off all of them EXCEPT the one shown in the picture as having a pink, bulkier hair band with elastics.  Tie them off as close to the outskirts of the circle as the length of hair will allow for them to still be able to reach across the circle afterwards. 

Do the same to the other side.  The temporary hair band on the left side below is white: 

Now, here's the idea:  The two sections that you have that are tied off with temporary hair bands are going to be the two pull-backs/whale spouts/whatever-you-want-to-call-them.  The three little ponies from the opposite side will cross the head to join each pull-back.  To do this, I started with the right pull-back.  I did a pull-through on the three little ponies from the other side that were going to join the pull-back, pulling them through such that they were oriented towards their destination.  See below: 

Then I twisted each strand, finally joining them all together with the pull-back.  I removed the temporary hair band and tied it all off with an elastic.  See?: 

Now for the other side, and we'll incorporate the weaving.  Do a pull-through for the three sections destined for joining the left side, again orienting the pull-through towards the pull-back they will join.  Now use your Topsy Tail on the upper two to weave them.  They should each go over one strand and under one strand from the other side, and it should be opposite of the order for the two.  Make sense? 

The furthest-back section can just cross over the opposite side; no weaving necessary.  Then twist each section, in the opposite direction of the other side, and join it all together with the pull-back.  Voila!  Finished product, sans pony-o's: 

And WITH pony-o's: 

(You can tell we had some fun here.  :)  ) 

Happy Halloween!  Stay safe and have fun!!!  

2 Pull-Backs with Ribbon Wraps (Ribbon PT Style #3)

This one is very similar to the first ribbon pull-through post, except that the ribbon pull-through gets split between two pull-backs instead of one.  Part the hair as shown below, tying each section off with an elastic:

Do a ribbon pull-through with the front section.  (In the picture below, it looks like I did this off-center, but I think her head was just tilted to the side.  The pull-through was more or less in the center!)  Then divide the hair from the pull-through in half.  Wrap one piece of ribbon around one half, as shown below. 

Keep wrapping, then combine that hair with one pull-back, ribbon and all, in another elastic on top of the first.  Do the same for the other side.  Trim the ribbon ends so they are short enough not to poke out of the pull-backs, but long enough such that you're sure they won't slip out of the elastics.  I probably left about 1/4 to 1/2 an inch on each.  You want them to be hidden.  Now take new ribbons, and attach one to each pull-back, just like you would for a ribbon pull-through (only don't pull them through!).  

 Wrap around the elastics and tie bows.  You're all set! 

Have a great day! 

Play-Date Piggies

Sometimes hair just needs to be kept out of the face.  Am I right?  There are definitely times for letting it fly free, too, but today was a sides-up day.  (By the way, I'm still excited we can pull this off...even if we have to use step ponies to do it!)  Little Miss had a friend coming over today, and I wanted her to be able to cavort without being bugged by her hair.  (She's not crying in the picture above, she's actually holding two tiny dolls up by her face for them to be in the picture too!  :)  ) 

I didn't take a lot of step-by-step pics for this one... I think it's easy to figure out by looking at it.  The trickiest part for me was tying off the lower sections before the upper while keeping the hair for the upper out of the way.  And in general, keeping hair out of the way while working (an everyday challenge for us with short hair!). 

Start with a part down the center of her head.  In the pics below, I had already finished the right side of her head, and will show you the left side as I did it.  Part off the row for the two front sections.  Divide that front row in half.  Have your daughter hold the top section out of the way, clip the back hair out of the way, and tie off the lower section neatly with an elastic. 

 Join the hair from the lower section to the upper section with another elastic. 

Use the same procedure for the next row back.  Finally, part out a final section with a bit of a wedge shape to it, as shown below.  Combine everything together there with your final elastic. 

Do the same on the other side, and you're play-ready!  Great for painting, cooking, messy projects, swimming, mud/garden, etc. 

Mini-Buns with Dutch Braid Accent

We took this style to dance class today (can you tell??).  Two tiny buns with a braid going into one. 

As (almost) always :) , start with a large box part on top of her head.  Then part out an arc at the front of her head: 

Do a Dutch braid (inside-out French braid), starting on the left (or whichever side you prefer), and braiding out as far as you can after using up the hair in the arc.  Secure with a temporary hair band. 

Then you're going to split the remaining hair into two little ponies.  I collected more hair in the one on the left, since the one on the right was going to have the hair from the braid combined into it, too.  To make this look less unbalanced, I used a diagonal part. 

Then turn the two little ponies into two little buns... Use whatever method you prefer (classic, messy, etc.).  I did classic buns, but they ended up looking pretty "messy" since her hair is so short.  I used about 4 bobby pins for each, and tried to have them overlap when possible for extra security.  Here's a close-up of the first mini-bun...

And the finished product, with cute bows to match her dance outfit...

Dutch Braid Pull-Backs

Simple.  Sweet.  This is just 3 Dutch braids (aka "inside-out" French braids) going straight back into two pull-backs.  Two of the 3 braids are pulled together for one of the pull-backs to give a little more visual interest.  You probably don't need more than this, but if you do, here are brief instructions...

Start with a large box part on top of the head (seriously, with her short hair, I feel like 90% of my styles start this way these days!).  Then part that into two sections, with one slightly larger than the other.  Dutch-braid the smaller one:

Then divide the remaining section into two, Dutch-braid each of those sections, and join them with one elastic.  Try to get the pull-backs even, and similar in their spoutiness:

Add bows and hit the park!  (or school, errands, etc.)