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! 

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...

Ribbon Pony Holder Tutorial

I am in love with ribbon these days... Little Miss & I have been saving up posts to do a series of styles using a very simple ribbon-related technique that we've been doing lately.  It's gonna be good!  :)  But in the meantime, I thought I'd post this tutorial.  I went a little crazy at Hobby Lobby in their ribbon section last weekend, and thought I'd use my new ribbons to make a ponytail holder for Little Miss.  Little Miss' hair is not long enough for a full pony yet, so we use it as more of a pull-back holder.  :)  This pony holder is made up of three of Little Miss' favorite things:  princesses, cupcakes, and PINK!  It is the Little Miss pony holder. 

I have to say one more thing about ribbon...  I confess, I am a ribbon scavenger.  I wait, drooling, for bedecked gifts to be opened, then sneak the ribbon off to my ribbon drawer before it gets lost in the post-unwrapping chaos.  Also, shopping bag handles.  Several stores frequently found in malls use ribbons as the handles for their bags.  I just un-knot them, or cut off the ends if they're unusable.  Instant hair ribbons! 

The original instructions for this pony holder are from two videos on YouTube, and can be found here and here.  I've modified and combined them a little bit.  

You'll need:  

* a bunch of different ribbons, each about twice the length of your wearer's hair when in a ponytail (or any desired length!)

* scissors

* clear nail polish or a lighter

* low-temp glue gun

* damp sponge (for the glue gun)

* a plain hair band

1)  Prep the Ribbons:  Choose whatever ribbons you want... you can be crazy, and not try to match anything; do all solid colors; do a theme; or choose coordinating ribbons of the same general color.  I chose the last one.  I cut all of mine to about 13 inches.  I did a simple angled cut on most, with a "V" cut on a couple.  I then used a lighter on the ends to heat-seal them so they would not fray.  To do this, have the lighter lit, then very quickly run the edges of the ribbon over the flame.  If you've done it right, you may be able to feel a tiny bit of stiffness at the very ends, or nothing at all.  If you leave it on too long, the ribbon will shrivel up and have a burnt look and smell to it.  Just cut this part off and try again.  If you'd rather not use fire, use clear nail polish.  It works just as well, but it takes a while to dry completely and can leave a bit of a watermark, especially on satin ribbon.  Here are my ribbons, cut, sealed, and ready to go: 

 2)  Glue the Ribbons:  Place the widest ribbon like so on your work surface.  It will be your base. 

Using a low-temp hot glue gun, place a glob of hot glue in the middle.  Wipe the glue gun on a damp sponge immediately afterwards to prevent those awful flying glue strands of death. 

 Lay one ribbon across the main ribbon at an angle, pressing for the glue to adhere. 

Continue this for all ribbons, adding glue individually for each ribbon added.  Admittedly, I laid mine out (without glue) a couple of times first, to help me decide how I was going to lay the ribbons. 

When the glue is dry, this is what it will look like picked up: 

3)  Turn it into a Pony Holder:  Cut another piece of ribbon, just a little longer than the others (in the picture, mine is shorter than this), and heat-seal the ends.  Tie a single knot in the middle.  If it's not a reversible ribbon, make sure as you tie it to get the "right" side facing up the whole length of the ribbon. 

Hot-glue this ribbon across the others, with the knot in the middle, like this: 

Flip the whole thing over, and glue a hair band to the back.  Make sure you use this orientation, rather than gluing the hair band horizontally! 

 It should be free-standing, like this, when dry...

Now tie the ends of the horizontal ribbon inside the hair band, pulling the other ribbons as tight as they can comfortably go.  Add a little hot glue underneath where this knot will land before you pull it tight. 

The ends of the piece you just tied simply become part of the mass of ribbons hanging down.  It will look like this when finished... 

And the finished product...

Great job!  :)  Enjoy your weekend!