Little Girl's Hairstyles -Stick a pen in it

This is how my 3 year old comes down to breakfast every day. All smiles and hair.

Here's her breakfast. (yes, it's Life cereal)

Usually I ask her to run back up the stairs to get a ponytail for her hair so she can eat her breakfast, and not her hair. But today, I thought, 'well, we'll just stick a pen in it', since she was all ready to eat. Then I thought, "I'll take pictures of this!", since we probably do this way more often than most of the stuff on here, and hey, I'm a mom. I live in the real world. My kids don't wake up with 20 braids all done and sprayed. This is what we deal with at every meal if her hair is down. If we don't tie it back, she's wearing her food in her hair instead of ribbons.

I just comb it back (with fingers) to the base of her head.

Twist it

Pull it up and keep twisting around itself ending up top.

Grab your handy dandy pen and starting with the pointy end, face it towards her head and stick it in the top of the bun, angling it down as you push it in, scooping in that end up top. Push it down through the rest of the bun. If you don't get it the first time, try try again.

If you are fortunate enough to have a lid for your pen, now's a good time to recap it. This has come in handy on many occasions, especially when we are in a restaurant and her hair is down. Anything pointy and straight (and non lethal) will work. If you are at Chinese restaurant maybe you could ask for a chopstick. :)

Happy breakfast!

Little Girl's Hairstyles - Laces to the side 7-10 min

II wanted to show a style that could work on shorter hair, so I asked my cute little neighbor to come over and let me do her hair. She showed up with her hair all wet and combed out and ready to go!  This is what we started with, to give you an idea of the length of her hair. You'll need a small handful of elastics for this.

I parted it in half, and since I made a pony on the bottom first, I clipped up the top.

I parted off two ponys here. After I did the one on the bottom, I transferred my clip to the bottom section of hair, and combed the remaining hair ontop forward, to stay out of the remaining hair.

I crisscrossed the laces, just like in the twisted laces, but this time, since her hair is shorter, I didn't twist them. You may want to use gel here, since the shorter pieces being crossed will want to escape a little faster.

Continue until you get to the final sections of hair. Don't part those off separately, but comb them all together and put up in an elastic. I did a teeny stuffed bun here, and it was a tad bit tricky, since there wasn't alot of length to work with. You can do a simple pony, or just do a half-pulled through pony too, just whatever you can manage.

Front view with a flower clipped in. She looked super cute! Thanks darlin!

Little Girl's Hairstyles - Double Braids 7-10 min

This is pretty basic, but I like how the smaller braid shows in the bigger one. (I think it shows better in real life.)

Start with wet hair. You can use hair gel here. I used 4 elastics for this style.

Part off side section, just behind ear.  Comb rest of hair back away from part.

I did a backward/inside out braid here.

Braid as far down as you can, since the longer length will make it show more in the bottom braid. I sprayed it with hairspray here, before I joined it with the second braid. I also used a clear elastic, so it wouldn't be so obvious.

After you braid both front sides, part off back. I clipped the other section over.

Comb the back section back and at an angle, so it's behind her ear.

When you have it all combed smooth, grab your front braid, and place it on top. You'll want to keep the little braid flat and on top as much as possible while braiding it into the larger braid, so it will show.

Divide hair into three sections, putting the little braid on the far section. It's important to divide the sections evenly here, to make the braid look the best. To compensate for the small braid being added in, take less hair on that section, trying to keep all three sections the same thickness.  

It can be tricky right here getting all the hair to lay smooth and flat. Be patient and work out the bumps, it's hard for me to get it right here too, but it's worth it. Pulling the hair tight and keeping it tight in the braid will help alot. When you start braiding, always push the small braid on top and keep it from getting twisted.

Braid down to the ends.

Back view. Make sure to start bottom braids in same place on both sides of her head. You say "well, of course", but I've been completely finished and realized they aren't matched up well, and that's a major bummer.

Side--make sure to spray with hairspray! I do both top and bottom of the braids.

And, my favorite...the front. She's happy to be done!

Little Girl's Hairstyles -Twisted laces 10-15 min

This was a first time attempt at an idea I had, and it turned out pretty alright I thought. Here's the back view. *NOTE* On this style, if your daughter does not have really long hair, don't twist the ponys when you bring them across. This will help keep the hair in better.

Of course, I began with wet hair. You can use hair gel on this one, just rinse your hands after, since sticky hands make putting in elastics harder. Just FYI. You'll need a handful of elastics for this.

Make a center part all the way down, and comb away from the part. You'll want to spray the hair frequently throughout this to keep it easier to handle.

Part off front section just before her ears, and then make two centered ponys.

Part off another equal sized pony below the first set. This pic shows me getting it ready for an elastic, and then bringing the cross pony over and twisting it. Do this in steps: First, spray down your cross ponytail, this helps it twist with one hand easier. Second, comb your new section and get it ready to put in an elastic. Third, grab the wet pony and twist it with the other hand, bringing it over to the new section.

Lay the twist on top and put in your elastic.

After the first set of twists is done, continue down her head. When you are combing off a new section, flip the ponytail above it over, to keep it out of the way. Make sure to spray each new pony, so you can twist it easily with one hand.  She's holding the piece out of the way here for me. Use those little extra hands if you need to! This one was tricky!

Do however many ponys look good, depending on your size of sections. I did four total on each side here.

I did twist braids on her bottom ponys. Spray again thoroughly with water, and divide pony into two.

Begin twisting both sides in same direction,

and then twist around each other in opposite direction.

Front view

And here's a different option for the back. I did this on my other daughter, but I only put in 3 ponys going down her head (time saver), and instead of twists, I put in another elastic down her pony. I tried spacing it down about the same as the ponys on her head. You can put in more, continuing down the hair, to what you judge to look right. Her hair is more curly, so I just twist the bottoms around my finger when it's wet, and spray with hairspray all over.

Little Girl's Hairstyles - Combs

I'd thought I post what 'tools' I like to use on just about every hair do I do on  here. These are what we cannot live without. They are inexpensive and pretty much indestructible ( I say that because my kids, for some weird reason, can be found chewing on them from time to time...and that doesn't make them super hair tools anymore). But....when they are not being chew toys, here's what I use. A regular double tooth comb, and a rattail comb. I do use a brush as well to comb out my girls' hair, because it's thicker, but the wide teeth on the double tooth comb works almost as well. So there ya go.

Little Girl's Hairstyles -Stuffed Buns 3-5 min

I just made this name up--and realized it sounds like something to eat. Funny. Probably because this is my most favorite thing to do on my girls' hair. It's really fast and easy, it stays in well, and I think it's super cute. My good friend showed me this, and I think it's such a handy trick.

Top view

I like to do an angle part to start with, but a side or center part works great too. Again, damp hair (and gel if you prefer) is what I start with.

After parting the top, I part down the middle in the back, using my thumb to get it in the middle (like in my older posts). I also spray the part and comb it away from the center here to keep stray hairs from the other side from getting in when I'm putting it up.

Here's where I get a little picky about combing the hair. I don't know if you can see the difference between how the hair looks in this picture and the one below, but I like it combed really smooth. I use the big teeth on the comb to comb the hair up from the base of the neck, so it doesn't pull on that sensitive area, but after it's combed up, I flip the comb around and use the small teeth to get it really even.

Put in your elastic and pull the last time through only halfway, leaving a long tail. This will only work well on longer hair. If you don't have enough of a tail to make another loop the same size as the first, it won't look right. See where I have my finger under the elastic here? This is where you lift it and stuff the hair back in.

After stuffing in ends.

After getting it stuffed in, you can pull and adjust the hair to make it not look like just two double loops (unless that's what you prefer).

Back

Side-spray well with hairspray, and put in snap barrettes in the back if you have shorter hair back there to hold in place.

This is really cute with bows placed right in front of the buns. This one was going outside to play in the sandbox so we opted no on the bows. This is how I do my girls' hair most days when they are just running around outside or playing. Thanks M.T. for this super trick!