Little Girl's Hairstyles -Headband french braid and round brushing 10-15 min

This style has become very popular lately, and there are several different variations you can do with this cute little braid. This is one I like to wear myself, but it's MUCH harder to do on my head than on theirs.

I start with wet hair, and part from ear to ear, and comb the headband (front section) in the direction I'll be braiding, and the rest back. You can clip it back if it needs it.

    

Begin french braid. It's easier to have your little one sit down low so you can manuever around them.

      

     

Continue braid until about an inch above other ear. This is where you can do some different things with the end.

      

If the braid is small enough, you can stick a bobby pin in the end, like you do in bobby pin rolls, like I'm showing here. You can pin it either straight down, or you can pull the braid slightly to the back of the head and pin it, hiding it under the hanging hair. You can also just clip it with the bobby pin, like a barrette, if the hair will fit.

Her hair is too thick for a bobby pin, so I secured it with a clear elastic. At this point, if you want to pull it back, to hide the end, you can stick a bobby pin in the elastic and pin it. I just decided to leave hers, since I wanted to put a bow clip in.

I decided to round brush the back, since she always wants her hair left down. I started with her hair still slightly damp, since she has some wave to her hair. I clipped up the top half.

                                       

I use a boar bristle round brush, (these bristles help smooth the hair), and pull the hair straight out as I blowdry. Angling it like this helps give volume underneath. That's her little hand helping me here. How to blowdry and take pictures?

                                      

Here I am showing how to angle the hair, when you are doing the top portion (even though I haven't gotten that far yet...sometimes it's just easier to take the pictures all at once). This will give volume to the crown of the head. Also, blow down the hair shaft, or away from the head, this will help keep the little flyaway hairs laying down. Near the roots is where you'll need to concentrate the heat more, rather than the ends. If you want more curl, dry ends while you keep rolling the brush through them, rolling it in your hand, rather than just concentrating the hot air in one place. This will help not damage the drier and more brittle ends.

                                       

Not sure what I'm showing here, unless it's just showing a portion of what I've dried. You'd think I'd have this all planned out......but usually I realize HOW I do things WHEN I am doing them.

                                       

Finished back. I didn't plump up her crown or backcomb it since she had the braid. More on that later......

                                       

With bow. I just stuck the clip into her braid.

                                       

All finished. She's so happy to have her hair left down she agreed to smile for me.

                                      

Little Girl's Hairstyles -Using soft curlers with small twists 7-10 min

This is a two part process, each part taking about 7-10 min. I do this alot the night before church, and it really saves me on time, but they look fancy for church!

These are the curlers I used, about 1 inch curlers. They have all sizes, so you can use what you think will work best for the length you'll use them on. I like the foam because they are more comfortable to sleep in. I used about 10 curlers for her hair, but normally I use 12 (but somehow two were MIA until I was all done).

Start with dry hair--since I do this at night, and right after bath time, I have to dry their hair beforehand. When parting off sections for the curlers, part and roll in the direction the hair will lay after you take them out. Since I part her hair on the side usually, this is where I first part it, then work out from there. I only finger comb out the curls, so if I have the hair rolled in an odd direction, I can't do much to make it lay otherwise the next day. Hopefully you'll see what I mean as I go on.  

First section: This curler will be rolled under, and it will lay to the left, since that's how her part is.

I prefer rolling under, since any stray hairs will lay under, rather than up. The hair on the top of the head I first comb straight up, then place the curler where the first ends start showing up.

I then wrap the ends around the curler, and hold the very tips down with my thumb. This is when I start rolling, tucking those little ends under as I roll.

Smooth the ends in as you go, starting to angle the curler and wrap the hair like the pictures show. You continue from side to side, roll down to one side, then tilt to the other and roll in that direction. This helps the wrapped hair stay in tighter and more evenly.

And this is about where I finish on the piece. I like to leave a few inches of 'wiggle room', instead of rolled up next to her head. Since she'll be sleeping in the curlers, having it away from the head makes it more comfortable...and then she'll let me do it again.

I do two curlers down that side (her left) of the head, both laying this direction (north/south?). Also, see how the hair is combed down instead of up on this bottom piece? This will let you roll in the underneath pieces of her hair easily.

Wrapping around, holding hair directing down.

Starting back section--notice the direction I am now rolling the hair (east/west?). And the hair is not combed up or down, but straight out from the head.

Put as much hair in the curler as needed. The more curlers you have (and the smaller they are) the tighter the curls. It all depends on the length and thickness. Her hair is not super thick, but it's longer, so  these section sizes seem to work well. Also, if their hair has more body, the curls will grab more and hold throughout the day. If the hair is very straight, you might want more curlers. It all depends on what you want the finished look to be.

All rolled. Notice how the first curler on top in the back is not parted on one half, but centered. This will make the hair lay nice when taken out and not part to two sides. I followed that pattern straight down her head. (The curler just to the right of the top section is rolled the east/west direction, but just laying to the side.)

The next morning, right after I took out the rollers. Just unroll the curlers, avoiding pulling on the hair. 

After I finger comb through the curls. This gives you an idea of how curly it is from what I used, and how the partings from the curlers don't split her hair in the back.  Her hair is a little wavy on its own, so it comes out tight like this at first. By the end of the day, the curls are much looser and softer. This is where I spray the curls lightly with an aerosol hairspray.

Usually when I do curlers, I just pull back a small section of hair in the front, and clip in a bow to make it quick. BUT...I thought I'd do something else here, since the camera was out.  I parted the front into three sections, this one on the smaller side of her normal part. I sprayed it with hairspray and combed the first 4-5 inches up from her head, (not the curly ends-don't use a comb on those), to make it lay flat and smooth.

I began twisting, while pulling the hair toward her face, to make the base of the twist closer to her face.

Then I pulled the twist back, kind of wrapping around the base, and then securing with a bobby pin or clip.

Finished twists. 

I joined the twists into one pony.

They need to be anchored to the head at this point, so I used a flower barrette, grabbing hair from underneath the pony to secure it.

Finished back

And front view. I wish I had taken a pic when she came home from school this day. The flower was gone, the twist pony was laying to the side, and partly in her face, and her curls were much looser. That's what happens on the playground!

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!