Growing up, my attempts at hairstyling were never worth a pat on the back. By the time I was in high school, I’d embraced the fact that my baby-fine hair just wasn’t able to do what everyone else’s could do.
But hairstyling is just like everything else. It just takes practice. It also takes finding what products work for you and your hair best. But that’s an article for another day.
What helped me get comfortable with mastering new hairstyles and actually making them look halfway decent had nothing to do with me; it happened when my daughter came along. As her wispy blonde hair began to grow, I got bored with the standard pigtails or ponytail on top of the head. Thankfully, my little one has always been cooperative, even since birth, and I began experimenting with the hair she had. At 25, I’d never figured out how to French braid, and even though I had little to work with on my daughter’s head at first, I soon figured it out. This led from one thing to another, and now I’m quite obsessed with putting her hair up in cute styles I find. Today, I’m going to share with you one of my favorites.
I love this one because it’s sweet, it’s girly, but it also has an elegant, old-fashioned look to it. See?
If you’re not familiar with doing hair, this may look intimidating; impossible even. I know. But it’s really not. Trust me, if I can do this, anyone can. If you are like I was and you really don’t know anything about styling hair, I’d suggest grabbing a kid (hopefully your own—I have no tips on explaining yourself out of grabbing someone else’s), your sister, or a friend, and just playing with their hair until you get the hang of a regular braid. Progress to figuring out how to do a French braid, then maybe a Dutch braid, and so on. From personal experience, that is the best way to learn. (My little sister runs from me now when I say, “Come here, I want to try something with your hair,” because of this).
For the style above, though, first, I split her hair down the middle, tying one side into a pigtail to keep it out of the way. Then, I braided a Dutch braid down the first side. (A Dutch braid is different from a French braid; it looks as if it’s sitting on top of the hair instead of woven into it. With a French braid, you braid three strands—one on top of the other—once, before taking strands from the rest of the head and adding to each of the original strands as you go. A Dutch braid is the same concept, but you braid the strands under one another instead).
With Dutch braids down both sides of her head, I then braided a regular braid the rest of the way down (think Laura Ingalls Wilder). After securing it with a clear rubber band, I left enough hanging at the bottom for the next step.
Gripping the very last braid in the hair—the area of hair just above the rubber band—you tug it at the sides, spreading out the slack all the way up to the very top of the head. This is a great tip for making your braids look fuller, which is why I always leave extra, loose hair at the end of my ties.
Next (and this looks much prettier with the last step), you simply fold the part of the braids that are hanging down at the base of the skull, pinning it into place with bobby pins. (On yourself, use regular bobby pins, but if you’re wanting to do this for a child, it would be wise to invest in kiddie bobby pins. I’ve come to find regular bobby pins aren’t usually effective in securing my daughter’s hair since it’s so fine).
I’m sure professional hairdressers could stop at this point and angels would sing and onlookers would “Ooh!” and “Aah!” as if a lost painting of Da Vinci had been unveiled, but in my case, I feel the bobby pins are distracting and there are still pieces of hair that I just can’t figure out how to hide. My solution? A big, pretty bow. No one sees the imperfections underneath anymore.
And it looks adorable. <3
Post pictures below if you’ve tried this hairstyle! I’d love to see them!
