The Multi-Purpose/Swimming 'Do

My Princess has long hair. Not especially thick, but it grows like crazy. We cut almost 8 inches in February and now it's back to almost at her waist. Windy days and trip to the pool. . . and of course summer lake swimming demanded a cute 'do that would keep her hair under control!

We ended up with this style more often than not the whole summer and have used it for fall trips to the pool as well!

The night before do's

It's been a little while since I last posted - I've been having some health issues, but frankly I need to get something together because my children were looking like little rag dolls! Their daddy got them ready for school yesterday - they didn't even meet a hairbrush in the morning!

I've been extra tired but I had the girls take a bath last night and prepped their hair so I had VERY LITTLE to do this morning. After baths last night, I parted my little princesses hair into the hair headband, then I divided the rest with the zigzag part. I put the hair in pony tails and I wrapped them around my finger and made them each into a giant pin curl. It took a lot of bobby pins. I secured the hair headband with another set of bobby pins and put her to bed.
This morning, I wet down the hair headband and added gel. I smoothed it down and secured it behind her head. It looked like a little ponytail sticking out. Then I made some loose messy buns. They looked cute with the large curls in them. Then I tucked the little ponytail from the headband up into one of the messy buns.

Honestly, it wasn't perfect, but I'm talking 7 minutes tops here - and compared to yesterday, she looked like a million bucks!

Little Bird still hates having her hair done, but I needed her to look better than she has lately.

After her bath I put in five small french braids on a diagonal part and used clips to secure them. I knew they wouldn't be super neat the next morning, but it actually wasn't too bad.

I took the ends of each braid and bobby pinned them into pin curls. Then I sort of twisted the rest of her hair into two pony tail bun like things (I KNOW, so technical!) so that it would have a little wave in it.

I think Little Bird's hair looked fantastic from the back, but wasn't quite as neat as I'd like it in front . . . but then again, she looked SO much better than the poor waif she had been looking like!

Monday Morning

My Goal for the Week - How many days can I reuse/recycle the hairstyle ?!?!

First let me begin by sharing with you that #1 I am new to the hair obsessed club and still learning from my "Hair Heroes" and #2 I am a working mom (who by the way is NOT a morning person!!!)

The Princess

My 6 year old is happy to sit for me as long as I made her hair pretty. She loves all things pink and sparkly.

Category: Overnight Prep Hairstyle
Time: 20+ minutes night before, 5-7 minutes in the morning

I'll begin with Princess's hair today: I had a vague idea in my head and was pleasantly pleased with the end results!


I began after her bath last night:

I put gel in her hair and I sectioned off several small sections along the front and made twist braids on each.

She looks a little spider like here don'tchathink?



I loosely twisted all the hair and put it in a pony tail/bun for the night. It was pretty wet. The first picture was from last night and the next from this morning after she slept on it.




Princess's hair was still a little damp this morning when I took it out of the ponytail. So after I took it out I dried it some more using the diffuser. I didn't even brush the ends of her hair. The curls were quite nice after I dried them.

Then I pulled her hair - minus the twist braids - into a pony tail securing with a pony tail holder.

Then I added in the twist braids and added another pony tail. You can see the two different colors of pony tails I used. Then I attached a bow. I actually attached it to the pony tail holder so as not to show. Next time I'll use smaller or hair colored pony tail holders.



I'm thrilled with how it turned out. I'm especially happy with the overnight twist that resulted in curls. BONUS!I can't wait to see how I can recycle this style tomorrow morning. . .

Little Bird

This is my older daughter, age 9. She is a sport girl who occasionally tolerates me doing something with her hair.

Category: Overnight Prep Hairstyle
Time: 20+ minutes night before, 5-7 minutes in the morning

This is my version of a "It's A Girl Thing" post from September, 9. I made 4 little messy buns because Little Bird's hair is pretty short. I also would have liked to flat iron all of her hair but my grumpy girl was actually growling at me this morning so after I finished the messy buns I called it DONE!

I began last night after bath time. I put gel in Little Bird's hair. Then I did a diagonal part and made 6 pony tails on each side.

I made all the pony tails with red elastics and then used green to show where I attached the twisted pony to the next pony. It's hard to tell, but I twisted each pony to keep the short hairs under control.
The second picture shows the weaves a little better.


Last night I did some messy buns just to see what they'd look like.

They were very messy Messy Buns.

I did not do, perhaps, the best job explaining this style. Post any questions or visit "It's A Girl Thing" for great step by steps.


I'm looking forward to trying something next tomorrow with the back as I'm going to leave in the elastics as long as I can this week.