So cute it will make your hair CURL!

Or corkscrew curls.



First, I need to apologize for my lack of posting. There is a reason they call them the dog days of summer. In my house we lie around lazy like dogs...which results in simple and basic hair styles which I am compiling...but it will take all of one post. Today I was feeling much more ambitious however and did something that has become a favorite in our home.



This post is for those of us who have daughters with straight hair or even wavy hair. I covet curly hair. COVET IT! However, the genetic make-up of my daughters fell short in the hair department when it came to curls. I have accepted this...but only because God made curling irons. Today we curl.





See this stuff? My favorite. I LOVE this stuff. When I curl my daughters hair, it makes the curls so soft, but they hold their shape. LOVE IT!






Start out with dry hair. Her hair was in French braids yesterday, and since I only wash their hair every other day, it has some funky waves going on.

Add your curl sculpting gel.

Then I take and curl the ends with my flat-iron or curling iron. Today it was a flat iron because the curling iron wasn't hot yet and my flat iron is hot in 30 seconds. Dumb curling iron.

I took a section of her hair and pulled it straight up. Then I put the curling iron right at the base of her hair. I apologize for this picture. Amelia was holding the curling iron as I was taking pictures. This is why I don't believe in full-blown evolution folks. Moms would have eight arms. And my curling iron is totally dirty. I have better things to do than to clean my curling irons. I'm keeping it real girls.

I digress. With the curling iron at the base of the hair, wrap the hair around the curling iron. My curling iron is 1/2 inch.

Like so. I don't worry about it wrapping around smooth or twisting as you wrap it. In fact, it makes the curls more twisty. The heat is what you want here. Hold it on the end. Note that the longer you hold the hair on the curling iron, the bouncier (is that a word?) the curl will be. I held these each for about 25 seconds.

Then I let go. Now the reason that I curled the ends prior to these is because I am not adding these curls to the entire head of hair. I don't have that kind of time.

But I do add some more...

...and a few more.

Then I let them cool. In this case I came downstairs and ate a Hershey's Kiss, then I went upstairs and finger combed her hair from underneath to separate the curls.

Then I scrunched them and sprayed them. You don't have to separate them. I will show you a picture of them not separated. It is cute either way.

Then I finished the front.

HA!!! Gotcha. Do you really think I would let her out of the house like that? Not that we are going anywhere.

So we added a clip.

Oh, and as a side note. Notice those baby bangs? A couple of weeks ago, she asked me if we could cut them off. I told her no. Her dad and I both had them until we hit puberty. If we cut them, the ones underneath would look silly. A couple of days later, I was pulling her hair into a ponytail, and I had these little pokey up hairs everywhere. She WHACKED THEM OFF! Here is a lesson to me. Don't discount that because she is almost 8 that you made it through her entire childhood without cutting her hair. It doesn't work that way.

This is what it looks like not separated.

The End.

Piggies and Curls

Miss Monkeypants came to play yesterday. It was early enough that her mommy hadn't done her hair yet. So of course I took it upon myself to do her hair (like you couldn't have guessed that).

I wet her hair down and parted it on the side where her normal part is.

Then I sectioned off part of each side and made four little ponytails on top.

On each ponytail I tied a ribbon.

And then I played with those curls.

I separated each one and pulled them apart because I wanted to see how curly I could make her hair.

It was so much fun!

Three Water Spouts

I have a new favorite product. Garnier Bold It Power Putty! It makes pulling my Spunky's wisps away from her face SO much easier.

I should buy stock.


I sprayed the front of her hair lightly and pulled some of this stuff through. A little goes a LONG way...so don't use too much.

Then I parted her hair and pulled it into three ponytails...that I affectionately call "Water Spouts" on curly haired children.

Then I made my Spunky's hair curly by slowly pulling the flat iron through. It took all of three minutes.

I put pre-made bows on each ponytail. Voila!

Yes, that is a temporary tatto on her face...courtsey of Grandma.

Curls and Cowlicks

A couple of nights ago, my niece came over to play while her mom and dad took care of some preparations for her birthday party. I told asked my sister if I could play with her hair. I planned on doing a couple of styles. My niece wasn't having any of it. So, I told myself the same thing I tell my children. "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit".

Some essentials I keep on hand that worked BEAUTIFULLY with her curls and cowlicks.

First I wet her hair. I combed the Infusium 23 through her hair and then rubbed a nickel sized dollop of the cream gel through her hair.

Then I scrunched.

You can't see it very well in the picture, but she has three cowlicks on the back of her head. Her hair is SUPER thick up top and one time my sister and I jokingly (but lovingly) said she had Kramer hair. It was only because of those cowlicks. There are several things I have learned about cowlicks. You can try to tame them, or you can go with them. To tame them, you comb them in the opposite direction that they go. Eventually the hair gets heavy enough that they will lay flat. My spunky has a prominent cowlick on the right side of her head, but the hair on the front of her head grows towards the left. I part her hair on the left side of her head and the cowlick is hardly noticeable. The princess however has one on the right side of her crown. Her hair grows to the left, so we part her hair right through her cowlick.

I went with my nieces.

The fun thing about her cowlicks is that they gave her some fun body. As if the curls weren't enough.

She has fun hair.

I pulled a little bit of her hair from the front and put it in a little side ponytail and secured it with an elastic. Then I just put one of my daughter's pre-made bows right under the elastic. I love it when natural curls frame a child's face. There is something so vintage-y and wonderful about those curls. I am always sad when I see curls pulled up. What a waste of something so pretty. I understand the need, but the green monster in my gets sad just the same.

I let her curls air dry. As she was playing, I would go up behind her and scrunch them. She got to the point where she would swat me away.

And that girl is busy. I chased her all over my upstairs and finally cornered her in between the bathtub and the toilet to get her hair.

Even with the toilet in the picture, you can still see how swishy and swirly and lovely her curls are.

And I think it only prudent to tell you, as I look at her picture, I am breaking a commandment...for I am coveting.

Sigh.

Spring Scarf

Pull hair into a lose, temporary ponytail.

Take a triangle of fabric, or a pre-made hair scarf.

Wrap it around the base of the hair and tie it where the hair meets her neck.

Pull the ponytail out.

Either curl the hair or smooth it out straight.

If you choose to leave parts of the hair down, do that before you put the scarf on.

Spray and be done!

Short and Swirly with a French Braid

Take the top of the hair and section it into a square.

French Braid the hair to the crown.

Secure with an elastic.

Curl all of the ends with a flat-iron or a curling iron.

Spray the hair.

Add ribbon.

Knot with Curls

I pulled the top half of her hair smooth and then did a knot. I curled the ends with the flat iron.

Channeling Our Inner Shirley

In my world, ringlets are synonomous with Shirley Temple or Nellie Oleson. Since Nellie doesn't evoke warm fuzzies, we are channeling Shirley today.

This past week both of my girls have wanted ringlets. When I do ringlets I still use my trusty flat-iron (love that thing). Instead of pulling it through fast like it says to in the demo, I run the hair through slow and make sure I keep the hair wrapped around the flat iron.


Spunky designed this hair do. I had to do the top part FOUR times to get it to her specifications.

Here is my "dirty" little secret. I only wash their hair every other day. The previous day she had a French Braid on the top of her hair. She left it in and the next morning she had waves up top but not on the bottom. So we worked with it and curled the ends. It was fun to have so much body to work with on the top.

Tiny Pony meets Curly Sue

These soft and swishy curls were created with a flat iron. I love using the flat iron! It takes about 1/3 less time than a curling iron and WAY less time than sponge rollers. I love the curl they leave much better than the alternates.