Little Girl's Hairstyles: Kitchen Sink Hairdo 10-15 min

Hey ladies! How is the holiday madness going for everyone?  Why does this time of year just fly by so quickly?

Here's a bit of Shaunell's ramblings:

I was thinking last night that I just don't feel like I've done enough this year (as always). I don't think I've done enough to show my kids, and also for myself, what this wonderful season is all about. I always have high hopes about serving, giving, and teaching my kids the importance of being selfless, especially at this time of year. And, I just don't feel ever like I do enough. This is something that rings true for most moms I think, and not just at this time of year.

Our church leaders (I've included the link to the talks they gave if any of you would like to listen) this year have told us to prioritize, and not let our hectic schedule dictate what we do, but instead, to let the spirit of the season be our guide. I hope we can all follow this sound counsel, as I have made some goals to cut out some activities for the next week, and spend some quality time with my children and husband, and together we'll decide how to spend the rest of our time this season. I hope you can all do the same, if you are able!

Now that I've said my peace, here's a little hairdo we did a while back, that I called, "Everything but the kitchen sink". It's a melange of just everything!

 I parted off her hair in front into a side part, and put the larger side into one ponytail. running it into a second ponytail on the same side.

 I brought the smaller side of the part around to the back of the head, and combed all the rest of her hair, including the second-ponytail-side into a 3rd pony, leaving about 1/3 of her hair remaining down.

 I did a fish tail braid with the hair coming out of the 3rd ponytail, all the way to the ends. Next, I combed all the rest of her hair, along with the fish tail braid, into a 4th ponytail. With the hair remaining unbraided in this ponytail, I did a twist braid, down to the ends. We tied a ribbon around the base of the 4th ponytail, and voila!

 We love variety!

Little Girl's Hairstyles -Braiding Variety 10-15 min

We needed some variety in our braids today, so we tried a couple of different ones. I actually saw this idea on another fabulous hair blog......back in the day when I was avidly searching for new hairstyles to try out! I found this one on Girls Hairdos. In the meantime, please enjoy this one. We rather like it.

I parted her hair in the front on the side, and then down the middle in the back, like this. This helps keep the braids a little more even. Then I put her hair up in two high ponys. I did wet the ponys thoroughly and put a little Gen. Paul Mitchell gel in.

I split the hair into three even sections. I did a regular (backwards) braid on one section. Next I did a fish tail braid, stopping about a third of the way down, and put in an elastic (I was in a hurry!), and then put in another elastic another third of the way down, and finished fish tailing the last third of the braid.

For the last section, I did a twist braid. I have videos on how to do a twist braid and a fish tail braid, under my Video Tutorials.

I sprayed each braid topside and underside with hairspray, and stuck in some cute bows!!

Just a note: She got a lot of compliments this day when we were out and about!

Little Girl's Hairstyles -How to do a French Fish Tail Braid Video Tutorial

I've been asked how I do this braid quite often, and it was just too hard to explain using still pictures. Something else fun to try!

Little Girl's Hairstyles How to do a Fish Tail Braid Video Tutorial

Little Girl's Hairstyles -Criss cross braid with fish tail braid 20-30 min

This is the top view of what we did today.

I started with damp hair. I always say to use just wet hair, because I don't love putting a lot of product on my girls' hair, BUT, I neglected to mention that using a small amount of lightweight gel at this stage, when the hair will all be braided, or done tightly, can be handy in keeping the hair smooth, especially in little braids. I didn't use gel on this style, but it might have held the fish tails in better for longer.  You'll need 6 elastics, and maybe a clip.

First I made a center part; you'll only need to go as far back as her ears.

This shows the part farther back than you'll need to go.

Here you can see I only went to the ears, and then combed the rest of the hair back. Part off each side in equal sections, leaving room for four braids in the front.

To begin braid, comb hair forward toward face, and begin braid close to front. Since this only reaches to pony, I wanted to have more braid showing, rather than starting at the back or middle of section.

I like braiding backwards, or inside out--just my preference. You only need to braid just past where your back pony will be. Do 3 more braids in even sections in the front.

Next step is to part the back evenly into ponys. This is how I do it to get it even each time. Position comb in middle of her head on top (that's my daughter's hand holding the comb for me, my right one didn't shrink-- I had to hold the camera),

and with my left hand (or whichever) I place my thumb in the little dent in her neck, which is the middle of her head, (I lifted her hair to show you),

then bring the comb straight down to your thumb. Now here's where I ended up with missing pictures. They only showed how after this point, I comb the two sides away from each other, and spray with water, to keep them separate. You can clip off the other section, but that's just one more step to me, since I want it wet anyway. This way you can make sure your part is straight before you put it in ponys.

Next, after you part, comb hair up to high pony on one side, and take the bottom front braid on that side, and skip one, and take the next, so it looks like this. Lay braids flat and put in elastic. After you get the loose hair and braids secure, take out the small braids.

To start fish tail, comb hair and spray well. Divide into two equal sections.

Begin by taking small section of hair from right side, and bringing it across.

Repeat on other side. Each time you pick up a new piece, just incorporate into the new side--you don't have to keep the sections apart like in a reg. braid. Just make sure to try and get your new small pieces equal in size.

The trick with fish tails is to keep them tight, and the pieces even . I use my thumb in the middle to keep it pinched tightly.

Make sure to draw your pieces from the top of the underside hair, as I'm trying to show here.

This does take some time, so you can end the braid wherever you think it will look alright. I left her 3 or 4 inches on the end.

Back view. Spray tops and bottoms of braids with hairspray.

Front view. She's looking over at the TV, because Max and Ruby came on.  In case you couldn't tell, I park my girls in front of the tv to do their hair, and they are infinitely more cooperative and happy. Having a snack doesn't hurt either.