You know what no one told me when I had girls? With all their
warnings and knowing looks and opinions on whether girls or boys were
harder to raise…no one warned me about doing their hair.
I should have known this anyway. After all, I
am a girl. But
although I can knit really well and sew a tiny bit and I’ve made LEGO
minifig and Minecraft Halloween costumes out of nothing but a box…I
can’t do hair. Not mine, not anyone else’s. I make a mean ponytail and
that’s about it.
So I’ll be sharing a few simple holiday hairstyles over the next week or so. Little girl hairdos so easy, even I can do them.
This twist doesn’t take long at all, but it looks really good when
you’re finished. Good enough that I demanded a do-over of my brother’s
wedding, so I could redo the flower girls’ hair.
I thought I was being totally reasonable.
When you do this style, don’t skip the curling at the end. Curling
little girls’ hair is that one extra step that just makes it look
finished and special and festive.
Step 1: Starting with well-brushed hair that’s free
of tangles (I know…that might be the most challenging part!), part in
the middle. Beginning at one side, near the temple, start to twist hair
toward the back of the head, adding in more hair as you go.
Step 2: When you reach the back of the head, where
the part is, secure that half of the hair with bobby pins, and repeat
the process on the other side.
Step 3: Hold both sides in place with bobby pins. Hairspray to hold, and add more hairspray to the ends of hair before curling.
Step 4: Curl. To make ringlets, hold the curling
iron straight up and down and curl sideways. When hair is curled, slide
the curling iron straight down and out the bottom, leaving ringlets. You
can leave the ringlets untouched, or fluff with your fingers to loosen a
little. Add more hairspray to hold.
Step 5: When the hair is arranged the way you like
it, add a festive holiday hair clip (these are great because they also
hide bobby pins, or small mistakes you may have made) and you’re done!
A few tips on working with squirmy little girls:
-get all your supplies together ahead of time. Make sure the curling
iron is already heated. You don’t want to stop halfway through, order
her not to move, and go hunting for bobby pins or a hairbrush.
-have something for your daughter to do while you’re doing her hair
(that’s my girl, playing “Sorry!” above with Grandma). If she’s
distracted, she’s less likely to move around, and less likely to notice
if you accidentally tug her hair when you’re brushing it. Let her play
games on your phone for a few minutes, or read, or draw.
-practice beforehand. If you have an event where you know you want to
try a new hairstyle, don’t wait until 20 minutes before you leave to
try it for the first time. Do a run-through the day before. Besides, I’m
pretty sure kids sense when we’re racing to leave on-time — mine always
know exactly when to throw a fit and refuse to put on their shoes and
the last thing I want is to do their hair then, too.
