Easter Style

Syd's Easter style didn't quite go as I had expected. To start with, I had an updo in mind, but our weekend was so busy I didn't have the time I would need to do it. I came up with something else that wouldn't take much time and got started.

I removed her cornrow style from last week, added some Bee Mine Luscious Moisturizer, and gently detangled to remove shed hair. Then I immediately moved on to starting the new style. Luckily it had only been six days since her last wash, so it was ok to skip that step for the sake of time.

First I parted out a circular section in the front of her hair and tied it out of the way.

Then I parted the back section down the middle and added five cornrows on each side. I moved from the sides toward the middle part, following the curved part from the top section.

 

I forgot to take a picture of it but at this point, I put two strand twists in the rest of her hair - the front, back, and ends of the cornrows. Then I was done for the night. My plan was to pin it up Easter morning into a really neat updo that existed in my head.

This is where the Easter style went wrong for the second time. When we woke up Easter morning, we discovered that our little container of bobby pins is MIA (how does that happen?). So I had a style that was halfway complete, no pins to finish it, and no time before church to do something different. After a split second of minor panic, I decided to put the back part in a flat twist up the center of her head. I left 2 twists out in the front and pulled the rest of the front twists back to meet the top of the flat twist. I used an ouchless ponytail holder to secure all the hair on top of her head.

Then I told Syd we are just going to let her hair fall where it wants, so I let go of all the hair and hoped for the best. Luckily, her hair was in a cooperative mood and ended up looking pretty good, even though it looked nothing like either of the styles I had previously envisioned.

We decided to keep these twists and cornrows in for the coming week. We just pulled all the hair back this morning into a ponytail. And the few cornrows on the sides gives the ponytail a bit of personality. The result - one happy tween. :)

Sharing the Spotlight: Updo Bun by Dominique-Alexis

Dominique-Alexis from natural-hair-care-info.com sent in these pictures of a beautiful updo she did on her younger sister. The style consists of cornrows, box braids, and a bun. You can see in the first two pictures how she first styled the front and back of the hair before pulling it all up.

Dominique-Alexis shares this style on her website and you can get more details and instructions here. Be sure to check out the other gorgeous styles on her site, too!

Do you want to be featured on Sharing the Spotlight? Learn how by clicking on "Contribute" at the top of the page.

Box Braid Updo

Someone asked me last week if I had any updo ideas for tweens. Since Syd's hair is currently in box braids, my first instinct was to say that I would work on an updo style as soon as the braids come down. But then I had another thought. What about girls who are wearing braids when it comes time for a school dance or other formal event? Surely we can find a pretty style to do without having to remove the braids!

So I sat down with Syd and started experimenting. For some reason my mind almost immediately went back to this style that Katie did a few months ago over on Happy Girl Hair. I basically followed the same steps Katie described, but I used all of Syd's hair instead of just the top, and this is what I came up with.

Believe it or not, this was actually a pretty easy style. First, I took the top section of her hair and tied it in a knot like this:

Then I took the hair that was hanging down from the knot, added a bit of hair from each side and tied another knot like this:

I repeated that step two more times until all her hair had been incorporated. I added an ouchless band at the base of the bottom knot and then tucked all the remaining hair up under the knots and secured it with a couple hair pins. This style can easily be dressed up with some sparkly accessories or flowers.

I think I'll try this style again sometime in the future when her hair isn't in the braids. I'm interested in seeing how that would turn out!