Twisted or Braided in Headbands

For anyone interested, I posted a hair tutorial (two ways) over here that would be a great back to school look for your little girls. This is how we get our headbands to stay in!

Across the Back Tucked Under French Braid (no bobbi pins needed) Two ways!

I think that wins for longest title ever! So, it's been four months since I've posted anything on here and I'm not sure if there is still anyone out there, but I'm back so hopefully you can forgive me for being gone for so long.

OK, here is the deal with this braid. You've probably seen it before. I even mention in the video that I've been wearing it a lot lately, so there is a chance you might have even seen it on me before. However, a few weeks ago my husband and I had this fancy party to go to and we were also leaving town right after. So, after spending all day getting all the laundry washed and five suitcases packed up I did not have much time to get myself ready for the party. After a quick shower and some very fast make up maneuvers, I had about five minutes to do something with my hair. I didn't want to stoop to a ponytail, but didn't have time for much else so I through up this quick braid and suddenly had this idea how to finish it off. The end result looked like my hair had actually been "done." You and I are the only ones who know that is wasn't.

 

 

This is my first ever video tutorial so be kind!

 

 

And here are a few shots of my daughter's hair before she ran around and got it all messy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Linked up @ iheartnaptime.net and sugarbeecrafts.com

Hair Repair At Home

Some people suffer from over active sebaceous glands causing them to have oily skin and/or hair. In the winter months when my hair feels like straw and my skin is peeling I kind of envy those people. Nothing I do is going to change the way my body produces oil though, so I buy a huge container of moisturizing cream and try and give myself weekly conditioning treatments.

Whenever other people ask me about dry hair I usually tell them to invest in a good leave in conditioner and buy some protein packets from Sally's Beauty supply. I still stand by these two suggestions, but there has always been something that bothers me about these store bought moisture treatments. If you look at the ingredient list, the first ingredient will always be water, and 99.9% of the time the second ingredient will be alcohol.

Does this seem a little contradictory to any one else? How can we moisturize our hair when we are lathering it up with alcohol?

The only company I've ever heard of (I'm sure that there are others and I just don't know about them) that uses all natural products and no alcohol is Pureology. I love their products and highly recommend them to everyone. However, they are a bit pricey and not always available where other professional products are sold.

So, in the spirit of all natural hair care products I started thinking about how I could make my own. This is not a new concept by any means. People have been doing this forever, but it was something that I had never done. I searched the Internet for at home hair mask recipes and came up with an astounding number of results. There are tons of different recipes out there, but they all centered on the same basic ingredients. All of which you probably have in your house right now.

Bananas

Avocados

Honey

Eggs

Another key ingredient is some sort of oil. Olive and coconut would be my top recommendations, but you could also use almond.

Coconut oil is my personal favorite because it smells so good and it is also great for your skin. I did have to order it over the Internet, but it was not expensive at all. I got mine here.

So, here are the two hair masks that I came up with, but you can really use these few ingredients in any way you want. No combination of them is going to be bad for your hair.

Avocado Mask (Looks and smells horrible, but works great!)

1 very ripe avocado

2 tsp of honey

1 Tbs olive oil

Mix all ingredients in a blender until smooth and apply to slightly damp hair. Leave on for 30 min and shampoo as usual. (This might be a good time for lather, rinse, and repeat)

Banana Mask

1 very ripe banana

1 egg

2 tsp honey

2 Tbs coconut oil

2-3 drops orange oil- optional

Mix all ingredients in a blender until smooth and apply to slightly damp hair. Leave in for 30 minutes and shampoo as usual. (I would again recommend shampooing twice as you don't want food particles drying in your hair)

Those were my two favorites, but you could also whip up a few eggs as a straight protein treatment. You could soften a chunk of coconut oil and apply that directly to your hair for moisture or add just the honey for shine.

Have fun experimenting with these. I sure did.

Linked up to I Heart Naptime, Just A Girl, Flamingo Toes, and Passionately Artistic.

Basic Hair Rope

For me, this hair style is as basic as a braid. And I'm pretty sure my mom taught me how to do it right after she taught me how to braid. I kind of assumed that everyone knew how to do a rope, until last week when I was talking to a friend. I had done my daughter's hair for church in THIS cute Valentines day hair style and she was telling me how she thought twisted hair was really cute, but it always came untwisted. So, I shared with her this quick little trick and it got me thinking. Remember when you were in school and the teachers would say "if you have a question, then most likely someone else has the same question." Well, even though a lot of you may already know how to do a rope, there are probably others like my friend who have never seen it done, so I'm going to give you the very basic how to...

I started this morning with a simple hair wrapped pony tail. The best idea ever, for doing a wrapped pony tail is also HERE.

Next, divide the hair into two sections and twist them both in the same direction. I always twist mine to the right.

After that, twist your two sections together in the opposite direction. Sorry about the blurry picture. That's what you get when your photographer is a six year old using a camera phone!

Tie it off at the end and your done. Basic and simple, but can be used in so many ways. I've actually tried doing a french rope before and it can be done, but it's pretty tricky. If I can ever get the technique simplified I'll post a video of it.

Washing your hair???

This morning I had two different women come over for hair cuts. It was the first time I had cut either one of their hair so they both had the same question. Should I come with wet hair or will you wash it there? Now, most of the time, I love doing hair out of my house, but when it comes to washing hair, there's just no comfortable, easy way to wash someones hair out in your kitchen sink. In the summer, I have no problem saying it's probably best if you come with it wet, however, in the winter I don't really advise walking around with icicles hanging from your head. That leaves two choices, lean over my sink, or come with it clean but dry and I can spray it down with a water bottle.

One of the women opted to lean over my sink, the other one decided to go the icicle route. Both of them however made similar comments about how they didn't want to wash their hair, but it was just too hard to not take a shower.

In my world, those two things don't go together. At least not everyday.

So, here is the age old question...How often should I wash my hair?

You can google this very question and get a hundred different articles and blog posts giving you a hundred different answers. Some long and complicated, some short and simple.

Here is my un-complicated answer...When it's dirty!

Now the question of when it's dirty is a whole other discussion. It's different for everyone.

A lot of people wash their hair everyday because they say it gets too oily if they don't, but washing it everyday can actually increase the amount of oil your scalp produces. And by the way, that oil your scalp produces is actually a good thing. It coats and protects your hair and skin. The only thing bad about it is that it's socially unacceptable to walk around looking like your haven't showered in a month.

If your prone to oily hair and are nervous about switching to say an every other day washing routine, try just rinsing in the shower one day and washing it the next.

And if you have really dry hair like I do, you really will be doing yourself a favor by washing only twice a week. Allow those good protective oils to make their way down to the ends of your hair. You could also rinse one day if it makes you feel better, just make sure to condition the ends.

And if your one of those people who washes their hair every day just because you like that fresh clean smell, just buy a little bottle of body spray and give your hair a spritz or two when your done styling it.

And since were talking about hair, can I just tell you that I have severe hair envy! Every time I watch one of Amand Seyfried's movies, all I can seriously think about is how much I want her hair!

I know I shouldn't covet, but look at her hair. It's kind of hard not too. Ya, that had nothing to do with my post but I just had to throw that in there.

OK, just like with anything pertaining to hair, you are the best expert! You may have to experiment a little bit, but ultimately I think You'll come up with the best routine for your hair.

Bangs And Something Else...Maybe

About a year ago I did a guest post over at Bloom on how to cut your own bangs. While a good number of you have already read that post, there may be a few who never saw it so I'm going to direct you attention over Here for just a few minutes. I'm doing this for two reasons. 1) knowing how to properly cut your own bangs is a good skill to have, and 2) I'm actually stalling. See, I had something really fun to share today but my camera has been on the fritz for the last couple of weeks and now it's pretty much just fritzed, which makes me incredibly angry because it's not that old. So, I'm going to keep working on it, because sometimes after ten minutes of trying I can actually get it to take one picture, but my surprise may have to wait. I hope not for too long, so check back later.

*Update* The camera cannot be brought back to life (cry) Taking it to the Dr. this week for open motor sugery. Hopefully a fun surprise next week!

Hair today gone tomorrow

OK I know that's a really cheesy title, but it was either that or "Things to consider when getting a hair cut" and that just seemed to boring.

Alright moving on...I've been growing out my hair for a couple years now, but I haven't really been taking great care of it along the way. Not enough regular trimming of damaged ends, waaay to much coloring, and probably a little too much heat styling also. On Saturday I was deciding whether or not to touch up my color so I got really close to the mirror and started examining my hair. To my horror I had about 2 inches of hair that was so brittle and damaged it was beyond repair, and another inch that wasn't far behind. So, I locked my self in the bathroom for almost an hour and came out feeling much lighter.

Now I'm not going to recommend that any of you go and chop off your own hair, mainly because it would probably end in disaster and tears, but also because getting a hair cut should take some thought and preparation. I'll tell you why in just a second, but first I'm going to plug in this little thought...

Getting regular trims are a MUST! Especially if you are growing out your hair. A lot of people think this is counter productive, but really your saving yourself from doing exactly what I did. Not by yourself though. On average, a persons hair grows a half an inch per month, so if your going in every 6-8 weeks and trimming off say 1/4 of an inch than it's still getting longer and it will be nice and healthy and won't be breaking off every time you brush it. It may take a little bit longer to grow out but the end result will be worth it.

Now, having said that, there are a few things to think about and do before and while you sit down in the stylist's chair.

• How much time are you willing to spend on styling? Really long or super short cuts usually require the least amount of styling time (unless your curling long hair) Chin length to the shoulders is usually what we consider "having a style" and takes a little more time.


• Take some time to look through pictures and get an idea of what you want and bring those pictures with you. I can't tell you how frustrating it is to have someone sit down and say "I want something new, I just don't know what." It's not that I'm incapable of thinking up a new hairstyle, it's just that you've now added on an extra 10 minutes of conversation time before I can start cutting.


• Be realistic! Just because you get the same haircut as a person in a picture, does not mean you are suddenly going to look like that person. If your hair is a different color and texture than it may look quite a bit different. It's a good idea to put your finger over the face and ask yourself if you still like the hair style.


• Use your hands when describing things. If you want 2 inches off, show the stylist what 2 inches looks like to you. And "just a trim" does not mean the same thing to everyone


• Consider the shape of your face. If you have a round face than a chin length bob is probably not the best choice.


• Finally, it's important to trust your stylist, but also trust yourself. You know your hair better than anyone. Don't be afraid to speak up!

Alright I think that's it. Maybe. I'll let you know if I think of anything else that is earth shatteringly important.

I'm curious though, has anyone ever had a disastrous hair experience? I have. Right before I left for college. I asked for "just a trim with just a little more off this time" and what I got left me in tears. I think I said something dramatic like "no boys are ever going to date me now!" and then I met my husband a week later. So I guess it wasn't so horrible that I was left un-datable. Although even my Mom said it was bad so in my book that means it was awful.

Fabric Flower Tutorial

I want to start with a big thanks to my awesome sis-in-law Alicia for teaching this to me. And for letting me share it with you.

I should have put the picture of the end result right here to start with so you would know what I was talking about, but I didn't. So now you'll either have to skip to the end and come back or just wait for the final product with full anticipation!

This is a tutorial for making fabric flowers.

You will need:

Fabric (amount varies depending on the size of your flower)
Scissors
20"-24" of string
Sewing needle
Hot glue
Button
Felt
Hair clip or pin

1. Start by folding your piece of fabric in half. (Mine was a rectangle shape so I folded it in half width wise to start. )

2. Fold again. (This time I went length wise)

3. And once more! (Again length wise)

4. Check your fabric. You should have 8 layers. Now find something you can use to trace a circle onto your fabric. It can be as big or as small as you want. As a guideline: your final flower will be the size of your original circle.

5. Cut out your circle doing all 8 layers at once.

6. You should end up with 8 circles all the same size.

7. Now string your needle so that you have two even layers of string hanging down and do not tie a not at the end.

8. Okay, now we are ready to start the petals. Take one of your circles and fold it in half (pattern side out).

9. Fold in half again.

10. And fold again. I know! A lot of folding, right? (see steps 1-3)

11. Now, pick up your little triangle and pinch it in your fingers on the raw edges, like this:

12. Okay, this next part isn't complicated so long as I can explain in a way that makes sense. Just look at the picture if my words get you too confused!

Take one side of your flower and fold it back until it matches up evenly with the bottom.

13. Take the other side and fold it forward until it matches up evenly with the bottom. Hopefully it now looks something like a petal.

14. Push your needle through all the layers of the petal about 1/8" out from the raw ends and slide down onto your string.

Repeat steps 8-14 with each of your eight fabric circles.

15. When you've got all of your petals on the string, tie the ends together as tightly as you can. You may need to use your teeth (as I did) or use an extra set of hands (probably the easier choice). Trim off the extra string so there isn't any showing.

16. Finish off your flower by adding gluing on a button. You can use a button cover kit to make a fabric covered button to match or use a coordinating plastic or metal button. Just don't use one with big holes. You don't want your raw ends showing. Now your flower should look like this:

17. To make a pin or for use on a craft skip to 18. To make a hair clip it is suggested that you open the clip up and glue down the top part with a piece of felt over it (therefore gluing the felt and clip to the flower at the same time). The felt will help it stay in the hair better.

18. To make a pin or use on a craft glue a small square of felt to the center of the underneath side of your flower to cover the raw ends. Now you can either glue a pin to the felt or glue your flower directly to your craft project.

I made my first one in 30 minutes. And if I had used Chris's extra hands for tying off my string I could have probably done it in 25. Like I said, easy and fast. And oh-so-cute!

If anyone decides to use one on a craft I would love to see a picture! Email it to askthebestme at gmail dot com.

Cookie Cutter Ornaments, and a little Fabulous Friday

A couple years ago when I was realizing how incredibly bare our Christmas tree was, I came up with a fun kid friendly craft project to add some sparkle to our tree. At the time, our oldest daughter was the only one I trusted to be in control of the glitter, so this year I decided to try it again but let all three of our kids in on the fun. And it was a lot of fun, but I must warn you. Glitter is glitter is glitter, no matter what you do, that stuff gets everywhere. At least it's pretty though right?




I'm guessing that most of you could figure this out on your own just from the title, but just because I want to, I'm going to walk you through it a little.

First off is what you will need...

cookie cutters (mine were plastic, and I got a bag of six for a buck at the dollar store)
white glue (I used mod podge, but I'm sure Elmer's glue would work too)
Glitter
Clear sealant (I used Krylon clear finishing spray. It was right next to the glitter)
string or ribbon for hanging

Optional...
Beads
collapsible eye beading needles (If your going to use beads, these are not optional, they are a must)

Let me pause for a minute to tell you about these wonderful beading needles. I didn't even know they existed until Thanksgiving weekend when my Mom found them for me at Micheal's. They were only a couple dollars, and if you plan on making any ribbon necklaces in the future, don't follow these instructions I gave for a makeshift needle, just use one of these. They work wonderful!

OK, back to the ornaments. First up is to cover your table in newspaper! Then give your kids a paint brush and let them go to work on their ornaments. It works best to do this in stages though so that one side has time to dry and then you can flip it over and do the other side. We did the front and inside first.


Next, and this is very important, (I learned this the hard way) if your glitter doesn't have a shaky thing on top, don't just let your kids dump the glitter on the ornament, it will end up in every crevice of your house and their bodies. Pour the glitter into a sandwich bag, and glitter your ornaments shake and bake style, only shake gently. You may have to touch up a few of the edges, but believe me, that's a whole lot cleaner than doing it all by hand.

Set the cookie cutters on the newspaper to dry and spray on a light coat of clear finish. You can skip the clear finish if you really want to, but you'll be finding a lot more glitter around your house if you do. Let the whole thing dry and do the other side.

At this point you can tie on some ribbon and be done, which is what we did the first time, but this year I wanted to make them a little more fun so we added on some beads.

I wanted to use some really skinny white ribbon, but Michigan seems to be experiencing a skinny white ribbon shortage right now, so I had to settle for white beading string.

The first step here is to just cut a long piece of string. You can cut off the excess when your done. Then, loop it around the ornament and tie a knot. If your using large beads, you will need a pretty big knot. In the end, I ended up doing two small beads and one larger bead in the middle, so I went back a re-tied a smaller knot than this.

Next, get out that awesome beading needle and thread your string through it. String on your beads.

Finally, give yourself whatever size loop you want for hanging, and tie another knot on top. And, it's never a bad idea to add a drop of super glue to the knot.

Now, just let your excited kids, who have been waiting forever for these to be finished, hang up their special ornaments.

What's fun, is that every day now since we made these, I've heard my kids tell each other "hey look, I found my ornament!"

Since our cookie cutters came from the dollar store, were not 100% sure what all of them are supposed to be, but we think this is a snowman.

And I'm still not sure if this is supposed to be an angel, or just a ginger bread woman. We made her into an angel though.

OK, enough pictures of sparkly cookie cutters. Here is my very short Fabulous Friday tip.

It's winter, which means we've got a lot of this flying around!

It's the most frustrating on Sundays when I've spent so much time torturing them, I mean fixing their hair, and then we get to church, they take their coats off and you can literally see the sparks jumping from their coats to their hair.

The quick fix to this is simply rub some lotion on your hands, and then right before it's all the way rubbed in, run your hands through their hair. Or your own. Mine isn't much better right now.

PS. If you need more fun Holiday ideas, check out this party and this party that I linked up to!