A Blast From the Past

Last Friday I took out V's current style.  I knew that I did not want to put in her new style until Sunday so we needed what I call a "temporary style."  I often do this in between styles, and the temporary style can be left in anywhere from overnight to a whole week.  It mostly depends on my schedule. 

When I was choosing this weekends temporary style I decided to bring back one of my old reliable hair styles.  When I say old, I mean, before my cornrowing days!  Did you know that when I brought my kids home from Liberia I had not even once thought about their hair needs or how I was going to care for it.  Ok, well maybe once.  While in Liberia I asked the foster mothers to show me how to cornrow.  All the little girls in the foster home wore their hair in cornrows or some form of box braids and they were all so CUTE!  Guess what?  The foster mothers LAUGHED at me!  Then proceeded to sit me down and show me how they cornrowed B's hair (show, not explain) and then said, "Now you try!"  Well, that led to more laughter since I didn't have a clue what I was doing and they were making me very nervous.  So I pushed the idea of cornrowing temporarily out of my mind.  When we left Liberia the foster mothers had B's hair looking like this:

I thought this was SO beautiful!  I had dreams of one day being able to do such wonderful things with my precious daughters' hair!  But after the episode with the foster mothers, I didn't have high hopes.  Well, I think you all know where this is going.  Less than a year later I did this:

I can't tell you how proud I was of myself that day!  I have often wondered what the foster mothers would say if they could see my girls and their braids now.  Anyway, back to when we first brought our kids home.  I was so wrapped up in learning how to be a mom (and to 3 kids at once!) that I really didn't give their hair a great deal of thought the first month or two.  For V this wasn't too much of a problem.  She had pretty short hair and even though her little afro could have been a little better maintained, she was still looking pretty adorable!

But B on the other hand, her hair was a bit longer and it often looked like a terrible mess!  This first picture is right after the girls had a bath, so it looks cute.  But the other picture, well, it speaks for itself!   By the way, this is back when B was very much into pink, princesses, and anything girly!

Yeah, B's hair could have been better, but I was trying.  It often looked something like this:

Every hairstyle was pretty much some variation of large sections with either braids or twists coming out of it and ended with a barrette.  And then I found the hair group!  I was instantly inspired by all the pictures, and even before I figured out cornrows the girls hair saw GREAT improvement!  This was V's first real hairstyle:

Poor Baby had to deal with ring worm when she first came home and she had a big bald spot in the back of her head!  Looks like I might have had these puffs pulled a little tight! Hard telling with my girls, they almost NEVER complain about their hair bothering them!

Now, after all of that, I have to get back to my original point.  Sorry for the rabbit trail!  You know when I said B's hair was pretty much always just big sections with one braid coming out of it.  Well, one of my favorite ways to part her hair was what I would call the "pizza" pattern.  Some people might call it a "star" pattern too.  I found this pattern to be easy and cute.  I would just divide her head into four quarters and then divide each of the quarters in half again.  I don't have any really great pictures of it, but I found one:

You can see here that her hair was still too short to fit up into those high pony holders so I would just leave some out at the bottom.  As you will see, this is the style that I decided to bring back from our past for V's "temporary" style this weekend!  Even this old style looks better when I do it now!  Let this be an encouragement to you new moms out there!  With time, practice and longer, healthier hair....you will see great improvements in your skill level!  And your kiddos will thank you!  

*note:  Now go back and look at those scary pics of V's first hairstyle with her sparse hair in the back!  You would never guess it to look at her now!  

*note #2:  Did you notice how V's hair accessories match SO perfectly with her outfit!  Come on, admit it, you all LOVE to match your little girls accessories to her clothing!  

Come back soon because I am going to be posting V's finished hairstyle in another day or two!

Katie