We LOVE locs!

B and I (and Camera Guy of course) made a quick little video about one of the reasons I am jealous of her locs!  This isn't novel stuff but maybe you just never thought of doing it before.  Check it out:



Katie

Back to School 2011 - B's Hair

Nothing really new or impressive here, but I think it looks really cute and the best part of this kind of style on B is that it keeps the locs OUT OF HER FACE!  Kids- I'm telling ya!  Why on earth would you want to walk around and talk to people with hair hanging in your face????











All we did for this style was put in 7 cornrows from front to back:

 These cornrows on their own turned out pretty cute and we might do a variation on this for a style sometime, but it wasn't quite the look we were going for on a special day.

So, she washed her hair in the morning and I put in these rows.  She wore them all day and night and I took them out (half way) the next morning to get the wavy locs!

At the point where I stopped taking out the cornrows I used 2 of her locs to tie off the braids so they wouldn't unravel.  You can't even see them!  Then we added the pretty butterfly headband - EASY!

The style looked just as adorable on day two without the headband.  And as a bonus we didn't need to wrestle with her bangs to get them out of her face for soccer practice - we didn't even put in a ponytail, she just wore it like this and it was perfect!

Katie

The Fabulous Flexi-Clip!

This is exciting everyone!

Remember a few months ago when I posted about these awesome hair things I would LOVE to get my hands on - if only we had the spare cash for a frivolous purchase?

Well, I had written to one of the Lilla Rose distributors, the lovely Paula Ramm, to get permission to use their pictures on our blog.  Not only did she gladly grant that permission, but she asked if we could work together on a review and giveaway!  EEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!  That is my happy squeal!

It was a REALLY hard decision to pick out which Flexi-clip to get first, because they have a huge selection in each size.  I decided to go with an all silver one because even though the colorful ones are cute, I thought silver would be more versatile.  Than I watched the sizing video and I had a tough decision to make on size.  I was hoping to get one that Miss B and I could share.  So I chose a MEDIUM clip.

When our clip came in the mail I was SO excited!  I put it in B's hair right away!  A Medium is a great size for doing half up type of styles on her.  Her locs have gotten so beautifully thick that I can't quite get a whole half of them into the clip, but we can still do some really pretty, simple styles like this:

Oh my gosh!  Don't her locs just look gorgeous!  This would probably look a bit more elegant without the floss hair wraps, but it still looks very pretty.

I am very pleased with the quality of the clip.  It is super sturdy, easy to use, and fun!  

For my hair the medium is a bit too big.  Next time I might have to get myself a small.  The only way I can make it work in my hair is to pile all of my hair into a bun - as condensed as possible - and fix the clip over top.  Anything else I have tried to do, my hair is just not thick enough to hold the clip in.  But, when I do it this one way, the clip holds all day long, really well!

Hi, Steph here!! We also decided get a medium, but we went with the multi-colored one

(same as I used to do beaded styles on G...usually very colorful. G picks her own clothes and I gave up matching clothes to beads years ago LOL. I would be happy to see shirt match to pants most of the time!). G's locs are not as dense as B's, so we were able to get all her locs in a medium clip. It is super secure and SOOO pretty. I wore the same clip to work and got lots of compliments. On me, the medium fit all my hair but seemed a tiny bit loose. I think the small holds all my hair much tighter.

Paula recently had a free shipping sale so I ordered a small

and an extra small

after I had tried the medium. The extra small was great for a partial ponytail on G, and it stayed tight and secure over a few days without removing it....she even swam in it and it didn't budge an inch.

Here are all three in her hair so you can see the sizes. I think it's a bit of an optical illusion that the gold one (the small) looks the same as the multicolored one (the medium). I think it's due to my tall camera angle:

Notice in the second photo, the top clip - look how flexible it is! G was already wearing a partial ponytail in an elastic, and I put the extra small clip right over the elastic, so it had to really bend into a semicircle. It did this perfectly!

I have to mention one of the best features about these clips is that, unlike its predecessor, you remember, the leather patch with the holes in it and the stick that poked through (remember the 60's and 70's?), with the flexi-clip, the stick is ATTACHED to the clip. It CANNOT get lost. I didn't realize this until I got mine in the mail and I thought it was ingenious.

You will notice that Paula has also chosen to advertise on our blog!

If you love these clips as much as we do, we would love for you to show some love to Paula, click on her ad and order through her.  She has been great to work with, and in a few days we will be posting a giveaway that she has offered to sponsor. Hooray!

To check out Paula's Lilla Rose Website click here, or find her on facebook, or twitter.

I can't wait to get some more Flexi Clips!  I am going to get a small for me and someday a mini to do half up stuff on my hair.  I also want to get a large or extra large for B to try and hold up all of her locs!  I will post links to the sizing info with the giveaway so that you can get an idea on what you and your daughters might need!  They also have other really beautiful hair accessories that I would love to try out.  Check out the rest of the Lilla Rose products here.

Tidbit Tuesday

*UPDATE ADDED*
Did You Know??????


That after all of the great suggestions on what to do with B's Easter style, I loved the BIG flower idea so much I ended up putting flowers in ALL my girls hair!

I purchased all of the flowers at the Dollar Tree!  Nothing like keeping it cheap!  I didn't attach them to any kind of clips or anything, I just kept the stems long enough when I cut them from the bunch so that I could stick them into the hair.  They held just fine!
The only real change I made to B's style from the first one was that instead of 3 cornrows I only did two.  I had said that maybe I would split up the hair from the middle cornrow and add it to the two outside ones.  This probably would have made things really bulky so instead, I just took that middle section of hair and did NOTHING with it!  After I finished the two outside rows I brought all the hair from the braids and the center section together in one ponytail holder.  See original style and finished style:

Ok, now that I look at the pictures, I realize I had actually done french braids, not cornrows in the original style.  They both look nice.  And I parted the hair slightly different the second time around.  But I loved the outcome.  It was lovely.

I don't have a step by step for V's style this time either.  But it is pretty basic.  I guess I am into the low side ponytail, because I did it on both girls!  I had cornrows start at the front left of her head  - do a sort of squiggle pattern - and then end at the lower right side.  To do this I started with the middle cornrow to set my pattern and then just worked out to the sides.  I finished with a puff!

I didn't really take pics of Little E's hair.  It was just two cornrows, a typical style for her.  I added the 3 little yellow flowers at the back.  Originally I also had one flower in the front, but it looked weird, so I took it out!

And that was Easter hair for Katie's girls!

I also gave Young Man C a fresh line up.  He is growing out his hair right now, because he is convinced that if he grows it, I will braid it.  We'll see about that!  Have I told you the story of the last time he grew it out?  Anyway, it was a BUSY hair weekend for me, but ended with a beautiful Easter Sunday with family!  Maybe I will post some family pics tomorrow.

Katie

Suggestions?

Hello hair friends!  I have been thinking about what I would like to do with B's locs for Easter and thought maybe you all could help.  We don't get creative with her hair that often, so for special occasions I really like to do something different.

I started playing around last night and I almost like what I came up with.  I like how the two french braids on the outside look, but I am not sure about the addition of the third braid in the back:

I am thinking about trying to part the hair in the back so that it is only 2 braids.

I like how the bangs are just on one side in the front, but I think I might add a Soft Spike or two the night before and curl them!

Lastly, I need a good idea for finishing this style.  I love how the braids come together off to the left, but in my mind this would look awesome with a big bun there at the base of her neck.  Unfortunately, her hair just isn't that long yet!  I am trying to think of a way to maybe use yarn to make a fake bun, but I don't want it to be really obvious.  Hmmm......  Any ideas?

What are your plans for Easter Hair???

Katie

Happy Valentine's Day!

My apologies for the lack of posts lately.  Steph has been in the middle of a sudden move and I have just had so much going on.  Admittedly I also tend to suffer from a bit of Seasonal Depression that just leaves me a bit unmotivated and very tired.  Last week was SO COLD I was miserable!  But the temps went up yesterday and this morning I got to surprise my young loves with a special Valentine's breakfast and other treats, so it's a GOOD DAY!

Here is what I ended up doing with B's hair.  I have some other ideas about yarn and locs, but this was all I had time for.  And I LOVE it!  This was a two step process but a pretty quick one.  Yesterday I cornrowed the front of her locs with the sparkle pink yarn.  I braided them all the way to the ends so that they would be wavy when I took them out in the morning, but my plan was to only leave the top cornrowed.  Then I also threw some quick cornrows in the back to get waves back there too.  So these are the before pics:

Cornrowing locs is SO much faster than free hair so this was pretty simple for me to do.  Adding the yarn is easy...would anyone like me to make a video of how I do it?

This morning I just unbraided the ends of the cornrows and the back.  Then I trimmed off a bit of the yarn that was hanging longer than her locs.  Lastly I cut some small pieces of yarn and tied them around the braids where the cornrows ended to try to keep the cornrows from unraveling during the day.  (you could use hair ties, I just thought this would add even more sparkle!)

It turned out great, and looks even better in person than in the pics.

For V, I wanted to do a little something to spice up her style for her Valentine's Day Party at school since she has already been wearing this style for a week.  Her twist bangs were getting unruly so I put two quick cornrows up front.  I added beads to one side, and the other side I swept back with the rest of the cornrows and used a little bow barrette to hold it in place.  Then I took a white ribbon and tied up the ends of her ponytail.

Little E and I have a busy day of house cleaning today and we won't be leaving the house, so no special hair do's for us!

HAVE A HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!!

Katie

Knotted French Braids - TAKE TWO!

Remember how I said I would keep playing with the knotted french braid and give you an update?  I did, and I am.  I tried this style again on Little V when she was fresh out of the shower so her hair was a bit more wet.  This time I did a small braid on both sides of her head.  I think it came out slightly better than the first attempt.

First Attempt:

Second Attempt:

On the other hand, I am not sure it looks any "better,"  but I do like it with a braid on each side.  I am pretty sure that this is as good as it is going to get on Little E!

For more EXCITING results!  I am thrilled with what I figure out on Miss B and her locs!  So excited I had to make a video to demonstrate!  Remember with my first attempt how the braid, in my opinion, looked to thick and lopsided:

Problem solved!

I parted her hair down the middle this time so I wouldn't have to struggle with the lopsidedness, but do you see how less bulky the braids are?  And how nice they lay against her head?  The trick was that I skipped sections of her hair when I was picking up my next section to "knot" into the braid.  Kind of hard to explain, but simple to do.  That is why we filmed this quick video:

Katie