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.

Hair Wrapping with Embroidery Floss

Oh you guys - I am so excited about this!

It is EASY, EASY, EASY!  I have seen this done since I was a kid, but somehow I never knew that it was so simple to do.  I am even more excited to tell you that it is even EASIER to do on locs than on straight or loose hair because you can skip the first few steps of the process!  Just look how cute this looks with B's locs!

Not only is it easy, but it requires very few materials, is inexpensive and doesn't take too long to do!  It doesn't get much better than that!  This technique can be done on ANY hair type and on just about any length of hair.  As long as the hair is long enough to get a braid in, you can do this.

Little E - Little Braid

Cousin G

We wrapped V's box braid!

I have to give a shout out to our special guest, my niece, who helped us out with this video - Thanks G!  And Thanks to my sister who filled in as Camera Girl too!  I also can't neglect to give credit where it is due.  A friend of mine posted the written instructions for hair wrapping earlier this week on her cute blog, Practical Praise, and now I am obsessed!

The video explains it all.  So enjoy!



If you try this - PLEASE send us your pics or put them on our facebook page!!!!

Katie

Tidbit Tuesday

DID YOU KNOW???????

That July is B's Locaversary!  Yes, ALL of July, because it took me that long to put her locs in!  This is B's 3 year Locaversary and her locs are more gorgeous than ever!  She loves them, I love them, everyone who meets her loves them!

In honor of B's beautiful locs I am going to try to do a few loc related posts over this month.

For today I wanted to share a video I found on youtube a while back about this girls 5 favorite loc accessories.  I liked it because she was using some things I had never heard of before - like a Dreadsock which looks like a great alternative to the sleep caps my girls use.  I also LOVED her idea for how to use multiple thin headbands.  Unfortunately, although we have those same headbands and love them, I tried to use them this way on B and it didn't quite work.  I am not sure if it is because he locs aren't as big and fluffy as the girl in the video, or just because she is an active girl and I knew that they would fall off in a matter of minutes.  I still love the idea :)  I also love, love, love the hair wrap.  I want to wrap B's locs so bad because I think you can get some really gorgeous looks this way, but we haven't invested in anything to wrap them in yet.

Hope you enjoy the video and stay tuned for more of B's locs, coming soon!!!!

Katie

A G Style Worth Posting About :)

SHE LIVES! Hi everyone. Yes it has been awhile. It's just been so crazy and I have been doing not much with G's hair other than some kind of 'tails or just leaving it down (ahhhhh the ease of locs!). She was also was way overdue for tightening and it just seemed to take me forever to get them all done this time.

All the second grade classes at G's school had a little performance last week, the theme was "It's a Bug's Life," and all the songs were, you guessed it, bug or garden related. So, how could I pass up that opportunity to use the Snapaholics butterfly beads with flower snaps on the ends?! I couldn't! I didn't!

It's always a dilemma for me to hang especially large hole beads on her locs, because I feel like I should twist or braid the locs in order to make them thicker to fit into the large hole. I wasn't sure what I was gong to do until I started cornrowing the locs at the front....the thing now is that the locs are fairly thick once you cornrow a bunch of them, and though I could cram the beads on there, they won't "hang" well, they would be too stiff. So once I cornrowed all the front, I just started fooling around with what I was going to do with the resulting braids, and I really liked the result, especially how long it makes her locs look....stretched out! Here it is:

So all I did, since I had six cornrows, with a part in the middle, is to braid the braids together that I got from doing the six cornrows. There was just enough to do one or two stitches of braid, then I gathered it together, barely, and I put four butterfly beads on a plain elastic (check back here for how to do this). Then I just randomly installed beads and snaps on some of her locs, tried to spread them out evenly. The beads are SO bright, which went along with her crazy green shirt, and she was all ready to perform at school!

I've done lots of beaded styles over the years but honestly against the black hair I still ADORE the bright rainbow look :)

 

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

How the Girls Move

Hello everyone! Wow have things been nuts for me lately. I am on a committee at church that is responsible for social service work for the kids, PLUS the church kid's worship service decided to raise money for Haiti this year so I have been kind of heading that up. It's really rewarding though, you can read our blog about it....we have raised $3346 so far, and we have till the end of June to maybe even get to $4000! If you want to donate a buck or two while you are there, click on the red heart in the sidebar! :)

So annnyyyyway, over at the Yahoo Adoption Hair and Skin Care Group, we were talking about relaxers and texturizers, a subject that gets brought up now and then. Some folks do, some don't,  some are considering, some get talked out of it, some want to know the difference between the two, and what it all means for our kids' hair. As usual, I chime in with "hey, locs are a great alternative to relaxing if the issue is a child who hates having hair combed, or if you are a family constantly in a time crunch, or just want a more free type of hairstyle." That is more or less my usual spiel. I love G's locs and I LOVE LOVE that I never had to relax her hair but yet we still have such an easier time with her hair, and it's much more flexible and less time-consuming. And no combing, of course!

So we were at the dog park today kicking around the soccer ball, and I grabbed my iPhone and took a quick video of her being silly with me, just so you can see how locs move and behave, in case you are considering them. Hers are more or less microlocs, I'd say the fattest one she has is still smaller than the diameter of a pencil. She has had them for almost 3 years, and I installed and maintain them myself. I took this video today because her locs are just flyin' free, she has nothing in them at all. This is just "her girls" being themselves.

And yeah, we roughhouse a lot! She thinks it's hysterical when instead of playing "clean" I just grab her arm and spin her out of the way or bump her to the ground in order to get the ball. :) She's fun!

Oh and we had a great laugh later when I pointed out that I said something dumb....."Hey, there's no kicking in soccer!" She got major mileage out of that one....

V Day at the G House

Hi all! Wow I haven't posted to you all in a while. I miss you guys! I very suddenly moved about a half mile away, but my apartment was extremely unprepared to be moved, so it was pretty hectic. It was a good move, we like the new place a lot, and we have a yard for the dog, which is super important!

Anyway, I spent several days prior to Valentine's day tightening G's locs and putting in her Valentine's day style. We also went with yarn. Ours was a variegated yarn, pink and red. I used this yarn a long time ago on a trip to Haiti, I gave her faux yarn ponytails. There was also some rainbow variegated braided into the pink that time.

When G saw Katie's style on V, with the pink yarn hanging down with all the beads, she wanted something similar. I was happy to oblige as I miss doing the crazy fun styles! I have not yet figured out a way to "weave" in the yarn to the locs and seamlessly transition all of it into ponytails. The last time I did the yarn fall...

I hid her bun of locs at the base of the ponytail, but it never quite looked exactly right....the locs are just too thick...the base of the ponytail is just unnaturally fat. So while I initially had visions of somehow figuring out how to morph the ends of all the locs into two ponytails, it didn't work. But I am GLAD it didn't, because what she ended up with, sort of Willow-Smith-Whip-My-Hair-esque knot/buns instead of ponytails, looks SO CUTE on her.

I used the long yarn twists with beads on the end which were going to be the faux ponytails as ties onto the buns so she could have some beads dangling to swing around. We only wore those on Sunday and Monday...now she just has the knots.

So here it is...

It was really very easy! All I did was box twists....9 locs per box (or a few more or less if some needed to be incorporated) and I plain-ole TIED the yarn onto two of the locs in the box before I started. I tied it in the center of the yarn so that two ends dangled down long. So I box twisted her whole head with one strand of yarn in each box. Tying the yarn on worked just fine and was so easy.

So then, I parted her hair for two ponytails (but intentionally crossed that front twist on the right over to the other side, as you can see in the middle photo). I gathered them all together, put in my elastic, cut all the extra long ends of yarn so that it was all about two inches longer than her actual hair....I braided the ponytails as best I could (they were not long enough to braid much, but the point was to make sure all the ends stayed together) and continued to braid that extra couple inches of yarn. Then I just tucked the ends of those braids under, and captured the yarn ends under the elastic on the bottom side of the ponytail. All I did after that was tie the beaded yarn twist ropes around it and let it hang!

If your child's ponytails are longer, you could probably braid or twist and then wrap the braid around maybe once or even twice into big knots. I think it looks just fabulous with all the pink twisted in there! The knots give a bit more mature look than ponytails.

I savored every minute of doing this style, and she got LOTS of compliments. I know, I know, it's OTT, but around here, her little girlfriends think its WAY cool.

Hope your Valentine's styles came out great! Share a photo with us on facebook!

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