My Hair Last Week - Somewhat Inspired

So I posted this pic early last week and called it hair inspiration:

I was inspired. Not to try the exact style because I knew that I wouldn't wear it out, so I made modifications. I actually pulled out my rollers twice over the past week. The first iteration included me putting my hair in a ponytail then rolling the ends for an imagined curly bun. It turned into a 70's bouffant/prom hair, but I liked it. I allowed the drop curls to be kind of stacked into my bun. Here are some photos:

Again, not photogenic, but you get the idea. 

Later I disturbed the curls a little and despite sweating it out I wore it like this:

I then decided to roll it all, although I used far fewer rollers than Ms. Dugas. I put it up in another bun. Here are the photos:

After the rollers, I had one more wave of inspiration - actually I just knew it was going to be another couple of bun days, so I changed it up a little by twisting all of the my ends into 5 large double-strand twists. I tucked them under and pinned them down. Here were the results:

The next day I undid the twists, pinned down the hair a little and did a little flat-twist bang.

Let me know what you think, and please forgive me for these photos. I'm going to start setting up my "real" camera, so I can put up decent photos on this blog....and if you would like to find a collection of easy (and cute) hairstyles, find my book, One Hairstyle, Thirty-one Ways, on Amazon.com. 

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Hair Inspiration! Bow 'N' Bun...



@keysofbeauty - I just love this bun! It is just too cute.


I saw this combination of one of my featured protective styles that I called the front facing bun or bang, and those cute bows that people have been doing for last couple of years. This won't be an everyday look for me, but it will be cute for a night out, and maybe teens and college students.  Anyway, I am going to try to figure out how this style was done and write out the steps as I imagine them. When I try the style [likely tomorrow night for Halloween], I'll let you know if I had to modify any of the steps.

Tools: Brush, oil, edge control gel, pins, bobby pins, and two ponytail holders. You may also want some extension hair on hand for fullness.

1. Brush hair forward - I believe that this style will work best with stretched or straight hair, and form a ponytail at the temple, whether in the front-middle or front-center of the forehead. I am going to use a new ponytail holder and just do a very loose ponytail (no wrapping the ponytail holder around multiple times).

2. Brush up the edges with whatever hold gel or edges product you use. This may be the time to tie your hair down.

3. Take the loose hair from your ponytail and separate it so the hair is fanned out around the base of the ponytail. This would be a good time to apply your favorite oil to the ends of your hair.

4. Take the very middle section of the hair (maybe about a third of the hair) and put it into another ponytail - at least temporarily.

5. Form a large, loose bun with the remaining hair, pinning it down as needed.

6. To form the bow:
 a. Put the middle section of hair into a ponytail, but don't pull the ends completely through, create a loop by pulling the hair about 3/4 of the way through, and leaving the end loose. Try to create the loop so the loose end is left hanging in the front of the loop and not the back. If you don't think your hair is long enough to have the ends serve as the middle piece of the bow, leave a piece of hair outside of the ponytail, and plan to use it to form the middle piece of the bow.

b. Take the loop, and split the hair into two equally sized pieces.

c. Take one section of hair and try to get it to stand up by pulling some of the hair upward. When you get it to point that you are satisfied, pin the bottom of the bow down, and add bobby pins to the side of the bow, so it won't droop. Do the same on the other side.

d. Take the middle piece and wrap it over the center of the two ends of the bow. Pin it in place.

You should end up with something resembling the style above. I'll show you how my experiment turns out. Let me know if you have any hair inspirations, and the steps you took to recreate the look.  

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I Like Big Buns & I Cannot Lie...Last Week's Hair

I do, I do, I do love updos & buns, and big buns in particular. As part of my New Day, New'do campaign, I tried something new. I used a banana clip in there and after 5 tries or so I got all of my hair in the clip and got it closed. I'll give you the steps if you would like to try this bun yourself.

It was, like all of my styles, pretty easy & quick to do. I got lots of compliments and you will too. If you would like more styles, more photos, and more instructions - please check out my book One Hairstyle, Thirty-one Ways, the styles can be done on loose, textured, straight, twisted, loc'd or braided hair and shouldn't ever take you more than 15 minutes from start to finish.

1. I took my textured hair (I had it in flat twists prior to doing this style) and put it into the banana clip.

2. I split the hair into 3 sections, with a small section facing forward and the majority of the hair split into two large sections. I let the two larger sections face each ear.

3. I gently tucked the ends of each of the larger sections under and pinned them so they covered the back and sides of the banana clip.

4. I then took the front middle section and did a small cinnamon roll to cover the front of the banana clip.

5. I then spread the front middle section a little, and the front of each of the side sections until they could be connected with pins.

6. You should have a large, full bun.

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Yesterday's Hair - September 11th

New Day, New 'do! I tried to do something new with my hair since I'd been keeping it bunned up for the past few days. I started off thinking that I was going to recreate the hair inspiration style from a few weeks ago. But after a few minutes of trying to French Braid the front, I realized that my edges were a little too fuzzy to actually see the braid clearly...and the beauty was in the braid. I modified the style to suit my hair today - I think with my hair pressed, I might be able to recreate it as it was originally intended. My parts were already in place, my hair was separated into three sections (parted from ear to ear with the middle section being slightly smaller than the front and back sections), so I decided to do flat twists in the front and back sections and incorporate them into a bun in the middle.

I split the front into three parts, left, right and center and flat twisted each section until I could two strand twist the ends. 

I then braided the three ends together and added it to the hair in the second section. 

I took the third section, parted it down the middle and formed two flat twists. Instead of twisting the hair all the way to the end, I incorporated the ends of the flat twist into the second section of hair. 

I then formed a bun with the hair in the second section. 

All done! 

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Unknown bun, flat twist, hairstyle, newdaynewdo, updo

Today's Hair (w/Instructions) - September 2nd (Updated with Styles from the Week)

Today in my exercise post, I mentioned that I was taking part in Nappyfru's 30-day updo challenge. To that end, this morning after washing and conditioning my hair, I created a new updo.  It is a departure for me, because I flat-twisted my hair up and into a pony-bun thing...that I will modify during the course of the week.  It is interesting because I rarely plan to go to work with a head full of flat-twists, although I have worn my hair flat twisted all back with the ends done in some kind of decorative cinnamon-roll bun thing, but in any event - this feels somewhat different. We'll see how it goes over during the week.  

This style reminds me of a flat-twisted version of a hairstyle that I called "The Lollipop" in my book, One Hairstyle, Thirty-one Ways on Amazon.com. But I also feel the influence of a really pretty bun updo that I saw earlier this week, although I can't say that I had the same results. It would have looked very different if I hadn't made a bang, and instead flat-twisted the front into the bun. Or added pieces to the bun - either of which are options if you wish to try a similar style.... Anyway, this is how it ended up - and please know that when I start these styles that I don't really have a full plan in mind so what you see is my first try...

Here are the steps:

1. Section off a part of the front of your hair. The hair in that section will be used to form a bang. You will spearate that hair into 4-5 flat-twists going forward toward the face, and either roll them under to create a faux bang, or to twist into a single unit and pin back, as if to form a small pompadour.

2.  Take the rest of the hair and split it into at least 4 even sections. You may wish to put each section into a ponytail in order it keep it out of the way as you flat-twist.

3. Split each section into two flat-twists. Flat-twist upwards toward the crown of the head. When you reach the crown, two-strand twist any excess hair. Repeat until all 8 (or more) flat-twists are completed.

4. Style the ends as desired, although I chose to place the ends into a bun.

5. I then incorporated the ends of my pompadour into the bun.

Here are my updates from the week:

Variation 1

I took the loosened ends of the flat twists from the front, separated the hair into two sections, one section having about 3/4 of the hair, the other section with only 1/4 of the hair.

The side with the majority of the hair was split in two, and the hair was wrapped around the previously formed bun.

I then took the section of loose hair and swooped it to one side, and pinned the ends in place underneath the stretched section of hair.

Variation 2

I loosened the flat twists from the front, took down the bun, and put the ends of the twists and the loose hair in a ponytail holder in the front of my head.

I tucked the ends under and pinned them in place.

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Side Swept Two Strand Twists into Bun

Click photos to enlarge

 Such a simple but elegant style and perfect for all ages!

The pictures are pretty much self explanatory so this post will be short and sweet. I cornrowed the top middle section of her hair straight down, as mentioned in our previous post and twisted the remaining hair. After finishing the top I grabbed medium size sections of wet hair, added a little products and finished the rest of the hair off by doing basic two strand twists. The next day, I gathered her twists into a side ponytail, leaving the "bangs" out. I rolled the twists around the ponytail holder to create the side bun. I then gathered the twisted bangs and pinned them so the side, near the bun with a couple of bobby pins. I twisted the remaining hair back around the bun and added a cute headband.

I wanted to try something new so I used Blended Beauty Butter Me Up and Curl Styling Butter for this style.

Don't forget to stop by and check out our Facebook page! www.facebook.com/beadsbraidsandbeyond

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Unknown african american hair styles, biracial hair, black hair styles, braids, bun, cornrows, curly, little girls natural hairstyles, long natural hair, twists, updo

How to Create Short Bangs on Long Natural Hair

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 My daughter loves the look of bangs. I have a love/hate relationship with my own bangs. I cut them short, then I let them grow out and do it over and over and...well, you get the point. I always thought to myself, I would love to have them short one day and long the next. Well, I'm here to tell you that it is possible! After giving Miss A's little cousin twisted bangs several people asked me how they could achieve a similar look on long hair so I decided to try the same exact style but tweaked it a little. Read below for the simple instructions.

On stretched hair, I parted a square on the top middle section of her head. Using a metal rat tail comb, I parted a medium section within the square. I cornrowed that section straight down toward her forehead until I reached the end of the cornrow, I then began doing a basic two strand twist. I repeated this process 6 times. After I was finished with the top I did a simple bun. Since Miss A's hair is long enough, we no longer need the sock bun method. I simply placed her hair in a ponytail, gathered the hair, twisted it and wrapped it around the ponytail holder. I posted a picture tutorial on how I do this with her twists here, if you need more of a visual. After creating the bun I moved on to the fun part- bangs! I grabbed three twists in the front and turned them up toward the right side. I pinned them in place near the side of her bun and wrapped the remaining hair behind the bun. I did the same thing on the left side. To make the twists come together and look like real bangs, I pinned them together with a few bobby pins. I placed the bobby pin right at the end of the cornrows, through the twists. I added a headband and viola! You've got bangs! The headband added a bit of a retro look, if retro is what you're going for, try tying a scarf over the cornrows. 

She was thrilled to have bangs and said it was a big hit at school!

If you try this style, we would love to see pictures on our Facebook page. Join us! www.facebook.com/beadsbraidsandbeyond

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Unknown african american hair styles, bangs, biracial hair, black girls hair style, bun, how to make bangs with long hair, little girls natural hairstyles, long natural hair

Half Cornrows With Two Buns

Please excuse the sun rays in this photo.
A wore her hair in the half cornrows braid around sock bun style for her birthday weekend (birthday post soon!).

Today I decided to switch the style up a bit. I split the part of her hair straight down the middle, used a little Bee Mine Luscious Moisturizer to smooth down the hair and placed each section in a ponytail. I then took each ponytail and did a simple two strand twist. I wrapped the two strand twisted ponytail around the ponytail holder and used 3 bobbypins to hold each bun in place. Although her cornrows were several days old I thought the style turned out super cute and it will definitely be a quick go to style from now on! :)

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Unknown bun, cornrows