Avainsana: Ponytail

Rapunzel ponytail

My way to relax on a sunday morning is to make a nice cup of coffee, turn on the kids’ favorite cartoons, and try some new hairdos on the girls. I saw a picture of a pretty lace braid ponytail on Pinterest the other day, and here is my version of it:

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I did a lace braid headband to start, but you could leave it out and just do a normal ponytail. Then I lace braided around and around until I ran out of hair. This part requires some practice on basic lace braids (i.e. a french braid, but just picking up hair from one side), and some finger flexibility.

The girls loved it and said it looks like Rapunzel-hair!

Quick and easy

We were going to the climbing wall today and were rushing to get everyone ready, so I had to do something quick with the girls’ hair. Their hair needs to be well tied back for climbing, so that it doesn’t get on their eyes or get tangled with the rope. These three variations of a ponytail are quite easy but fun.

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On the left, I took three small parts of hair from the front of her head and did three normal braids (no fancy french braiding or anything, just three bits of hair and moving them from the sides to the middle in turn.) Then did a normal braid with all of her hair, making sure one little braid was in each of the three parts of the braid. The little braids at the front made sure none of the hair around her face got loose.

In the middle, I did a small french braid in the middle of my daughter’s head, leaving some hair on both sides. Then did a french braid on both sides and tied all three french braids into a ponytail. Great for keeping all the fine baby hair out of her face.

On the right, I did a ponytail and then did a fishtail braid with the hair in the ponytail. This is a great variation of the fishtail, as the normal fishtail braid comes loose very easily on children, doing a ponytail first ensures the hair stays in the braid.

If you don’t know how to do a fishtail braid, here’s a quick tutorial: Fishtail braid

For the smallest ones

Pretty ponytailI know, I said I wouldn’t teach you hairstyles, but I can’t find this fun little ponytail done by anyone else, so I’ll include some step-by-step pictures. This one is easy to make, doesn’t take long and you’ll get lots of compliments.

This ponytail is excellent for the younger kids with fine hair and little of it. It holds all the baby hair out of her face, and because the hairdo finishes at the back of the head, she can’t pull the crucial last hairband out… and even if the last bit comes off, it’s easy to fix.

Because you make one little ponytail at a time, you can stop for a break at any time (the smallest ones get distracted or bored quite easily). You can also finish the hairdo after the first or second row of ponytails and leave the rest of the hair hanging down.

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Start by making 4 little ponytails at the front (it doesn’t matter if the side ones are smaller). Then divide each ponytail into two, take two half-ponytails and a little bit of hair from behind them and attach with a hairband.

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Do the same with all half-ponytails to create a second row of ponytails. And again to create a third row of ponytails. It looks more complicated here than it really is: you can use two hands when you’re not having to take pictures at the same time!

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Once you have 3 rows of ponytails, grab all the rest of the hair and attach with one hairband. In the last picture you can see what I did with the ponytails and ponytail halves furthest to the sides.

In the last picture, you can also see what I used to keep her entertained while doing her hair. I’d recommend better phone covers to avoid dribles and drool!