Hair braiding: a stand out crown

I got so used to looking for new hairstyles that even though I've moved on to a new personal goal I find myself still looking for new ideas I can do with braids. I've found a few more, so thought I'd better keep track of them for future reference.

Style 31: stand our crown

Just like with a normal crown I divided my hair out from the center of my head, and then started somewhere over my right ear, braiding around the front and then completing a circuit. The only difference is that instead of adding hair on both sides of the braid I only added hair from the bottom (i.e. the outer side of my head). When I pull really tight this has the effect of making my braid kind of roll and stand out. At the end I completed the braid and laid it behind the original braid using hair pins to keep it in place. It  might be a bit easier to see from a side view.

Hair braiding: a redo

When I was doing my hair challenge I was thoroughly unsatisfied with how the style turned out on day 6, but felt like there was some potential there. I decided it was worth giving it another shot. It ended up being a much better attempt that stayed up all day (this picture was taken after a full day at school). The difference? When I did the final braid on the right side I pulled the hair from the front of both sides but also picked up a small section of hair where I wanted the braid to hang so that it wouldn't fall lower. Worked like a charm!

Hair braiding day 30

The last day in my 30 day challenge. It's been surprisingly easy to find 30 different braids and twists to do with my hair. In fact I had several to choose from today. I'll admit I tried an idea I had in my head and wasn't happy with how it turned out and so ended up redoing my hair in a completely different style this morning. I couldn't have my last day be a flop!

Style 30: back braid to double braid bun

Last summer I became a big fan of the braid going up from the back. It takes care of all of those wispy fly aways that when it is hot out you don't want hanging on your neck. However buns and I are not on the best of terms. So I was really pleased when I figure out that I like this one a lot more than most. I started out by flipping my hair upside down and braiding up my head from the back. I stopped a little lower than normal not wanting a bun on the top of my head today (although it is still fairly high up otherwise the braid doesn't show). The collected all of my hair in a ponytail where I had stopped braiding and tried to get all the bumps smoothed out. Divided the ponytail into two parts and braided each part loosely tying each braid off with a rubber band. Took one braid and wrapped it around the ponytail, pinning into place and then did the same thing with the other (I think I wrapped the opposite direction but I can't really remember). It makes for a much more interesting bun, and my hair doesn't slip out of it nearly as easily as with a regular bun. That's it for my 30 braid challenge!

Hair braiding day 29

Yet again, Pinterest gives me an idea. I have to admit that a lot of my ideas come from there, mostly because I am most likely to try a braid I can actually see. Although I wasn't able to exactly replicate it since when I tried it just didn't look right, perhaps my hair isn't long enough or full enough?

Style 29: Braided into a roll

I started by collecting all of the hair that lay behind my ears and tied it into a low ponytail. Then with that same section of hair I put another small rubber band close to the end, with the hair loose (not pulled as close together as possible)...it is more about getting the ends even then a tight ponytail. I then took that piece and flipped it up, tucking the end under (one roll) and pinning it in place. The hair from in front of/above each ear got braided and tied off into the end. Then I took each braid and tucked the end into the roll and pinned it in place. Mixed emotions about this one. It looked fin this morning, was very loose by the time I got home this evening. 

Hair braiding day 28

There have been tutorials all over the internet for this braid this year. In my head I think of it as the hot new braid, sort of like ropes were at one point, or the topsy tail was big when I was little. So of course I had to try the waterfall braid at some point in my 30 days. I'm not sold on this braid though. It definitely falls into the loose, wispy category, and although I guess my hair is still up as I write this it does not feel very secure. Perhaps it is a special events type of hair style rather than a day to day one.

Style 28: Waterfall braid

The idea here is that you don't keep everything in your braid that you pick up. My best attempt was when I began like a normal braid, Added hair in only on the top, but when I added in I let the piece that I would have added it to go over the middle piece and then leave my fingers. So you are continually picking up on the top a piece that becomes all that is one strand in the braid. I haven't figured out a good way to end this braid either. I'd probably choose to put a fancy clip where I finish rather than finish the braid out, but I ran out of time to go digging for the one I wanted this morning.

Hair braiding day 27

So I really wanted to do this braid for Valentine's Day, but couldn't figure out how to do it on my own head. I don't think it'd be that complicated....but my fingers don't twist that way! Instead I decided to adapt this one to make my own braid bun, and yes, it brought quite a few ohhhs and ahhhs during the day today.

Style 27: Heart bun

This was a lot easier then I thought it might be. I took half of my hair and made a single braid from just to the side of the my center part and tied it off at the end with a band. Did the same thing on the other side, leaving enough space between the two braids to fit two fingers. Then taking the first braid I rolled it around itself from the inside to the outside and pinned the top part in place. Took the second braid and did the same thing, rolling it towards the outside. Then I added one more rubber band tying the two braids together. After looking a few times and walking around the house I ended up adding two more hairpins to secure the outer pieces of the heart down. 

Bonus Style 27b: Rope bang braid

That's right. I actually did two different braids today. I ran this afternoon and then remembered I had a parent meeting and after I washed my hair just wanted a little something to keep it out of my eyes. So I did a far off center part, collected two pieces and began to do a rope. I only added hair in on the forehead side, and only did that until I got across my forehead. I did a few more twists then pinned it into place. Stayed up well enough for the 3 hours I had it in, and suspect it would have lasted just fine for the whole day.

Hair braiding day 26

I keep thinking that I am going to run out of ideas, but with just another 4 days left I'm beginning to believe that I won't have a problem after all. I must admit, that is in a great part due to the wonders of Pinterest. Today's hair style came from a pin I saw there, admittedly modified a little to work with my slick, thinner hair.

Style 26: Hot crossed bun

This is another pretty simple hairstyle. I divided my hair into three pieces, with a larger portion in the center. That piece got curled into a bun. I have to admit that by the end of the day my bun was pretty fuzzy, but that probably could have been avoided if I had used a bit of mouse, of course that would have required actually having mouse. I didn't use a rubber band as I didn't want it to show and just pinned them bun into place. The front two pieces I did a simple braid with and attached at the end with rubber bands. The first braid I did ended up being two low to be able to wrap around the top of the bun so I had to redo it higher up. Then took one of the braids and wrapped it around the bun, crossing over the top, and pinned it in place. Did the same with the other braid, crossing over the bun the other way.