Braid
*Note: I have added pictures of the bunk beds to this post.
In Nebraska we get gale force winds. I guess it is all part of the package deal of living in the prairie with no trees or mountains (and by no trees, obviously I mean as in forests, we have trees in our yard and such.) The other factor is that Hallie has fairly long hair, for a three year old. When you combine these two seemingly unrelated items, what you get is a girl who gets very frustrated going outside because the wind whips her hair into a frenzy and she can't see and it gets all tangled and then she cries when I comb it out. For those of you who are now thinking that I should just be rational and cut all her hair off in a normal three year old cute cut, I just can't. I have only cut her hair once, and I think it will probably take me another two years to get up the courage to do it again.
Hence, we've discovered braids. I mean, I always knew about braids, but since living here I have learned that you average everyday quick braid, nor your typical French braid are enough. Her hair will be pulled loose by the wind if I don't do something extra, so to say. So I've been experimenting with braids and styles and mixing styles (the ponytail braid is our favorite, for swimming, when we went on the airplane, long car rides, nothing holds little girl hair back like the ponytail braid.) Sometimes when I am sitting around with nothing important to think about, I think about Hallie's hair and different ways I could braid it that might be even tighter, stronger, better. Then I try to remember this idea long enough to try it on her hair, and then at times it works and at times it doesn't. When it does work, you'd think that I would take pictures, or notes, so I can remember it to do it again. I don't. So I almost never am able to do the same braid more than once. Which I guess is good for my creativity (necessity is the mother of invention, yes?) but on harried mornings (ha ha, get it?) it would be nice to just have a go-to quick braid, in addition to the ponytail braid, that I could do.
A few weeks ago Hallie let me experiment on her hair and I came up with this one. AND I DID ACTUALLY TAKE A PICTURE! Now, here's where you come in. This braid ended up kind of loose, because I was doing it in the basement and didn't have extra hair ties or bobby pins, and I was just playing around. I would love to practice it more and see if it can be a viable option for windy days. This is where you come in though. I have studied this picture, and tried to recreate it, but I just can't figure out what I did. Yesterday I tried to duplicate it, and failed. The resulting braid was pretty, and I did leave it in, AND I TOOK PICTURES OF THAT ONE TOO. (this bits in all caps are your cue to be impressed that I took pictures of something) So I'd like you to please, please, please compare the two pictures and tell me where I went wrong, or just look at the first one and tell me what I need to do to make it happen again. Surely if my brain came up with it once I should be able to come up with it again, but when you factor in Heather feeding on my brain juices all bets are off.
Original braid.
My attempt at recreating the braid.
Although now that I examine the two in the pictures, I think I got closer than I thought I did. One missing link is that I didn't French braid all the way down, I don't remember how I did that and made it look good...And does it look like I merged the two French braids into one braid, and then braided the remaining hair all together in one big one? Am I making any sense? Please, help. And please remember that the initial picture was just a loose attempt, without a comb or anything so forgive its lopsidedness.
In Nebraska we get gale force winds. I guess it is all part of the package deal of living in the prairie with no trees or mountains (and by no trees, obviously I mean as in forests, we have trees in our yard and such.) The other factor is that Hallie has fairly long hair, for a three year old. When you combine these two seemingly unrelated items, what you get is a girl who gets very frustrated going outside because the wind whips her hair into a frenzy and she can't see and it gets all tangled and then she cries when I comb it out. For those of you who are now thinking that I should just be rational and cut all her hair off in a normal three year old cute cut, I just can't. I have only cut her hair once, and I think it will probably take me another two years to get up the courage to do it again.
Hence, we've discovered braids. I mean, I always knew about braids, but since living here I have learned that you average everyday quick braid, nor your typical French braid are enough. Her hair will be pulled loose by the wind if I don't do something extra, so to say. So I've been experimenting with braids and styles and mixing styles (the ponytail braid is our favorite, for swimming, when we went on the airplane, long car rides, nothing holds little girl hair back like the ponytail braid.) Sometimes when I am sitting around with nothing important to think about, I think about Hallie's hair and different ways I could braid it that might be even tighter, stronger, better. Then I try to remember this idea long enough to try it on her hair, and then at times it works and at times it doesn't. When it does work, you'd think that I would take pictures, or notes, so I can remember it to do it again. I don't. So I almost never am able to do the same braid more than once. Which I guess is good for my creativity (necessity is the mother of invention, yes?) but on harried mornings (ha ha, get it?) it would be nice to just have a go-to quick braid, in addition to the ponytail braid, that I could do.
A few weeks ago Hallie let me experiment on her hair and I came up with this one. AND I DID ACTUALLY TAKE A PICTURE! Now, here's where you come in. This braid ended up kind of loose, because I was doing it in the basement and didn't have extra hair ties or bobby pins, and I was just playing around. I would love to practice it more and see if it can be a viable option for windy days. This is where you come in though. I have studied this picture, and tried to recreate it, but I just can't figure out what I did. Yesterday I tried to duplicate it, and failed. The resulting braid was pretty, and I did leave it in, AND I TOOK PICTURES OF THAT ONE TOO. (this bits in all caps are your cue to be impressed that I took pictures of something) So I'd like you to please, please, please compare the two pictures and tell me where I went wrong, or just look at the first one and tell me what I need to do to make it happen again. Surely if my brain came up with it once I should be able to come up with it again, but when you factor in Heather feeding on my brain juices all bets are off.
My attempt at recreating the braid.
Although now that I examine the two in the pictures, I think I got closer than I thought I did. One missing link is that I didn't French braid all the way down, I don't remember how I did that and made it look good...And does it look like I merged the two French braids into one braid, and then braided the remaining hair all together in one big one? Am I making any sense? Please, help. And please remember that the initial picture was just a loose attempt, without a comb or anything so forgive its lopsidedness.
It looks like in the first braid you divided the hair in half top and bottom: 1. everything above the ears you split in two to make two french braids running along the side of her head meeting in the back; 2. you then braided the lower half of her head, incorporating the two french braids from part 1.
ReplyDeleteOn your second attempt, it looks like you didn't divide the hair as cleanly. Part of the hair from the top half of her head didn't get incorporated in the two french braids, and just went strait into the lower braid.
Woman, that's too much for my brain to process, I wish I could help you out. I'm not even sure I can braid. But, you are excellent at it. Simply excellent and I'm so proud of your inventiveness. That's my girl.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like you french braided the top of the hair all the way down then took the hair from the bottom on the sides and used those as 2 strands of a bigger braid with the french braid as the 3rd.
ReplyDeleteDear Amy, Looks to me as though on the first braid you didn't do any sectioning of the hair, but just took sections as they sort of fell into place. the second time you sectioned and used parts( mean parted off sections on her head), so it isn't quite as easy looking as the original braid. Hope this helps. Grandma
ReplyDelete