Have you ever had a pair of jeans that were so comfortable that you wanted to wear them every day?
And the only reason you didn't was because you didn't want people to think you didn't own anything else? This hairstyle is kind of like that.
I have been doing my hair like this for 12 years.
It started in High School when those buns where you make a ponytail but don't pull the hair all the way through were popular. Do you know what I am talking about? The bun where you have a bunch of hair sticking out the top?
Well, I was wearing my hair like that all the time, but then my hair started to grow long. And my straight hair sticking out of the top of the bun was looking less and less attractive. So one day I took another ponytail holder and added another bun to get rid of the scraggly ends. And then, as my hair continued to grow, I just kept adding ponytail holders. When I got into college I had it down to a science and especially liked to wear my hair in two buns in the back of my head (not on the sides or I looked like Princess Leia) and would sometimes even weave ribbons through it for my dance auditions.
And I will probably continue to wear my hair like this so long as I have hair.
Five reasons I love it:
1. It's convenient: It works best when your hair is wet (I usually wrap my hair in a towel while I put on my makeup and then comb it out and pull it up into this)
2. It's secure: I use ponytail holders. NO BOBBY PINS! (well, you can if you want to, but you don't NEED to).
3. It works no matter your hair length: The longer the hair, the more ponytail holders you'll need.
4. It's versatile: You can wear your hair half up, all up, in two buns ... this technique will look great no matter what.
5. It's fast and easy: I know I just lumped two reasons into one, but it is something that gives you great results for very little effort. And it will take you fewer than 5 minutes.
Are you sold yet? Or at least ready for your tutorial?
Step 1: Start with wet hair. (The range of wetness doesn't matter, it just needs to be damp. The hair slips a lot when dry). As I said, I prefer to do my hair right after my shower. For this tutorial I dampened it with a spray bottle and I think it would have looked better had my hair been more damp.
Step 2: Have a stack of ponytail holders ready. I use 4 or 5. And you need the big, thick ponytail holders, especially when you get to the outer layers.
Step 3: Make a ponytail/bun thing with the hair coming out the top
I usually wrap the ponytail holder around my hair as a ponytail twice and then make the bun on the third wrap. I think this makes the hair more secure.
Step 4: Take the remaining hair and grab it just above the bun.
and fold it so there is a second bun layer.
Step 5: Secure with another elastic.
Step 6: Keep doing steps 4 and 5 until there is very little hair left.
Leave those short scraggly ends hanging out for now. We'll deal with them in a second.
Step 7: I loosen the hair on my head by grabbing it at the crown and pulling. You don't necessarily have to do this step. I do it for two reasons: One, because all those elastics can make my hair really tight; and two, because I have a really small head and a really large body and fuller hair makes me look more proportionate.
Step 8: Starting with the bottom layer and working your way up, grab the hair and gently pull it to each side as though you are going to tighten your ponytail.
I usually hook each pointer finger through a clump of hair and softly pull it. I do this so it doesn't look a judge's wig with uniform rows of hairy loops. This will also help hide the ponytail holders.
Step 9: Now take those end pieces and looping them away from you, tuck them into the nearest ponytail holder. You can do this to any stray hairs that have come out in the lower layers as well.
Ta da! You're done!
Here's a video so you can see it all in action. Start to finish took me 1 minute and 16 seconds.
What is it about this girl's hair that makes it so pretty? is it the way it is artistically messy? is it because the girl herself is so stunningly gorgeous? is it because it is so thick?
Well, after months of trying to get my hair to look pretty like that and failing (my messy braid just looked, well, messy)
I have cut 14 inches off
this is the photo I took to the stylist: I don't have any photos of me yet.
If any of you photographers out there are looking for a book idea, you should write "The Husband's Guide to Taking Flattering Photos of His Wife" I will be the first to buy your book.
I have a friend I like to make cakes with. She and I are both adventurous and really want to learn how to make and decorate amazingly delicious cake.
So when we had an opportunity to make a cake to be auctioned off for a Scout Fundraiser we jumped at it.
What I like most about this friend is how our talents compliment each other. We joke that I make it taste pretty and she makes it look pretty.
Take this cake for instance. I suggested we decorate it with colored polka dots. I was thinking pastels of uniform size. But my friend was thinking bright colors of varying sizes. And it turned out so much cuter than uniform pastel dots.
The inside was chocolate cake with a white-chocolate raspberry filling. I would have loved to post a piece-cut-out-to-see-the-inside pic but as it was for a fundraiser I wasn't the one actually eating it.
Before making the cake we first made a taste-tester cake. I wanted to try out two new recipes (with a few of my own variations - I almost always change the recipes) and determine which was better.
The contestants: Sweetapolita's rich chocolate cake found here and Hershey's Chocolate Sour Cream Cake found here
Contestant #1:
For Sweetapolita's cake I substituted regular cocoa for the Extra Brute stuff (just because I didn't have it. I am thinking of buying it though)
plain yogurt for the buttermilk (same reason)
but then came a stumbling block: I don't drink coffee for religious reasons.
When I did an internet search for substitutions for coffee in cake recipes all anyone else could seem to come up with was to just add plain water. And that sounded gross.
The purpose of the coffee (I believe) is to enhance the chocolate flavor and water isn't going to do that.
So I came up with this: I substituted hazelnut hot chocolate for the coffee and it was awesome.
This cake was so light and fluffy and yet so moist. And it tasted fantastic with the white chocolate raspberry filling (which was actually swiss-meringue buttercream with white chocolate and pureed raspberries mixed in)
Contestant #2: I followed the Hershey's Chocolate Cake recipe to the letter.
And it too was really good. A bit denser than Sweetapolita's and lighter in color but still rich and moist.
And if I hadn't had the other cake there to compare it with I would have thought it was a deliciously fantastic cake. But the other one was richer and darker and just seemed to compliment the filling much better.
And all you non-coffee drinkers out there, get yourself some Hazelnut Hot Cocoa!
Oh, and if any of you want to give us another opportunity to experiment and make a cake for you ... (and not feel pressured to eat it all ourselves - not because it won't taste good but because we want to feel good about our physical appearances) ... we'd love to!
This blog is all about me and my (sometimes pathetic) attempts to be more fancy. If you are looking for the blog about my family, go to thegreenway (dot) wordpress (dot) com
I have a creative spirit, but I never learned to do crafty things. In fact, I had never cooked nor sewn anything (not even a pillow case in Home Ec) until I was 21. I just like to be fancy, so now I do/make fancy things. I graduated with a degree in International Politics, but I am a designer at heart - I designed my first future home when I was 8 years old. I also have designed much of my wardrobe as well as my son's nursery. And I have several notebooks filled with other designs just waiting to be constructed. My mind is always filled with things I want to make ... the only problem is I don't really know how to make them. So I pretend to know. And it usually works out.
