Dutch Braid Pony

I have been doing dutch braids a ton lately, or inside out frenchies as I call them. I love the way they look and all you have to do is add your braids sections "under" instead of "over." One hairstyle we do ALL THE TIME is this braid across the front of her head. I start by parting the hair from ear to ear across her head. I comb the hair forward and the rest I tie back out of the way like this. I always think it is easier to start with damp hair. I use the back of a plastic rattail comb to make the part...just "draw" a line with the pointy end and seperate the hair.

Next I comb the hair one direction...from one ear to the other the direction the braid is going to go. Then start the braid. To get this look where the braid stays next to the part rather than being in the middle of the hair you only want to add hair into the french braid from the front side. Get it? So your right hand will add hair but your left hand won't. I like to comb it as I go and add a little hairspray to make it smooth and to keep the little fly aways down. We have worn this hairdo a second day many times.

Then just keep braiding along. When you get to the other side make sure to keep the hair really tight. I usually sit on the couch to do this hairstyle and have my daughter lay her head on my leg and then tip her head the other way when we get to the other side of her head. I also do it standing up...just have her tilt her head one way and then the other. My daughter is 6 and I just tell her to put her ear on her shoulder. :) When you get the hair braided all the way across you can add a small elastic and finish the hairdo there. I like to add the elastic and flip the hair back under like you would with a topsy tail, but I just use my pinky finger. That way the hair from the little pony goes back instead of hanging down in the front.

I usually blow dry the rest of the hair, or wait for it to dry and curl the ends under or curl the whole thing. I also usually add a flower where the pony is. Super cute! Gotta love the snaggle teeth!

Or, if you want to, keep on braiding the remaining hair like this. I do it this way sometimes and just leave the braid down.

Or, pull the hair in the back up into a pony tail. Then take the long braid and pull it back and around the pony tail and secure it with an elastic. On this one I also took a piece of hair from the bottom of the pony tail and wrapped it around to hide the elastic. I used the little clear elastics...I like the ones from Sally Beauty Supply, but the WalMart ones are fine too. Take one of the elastics and wrap it around to secure the piece of hair that is hiding the other elastic and pull the pony tail tight. You can tug a little at the wrapped piece of hair and should be able to hide that last elastic. So many possibilites!

Basket Weave

I saw something similar to this the other day and had to try it. I started by sectioning off a rectangle on the top and pulling it up out of the way.

Next I took the rest of the hair from ear to ear and slicked it back and secured it with an elastic. I think this works better with damp hair so you don't have fly aways.

With the hair on top I took it and parted it down the middle.

Then I took a plastic needle (you can get them at WalMart or other craft stores) and threaded a small piece of hair into it. To do this I used a piece of dental floss...made a loop and put through the eye of the needle...then put the hair through the loop and pulled so the hair went through the needle.


Then I just went in and out of the hair on one side and pulled it through. I continued this all the way back and on the other side. I didn't make it very even and will have to practice that a little. I just did it randomly and in a hurry.


When I finished all the weave I took a piece of hair from the pony and wrapped it around the elastic and pulled it through with my topsy tail to hide the elastic.
I topped this one off with a Spikey Purple Hydrangea from snapbandz.com It would be way cute to curl the back of the hair or just the piecies in the ponytail and the weaved sections. You could also do this with two pony tails. It was a little time consuming...but way cute!