Hair!

One of my goals has been to learn more hair styles. 

I'm learning...it's a process!

1. "punk bangs" - after blow drying my hair upside down with a roll brush, instead of correcting my bangs, I hairsprayed them lightly from behind and then gently smoothed them back. I felt pretty cool for figuring it out (even though I realize some people don't care for this style-- including myself sometimes).

2. "twisty bun" - I pulled side pieces together in the back and pinned them in place. Then, I separated the rest of my hair into two pieces and made a twisty rope. I wrapped the rope around and secured it with bobby pins. Invented on the spot, it worked better than I'd hoped.

3. "messy bun" - this is usually a flop for me. Like, too much of a flop and not just the messy bun flop. I have such thick hair, even the smallest strands seem like fat chunks when I'm trying to do something like this. So I made a low ponytail, lazily twisted it, and very loosely wrapped the twist around the ponytail. You have to do it loosely so it doesn't stick out from your head. Then I pinned the loops flat. 

 4. "braided bun" - 50% fail on this, in my opinion.Well, no, that's harsh. But it's NOT how I wanted it. You can tell I'm not particularly happy with it by the fact that I had to take several pictures to try and find one I'm pleased with. I felt like I looked 12 years old in too many of them.

Finally, a picture I like! Too bad it isn't really showing the bun, hahaha!

So it is a braided bun, but the main mistake is that I made each braid so tight that when I tried to pull them gently (to broaden the braid before wrapping everything together), it didn't happen. If I had been successful, the bun would look less like a wad of braids and more like an intricate bundle of prettiness. Plus, I've got darker roots in the back, which looks pretty weird to me with this style (Michael liked it, so I realize I'm just picky). I'm not as upset as I might sound; this is all a learning process, and I actually wore this braided bun for two days! Haha! So really, it's okay. But it's one I'll be practicing.

5. "five-strand braid" - notice, however, that the side braids joining into the bun are 5-strand braids! I will do a tutorial on this one because I love it so much. I'm excited to have learned how to do that.

6. "fishtail" - I finally learned it. I've tried it, somewhat successfully, multiple times over the years. And I still made what I'll call an "optional" mistake; if you don't want the poofy look at the top, put your hair in a tight, low ponytail with a clear elastic. Fish-braid that ponytail, and then cut the elastic band. Gently pull the sides of the braid. This makes for a more even fishtail, and if you have layers like me, it helps the braid stay in longer (that was my problem-- my layers came out during church, and I had to abandon the whole thing).

7. "bangs" - shaggy bangs, specifically, but that's only because I'm growing mine out. I used my straightener after my regular, habitual style of blow drying. I barely, barely tilted the straightener for a curl, and then I fingered and brushed the bangs (quite carelessly), kind of flattening them. I think I just used to be shy about my bangs, afraid of messing them up. 

8. "gentle curls" - I used to have a hard time balancing just how much curl I ended up with. One half of my head would be full of amazing, tight curls. The other half would be full of pretty but loose curls. So the fix for that is to watch where you start tilting your straightener (or where you place your curling iron). I started a slight curl (not pulling the hair all the way around the barrel of the straightener) halfway down the strand of hair. For this look, I had to use pretty skinny strands-- as skinny as my thick hair gets. This is a really simple hairdo, but seriously, it's been hit-and-miss for me for such a long time. A lot of my hair styles just kind of "happen," so my aim with my Hair Goal this year is to learn more styles and be more on purpose about it, able to recreate any of the styles I want. 

More Styles coming up: I'm learning (in the process, totally) no-heat curls and a few other styles. I actually did the no-heat curls, but I forgot pictures, and it's kind of a tutorial type thing to explain. 

PS: A most helpful tip I have learned recently is that you ought to slightly curl your hair before you braid. Even before you do other up-styles, because this makes the ends of your hair cooperate better. Everything will go into braids or styles more smoothly, with less frizz or pokeys. Don't think of it as an extra chore-- you can be lazy with the curling. 
If curling your hair is an enormous project no matter what, go to bed with freshly dried (perhaps slightly damp) hair wrapped in a tight, twisted bun. In the morning, your hair will be smoother and tamer. That's the point.