classic frenchie.

classic frenchie braid.

this style is an oldie, but most definitely a goodie. i did a before-bed french braid for felicia and it turned out so pretty, i wanted to put it in the blog.

here's a classic french braid, with the ponytail left un-braided. my FAV.

 

laura.

adventures with sock buns.

sock buns!

your favorite braid team tackles the trend of sock buns. bunnery. bunning?

this is the first try. we followed these instructions from pinterest. 
felicia has SO much hair that the bun came out humongous. 

try #2! we call this one Cheerio hair. i just made two sock buns, one on top of the other.

try #3! i added my experience from making buns in synchronized swimming with some braid knowledge. this was my favorite.

instead of rolling the sock donut down the ponytail from the top, i just made a high pony. then put the sock at the base, spread the hair out around the whole sock, then put another elastic over the top. super secure.

i took the excess hair and made three braids, then just wrapped them around the base of the bun and secured with bobby pins.

add a cute bow and you're done!

laura.

faux shaved head.

faux shaved head.

in an effort to talk felicia off the ledge of shaving a side of her head, this braid was born.:) same effect and no regret!

it's a rockstar faux shaved head braid!
i did a deep side part to get the lift.
then i made a tight, small french braid on the side and then pinned the braid under the hair to hide the end.

 the trick on the lift is a bunch of back combing and hairspray.

laura.

mermaid fishtail.

mermaid fishtail braid.

file this one under the little mermaid. i imagine this as a braid ariel would wear. or one of her lesser known sisters. don't fret, alana. redheads need their time in the spotlight.

  

Oh well! Let's have a cocktail!

in all seriousness.. this braid was a big accomplishment for me. i've been trying the fishtail braid since i was a wee lass. now that i've mastered it, i can go on achieving real goals.

i started making a loose french braid on the left side of the top of her head. i french braided sideways down to the right side of the bottom of her head, secured with ponytail.

then i put the ponytail into two strands instead of three. and did a segment of the fishtail braid.

then i made three strands and finished with a braid. i moved the elastic from the bottom of the french braid to the bottom of the whole ponytail.
done!
 

laura.

spanish rose.

the spanish rose.

spanish, because the front looks like a crown.                  and my all-time favorite monarch is Queen Isabella I of Spain, who funded christopher columbus' journey to america, among many other amazing milestones in the history of that country.

and rose, because it has a rose.

this creation began with a french braid crown, from left to right. i included the bangs, which made a cool poof and created the crown effect.

i finished the french braid with a regular braid and kept that to the side. then i made a ponytail with the rest of her bottom hair and made one big braid. i wrapped that into a bun and bobby pinned it.

i took the remaining braid from the crown part and placed it up and over the braid bun, bobby pinning the end around the bun.
then i hid the bobby pin juncture with a big rose pin that felicia took off of a necklace. re-purposing for the WIN! 

laura.

waterfall peasant.

waterfall peasant braid.

this is a version of the waterfall braid, but it keeps felicia's hair up and off her neck. comfort AND beauty, folks. winning!

i began above her right ear making a waterfall french braid. i just dropped the bottom piece and picked up a new one at each segment of the braid. there are a bunch of awesome waterfall braid youtube tutorials for this part. 
(see - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y90s6neUKEY )

i did a loose waterfall braid across her head until i got to her left ear.

then i did a french braid (very loose) below the waterfall braid, this time going left to right.

i finished with a little side braid, purposely uneven, and put an elastic band in to leave some loose hair in the ponytail.

secured a few pieces with bobby pins and then a little hairspray for the flyaways! gorgeous! if it weren't winter.. and we had little wildflowers around the yard... i would stick a few flowers in the braid. a ribbon around the elastic would also be pretty.

laura.

double braid flip.

double braid flip.

in our brief trip down romantic hair lane, felicia and i created this flip through pony tail. i definitely did this one with just a pony tail back in the day. memories...

but this is a twist on it.
it made two loose-ish french braids on the right and left, then bound them with a pony tail elastic in the middle.

 then i pulled the pony tail through the hair above the elastic, making the flip.

then we curled her hair, and that was that!

                                       

laura.