Two weeks ago we talked about surviving the "hair-always-in-their-face" stage and I promised to make a post about hairstyles that are more complex and work for older kids with longer hair. Today we are going to dive into that.
Personally, I find braiding hair relaxing, so I take any chance to do it and play around with different ideas. Fixing your kid's hair should be fun for both you and your child. I recommend having a short cartoon on or a book that can keep them still for the process, but if your kid is not cooperating and starts getting frustrated instead, please skip the braids and just make a fast ponytail or secure their fringe with a clip. Don't turn it into a negative experience.
Obviously, for any of these hairstyles, you'll need to be comfortable and confident with braiding. And that can only be achieved through practice.
This is a normal french braid, which is a classic, but I would highly recommend for you to also learn how to do the dutch braid. This way you'll be able to change things up more often. Also, I find some hairstyles much easier to make with the dutch braid instead of the french one.
The only thing you need to keep in mind is that dutch braid is a bit weaker and tends to loosen up or even fall apart if you are being too rough with it. So if your kid is going to have a very active day then go with the french braid instead. It does an excellent job at securing everything and can almost withstand the end of the world.
The first thing that I want to suggest is mixing braids with ponytails.
It looks fun (kids always look adorable with ponytails), but at the same time gives more security so you won't have to re-do it as often.
It keeps the front pieces from bothering them, saves a serious amount of time and can look festive and delicate.
You can keep it simple.
Or get creative. Adding more braids and making them into 1 or 2 or 5 ponytails also looks great.
As you can see, I like to keep elastic bands on so the whole thing can be easily fixed and re-done, but feel free to take them off if you wish or use clear elastics to hide their presence.
This looks wonderful with buns as well.
Here is another half-braided thing you can do. It would suit older kids better just because they are a bit more careful with what they do and won't come back with a bird's nest on their heads.
For the little ones, however, there is this adorable mousy thing you can do that will steal your heart.
It also wins you parent points when they look in the mirror.
Next is the O- or C-shaped braid. It's great for gaining a bit more control over your braiding.
This is one of the hairstyles that I only do with dutch braids just because they are much easier if you need to start at the side. You can grab the braid backwards and have hair pieces hang over your hands instead of laying under them without the braid losing any strength.
You could also clip it up if you want to make a real circle out of it, but it doesn't hold for very long, at least with 2-year olds.
Another interesting thing you can do is joining 2 braids together to form one.
There are 3 ways to achieve that: 1 - braid the smaller braid as far down as you can and then insert it into the big one like you would with any other section of hair;
2 - with the help of another person, clips or by yourself if you are really good at it, you could join each of the three strands of one piece to each of three of the other one. That looks very smooth, like they are actually growing out of the big braid, but could be tricky to achieve;
3 - finally, you could tie both braids with an elastic, braid the ponytail down and then cut the elastic off, which is exactly what I did in this case. I've tried it every way possible. The second technique is my favourite in terms of looks, but the other two are much faster and easier.
My final and most important advice: have fun. Let your kid pick what they want done with their hair, choose the colour of the elastic bands or put clips in for decoration.
Try as many of their crazy ideas as it takes, experiment, take your time looking in the mirror and make sure to be silly while doing it. Braids and clips and ponytails are great at keeping hair from bothering kids, but it's also a part of their identity. It deserves to be fun and reflect your kid's personality.
Personally, I find braiding hair relaxing, so I take any chance to do it and play around with different ideas. Fixing your kid's hair should be fun for both you and your child. I recommend having a short cartoon on or a book that can keep them still for the process, but if your kid is not cooperating and starts getting frustrated instead, please skip the braids and just make a fast ponytail or secure their fringe with a clip. Don't turn it into a negative experience.
Obviously, for any of these hairstyles, you'll need to be comfortable and confident with braiding. And that can only be achieved through practice.
This is a normal french braid, which is a classic, but I would highly recommend for you to also learn how to do the dutch braid. This way you'll be able to change things up more often. Also, I find some hairstyles much easier to make with the dutch braid instead of the french one.
The only thing you need to keep in mind is that dutch braid is a bit weaker and tends to loosen up or even fall apart if you are being too rough with it. So if your kid is going to have a very active day then go with the french braid instead. It does an excellent job at securing everything and can almost withstand the end of the world.
The first thing that I want to suggest is mixing braids with ponytails.
It looks fun (kids always look adorable with ponytails), but at the same time gives more security so you won't have to re-do it as often.
It keeps the front pieces from bothering them, saves a serious amount of time and can look festive and delicate.
You can keep it simple.
Or get creative. Adding more braids and making them into 1 or 2 or 5 ponytails also looks great.
As you can see, I like to keep elastic bands on so the whole thing can be easily fixed and re-done, but feel free to take them off if you wish or use clear elastics to hide their presence.
This looks wonderful with buns as well.
Here is another half-braided thing you can do. It would suit older kids better just because they are a bit more careful with what they do and won't come back with a bird's nest on their heads.
For the little ones, however, there is this adorable mousy thing you can do that will steal your heart.
It also wins you parent points when they look in the mirror.
Next is the O- or C-shaped braid. It's great for gaining a bit more control over your braiding.
This is one of the hairstyles that I only do with dutch braids just because they are much easier if you need to start at the side. You can grab the braid backwards and have hair pieces hang over your hands instead of laying under them without the braid losing any strength.
You could also clip it up if you want to make a real circle out of it, but it doesn't hold for very long, at least with 2-year olds.
Another interesting thing you can do is joining 2 braids together to form one.
There are 3 ways to achieve that: 1 - braid the smaller braid as far down as you can and then insert it into the big one like you would with any other section of hair;
2 - with the help of another person, clips or by yourself if you are really good at it, you could join each of the three strands of one piece to each of three of the other one. That looks very smooth, like they are actually growing out of the big braid, but could be tricky to achieve;
3 - finally, you could tie both braids with an elastic, braid the ponytail down and then cut the elastic off, which is exactly what I did in this case. I've tried it every way possible. The second technique is my favourite in terms of looks, but the other two are much faster and easier.
My final and most important advice: have fun. Let your kid pick what they want done with their hair, choose the colour of the elastic bands or put clips in for decoration.
Try as many of their crazy ideas as it takes, experiment, take your time looking in the mirror and make sure to be silly while doing it. Braids and clips and ponytails are great at keeping hair from bothering kids, but it's also a part of their identity. It deserves to be fun and reflect your kid's personality.
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