Continue reading]]> I have always wanted to learn how to do flat iron curls.  They look so easy once you get the hang of it, but I just couldn’t get the motion down, so I took a trip to my neighbor Dana’s house to have her teach me how to do easy flat iron curls.  We took a video so you could learn too!  Please let me know if you have any questions and I would be happy to answer them.

Continue reading]]> My daughter woke up one morning and I noticed a giant hair knot that covered the entire back of her head (like dreadlocks but all folded under into itself).  This photo wasn’t taken until after we got that folded part all out by pulling a few strands at a time and lots of crocodile tears.

I thought she had gum in there or something sticky, but no, it was just hair all bundled up into a huge knot!  She apparently had been hiding it under a ponytail for maybe a week until it got so bad it could no longer be hidden. It kept getting worse every day as she would sleep on it, play, and wash it.

If your daughter gets something like this in her hair, make sure you deal with it as soon as you can.  We narrowly avoided a pixie haircut.

Now I know how to get a hair knot out.  It takes a lot of patience, but you can save the hair if this happens to you.  It took 2 hours, but we got it out and she only needed an inch cut off!  She does have many broken strands in her hair, but you wouldn’t know unless you looked closely.

The first thing we did is put melted coconut oil all over the knot.  This helped the strands not get as damaged as well as making the hair a little slippery so we could pull out the part that was all turned under into itself.

Then we were left with the main knot (see photo above) that could be combed. We put the surrounding hair in pigtails to isolate the main knot.  Once we got to the main knot, it was impossible to pull out the hair anymore.  It was so tangled tightly and I was at a loss of what to do.

Lastly, I took her to my neighbor’s house for this hair emergency.  She is a hairstylist and she spent an hour combing the main knot out.  See the video for techniques.

This is what she looked like after her hair cut and a blow dry.  Whew!  We were so lucky to be able to save her hair!  We had a whole trashcan full of broken and pulled out hair (it had to be so painful for her), as a lot of it falls out in the pulling and combing process.  Just do the best you can to keep oil on it so it can stay hydrated and heal.

I now check every day to make sure the back of her hair is brushed well and she will try to sleep with braids in her hair at night so it doesn’t get matted back there.  A knot genie might be a good thing to use from now on! If your child does have something sticky in her hair, I have heard good things about Monkey Brains goop out shampoo. I have not tried it myself, but I’m sure I will in the future with all the gum my kids chew! Monkey brains also uses a knot out detangler.

Please post a comment if you have any questions.

*disclaimer: This process worked for my daughter, but make sure you seek out professional advice before attempting something drastic like this on your own or a child’s hair.  Every situation is different, so make sure you look into all the options!

Continue reading]]> Do you know how to do French braids?  I have always loved doing hair and figuring out new hairstyles.  However, I have never been able to learn how to do French Braids despite repeated attempts from friends and family trying to teach me.

I just can’t figure out how to keep all of those pieces separated and remember which part of the braid goes next.  Even my 11 year old daughter can do French braids on herself and her sister.  She’s been doing it for several years.  It’s time for me to learn and I’m glad I have this tutorial to refer to!

My neighbor, Dana, has a hair studio in her home and she was gracious enough to let me video her doing French Braids on my daughter.  She does a really good job of taking it step by step and going slow so we can see how to do it quickly and easily!

What you will need is a rat tooth comb, some elastics and a hair sprayer. Doing braids is very economical and you can probably use items you already have at home!

Here’s the How To Do French Braids Tutorial

Continue reading]]> I was at Sally’s one day to get some bobby pins, and I was browsing and saw these giant sponge rollers (only at the Sally’s store, they were a different brand).  I wondered to myself, “what could those be used for?”.  hmmm…  it got the wheels spinning and well I had to try them out!  I figured out how to do beach waves with them.  My hair is prone to damage and I live in a very dry climate so I was happy that I could have beachy waves without using any damaging heat.  It’s an easy way to do my hair while I’m just sitting in my home office working and the curlers are working for me!  I used jumbo 2 inch curlers on the top and 1 1/ 2 inch on the bottom, but I have also had much success with sleeping in these pillow rollers.

One trick is to put the curlers on vertically instead of horizontally.  This makes spiral curls.

Also, it nice because these curls stay in 2-3 days, even if you sleep on them.  You can use a little dry shampoo if your hair gets a bit greasy in-between washings it like mine does.

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I decided one day that I was going to have to learn how to cut bangs.  It takes about 30 minutes for me to drive to the salon and it takes the stylist 1 minute to actually do the cutting.  It also costs $5 each time I need my bangs cut which is generally once every one or two weeks when I would make the trek to the salon.  I had a dilemma, I didn’t want to take the time to go to the salon any more and I didn’t want to pay the $5.

So, I called my neighbor, Dana, who is a professional hair stylist and she came to my rescue and taught me how to cut my bangs myself. It was really easy! I wish I would have known sooner!

I used this hair cutting kit from Conair but in a pinch you could use sewing scissors or even kitchen shears (as long as they are very sharp). My husband uses the rest of our Conair Kit to cut our 5 year old son’s hair. I think we’ve had it over 4 years now, so I think it’s worth the $15 we paid for it!

After you cut your bangs, you will need to round brush them (a wooden brush with natural fiber bristles is best).  I covet this one from amazon.com, but I used one from Sally’s Beauty Supply that was 1 1/2 inches (the size of the wooden part, not the bristles).  Also, another hair tip I have is that I have the most amazing hairdryer.  My husband thinks I worship it and he’s probably right!  I take it on every vacation because I can’t stand using regular hair dryers anymore after having this for many years.  It’s hotter, quieter, faster (I can blow dry my thick hair in 3 minutes), and doesn’t blow as obnoxiously as other hair dryers.  As you can see in the video, it helped me to blow dry my bangs quickly and effectively.

If you have any questions, please post a comment!