Friday, March 30, 2012

Two Strand Twists with Braided Roots Pulled into a High Bun




How perfect is this style for girls? We both absolutely love the way this turned out. A Facebook reader (Hi Lizanne!) completely inspired me to try this when she posted a picture of her daughters two strand twists with the roots braided. I've seen this done with synthetic hair but never thought to do it on natural hair. If you have problems with your roots being too puffy or frizzy or coming undone, then this right here should solve your problem! 

First, I washed my daughter's hair. After washing I moisturized on wet hair (Bee Mine Luscious Moisturizer) and applied a little extra virgin coconut oil over the moisturizer. I began by parting at a slant at the nape of her neck. I used Bee Mine Curly Butte for a little bit of hold. I braided about an inch of each section then took the 3 sections and made them 2 sections, finishing off with a basic two strand twist. To get her twists to stay in place, I roll the ends between my index and thumb several times. I continued making medium sections parted at a slant until I was finished. This style took about an hour or so to complete. I decided to place the twists up in a high bun. A few people were asking me how I got her bun so perfect on Facebook so read below for some quick instructions.

Click to enlarge
  1. Place twists in a high ponytail
  2. Gather all of the twists together and begin twisting them all one way.
  3. Begin rolling the twisted section around the ponytail holder.
  4. Tuck the ends under the bun and secure with an ouchless ponytail holder. Use bobby pins if you need extra hold.
  5. All done!
If the hair is not long enough for this bun method, try using a sock or donut piece then wrap the twists around and tuck the ends under. Click here for instructions.

For bonus pictures, "LIKE" us on Facebook! :-) www.facebook.com/beadsbraidsandbeyond



Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Natural Hair Styles for Little Girls: Cornrows & Twist Out - Flat Twists & Twist Out

Click pictures to enlarge
Miss A had some of her cousins over this past weekend and I was pleasantly surprised when they asked me to do their hair! Even the little 3-year-old! I mean, what 3 year old do you know who actually wants to sit still to have their hair styled? I know my soon-to-be 3 year old son wants no part of hair time. 

I styled Miss A's older cousin first. She is 9 years old and really wanted to wear her hair out and curly. I washed her hair with Kinky Curly Come Clean Shampoo and conditioned with Bee Mine Daily Moisturizing Conditioner. After I rinsed the conditioner I applied a generous amount of Bee Mine Luscious Moisturizer to her hair, focusing on her edges and ends. I began by parting the first section of hair to cornrow near her right temple. Using a metal rat tail comb, I parted at a slight angle. I applied a small amount of Bee Mine Curly Butter to each section before cornrowing for a little hold. I loosely tied off the end of each cornrow with a black rubberband. I cornrowed a total of 6 sections. Every 2 cornrows, I applied a small amount of Bee Mine Curly Butter and twisted the loose hair together. After I finished the top I just used my fingers to grab a medium amount of hair and twist them together, once again, using Bee Mine Curly Butter. 


The next morning I removed the two strand twists and these are the results (below). I love how it turned out! This was her first time ever wearing her hair out like this so she was very excited.

Below is Miss A's 3 year old cousin. She wanted me to do her hair like her "sissy". I decided to keep it quick and simple. I parted small section of her hair and decided to do flat twists instead of cornrows because her hair is on the fine, thin side. I used Bee Mine Curly Butter on her hair as well. I twisted the rest of her hair and removed the twists in the A.M. Below are the results. :-) 





Miss A was also wearing a twist out. I used Bee Mine Curly Butter on about 8 large twists. 

Don't forget, our Bee Mine Discount code is still good through the end of this month (March). The code is BBBJAN and you will receive 10% off at www.beemineproducts.com

I hope you enjoyed this post! :-)

xoxo, Nik
Don't forget to "like" us on Facebook! CLICK HERE!

Cornrows & Pompadour - Natural "Rocker" Hair

She asked for it and she got it! "Rockstar hair!"

This is just a recycled style from the Natural Hair Updo. Her hair got a little wet from her bath so I took the top section and placed it in a loose ponytail. I pushed the ponytail up a little to create a small hump (pompadour) and pinned the hair with a couple of bobby pins so it stayed in place. Very simple and fun style!





Friday, March 23, 2012

Natural Hair Updo - Cornrows & Cinnabuns

My daughter has been asking for a mohawk for months so I decided to pull some inspiration from our Facebook page and give her a cute, girly mohawk updo. She absolutely loves it! I think it's an adorable style for little girls, especially with cute Spring dresses. Jazz it up with a bow or hair pins and you're good to go!

The style is actually very simple so I'll try to keep the instructions short.

Miss A's hair was previously moisturized and banded so her hair was already stretched out quite a bit. If you're not into banding, you can completely skip this step. If you don't know what banding is, please check out our Banding F.A.Q. post.

I began by parting the hair from ear to ear. I tied off the back so I could easily work with the top section. Using a metal rat tail comb, I made a slanted square. I tied off the middle section so I could cornrow the left and right sections. If you do not know how to cornrow, please check out our Cornrowing for Beginners post. Flat twists would look just as adorable. I didn't want too much going on with this style so I kept the cornrows pretty basic. Just going straight up the sides.

After cornrowing both sides, I untied the top middle section and parted medium sections of hair with my fingers. I grabbed a black ouchless band and loosely tied off about 8 sections. I two strand twisted each section and left them overnight. I untied the back of her hair and did the same thing. I knew she didn't need cornrows in the back because her hair is so thick so the little cinnabuns would have covered them. 

The next morning  I removed the two strand twists, leaving the ouchless ponytail holders in. I gathered each section and wrapped it around each ponytail holder. I used a bobby pin to secure each little bun. I tried to make the buns kind of loose. I wanted a really full updo.

As for products, I used Bee Mine Luscious Moisturizer to moisturize and Bee Mine Curly Butter to style. We still have a reader discount code, good through the end of March. The code is BBBJAN for 10% www.beemineproducts.com

Don't forget to "Like" us on Facebook! You will find a lot more updates and pictures there.





Thursday, March 22, 2012

Half Up, Half Down - Banded Natural Hair with Braid + Dealing With Epilepsy


Hey everyone! I know I haven't updated on the blog in a while but if you follow our Facebook page then you know we have been dealing with a lot here lately. As many of you may know, Miss A had 2 seizures last week, about 12 hours apart. She has absolutely no health issues that we were aware of and never had a seizure before in her life. She was in the hospital for a few days and there was talks of a tumor, brain infection and cysts on both sides of her brain. The doctor officially diagnosed her with having Epilepsy but we don't know what caused her seizures. This is still very new to us and it is terrifying. She is in seizure medication and she is doing better but she still has moments that seem off to me. She will be going in for another EEG in a couple of weeks. She will also be having a sleep study done and I am going to request another MRI because at first the doctor was sure she had cysts and now he "doesn't think" she does. I feel pretty clueless at this point but I am going to remain strong for my little girl. I will try to make a full post next week but I just wanted to update you all and let you all know that is is doing well and I thank you all so very much for your thoughts and prayers.

Picture of her when she was in the hospital. The day she went home. As you can see, she still wanted to play dress up, lol

As you can see from the above picture, Miss A's hair was stretched through banding. If you don't know what banding is, please check out our Banding F.A.Q. post *CLICK HERE* I banded her hair in a few sections for a couple of days using Goody Ouchless ponytail holders (they are very stretchy, cloth and metal free). I used Bee Mine Luscious Moisturizer (As you probably know, this is our fav. Discount code: BBBJAN will get you 10% off, good through March 31st, 2012 www.beemineproducts.com) I planned on styling her hair this week but nothing ever goes according to plan so I decided to do this quick style before we headed out to take Lil Man to speech therapy.  I parted her hair from ear to ear with my fingers. I loosely tied off the top section with a ponytail holder, I then made a space between her hair right above the ponytail holder and flipped her ponytail through that section. I braided the remaining hair and tied it off with another matching ponytail holder. I used a little Kinky Curly Curling Custard to smooth the top section down and viola! All done. Nothing too fancy but very easy and cute.

Don't forget to "LIKE" our Facebook page for more pictures and updates. Please feel free to ask questions and share your own pictures! :-)

xoxo, Nik