The Bow Bun

Cute and girly...

With this cute bow on the side of a casual bun, you will get so many compliments!

Make it small and simple or messy and quirky. This can be done without a bun but with longer hair it doesn't work and just falls out, the bun uses up hair and makes it neater and sturdier.

1. Brush the hair and tie it into a high ponytail.

2. Pull the ponytail through a hair doughnut, spread the hair over it and put a hair band around the bun.

3. Take the hair around to one side and split it into two equal pieces and one small piece.

4. Clip the small section of hair away from the rest.

5. Use your fingers to twist one big section of hair vertically and use as many bobby pins as you need to secure it to the side of the bun.

6. Do this on the other side with the other big section of hair and clip it in place. Pull and clip the hair to make them even.

7. Fold up the small piece of hair and clip it in the middle of the bow.

8. Hair spray it to make it stay in place.

Short Hair Styles

"I love these hairstyles! But my hair is too short to do them on."

People with short hair seem to think braids are impossible on their hair, but they are not at all!

Braids such as french braids and waterfall braids look great on short hair. Here are some examples below of braids on short hair:

The top left is a waterfall braid, click here to learn how to do this style.
The top right and bottom left are french fishtail braids. The bottom left one has simply been tucked under and clipped up to make it more evening wear. To learn how to fishtail click here.
The last hair style is simply curled using a curling tong. For short hair curling takes a very long time! You have to do each curl with a small section of hair or it won't work. The result is beautiful, volumised hair which is definitely worth the time.

Waterfall Twists

Simple yet stylish

       

This hairstyles is the simplest they come. On the left picture I did two around the crown of the head and pulled up the sections to add more volume to the hair. You don't have to do two but I think it looks better than just one.

I would suggest the hairstyle on the right for people with a centre parting. It has a very even look to it at the front and a creative twist to it at the back. Once you know how to waterfall twist, crossing them over won't be a problem.

1. Take two sections of hair from the front of the head.

2. Twist them together and after every twist add a pinch of hair between them.

3. Finish off at the end by twisting both sections one way, then twisting them together the opposite way.

4. Pinch the top of each section that was dropped through the twist if you like.

Butterfly Braid

Different and detailed

Is soon as I saw this hairstyles I just had to try it out! Even now I have worked out how to do it, the way it looks like a butterfly still fascinates me.

I did a pictorial for this one so I could remember how to do it again but its not as hard as it looks!

1. Start with the hair in a mid height pony tail.

2. Split the hair in half and clip it up.

3. Split one side in half again.

4. Do a lace braid with the top quarter of hair, start with it at the top of the pony tail and angle the braid round to make a semi-circle.

5. Make a smaller lace braid with the bottom quarter of hair.

6. Split the hair in two on the other side and repeat steps 4 and 5.

7. Wrap three of the braid ends around the ponytail and bring one up the middle of the wings.

8. Clip it on place and use as much hair wax/jell/spray as needed to keep the antenna in place.

9. If you want this hair style to stay in all day us lots of hairspray.

The Fishtailed Bun

Make what was going to be a messy bun, into a going out bun...

This hairstyle is practical and beautiful. You can style the front however you like and then have this gorgeous display at the back. I like to have the bun to one side and at the bottom of the head to make it more into an even hairstyle. Start with a pony tail then do a fishtail to make it more day wear.
In the two photos I have included below, I added some more detail by clipping in some hair accessories. The photo on the left has a french fishtail going around the head and four diamond slide in grips from Accessorize.
The second photo has some mini regular braids incorporated into the bun with a coral coloured flower clip from Claire's. Use a coloured accessory to bring an outfit together.

To see more fishtail based hairstyles click on my previous posts Fishtails For All and Pancaked Fishtails.

1. Split the hair into two sections.
2. Take a small section from the outside edge of one of the sections and cross it over and add it to the inside edge of the other section. This is now part of this side.
3. Take a small section from the other side and cross it over and add it into the other section. 
4. Repeat until you run out of hair.

For a french fishtail simply start a fishtail at the top of the head and add some extra hair in every time you cross a new section over. When the fishtail is complete twist it around then pin in place with as many clips as you feel is needed for it to be secure.

Celtic Knot

The Celtic knot goes by a few names - pretzel braid, knot braid, infinity knot. What ever you know it as, I'm sure you remember it for how unique it is. The way I learnt how to do this wasn't by any youtube tutorials or pictorials, it was simply me looping hair round and comparing my creations to the picture.

People will definitely compliment you if you wear this as a casual hair do. At more formal events this will fit in perfectly with curls to create a soft and simple look.

This knot was also used in Pretty Pull-Backs, have a look at that post to see another picture of this braid and learn how to do a heart braid.
I made a pictorial for this one because it is quite hard to explain:

Leave pictures of you tries of the Celtic knot in the comments! I love to see them.

Lace Braids

Take up the layers

You may have come across french braids and this is only slightly different.

On french braids, you take hair from both sides whereas in a lace braid you only take hair from the top (lace braids work best horizontal).

This braid is really good on thick hair as it holds up the whole top layer which thins it out.

My favourite way of doing this is to do more than one to create a repeated effect on each layer.

I love the way it looks on sun kissed hair as the layers get darker and darker towards the bottom which really shows all the natural colour tones in the hair.

In the style on the left I chose to leave the rest of the hair as three regular braids. However, another option is to take the left over hair over the shoulder and made a regular braid with the ends of the little braids.

I think this braid is pretty self explanatory if you know how to french braid. For those who don't I will explain :)

1. Do the first stitch of a regular three strand braid at the side of the head just above the ear.

2. Every time you cross over the top strand: add a little bit of hair in from the top of the head. Don't add too much at a time or you will run out of hair at the top and the braid will get too thick.

3. Continue doing this and start to gradually curve the braid downwards as you get to the other side of the head. Finish off with a regular braid.

4. Repeat this but take hair from under the previous lace braid. Do however many lace braids you think you can fit in.

5. As a finishing touch, pull at the hair on the crown of the head to poof it up a little.