About two weeks ago, a Twitter fan tweeted us a photo of a very intricately-laced bow braid hairstyle, and I thought the idea was so fun and unique! In fact, it was likely the most creative and cute hairstyle I have seen since the Waterfall Braid! So… I sat down to figure it out, but after many attempts I wasn’t having much luck at all.  Close, but nothing worth posting…

Another fan, Katrina on Facebook, posted her version along with a link to a low resolution Russian YouTube video showing the exact technique.  The video was at times hard to follow, and it does not show a finished hairstyle, but it provided me with just enough info to be able to master the braid! With that, I am now ready to teach you all!

You can use The Bow Braid in pretty much any hairstyle as long as there is a three-stranded French or Lace Braid involved.  It will work on short hair, medium hair, long hair, layered hair, hair with bangs, combos, etc.

In the tutorial, I show you how to do Bow Braid Ponytails, but I also show you on myself and the other daughters some finished looks for a braided headband, diagonal braid, and lace braid.

Items Needed: A brush, rat-tail comb, spray bottle, hairspray or pomade, a hairpin (not a bobby pin), and a few hair elastics.

Time Requirement: 10-15 minutes, depending on the hairstyle you choose.

Steps:

1. Begin by braiding a section of your hair. You can use a lace braid or a 3 strand French braid. Remember you will need another ½ inch section of hair parted next to your braid to create the bows.
2. Thread the hairpin, loop end first, through a section of your braid to prepare it to pull through hair for the bow.
3. Take a small section of hair from the ½ inch parted section and create a loop with your fingers.
4. Thread the loop of hair through the hairpin and grab loop of hair with left hand while gently tugging the hairpin back through your hair with your right hand.
5. As you pull the hairpin out of the braid it will begin to form the other half of the bow. Gently tug the hairpin until you like the look of the second loop and then remove it from hair. You should now have one competed bow that runs through the braid.
6. Repeat Steps 1-5 all the way down the braid until you run out of hair.

{You can see in the video that I mixed in the remaining tails of the bows back into the next strand. It may be easier and less “messy” to simply lay the tails alongside the French Braid and then bring down the next section of hair over the top for the next loop. As you finish the braid, most of the tails will be covered by the hair from the top. It all depends on how you want the bow braid to look.}

Happy Hairdoing!

What we do find, however, is that there may be a reoccurring theme among the hairstyle requests…

We have had quite  few Facebook posts or emails asking for hairstyles from The Game of Thrones TV series on HBO.  We do not watch HBO, but many fans have sent in photos and I have to admit some of the hairstyles are super cute!

{Note to readers:  This is not a show that we will watch in our home, simply because we do not agree with its content.  We also would not advise anyone under the age of 18 to view it either, since it apparently contains mature content and themes.}

From an emailed photo of a hairstyle worn by the character named Sansa, here is what we are calling this the ”Double French Braid & Twist”…

Steps:

1. To begin, center-part the hair and then section off about a 1.5 inch strip on either side of the part. {These sections will provide the hair for the two French backs.}
2. Then French Braid the right section until you reach as far back as the crown of the head, then finish of the hair with a simple braid {tying it off loosely with an elastic band}…
3. Repeat step #2 on the left section of the hair…
4. Then take the braids and twist them around each other, tying them off together with an hair elastic.
5. Add hairspray {if desired}.

We added volume to the hair with a curling wand beforehand, simply to add more texture to the hairstyle. It was only on the top layer of the hair, with the underlying hair “as is”.

This would be a perfect 2nd-day hairstyle if you had braids or curls in your hair from the previous day.  It is so simple to do, as long as you know how to French Braid, and will certainly have people asking you how you did it!

Enjoy!

Items Needed:  Brush, rat-tail comb, spray bottle, two elastic bands, hairspray, and curling iron {if desired, for texture}

Time Requirement: 5 minutes

As another side note, my hubby and I officially entered a video application for The Amazing Race!  I have been trying to convince my husband to apply with me ever since season #1… but he finally gave in and decided to do it this year! The Amazing Race has been my dream for several years now, so if you happen to know someone at CBS {or know someone who knows someone}, please let them know to look for us!!!

Thanks, and Happy Hairdoing!

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We are so excited to thank all of you wonderful fans for your support of CuteGirlsHairstyles! It is because of you that our hairstyles are so popular!

As you may know, the other day we uploaded our 100% authentic version of the Katniss Braid hairstyle, exactly as how it was done in the movie!

If you watched that tutorial, you can see that Linda Flowers {the lead hairstylist from The Hunger Games movie set} has graciously provided us with a TopStyler® to give away to one of our lucky fans!!! This prize is worth over $100, and can create any number of different curls or wave patterns for many hairstyles!

To read more about this product, please feel free to visit the TopStyler® website.

By entering our contest, you promise to abide by the YouTube Terms of Service and Community Guidelines.  All data provided in the comments section will be used to determine the winner only and will not be used for any other purpose.

Before Entering:

• You must be Subscriber of the CuteGirlsHairstyles channel to enter. {If you are not, simply click the link. I will check to be sure that our winner appears in our subscriber list.}
• You must be at least 18 years of age. If you are not 18 years of age, a parent must provide permission and enter for you.

Entries:

• Share your favorite CuteGirlsHairstyles video on your own Facebook profile {1 entry per video, up to 10 entries}. If you decide to share 10 videos, you can leave 10 entries. Please leave a comment here for “each” entry stating which video you shared.

Or…

• If you don’t have Facebook, simply refer our CuteGirlsHairstyles channel to a friend {1 entry per friend, up to 10 entries}. If you decide to share us with 10 friends, you can enter 10 entries. Please leave a comment here for “each” friend to whom you referred our channel.

This contest will end at midnight {Mountain Standard Time} on Sunday, April 22, 2012. We will use Random.org to select the winner, and will announce it on YouTube.  The contest is also open to our fans internationally!

Thanks for being such amazing fans… and may the odds be ever in your favor!

Happy Hairdoing!

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FTC Disclosure: I was provided this TopStyler® tool free of charge by InStyler® for review purposes only. No other forms of compensation were provided to CuteGirlsHairstyles. All opinions of the product are strictly mine, and results may vary.

Right after the premier, Linda Flowers, the lead hairstylist on The Hunger Games movie set, began searching the internet to see what people were saying about her hairstyles.

In fact, Linda was so amazed at how the Katniss Braid was becoming a “symbol”, so much that teen girls worldwide and their friends were wearing the braid to see the movie in theaters! She found us on YouTube and recognized that CuteGirlsHairstyles had a huge hand in helping teach literally thousands of our fans how to do the braid!

As such, Linda reached out to us and offered to give me a personal tutorial of the many Hunger Games hairstyles over Skype!

During our tutorial, I quickly saw that the Katniss braid had a little more prep work to it than I had originally thought! Linda showed me how she added the texture into Jennifer Lawrence’s hair “before” she created the Katniss braid {something I had not figured out}.

She uses a tool called the TopStyler® {by InStyler®} to add volume and stranded twists into the diagonal Dutch braid. From the leaked photos prior to the premier, many thought that there was maybe one more strand added into the braid… and this was the reason why. You can see exactly how to create this texture by viewing the tutorial below.

I appreciate that the TopStyler uses a slow and uniform transfer heat to curl the hair, rather than the immediate super hot heat a curling wand provides that only heats the outside of the strand. It also allows for the curl to stay in much longer.

This is the exact look Katniss wore throughout the arena scenes in the movie, taught to CuteGirlsHairstyles personally by the one who created it… Linda Flowers! Hope you enjoy it!

{You can find the TopStyler at Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, Ulta, or Amazon online.}

Enjoy!

Items Needed: Brush, rat-tail comb, water bottle, hairspray, TopStyler, 1 hairband, quiver of arrows {optional}

Time Requirement: 30 minutes {approximately, including heat time}

If you enjoyed this tutorial, please feel free to Facebook share it, tweet it, pin it, “whatever-you-want” it!   Happy Hairdoing!

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FTC Disclosure: I was provided this TopStyler® tool free of charge by InStyler® for review purposes only. No other forms of compensation were provided to CuteGirlsHairstyles. All opinions of the product are strictly mine, and results may vary.

{We tried as hard as we could to find what website the style originated from, to give proper credit, but the original photo was uploaded directly to Pinterest with no tie to a user.}

After seeing the photo, my #3 daughter pleaded with me to do a tutorial of this braided hairstyle on her, so we could share with all of you! How can I resist those batting eyelashes???

This hairstyle uses a Simple Side Braid, only I included two microbraids in two of the strands. Please be sure you follow my braiding procedure exactly to ensure that the micro braids lay on top {rather than be hidden}.

The style of braiding you will need to use will be similar to the under-over stranding in a Dutch braid.

I also included a Hair-Wrapped Ponytail, to give the braid an even more sophisticated look.

We have worn this braided hairstyle twice during the week and moms always give a “double-take” for a closer look, asking how I did it. They are amazed when they see how really easy it is!

Since this is a simple braid, you can pretty much combo it with any number of accents… like twistbacks, or incorporate the braid into a bun.

Enjoy!

Items Needed: Brush, rat-tail comb, water bottle, two clear elastics, one hairband, hairspray {if desired}

Time Requirement: 5-10 minutes

Happy Hairdoing!

By now, many of your know that we love to “pancake” the braids in our hairstyles, and it is becoming quite the trend!

These Pancake Braids {braids that are flattened by simply tugging on the elbows of the braids}, led us to create this flattened version of our Crown Braid…

My oldest daughter wore this braided hairstyle on the Anderson Cooper talk show in NYC last month, and we received so many comments from people all day long.

We knew we had to film this hairstyle tutorial when people stopped us all the time to ask how we did it!

{You will have to forgive my daughter’s pink ears and cheeks in the video, as the previous day their school held a Renaissance Fair outside on a sunny afternoon!}

Enjoy!

Items Needed: Brush, rat-tail comb, spray bottle, one hairband, hairspray {if desired}

Time Requirement: 5-10 minutes

Happy Hairdoing!

We saw the THG movie Friday night, loved it, and we were happy that our hairstyles were fairly true to form!

We were also excited to receive an email from Linda Flowers, the Lead Stylist on set for The Hunger Games movie who had seen our hairstyles on YouTube and wanted to let us know that she liked them and that she wants to Skype me for a personal tutorial with her! I am so0000 EXCITED!!!

For this hairstyle worn by Katniss during “The Reaping” scene in the movie, you basically follow the same steps as we showed in the Prim Braids for the two French-backs into normal braids. The only difference is that you “fold in”  and pin the lower braids into a flat, low bun.

The result is super cute, and sure to get you compliments!

Enjoy!

Items Needed: Brush, rat-tail comb, spray bottle, two clear elastics, several bobby pins, hairspray {if desired}

Time Requirement: 5+ minutes

Happy Hairdoing!

We recently posted our Katniss Everdeen Braid, which is gaining lots of traction on YouTube, and yesterday we  filmed two additional Hunger Games Hairstyles!

This one is the braided hairstyle wore by Katniss’ younger sister in the District 12 scene, which uses the French braiding technique.  {We scoured the internet for shots of her wearing the style and can confirm that they are French braids, and not Dutch braids.}

These differ than your standard Double French Braids as they run much closer to the hairline and actually “cup and hug” the ears so that the braids naturally want to hang over the shoulders.

We show you exactly how to get that unique braided look in the hairstyle tutorial below…

Items Needed:  Brush, rat-tail comb,  spray bottle, 2 clear elastic bands, hairspray {if desired}

Time Requirement: 5 minutes

Our hope is that all of you who are going to see the movie this weekend will want to wear one of these hairstyles to the theater! Be sure to share this link with your friends so that they will do the same!  Let’s see how many Hunger Games hairstyles we can get to the theaters!

The Hunger Games promises to be a successful movie franchise, so there will be many more fun hairstyles to come!  {It will be nice to actually see the movie, since so much has been left to secret photos and guesswork!}

Happy Hairdoing!

What I hear from some girls, is that they are not very good at French braiding and as such they can never get the braids to look right. We want everyone to be able to get that awesome cascading waterfall look, so…

About six months ago, Kori, a good friend of mine from Princess Hairstyles, posted a simple “cheat” for the Waterfall Braid that used a twist on the side, rather than a braid. The end result looks so much like a waterfall braid that not many people would know the difference!

For this tutorial, we carried the twist all the way around the head and we think it turned out super cute!

Items Needed: Brush or rat-tail comb, 1 bobby pin, hairspray {if desired}.

Time Requirement: 5 minutes

Steps:

1. Begin on front, right side of the head and section out 1 large strand of hair that can serve as your base for the twist around the head…
2. Divide this strand into 2 equal pieces, and begin by twisting them around each other one time.
3. Now, take a new selected strand of hair and place it between your twisting strands, so that it literally falls through like in the Waterfall Braid.
4. Twist the 2 original strands once more.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 all the way around the back of the head and towards the top of the left ear.
6. For the last added-in section of hair on the left side, be sure to pull back into the strand about the same amount of hair you pulled initially to created the twisted strands… this will give a balanced look from the front.
7. When you finish adding in your last twist, grab a bobby pin and sure-secure the end of the twist above the ear, making sure to hide the bobby pin as best as you can.
8. Use hairspray {if desired} to help control flyaways.

Enjoy!

As always, if you enjoyed this hairstyle… please be sure to “blog” it, “Facebook” it, “Tweet” it, “Pin” it, “whatever-you-want” it!

Happy Hairdoing!

**Note from Mindy: Be sure to watch for us on YouTube’s special ForMom channel, and subscribe to them if you like it! The channel was created by YouTube to be a resource of many tips and ideas for moms!

Our CuteGirlsHairstyles YouTube channel was one of a select group of special content partners chosen to contribute videos covering content targeted towards moms!

YouTube promises that this will be a robust, heavily-promoted, co-branded YouTube channel featuring the best of mom-related content on YouTube, and we are so thrilled that our hairstyles will be a part of it!!!

The For Mom program launched on February 27th, 2012 and will run until May 27th, 2012, with P&G Fabric Care as a main sponsor.  The purpose of the program is to provide a one-stop resource for moms looking for help in the following areas…

• Feeding Your Family
• Life at Home
• Looking Your Best
• Parenting
• Career Tips
• In the Community

Along with CuteGirlsHairstyles, fellow contributors are Proctor&Gamble, Downy, MarthaStewart, Parents {Magazine}, Momversation, CoolMomDotCom, LiveStrong, HowCast, and my best friend Jenny from ShowMeCute!

So if you are a mom looking for ideas to help make your days be more fun and simple, please feel free to subscribe by clicking YouTube’s ForMom channel!  Also, if you want, please watch and comment on our videos there also!

{Promise us that you will subscribe, because YouTube has been so helpful in providing a platform for us to host and share with you all our hairstyle tutorials!}

Happy Hairdoing!