A Romantic Hairstyle and Lace Dress

Oh, what fun...  my young lady daughter who just a few years ago liked more "tomboy" things.... now enjoys dressing up sometimes.

She wanted to have her hair curled to look nice with her  beautiful lacy dress she planned to wear for church.

 It started with putting sponge rollers in her hair the night before. Her older sister put the rollers in her wet hair, so that by morning she would have curls. 

There were 61 rollers! This daughter has a LOT of hair! I remember sleeping on those pink rollers when I was a kid... it wasn't too comfortable. She did say that she didn't sleep very well.  :)The things we do to have curls!

This morning, my older daughter is shown here taking the rollers out of her hair.

We have curls!!!  


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You can see some of my other hairstyle posts here:

Pigtails and French Braids


Easy Wavy Hairstyle


Two More French Braid Hairstyles

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 I pulled curls to the top and back and held them in place with bobby pins. A little here...a little there... it was starting to get that romantic look. :)  

We put a pretty comb at the top and called it done. She looked beautiful... of course she always does, but this was special....

 Lace dress, curls in her hair, pearl earrings...  the stuff of princess dreams. 



By the way, a couple of her brothers didn't like the curls... they prefer her hair as it usually is which is a bit wavy and a bit straight, not curly.
 Brothers can be like that... but they tolerate the curls and really like that she dresses in such a feminine way. Of course, they rarely TELL her that!   :) 



This pretty and romantic hairstyle takes a little longer than braids or other types of hairstyles, but it is special and worth the extra effort sometimes.  :)
















The lace dress has a full skirt and works great for twirling! :) 

The hairstyle was a success, although I should have put a few more bobby pins in it... after a couple of hours, some of the curls started to fall down a bit.

All in all it was a success..... but we won't do it very often. That just makes it all the more special.

How precious to see our children grow and enjoy life. What a blessing that God has entrusted these kids to us... we need to be so careful to raise them to honor the Lord.

Thank you for visiting today.

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#hairstyles #romantic #curlyhair #princess #laceandpearls

Top 10 Gentle Joy Photography 2015

These are the top 10 posts published in 2015
here on Gentle Joy Photography 

There are links to each post if you would like to visit them....just click the link and you will get to the post.

   Number 10

The Beauty of Being Known

     Number 9

Feeling Sympathy For Farmer McGregor 

 Number 8


 Pigtails and French Braids

    Number 7

Saving Money-Part 3-Buying Used 

    Number 6

Polycarp Movie Review-Trailer Included 

   Number 5

Allergy Tea-Homemade Herb Tea 

Number 4

Two More French Braid Hairstyles 

   

    Number 3

Saving Money-Part 2-Grocery Shopping 

  Number 2

Hidden In The Woods 

   Number 1 for   2015

The Number ONE Way I Save Money! 




 What a year it has been... filled with good times and challenging ones also. Thank you for joining me through the year... and I hope we find that 2016 will be even better. 




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Two More French Braid Hairstyles

There are so many things to do with hair and we have been discussing braids.  We have talked about pigtails and double french braids, about wavy hair from braids and today's topic is a single french braid.


If you would like to read the first 2 posts, you can do that here:

Pigtails and French Braids

Easy Wavy Hairstyle

For my daughter, we like to start with freshly washed hair that is still damp.  I make sure it is all combed out nicely with no snarls.

Starting up near where the bangs are, just gather a portion of the hair, divide it into 3 parts and begin braiding them.... just pull a bit of hair in each time you cross the hair.  Continue straight back on the head and if the hair is long enough, finish out with a regular braid at the bottom, as shown here.

 You can see that it pulls the hair back and it is all woven together into one long braid.

If you are dealing with hair that is not all one length and if it doesn't all stay in place... combs or bobby pins can be used to help hold it.

If you would like, you can put some gel on the hair before braiding and it will help hold it. We don't use the gel at all because I don't like the hair getting stiff, sticky or heavy.... or having a hard time brushing it out afterwards, but if that works for you, go ahead and try it.

The style can be neat and tidy... a bow can be put at the bottom to cover the hairband, if desired... or when my daughters were younger, I sometimes put a big pretty bow up on the crown of the head, with maybe a thin matching hair ribbon at the bottom.  They probably wouldn't like that now. :)  

A french braid can also be done on dry hair... it still needs to be all brushed out with no snarls.

   The braiding is the same.... although the process is done differently when you do it on yourself. :)  

Some mentioned that they don't know how to french braid... and it can seem quite intimidating at first, if you've never done it.  It isn't very hard, though, once you get the hang of it... and practice will really help.

I taught my kids to braid with yarn... and ropes.  :)  It works for adults too.  The rope would only really work for a regular braid, and the yarn could work for french braiding. If it doesn't work right at first, just keep trying... it is a skill worth knowing.  Practice a little at a time... do a simple small braid on your hair... or a daughter's hair... and you will start to get the feel of doing it. 

Up close, you can see how the hair is gathered and woven into the braid.

As a completed french braid, it can be worn like this... just left down with a band around the end. It is great for keeping the hair out of the way when working, tending to children, gardening, cooking or whatever. It can help keep you cool in the summer and can also help to keep hair from getting as tangled in the wind.

That same braid from above, can be changed into a different hair style, with just a few bobby pins. 

I just rolled it up and tucked it under, then held it in place with hair pins. Sometimes I wear a hair decoration in it, usually not. This can be used for around the house, or for dressing up.

There are so many things to be done with hair... and it is fun to change styles sometimes. I keep my hair long enough to be able to braid, although sometimes it is several inches shorter than it is here... and I usually have it layered into long layers, as well.  The braiding still works.

Thank you for visiting today.  Do you use braids for the children? For you?  Have a great week. :)

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Easy Wavy Hairstyle

We don't like to wear the same hairstyle all of the time.... there are many things that can be done with the hair... leave it down, pull it back, ponytails, braids, curls, etc.  I really like getting 2 hair styles out of one.... and here is how we did this one....

We started with French braids..  If you are interested in seeing the first post about it, you can see it here....

 Pigtails and French Braids


 Day 1
We started out with freshly washed hair.... and when it was still damp, it was french braided quite tightly. It lasted well and looked nice all day long.

Day 2
It still looks nice... a few hairs loosening, but not bad.

Day 2... after she is dressed...

The hairstyle is looking a bit "tired"... but it is still okay.

Up close you can see that more hairs are coming loose. We were at home and didn't have any special activities, so this worked out fine. 

 Day 3

We need to change the hairstyle....

It is pretty obvious up close that this one is done... and needs to be changed.

So... we took the braids out... don't the waves look nice? 

We pulled the hair back and her hair looked nice all day.... and yet was a new style for the week. We don't always let it go this long, but we had been home all week and hadn't been doing any dirty or sweaty work, so it was fine.

The fun thing is that this daughter's hair is not curly, so these waves are really fun for her. No, I didn't put any gel in... but you could if you wanted to be sure the waves would hold.

It was nice to get 3 days out of braiding the first time. Yes, she did sleep with the braids each night. She doesn't have oily hair, so waiting to wash isn't a problem. 

By the way, I did not brush the hair out after I released the braids... that makes the waves last longer.  The next day we brushed the hair and put it in a ponytail. :)

Thank you for visiting... I hope you have a great week.

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Pigtails... and French Braids

Braids.... pigtails, french braids.... both are great.  You don't see them as often as you used to, but my daughter still likes them and I am so glad. It is more work to braid or french braid than it is to just pull the hair back into a ponytail, but it is worth it.



It makes a neat  and attractive hairstyle and there are many ways to use it. It is really nice for girls with long hair that can get in the way when they work or play as braids keep it contained and yet still allows the beauty of the hair to show... and the length.

It works well to start with freshly washed hair.... then while it is still damp - not dripping wet, but very damp - comb it out well.

 For this time, I divided the hair with a middle part... first, I am showing regular braids... pigtails. They are easy to do.... just pull all of the hair to one side and hold it together.... divide it into 3 equal parts and braid, securing the end with a ponytail holder.

 It is easy ... and quite quick to do and it looks nice.

Here is where the braid starts on regular pigtails... although you can make them higher or lower... 

This is the french braid... as you can see, it starts closer to the front of the head/hair line. You start with just a small section of hair and divide it into 3 equal parts, then pull a little more hair in each time you cross the hair in braiding.

From the back, the double french braid looks similar to the regular pigtails.

From the side it looks different...

The braids can be started high or low... you can add in a little hair each time... or a lot. You can braid way back before moving down.... they are so many options.

The finished briads can be left down... or they can be hooked together in the back, tucked up to form a finished low "bun" type of style... and more.

 It pulls the hair into a neat style and doing the braiding with wet hair really helps to hold it in place and it will last longer. 

Another nice thing about french braiding is that it can be done with shorter hair also and it will help to hold shorter lengths in place.  We have used it when the girls had really long hair... and shoulder length hair... and in between as this one shows. I have also been able to french braid my hair when it was shoulder length and layered.

It is a bit unusual to see braids in the form of pigtails or double french braids, but it is very attractive and we get so many positive comments when we are out in public. Including the suggestion that it is like Laura on Little House on the Prairie. :)   Anyway, it is a fun style... and once done, it holds up well for the day... and longer.

I will be doing a post to show how this hairstyle can last a few days... and change into another one. I hope you will return. Thank you for visiting. :)

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