Braided Side Topsy Tail.

Don't worry. It's not that bad. Trust me, if I can do it... you can do it!

Last night I just didn't feel like washing my hair. I had done the Zoë Twist yesterday, and I really wanted to give my hair one more day to grease itself up before I washed it. And no-- that's not gross. It's good for my hair, OK? So, instead of the whole shampoo routine, I tried something different. I Wrap Snap & Go curled my dry, dirty hair.

When I woke up, I took out the curlers and was a little dismayed to find that the back hardly curled at all, whereas the front was all spiraled. Bummer. But I gave this style a go anyway and this is the braided side topsy tail that I came up with:

Oh my, I loved it! It's so simple. Here are the steps:

1. Begin with wavy, crimped, curly or whatever hair you prefer.
2. Create a deep side part in the front of your hair.
3. Braid the front sections of your hair and secure them with clear plastic bands.
4. Pull your hair into a side ponytail.
5. Using a Topsy Tail tool (or just your own awesome skill), create a small hole right above your ponytail holder.
6. Pull your ponytail up and through the hole to make a topsy tail. 
7. Finish with a flower or leave it as-is.
8. Voila-- you're finished!

This style would be so beautiful for those ladies with longer hair. I just can't wait until mine is longer so it will cascade over my shoulders in soft waves. Oh, that will be the day!

P.S. If you want to see the fun nails I did to go along with that leopard print scarf, click here!

Zoë Twist.

 
I have a beautiful coworker. Her name is Zoë. She has a beautiful blog. She has a beautiful sense of style. She also has beautiful, wavy red hair. Figures, right?

When I first met Zoë, a little over a month ago, she wore her hair in this incredibly amazing style. I decided to call it the Zoë Twist. She is a huge fan of hair twists (since she has long bangs she likes to pull back), and this 'do is none other than the twisted look I've been looking for. See, it's not just a bang twist. It's a twisted updo that I just can't get enough of.

This look is so simple. Zoë does it on days where she needs to get her wet hair off her shoulders, or when her wavy hair needs to be controlled in a sleek look.

I love the elegance that this look gives you. I paired it with a white lacy sweater for an ethereal, feminine look and I just felt so natural and lady-like all day.

Here are the steps for the Zoë Twist:

1. Create a deep part in the front of your hair.
2. Twist a small piece of hair (or your bangs) to one side of your part along your scalp, pulling tightly and adding hair as you go. Bobby pin that small twist halfway back on your head.
3. Divide your remaining hair into 2 sections with a middle part down the back of your head. 
4. Grab each section of hair and twist it inwards three times. This creates the hair "crown" look.
5. Then, gather the twists together and put them into a regular low ponytail with a bun (I went with a simple bun, but Zoë usually does a fun messy bun). You can stop there; that's what Zoë does. If you want to add a little extra flair, move to Step 6.
6. Pull that bun up and through the extra space between the twists and your head, as to tuck it under the twists to keep it in place. It's just like a Topsy Tail!

Easy enough, right? This has quickly become Zoë's go-to look, and I think I might follow suit! I did it today because my hair was wet from my early-morning shower. Zoë also recommends doing it on days when your hair is curly, crimped or wavy so you can give the crown some good volume by tugging on a couple pieces or teasing it beforehand.

By the way, I usually like to use synonyms for words that I commonly use. For instance, in this post I repeated the word "twist" 16 times. But I just couldn't find a suitable word to replace "twist". I mean, the thesaurus suggested coil, helix, swivel, twine, zigzag, etc. but those just didn't seem to fit the bill. I apologize for not making my vocabulary a little more "convoluted" today... but it just wasn't appropriate to use swirl, warp, or wiggle instead of twist. So twist it is.

The Sister Bee.

Well. Where do I begin? Today I'm going to tell you a little bit about my inspiration for this whole Bye Bye Beehive thing.

It all starts with my sister, Marnie. My bee-utiful sister Marnie, who has the most amazing hair. When I say amazing... boy, oh boy do I mean it. It's gorgeous, stick-straight, brunette, lusciously thick hair.

Needless to say, Annelise = jealous. In fact, I think I've been jealous of her hair for my whole life. Thus-- I embarked on a mission to see what my hair can do when I treat mine the way she treats hers. See, basically all she does is color (once in a while), trim, and blow dry her hair (if she even feels like it). Her locks are so healthy, and she definitely turns heads when she walks down the street.

So why wouldn't I want my hair to be like that, right? My sister is my inspiration. I even posted a little bit about it here.

Just in case you can't picture how incredibly beautiful she is, I have done a favor for you and included a few amazing photos.

Senior photo, 2006.

Cheerleading for University of Idaho, 2009.

Since I'm a mean, jealous sister, I feel obliged to also include a few, um... other photos, too. MUAHAHA.

4th of July, 2010.

Sometime after a football game at U of I.

I have no idea when this was taken but HAHAHAHA.

OK, enough of the mean stuff. Can you now see WHY she is my inspiration? I don't even think I needed to explain it. One photo would have been enough. I love my sister. If only she'd just give me her hair.

Sock Bun.

Yes. I did it. I curled my hair with a sock.

If you're not familiar with this method, you're probably thinking, "What the heck is she talking about?"

Well, it's quite simple, actually. In fact, there's a whole YouTube tutorial by a really cute girl who will teach you how to do it. Oh, and bonus... she has an adorable accent and it sounds like she calls it a "sook bun." It's so precious.

Basically, you just perform the following steps:

1. Grab a regular old tube sock. I used an old single sock that had been stashed away in a drawer.
2. Cut off the toe portion of the sock.
3. Roll the sock into itself so it forms a donut.
4. Put your DRY (or only very slightly damp) hair in a ponytail right on the top of your head.
5. Put your ponytail through the sock donut.
6. Pull the sock donut to the tips of your ponytail, and just as you rolled the sock into the donut, proceed to roll your hair into the sock by just rolling and scrunching the sock into itself.
7. Voila. Sock bun.

It was super-de-duper easy to do. The only problem is that my shoulder-length hair wasn't quite long enough so the back pieces kept falling out of the ponytail. Also, the top part of my hair that was rolled in the sock was falling out, too. To fix that, I simply wrapped the sock bun in a silk scarf so I could sleep soundly and not worry about my hair unraveling all night.

Attractive, I know. If nothing great happens to you today, at least you know that you look better than I did last night. I will allow you to mock me at my expense. Go ahead.

This morning when I woke up, the scarf and sock were still in place. Just a couple more chunks of hair had fallen down the back of my neck, but that was no big deal. I unravelled the sock and was left with this:

Not too bad, but definitely not as great as the girl in the YouTube video. Bummer. I think I will try a different sock next time. Also, I think my hair will do much better when it is longer.

To make up for my drooping, falling out waves (which was pretty much just straight hair with a flip on the end), I added a fun headband that I bought at Burlington Coat Factory for $3.99 yesterday (um... steal!).

Burlington has so many hidden treasures. They are just wonderful. In fact... what do you think of my fun outfit? The top, socks and headband are all from Burlington, and cost me less than $20. Bada-boom-bada-bang.

Think you'll give the sock bun a go? My waves really fell out throughout the day, but it still gave my tresses a nice amount of volume to work with. If I ever want my hair to have a slight flip at the ends, I will definitely opt to sleep in the sock bun the night before. It is just so easy!

So, yes. I curled my hair with a sock. You can bet your buns it's one more trick of the trade I am adding to my hairstyle arsenal.

Square Hair.

Now that, well, my hair is no longer BIG... I feel entitled to call out some of those ladies who rock a style that needs to be 100% done away with. You know what I'm talking about right? Square hair?

Source.

Don't do it. Enough said.

The Twisted Step-Sister.

Surprise, surprise... I got up late today. It seems like this is becoming a regular occurrence for me. I think, "Gee, now that I don't have to "do" my hair, I can get up late!" The only problem with that thought is that... well, I can't keep getting up late. Because then, I don't have time to "do" my hair that I'm not supposed to "do." Does any of that make sense?

No? Okay then.

Despite my tardy awakening today, I had a cool hair idea in mind. I was going to attempt The Beauty Department's Twisted Sister. Needless to say... I'll inform you right now that it DID NOT WORK. But I know how to fix it for next time. I think...

Anyway-- I followed the Twisted Sister tutorial almost to a T, except for I forgot one minor detail. I didn't have the how-to photos in front of me while I did my hair this morning, and I totally spaced that you were supposed to "loosely twist" the hair before you pin it into the bun. Instead, I twisted it tightly. Oops. But to be quite honest, I kind of like how it turned out. Plus, since this was 3rd day hair (eww), I kind of had to make it a little bit tighter since it was quite oily (sorry, I know... that's gross). It may not be an elegant updo, but it will suffice for work, play and the gym. Awesome.

One other variation I added was that I pinned the front of my hair up into a bump. Since I'm not allowed to tease my hair to give the crown volume, as the tutorial suggests, I instead opted for some volume in the front that didn't require any back-combing.

Since step-sisters in fairy tales always seem to be less cool, shabby-looking, and always jealous of the princess, I give you my version of Twisted Sister, which is not quite as fancy, a little more homely, and therefore, the Twisted Step-Sister.