Curly Momma Do

My hair has gotten more and more curly with each baby, and sometimes it's easier to deal with the curl than try to get rid of it. I just recently found this mousse by Suave, and I have to say it is one of my favorites. It goes on more like a lotion and less like a big sticky foam. (It's even called "Whipped Cream Mousse" Yum.) :) My hair doesn't feel weighed down like it does with usual mousse, so I would recommend trying it to anyone that might need mousse. I think it was maybe $3.

After that plug, here's the do.

I used:
3 rubberbands
1 big hairtie
10 (or so) bobby pins

Start by flipping your head upside down and add the mousse to damp hair. At this point, I gathered some of the back hair and did a simple braid.

Now, the cute little front bump, and two side braids. (I rubberbanded each of them, and then took them out after the big ponytail.) 

Gather up all the hair and make a ponytail, then pin in place to bundle the hair into a little messy looking poof.

Inspired by: Heidi Klum

So I'd like to apologize in advance about my pictures- my kids got my "real" camera, and it's having some issues, so I've been using my phone instead. Not great pictures are the result. Too bad my husband doesn't think this is a big enough issue to get a new iPhone with a better camera. :)

Anyway, I caught the end of a Project Runway the other night, and of course, Heidi Klum had great hair like always. So here's my take on it...her's was a little fancy for laundry day, so I did a more casual version. :)

 1. Start out with a small bun with the back half of your hair...Nothing fancy here, just a not-pulled-through-ponytail.

 2. Now, with the top section, shape the little bump by smoothing the hair, adding a small twist, and then pinning in place. (If you X the bobby pins, they will hold better.)

3. Take the side section, smooth and twist a couple times. I just pulled this back to the bun and used a rubberband to keep in place.

 4. Repeat on other side...(This is where a nicer phone would come in handy...check out that quality photography!)

 There ya go! I super simple, easy style that looks great for any occasion. Best part is it takes all of 5 minutes, and you can do it with wet hair.

 If it were a fancier date or something, I would curl the hair first, leave the hair in a ponytail during "construction" and then pin in into a messy bun after the front was all fixed into place.

Who needs expensive spas for mud baths?? Just have your brother dig a big hole in the backyard and fill with water. :)

7 Bobby Pins and an iPhone...

Sleeping on wet hair is not good for me. At least I used some product last night so it wasn't a complete frizzball-

I built a little bump using 3 bobby pins. If you have thinner hair, you'd get away with only 2...just make sure to cross them into an x and they'll hold all day. (And I know you can see that really well in this picture.) ;)




With the smaller section of side hair, I just did a regular braid and pulled it back and pinned with two bobby pins over the starting pins...

On the side with more hair, I had to do a twist to keep the front back, and then about 3-4 twists down, I brought that into a simple braid...kind of tricky while taking pictures. :) Pull it back and pin it with the others.

All finished! A cute 7-bobby-pin hairstyle!  (This looks a little poofy from this direction, but you get the idea.)  :) 

I also thought it would be fun to show you my daily makeup. As a mom of 4 kids, 3 of which require hair fixing time, my mornings are pretty short. I've gotten my "face" down to about 5 minutes or less. I use mostly all drugstore products. Here are my favorites:

1. Maybelline Falsies mascara
2. Maybelline brow pencil in blonde (I just found this, and love it.)
3. Covergirl eye shadow brush. I have other brushes, even fancy MAC brushes, and this one is still my favorite. Just a short stubby brush that works great.
4. Almay eye shadow for hazel eyes.
5. Aveeno tinted moisturizer- It's hot here in Vegas, and heavy foundations just melt off of me. This one works great and gives me just the right amount of coverage.
6. Olay face lotion.

And that's it! That's what I use every day. (Well, every day that I actually put makeup on!)

Here's my total drawer- I like these little baskets because when the little girls are getting too grabby with it, I just take them out and put them in my closet shelf. You can see I have more than what I use, and I have more under the counter too, because I like trying stuff. Any suggestions on great products I should try?

 Now, off to my day of freezer cooking!!! Does anyone else do freezer cooking? Any great recipes that you have? I'll post our finished products, but as a teaser, we bought 40 lbs of chicken and 20 lbs of hamburger meat. (for 3 families) Wish me luck!

Pinterest and Hair Romance...

So, as I was wasting time on Pinterest* the other day, I came across this blog - Hair Romance - with some amazingly fun hairstyles for Mom's- She did a 30 day challenge of "twist and pin" hairstyles. Check it out!

*If you don't know what Pinterest is, save yourself some valuable time and don't find out. If you're a fan of getting sucked into amazing images and ideas, go ahead and look. :) If anyone would like an invite, let me know and I'd be happy to send you one!

Momma Do at Naptime...

I have been MIA on this blog for a bit. We had our spring break a week ago, traveling 14 hours (one way) in the car up to Idaho for a family get together. We went to Yellowstone National park, as well as just general lazy family fun. :) Needless to say, there wasn't much time or effort put into any cute hairstyles. Even since being home, the girls have been sporting simple ponytails or braids.

I just thought I would post this- it's very similar to the Momma Do video I posted last, but the back is just two flopped piggies (just not pulled out all of the way) instead of pinned. I've found that I have worn this style many times the last few weeks- it's fast (about 10min) and easy, and you can do it on wet, dry, or crazy bedhead hair. (The last is my preferred style lately.) AND, it works great for any length of hair.

Plus, it stays in really well throughout the day- even when running like crazy, or I'm sweating my pants off to the Ripped in 30 video by Jillian Michaels. (Only 4 days in, but a great workout...I love her 30 day shred too if any of you moms are looking for super quick workouts.)

So that's it. Sorry for slacking on the styles! And these pictures were taken while I'm sitting in the little girls' room trying to get them to sleep. Both girls have taken to me either holding their hands while they fall asleep, or at least being near them in the room. Good thing there's laptops. :)

A Momma Do VIDEO!

So, like most people, I dislike being on camera, but I've had a few comments and emails asking about how to do the twists that are in some of the common hairstyles that I do. So, here's a simple updo that uses the twists braids as an updo. Super simple and pretty quick. 

All you'll need:

 - 2 rubberbands (or any hairtie to make two pigtails-  I use 4 rubberbands just hold my thicker hair better) 

-hairspray

-bobbypins (I used about 10) 

-flat iron or curling iron to curl your hair. 

The video is about 5 minutes, but I did cut out the curling of my hair, only because mine takes forever to curl it all. You can also do this without curling and without pinning the pigtails up, and it makes for a super cute casual weekday do. Also, if leaving it down, I'll try to put my pigtails pretty close to the back center of my head...I'm not a fan of little 5-year old pigtails on adults. :) 

A French Braided Bun...

This was a fun one that I had originally had done on myself, but redid on Emma because it was so quick and easy, but ended up super cute.

 Start out with a regular french braid on once side, and braid down to the bottom of the hair.

 On the other side, start the french braid, but when you get about 3/4 finished with the main braid, bring the right side over into the left braid. I just incorporated it into one of the 3 braiding sections...

Finish the braid all of the way down. You'll end up with one braid on one side of the head. 

I just took the braid and twisted it around into a little bun shape, but you could easily do a bun on the side of the head, or just leave that long braid instead. (Or you could tie it off closer to the head and then curl the ponytail for a fancier do...)

Here's how mine turned out- although my hair is not as photogenic as Emma's. :) You can't really tell, but because mine is shorter, it wasn't twisted around as much as Emma's- the one left braid was just pulled over to the right and pinned in place. Also, as the day went on, mine started pulling out a bit because of the shorter hair. It actually ended up looking like one of those super cute really messy braids. We went out on a little date this night, and two of the waitresses asked how it was done.

Momma Do Somewhat Inspired by Adele

I love Adele. If you haven't heard her, you're really missing out on some great music. I caught her "Rolling in the Deep" video on VH1 the other morning, and had to look it up again to see her hair. I loved it- so classic and simple. It looks almost like a beehive, but it somehow meets in the middle. I know she has much longer hair than me, so there's no way I could get that volume without looking a bit "Bride of Frankenstein," but I still wanted to try it out, so this is my take on it. More texture, and less "bubble," but kind of has the same feel...

So, I started with wet hair, and slicked it back nice and tight and added my headband. This is just one of those "athletic" ones with the little strip of rubber on the back. I then pulled up some of the length in the back into a small pony/bun. The rest of the hair was scrunched with gel and lots of hairspray, ratted a bit, and then pinned back in sections, just placed where it made the right shape. (I should have done a video, but I didn't know how it was going to turn out...) 

And keep in mind, my hair is shoulder length now...this would be a great one for those of us with shorter hair if we want to make it look fuller for a date night or something fun. 

See in this picture, there's a little pony/bun (A ponytail not pulled through all the way)

A Fancy Momma Updo...

My brother and sister-in-law visited this week. I love my family, so it's always a really fun weekend. Anyway, they were going out for V-day when they were here, and I got to fix my SIL's hair. She had a lot of long hair, but I'm sure this could be adapted by not having such a huge curl of hair in the back.

I didn't take during pictures, so here are the instructions for those who might be interested.

1. Curl the hair. I usually use a straight iron so the curls stay in longer)
2. Tease the front of the hair. I also used some spray wax to give it a bit of texture.
3. Pull back the front sections with bobby pins. There's no exact way to do this, just so it has enough of a bump for you.
4. Take the remaining hair and pull it into a low ponytail. Make sure to leave out any of the longer strands from the front parts that were pulled back. This will help make it look like one bunch of hair instead of a ponytail.
5. Start pinning the hair around in random spots. I also did a tiny bit of teasing and waxing on this part, just to make it stick a little better.
6. Near the end, I decided that it needed a little more "casual" detail, so I added the braids. Syd's hair was long enough to do the braid from the bottom of her head and have it wrap all the way to the top, but you'd just have to adjust where the braid started to get the right length.
7. Finish pinning and spray in place!