The fish tail looks similar to a regular braid, but is more intricate.  You can do this at the end of a ponytail with all the hair or pigtails.  I started with a front piggy with the hairband at the part (rather than in the middle of the section) and then did a pull-through with a topsy tailer.

Divide the tail into two pieces.

Beginning on the right (it doesn't matter which side you start on, but the pictures start on the right) pull out a thin piece from the side.

Cross the thin strand over top, and add it into the left section.

Now take a thin strand out from the left side at the outer edge.

Cross that over and add it into the right section.  Pull another thin strand from the right side edge.

Cross it over and add it into the hair on the left.

Repeat, repeat, repeat!  When you have done this several times, you will come down the braid to where you find sections of hair that have already been use higher up in the braid.  You will see places that seem to naturally divide because they have already been divided earlier in the braid.  If you use these same pieces, it will make the braid look quite neat on the underside, but it really isn't necessary to worry about it.  You may disregard these pieces and just continue to pull off any section from the edge.

These pictures are here to show how the hair sort of naturally breaks into sections after you get down a ways.

Keep following this pattern until you run out of hair to braid, then fasten it off.

Here is a simple hairstyle for every day.  Since my hair is too short (plus I'm too old) to put fancy braided hearts in, I'll decorate for Valentine's Day with my heart flexi-clip from Lilla Rose.

I've taken the front section of hair near my forehead, twisted it up, and put a clear elastic in.  Then I pulled up the front half of the rest of my hair, adding in the twist, and then held it together with the flexi-clip.  This one is size small.  The elastic is hidden behind the clip.  If yours hangs down below where you can see, you can undo the elastic.

The first step is for bangs.  If you have cut bangs, skip this step.  You can do Barbie bangs if you want.  What I did here was to pull the bangs down to the side (sprayed with water) temporarily with a spring hinge clip or bobby pin, and then added the hair into the braid at the side (after removing the pin) once I got down to that section.  Add the bangs into the braid a little at a time, in about two or three plaits.

Part the hair across the middle at the top of the head. Make curved parts to form the top half shape of a heart, and then straight down to the ears.  Pull the rest of the hair into a temporary ponytail to keep it out of the way.  Beginning on one side of the part, do a half dutch braid around the curve.  When there is no hair left to add in, continue braiding down to the end.  Secure temporarily.  Repeat on the other side, and then band the two braids together forming the bottom shape of the heart.  Release the temporary hairbands.

This hairstyle should be sprayed with hairspray to help prevent the loose hair hanging behind the heart from getting pulled into messy arches over the braids.

I've been seeing this style become more and more popular.  I have to say, though, that I think it may work better in some hair types than in others.  Belle's hair is slick and straight, and whenever I put this style in her hair, it barely lasts a half hour.  She is young, though, and likes to play rough.  A teen or adult or someone whose hair isn't so slippery may not have the same trouble.  I've seen this style on someone with very curly hair.  I thought it was striking.  I really liked it.  So here's how:

The first step is a temporary pony at the bottom of the head.  This makes the braiding easier.  Part out the section at the top to use for braiding, and pull the rest out of the way.

Let the top hair fall down.  Part the hair at the top of the head or on one side.  Pull up a section near the forehead on one side and split it into three to begin braiding.  Cross the front over the middle.

Now cross the back over the middle.

Now bring the front over middle again adding a little hair from the bottom just as in a regular french braid.  This is the only time you'll do this: it is just to get the hair back away from the forehead so the first "fall" doesn't drop over the face.

Add hair from the top like in a regular french braid

Here is where the change comes from a regular french braid.  Instead of crossing the front over the middle again, you will exchange this strand for a new one.  Draw up a new section of hair as if to add it in to a french braid, but do not add it to the strand.  Just bring it under the bottom strand, cross it over the middle, and let the section you would have added it to fall loose.

Continue at the top by adding hair to the top strand and crossing it over the middle.

Repeat on the bottom by drawing a new section from below...

...and crossing it over the middle.  Then add hair from the top and cross over to the middle.

Repeat.

Repeat until you get to the center of the head.  Add a temporary clip to hold it together onto the ponytail.

Repeat on the other side.

Undo the temporary clip and bring the braids together.  Tighten up the "falls" by pulling on them gently.  You can add a hair band right here, or you can combine the strands and continue a regular braid.

Undo the temporary ponytail.

Like I said before, Belle is too rough on this hairstyle, so to make sure she doesn't end up looking like a mess in a half hour, I brush all the ends into a ponytail and add a bow.

For a variation, you could end the braid at the corner of the head.  Here I use a mini clip to keep it in place.  Notice the slight variation of the look: it comes from the amount of hair you pull up from the bottom.  The pictures at the top have only a little hair brought up, and it looks a little bit like a hawser twist, but the one below has thicker/wider pieces brought up.

This hairstyle is challenging, and only works with really long hair.

Follow the directions for making a braided heart, but don't add the second pigtail at the back.  Just do the pull-through with a front half piggy, and then make two braids.  Curl the braids around to make a C shape on each side of the pull-through, and then tuck the ends up into the pull through again, behind the rubber band.  Squeeze the C shapes together, and add another hairband to form the smaller lower "wings" of the butterfly. Stick a few bobby pins in to keep the braids from falling out of the pull-through.  Use water and gel or hairspray to form antennae from the ends of the braids.  Add bows or decorations to cover the hairbands if you like.

Sorry for the lack of step by step photos.  I was experimenting and only did the style once before the big haircut!

Start with the front section of hair from temple to temple in a piggy.

Next make row on each side with a french hawser twist.  Twist them down the ends a bit and secure (temporarily).

Gather the hair up from ear to ear to make a front half piggy.  Include the hair from the forehead, but not the twists.

Twist up the twists tighter by turning them, and then cross one over the other.  Wrap them around underneath the piggy, and band them together.

Undo the bands at the ends of the twists.

Here is where you can add a decoration if you wish, or just leave it how it is.  I'm using our new Lilla Rose Flexi-Clip.  (Belle and I really like fairies.)

More curls!  He's another way to spice it up. This is a simple front half pony.  Some curls from different places on the head gathered together beneath the hairband.  I combined them smoothly by wrapping them around my finger and combing them a bit at a time while on my finger.  For the bow accent, I tied a short thin ribbon into a bow around the end of a bobby pin, and then inserted it into the hairband. 

I've been saving these pictures for a year or so.  This is a curl made with the corkscrew method I talked about in my last post.  Here's a single curl as I let it out of the rag.

Notice the pink arrow pointing a portion of hair that didn't curl very well.  It may have been too wet so it didn't dry and set the curl, or it may have come unraveled while I was wrapping and knotting the ends.  Oh well.

This is after running my fingers through the curls to loosen them up a bit.

I don't like the flat places near the scalp, so I try to style it in a way that will hide it.  Here I did a front half pony, leaving out a chunk of hair on both sides over the ears.  I then twisted the hair left above the ears, crossed it over the hairband to hide it, and then tucked the ends underneath.  You can either stick the ends down into the hairband at the back or use mini jaw clips to hold the twists in place.

A side view:

And a gratuitous shot of these luscious curls (I can't help myself):

(These are the curls I made my blog banner from.)

Belle loves Barbie.  She likes to play with the dolls, but really loves the movies.  If you haven't seen them, most of them really are pretty good (not that I have seen them ALL).  Belle's absolute favorite is "Barbie in a Mermaid Tale."  She is nuts over mermaids, especially Merliah Summers.  Check out the Barbie Gallery and scroll down to number 21 to see a movie pose.  Here is Merliah's mermaid do.

First, to achieve the beachy waves, I used the blow dryer after her bath (the night before) until her hair was just a little damp.  Then I made three hawser twists with all her hair (no parts, just grab three random sections of hair).  Twist all the way down and wrap the hairband around the ends to keep them tucked in.  One hairband can cover an inch and a half of length if you leave gaps.  It's not nice an neat how you do it during the day, but doesn't matter.  Does that make sense?  I didn't get pictures since I just wanted to get the little people to bed.  By morning, the hair is all dry.  Undo the twists and comb through the hair.  You can skip this step if you don't need to add the texture.

Start the style by  making a piggy out of the top section of hair like so:

Next, part out the side sections above the ears, brush upward as if to join it into the piggy, but cross them over like how you start to tie your shoe.

Pull it tight to cover the hairband, then clip the tail that is going up toward the forehead to hold it in place.  Tie down the other tail to the piggy.  Clear elastics are best.  It should be hidden, but just in case, you don't want any florescent green sticking out.

Take out the clip, pull the tail tight, and bring it down to cover up the knot and put in another hairband.

To wrap the ponytail, pick up a small section of hair from the back side of the tail.  Wrap it around the front and then around again above the first wrap so it covers the hairband.  Now get your trusty topsy tail tool and tuck the end back in through the hairband at the back.

This style tends to go a little crooked and can show a little of the parts back from the temples, but hey, we can't all be CGI animation, right?  Some of those mermaid hairstyles look impossible, really.  This is a pretty good facsimile, I think.