My little girl is a third grader now!  Once when we moved in the middle of a school year, I gave her a star hairstyle to help her feel more confident meeting new friends, so she could remember she was a star!  She asked for it again for her first day.  I've posted our star before here.

The curls are from a curling iron.

I learned how to do this braiding technique from Babes in Hairland.  Her instructions are very clear and concise, so rather than reinvent the wheel, I will just direct you to her post.  Click here to see her basic instructions for a 4 strand rope braid.  This is different from 4 strand flat braid, which I intend to show later.
This post shows one way to use this braid.  I've started out with a regular 3 strand braid with the bangs, and then divided the hair for pigtails.  I started with a side part on top and angled it over to the middle at the crown of the head, and continued straight down the back.  You can do the part with sharp angles or with rounded curves.  Don't undo the little braid after you've put it into the pigtail. It adds an interesting detail to the 4 strand braid.  Braid both sides, and then add embellishments like these flowers from Gimme Clips or a ribbon or whatever.

I've been super busy lately and haven't had much time for blogging.  This is the best I can do today.

This is really similar to Princess Hairstyle's woven piggies.  It's one of my favorites.  I simplified it a bit with six twists instead of eight and pigtails instead of messy buns.  Also there is a side part instead of a center part.  Click on the link above for more detailed instructions from PH.

Belle's 4th of July style this year was a star with ribbon over it.  Follow the directions for the twisted star.  Then slip the end of a long ribbon through a loop of each elastic.  Begin with a bottom piggy, leaving an end a few inches long.  Next the top middle, then the other bottom piggy, across to the other side on top, then straight across to the other top side, and back down to the bottom where you began.  You can leave the ends loose or tie them into a bow.  I used several pieces of ribbon to tie bows around each piggy.  You could also use clip bows or flowers.

I learned the basic technique for the star from Princess Hairstyles.  It has become one of our favorites, and we do it often around Independence Day (4th of July) and Christmas.  Thank you, thank you, Princess Hairstyles!  Rather than reinvent the wheel here, I just want to show a little how I've tweeked it for my own preference.  Please look at the link above to get the step by step.

If you can see it in the picture, I have changed the shape of the parts.  The Princess has a triangle shape section of hair with the point at the forehead.   Belle's triangle shape has the point at the back.  Another difference is the placement of the hairbands at the sides.  Rather than pull the hair together in the middle of the section, I have put the hairband along the part.  The part then sort of fills in for the fifth missing side of the star.

Instead of doing hawser twists, I've just twisted each section.  It won't hold on its own with hairbands, so you have to use clips to stick them to the bottom piggy until you get the hairband over it.  Also, if you twist the two pieces from the middle top section in the same direction, you might have a problem with the hairband rolling over.  If that happens, you can twist the two pieces in opposite directions.

Here's another shot when we've done it with braids.  It is a little more difficult to recognize that it is a star this way, but still an interesting and fun style.

It has been a year and a half or so since I took this picture of Belle.  Her hair has grown out a bit so now it doesn't look so cute to do this style, but I'll give you the how-to anyway.  Begin by parting the hair across the middle from ear to ear and tying the back section temporarily.  Part the top straight back from the forehead, and braid the two front sections.

Now part the back down the middle to make pigtails.  Use thinner hairbands because you will be adding multiple bands and don't want it to get too bulky.  I used different colors just for demonstration, but it is better to use all the same color.

Cross the braids and add them into the pigtails.  Add another elastic on top.  You can then scoot the first elastic out and remove it or just leave it.

Undo the braided tails then rebraid including the rest of the hair in the piggy.

Fold the braids up and attach the ends with the top of the pigtails.  Add another hairband or tuck it into the hairband that is already there if you can.

Here's the magic trick that makes this style unique: Use a mini claw clip to stick the bottoms of the braids together.  Hide it in the back so it is not easy to see.  It's best to use clear or one the same color as the hair.

Last, spray the tails that are sticking out with water to shape them how you want, and let them air dry.

On my style request post "Ryan Family" asked for a tutorial for this braided bun, which is actually a hairpiece you put over top of your own (short hair ponytail or small bun).  This is what I came up with.  It doesn't look exactly the same, but I still love it.  Belle reminded me of a Japanese anime cartoon when it was done.  The weaving part is sort of complicated, but a braided bun can be done without the weaving just by braiding the ponytail (one braid or more) and wrapping the braids around and tucking in the ends with bobby pins.

(Once again, pardon the weird pictures--my software is pretty old, and I can't update it anymore.)  Put the hair in pigtails.  Or you could just do one bun at the back.

Divide the pigtail into four equal size sections.

Now comes the weaving part.  Bring the top left section (red lines in the pictures below) over the bottom left section, but keep a loop hole open in it for later on.

Cross the bottom left section (yellow) over the top one you just brought down and over the bottom right section (green).

Take the bottom right section (green) up over the one you just crossed (yellow) and over the top right section (blue).

Cross the top right section (blue) over the one you just brought up and then tuck it into the loop you've been saving open from the first strand (red).

Now pull all the tails to tighten up the weave.

Braid all the tails as far as you can go and add clear elastics.

Wrap a braid around the whole thing, looping until you run out of hair.  Tuck in the tail and pin it in place with a bobby pin or two.

Repeat the wrapping around step with every braid.  Add more bobby pins if anything sticks out.  Repeat for the other piggy.

If you really prefer the look of one big braid around the whole thing with the weave in the middle, I suppose it could be achieved by doing sort of a french braid around the weave instead of braiding each strand.  I haven't tried it. If you try it and get some success, I invite you to email a picture, and I'll post it.

Hawser rope is a kind of rope used to tie up or tow boats.  Beginners look at this and think there is no way it will stay without falling out straight.  The trick is to twist the strands and then wrap them together in the opposite direction.

For today's style, I gave Belle a zigzag part in front.  A straight middle part would work well.  If I were to do a straight side part, there would be a thicker rope on one side than the other.  Since Belle has a cowlick in front, it doesn't work well to do a middle part, but the zigzag gave me an even amount of hair on both sides.  Make a straight part from ear to ear and tie the back section into a ponytail.

 Begin by dividing the hair on one front side into two equal sections.

 Twist the sections each in the same direction.  I twisted the the left.

Now twist them together in the other direction.  I twisted them to the right.

Continue twisting them together, making sure the strands are twisted as you go.  If you twist them together without twisting the individual strands, it will just fall loose at the end.

The tighter you twist the strands, the better the rope will stay together.

Continue down to the end.  Put in a hair band.  (I actually just used a temporary clip for this style.)

The twist will probably loosen up a little when you let go.

You can tighten it up again by turning it if you are going to stick them into another section of hair.  This is an idea for a hairstyle here, if you do hawser ropes on both sides and them attach them to the ponytail with another hairband.

I didn't want to do that today, though, so I let the ropes fall while I parted the back into pigtails.

Next I tightened up one rope and stuck it in with the opposite side pigtail.

And repeated on the other side.  You can see this leaves some shorter tails in the piggies.  You could curl them, braid them, or do another hawser rope on the ends.  I just left them today.

Part the hair from the front to the middle of the top of the head.  Part the hair again from the center where you stopped down to the top of one ear.  This will make a square corner at the top.  Gather the hair from the box and secure it with a hairband.  Repeat on the other side.  You can leave it as is or decorate it with bows.  To add a bow, Tie a ribbon around the hairband and tie it up like a shoelace.  Spread the ribbons out flat to make it look nice.
You can also do the part towards the side rather than directly in the center.

Part hair from front to back. To part hair straight down the middle of the head, begin at the top of the forehead. Use the nose and ears as a guide to find the middle and draw the line back across the top of the head. Separate the hair when you get to the back of the crown. Comb it on each side away from the part. Place the comb again at the place where you left off and continue drawing down to the bottom. Belle has a cowlick on one side in the front, so any time I try to make a part in the middle, her hair wants to fight with me.  So I just start the front of the part a little to the side, angle it back to the center on top, and continue straight down the middle of the back.  Separate the hair and comb it away from the part. Secure one side of the hair with a hairband to keep it separated. It can be loose and sloppy because it is only temporary.

Work with the other side to smooth and straighten hair into your hand just as for a ponytail. You can make it high or low.

Wrap it up with a hairband.

Undo the temporary side and smooth and straighten it. This side will be harder than the first because you have to try to match the placement of the first pigtail. Gather the hair together in your hand and compare to the other side before you band it.  You might have to take it out and try it again if you get it in completely the wrong spot.

You can see this one is a little bit crooked, but not way off.  To fix it, I will split it the way I did in the ponytail video to tighten it up, but I will only pull on the top section to make the piggy slide up a little.  I can do the same on the other side but only pull the bottom to make it slide down.  Easy does it, though, or a bunch of bumps will show up and you'll have to take it out and try again.