The poor girl spent her first two years mostly bald, so all this thick, chaotic hair has been an adjustment. Thankfully, I spent lots of time at summer camp as a girl, from Campfire and Girl Scouts to later working as a camp counselor and eventually going on missions trips. And if there is one thing bored girls at camp do, it's braid each other's hair.
Drawing on that skill set, I've become pretty clever at styling Lucy's River Song-esque locks. This is one of my favorites, and for lack of a more creative name, I'm calling it the Flipped Fairy Crown, since it is essentially a fairy crown or Heidi crown drawn across the back of he hair instead of the top.
To create this do, you must have a basic French braiding ability. There are tons of tutorials all over the web, and it is far less difficult to learn than it looks. French braiding is a basic step for many hairstyles, so it's definitely worth taking the time to learn.
Creating a flipped fairy crown for Lucy was fairly simple because her hair's natural curls hold the shape of the braid naturally. If my daughter's hair was a straighter or thinner texture, I would probably snag a few bobby pins and some kid-friendly mousse to give her some texture. However, that is not the case.
Step one: Part the hair in the middle-ish (I do this imperfectly and loosely to add to her fairy tale feel, but to get a preppier look, you could go for a very straight part).
Step two: Begin with a french braid at the top, front right side of her head, pulling in pieces as you go down the scalp. You could do this in a regular French braid, as seen here, or you can use a Dutch braid, which flips the braid kind of inside out so that the braid sits on top. I tend to find the French braid a bit more romantic, but I've recently come to appreciate some of the elaborate Dutch braids circulating around the runways these days.
Keep going, directing the braid toward the nape of the neck. If you are having trouble with a specific section or thin piece that just will not for the life of you stay in the dang flippin' braid, you can cheat and just do a little twist for a section and then get back to your braid as soon as you feel comfortable with it.
Notice it's pretty much how you would start off making braided pigtails.
Step three: Braid across the nape of the neck to the left side, continuing to pull in hair a piece at a time, French braid style. Notice with Lucy's because her curls held her hair in, I pulled the pieces back out a bit gently to give them a looser, dreamier quality.
Step four: When you make it across to the left side, begin braiding back up. The braid will begin to thicken here, but that's okay. It will look cute, especially since little girl hairstyles can carry a whimsical, fun quality and still be super hip. Notice Lucy's uneven part below...it looks so cute!
Step five: Bring the braid up the left side of the scalp fairly high and find a cute place to pin it. I used two bows, one at the highest point of the braid, and one a bit lower to balance it out so the bows looked darling and kawaii rather than simply stuck in the spot where the braid needs pinned. I let the loose hair a the end kind of splay wildly from the blue bow. If her hair was straighter, I might tuck it in with a bobby pin or spiral curl it. See how cute it is!
There you go! A sweet and simple style for a preschool age girl's hair, perfectly suited for traipsing around the Hollow collecting wildflowers and chasing bunnies and butterflies.
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