Hair

I've got a lot of it. It's long, beautiful, thick, and my BF loves it. It's also wispy, frizzy, tangley, and gets in my face and pisses me off. So I wear it up. Always. The only time my hair is down is when I'm about to get into the shower. Even when I'm in the shower I have it clipped up while conditioner soaks in.

If I have it down for more than 15 minutes, it begins to snarl and frizz. Unless I spend forever and a day trying to style it.

Which, of course, I never do. If a hairstyle takes more than 10 minutes to do, I'm not interested. Maybe I'll make an exception when I get married, but I doubt it.

This constant state of updos necessitates that I have a few different styles that aren't hard on my hair, are easy to do, and don't require hair product. My hair is fine and brittle, so excessive elastic band use (even the so-called "hair safe" kind) causes it to break, and the broken pieces proceed to frizz.

So what's a girl to do? I don't like to do crazy things with my hair, but variety is nice.

In that spirit, braids are my friend. I like to braid my hair into two pigtails and then wrap them around my head Heidi-style. It actually looks quite cute, and since nobody wears their hair like this anymore, it's unexpected and unique. Apparently my grandmother wore her hair in a similar style when my dad was a kid.

I also like to put small braids in random places in my hair. Keeps that part tangle free, and reduces the overall volume of my hair. If I braid the front sections, it keeps my still-growing-out bangs and little broken wispies out of my face, while looking cute. Always nice to look cute when you can!

My recent favorite hairstyle I stumbled upon accidentally when I was looking for more braid ideas on the internet. I found step-by-step pictoral directions for creating the perfect Parisianne bun. Score! I love pictures!







The instructions are for a bun pretty much right on top of your head. I tried that look, and, well, let's just say it's not the look for me. It made me look like that bitchy librarian who marches over and demands to know just exactly wat you think you're doing chewing gum in her sacred book shrine. My face is oval shaped, and having all my hair on top of my head makes it look even longer, and makes me look old and serious.

So I modified the look.

It appears the key to nailing this loose, worn-in bun is to start twisting the hair from the ENDS and move toward the scalp instead of the other way round. In the past, I'd always gathered a pony tail and twisted my hair from the scalp out to the ends. It always resulted in a too-tight, severe look that I never liked. I look best with my hair looser and not slicked-back looking. By twisting the ends first, the hair is secured but the roots remain loose.

If you hold your hair straight above your head, the only place for the bun to go is on top of your head. However, if you hold it back at roughly a 45 degree angle, the bun ends up slightly below the crown of your head, which is perfect for me.

I also used tiny claw clips to secure the bun instead of bobby pins, as those snag my hair and rip it out. Besides, I need a shit ton of them to keep my hair up, and it's much easier (and more secure) to put 6-8 little clips in than 100 pins.

The author (I assume the original, but who really knows) of the piece I stole the picture from claimed that this is the perfect Parisianne hairstyle, carefree and whimsical yet elegant and feminine.

I wouldn't use such flowery language, but I agree. There's something awesome about it, yet it's so simple I can't believe I didn't think of it on my own.

Now excuse me while I go sip my wine and eat my Brie cheese.