My daughter Millie will be seven years old in a couple of months time and I have to hold my hands up and say that I’ve never mastered the intricate and eclectic tricks of styling children’s hair. I have no idea how you form a straight parting with a hairbrush as mine always goes wonky, and I’ve never mastered a mop of curls into a fantastic French plait. Millie has naturally wavy and very smooth hair which seems to slip out of my fingers, wiggle out of grips and fluff out at the sides just for the fun of it. So here I have a failsafe of super simple and effective girls hair styles that absolutely anybody can do!
Plait & Ponytail Combo
These are in no particular order as they’re all super easy to do, even if you’ve got butter fingers and an arch nemesis as a hairbrush like me. So lets start off with a pretty plait and ponytail combi. Here I left Millie’s hair loose, scooped up a wedge of hair from her centre parting down to her ear, one on each side, and tied it into a plait; where you take three strands of hair and alternately cross them over one another, I hope I’m not teaching you to suck eggs right now. After plaiting both sides I scooped the rest of her hair into a ponytail, together with the two plaits and tied it with a frilly band and ta-dah! It just adds a pretty summer twist to her hair and prevents the front and sides from slipping out.
High Ponytail
This next one is the high ponytail, which is far superior to a regular ponytail which would normally begin at the base of the neck or just above. You can do this in two ways, either by turning your child upside down and letting the hair dangle before scooping it into a band at the top of her head, or by lifting the hair up by hand and brushing it into place possibly a hundred times as it all tries to fall down and escape. Personally I prefer the upside down method because it makes Millie laugh and is super quick.
High Messy Bun
This is the high messy bun. I have two reasons for doing this, the first being that I can’t actually make this look neat, and the second being that I can’t actually do a bun. Tidy, hard and precise buns on little girls are adorable and make them look like ballerinas with chubby cheeks when they’re little, but messy high buns make little girls look like a summer-chic fashionista and I find this style far more relaxed and less ‘pushy mum’ looking. You basically adopt the same stance for the high ponytail, head upside down and tie it at the highest point, but instead of tying it through and turning it into a ponytail, when you pull it into the band you leave it halfway and it turns into a ball of hair instead and looks so pretty.
Low Plait Into Ponytail
You know when you tie a ponytail and all of the baby hair from the back and sides come loose and spiral all over the place? Well this is a great way to stop that. You scoop a section of hair from just below and behind the ears, down to the nape of the neck and make a plait, one for each side. Here I gave Millie a fairly high ponytail and then lifted the plaits so that they go over the top and it’s all held in place with a band. It’s something different yet quirky, and when kids run about on a summers day and get a sweaty neck, this is one style that will certainly stay in place. What sweat? Girls just sparkle!
Half Up Hair
I actually think there’s a name for this style but I can’t for the life of me think what it is, so I’ve called it the ‘half up hair’ do. You don’t even need a brush for this one, as I put my fingers at the top of Millie’s ears, scooping up her hair in a straight line as you move your hands to meet at the back of the head, which separates the top section from the bottom and you tie it into a ponytail with a band. I never get the hairline straight no matter how hard I try, but thankfully the ponytail hides it everytime!
Inward Ponytail
This is a super cool style that I only discovered recently and it’s safe to say I’ve exhausted it quite a bit. For when you’re really tight on time but still want to make an effort, simply create a ponytail at whatever height you choose, wiggle the band out slightly by an inch so that the hair goes loose, then lift the ponytail up and tuck it down and back on itself through the loose hair and you get this pretty little twist effect that hides the band.
Inward Ponytail & High Single Plait
After I discovered the inward ponytail I then wanted to jazz it up a little for a full on retro look, so here I teamed it with a single high plait on the top of the head, which I don’t think you see very often, and I tucked it down the stuff-hole of the inward ponytail. It looks pretty with a summer dress and keeps the neck cool and hair tidied away. Hairbrush eat your plastic bobbled heart out!
I hope you’ve enjoyed my simple summer styles for girls, I try to jazz up Millie’s hair, keeping it practically tied up whilst still looking girly. I also have a huge paranoia of children catching head lice, and the chances are if you leave hair down and flailing all over the place then there’s a larger surface area for them to jump onto, so get it up, get it out of the way and keep them kiddaroo’s safe. And if you have any tips, tricks and advice about girls hair then feel free to send me the details. Happy hair-styling!
