Scarf braids: The holy grail

Posted on June 17, 2013

So it took a while for me to catch on to this trend. I was not entirely feeling it for a while. But then I did the Sail away braid and I loved it. A couple days later, I happened to have my house to myself for several hours which literally never happens. I felt absolutely free and untethered. I played with scarves and braids all damn day. It took me a while to find my groove with scarf braids but I feel as if I hit my personal holy grail by the end of the day.

You will need a long silk scarf like this boho silk scarf wrap for these looks. You also might need some earrings like the ones I am wearing ( My holy grail of earrings) by Nikki J.

Here is how to get the look.

Scarf braid look 1.

This is a half up hairstyle that involves making a small french braid on either side of the head, incorporating a scarf into the braid, and then tying them together in the back and letting the free scarf ends hang loose.

1. Start by making a side part. Center the scarf on your head, about an inch behind your front hairline.

2. Take a small section of hair from either side of the braid. These 2 pieces along with your scarf will make up your 3 braiding strands.

3. Start your braid, and begin adding in hair with each overlap. Be careful not to pull the scarf off center.

4. Work your french braid back until you reach the point just above and behind your ear. At this point, your french braid turns into a regular braid.

5. Braid the free end until you get to the very ends of your hair. Now pin your scarf braid to the very back of your head.

6. Repeat on the other side with the other end of the scarf in another french braid.

7. Stop your french braid above and behind the ear and then braid down the free end.

8. Attach your second braid to the back of your head by criss-crossing another pin over your first one.

Now situate your scarf ends and rock your flow-y scarf-y retro boho hairstyle this summer.

Or maybe you want something more polished and less hippie. If you do, then continue on with the holy grail….

Scarf braid look 2.

So pretty, right? And pretty easy, too. I love how this hairstyle shows off just a hint of color from the scarf without being too dramatic.

Here is how to do this one.

1. Start by doing scarf braid look 1.

2. Tie the ends of the scarf into a flouncy bow.

3. Take all the hanging loose hair and neatly twist the ends while drawing the hair up into a basket like shape. Use your fingers to tuck the scarf bow into the basket of hair. The scarf acts as your hair rat, which is awesome!

4. Now wind the ends of the twisted hair into a bun and pin it discreetly into you previously criss-crossed bobbies (see step 8 of look 1.)

Pretty from all angles. Are you inspired? Need more scarf inspiration?

xoxo, HTHG

#DIYhair Friday….choose your own adventure braid!

Posted on June 14, 2013

This #DIYhair success story has 2 endings. And you get to choose the one you like best. We will call it a “viewers choice” hairdo, kind of like how Netflix is doing that with their new original series shows. And they degrade so fast because the basic netflix watching human mind wants smut and sociopaths.

But not this hairstyle! this is a no-smut hairstyle for sure. This hairstyle starts as a french fishtail and ends in either a tuck or a bun (okay maybe just a tiny bit of smut.)

And you will need a comb. If you are underwhelmed by the state of your average hair comb, check out this post about how to decorate them and make them your own:) Or maybe you have your grandmas pretty old hair comb laying around? If you do, no is the time to dig it out.

Here is how to do it…..

1. Start with 2 small pieces of hair at the top of your head. Begin a fishtail braid, adding twice from either side.

2. Now begin adding in your small side sections to make it a frenchie.

3. Alternate back and forth from each side, working your way down to the nape of the neck.

4. Continue your fishtail braid all the way to the ends, and secure with an elastic. Now, gently pull it apart from each side to loosen it a bit.

Have you decided yet? You can either wrap your end into a bun and stick the comb teeth through the end to secure it, OR you can gently work the end up and behind the braid, and use your comb teeth to grab the end through the front of the braid to attach it. Ka-peesh?

XOXO, HTHG

Sail away scarf braid.

Posted on June 12, 2013

I took my dude and my kids along with Nikki and her sweet Gabe to Vashon Island this weekend. My mother has a little 1930′s era beach shanty with a mossy roof and red curtains that sits just up a small bank from a quiet little beach. It is surrounded by old run-down docks and boat parts and crabs and random things that can be considered “flotsom and jetsom.” This place is a junkers sun loving paradise and I am endlessly in love with it.

Every time we go there, we think of reasons to stay longer, and ways to justify staying forever.

Maybe someday, I will be the old leathery beach bum lady who braids beach debris into her hair and shares her weird ideas. I hope so.

While on the beach, my hair got sandy and salty and wind whipped. I had with me a fashionable head-scarf. ( I don’t take weekend trips without a scarf.)

We went into town for dinner the second night at a hip little joint called The Hardware Store. I wanted to look presentable, so I braided my scarf into a french braid. It was an experimental hair-do, and it was very easy. I had seen scarf braids on blogs like hair romance and Latest-hairstyles and was intrigued but not quite satisfied with what I saw. Something about a braid and a scarf together seemed a little bit……I can’t find the words. I liked the idea of a simple braid with just a hint of scarf.

So here it is. My version of a scarf braid that is mostly braid and a tiny bit of scarf.

The Sail away scarf braid.

The perfect beach combing, sun bathing, sailing and basking hairstyle. Got your scarf ready? that is all you need!

11. Start by taking a section of hair at the back of the top of the head. You will start your french braid here. Lay that section over the center of the rolled up scarf. The 2 ends of the scarf will be your 2nd and 3rd braid section.

2. Holding the ends of the scarf in each hand, take a french-braid section from one side. Add it to your scarf , and braid them over the center section. Repeat with the other side.

3. Continue adding hair to each side as you braid. You are essentially just doing a regular french braid, with the scarf braided into it.

4. Braid all the way to the ends, and secure the hair and scarf together in a clear elastic.

5. Now roll the ends in towards the neck, and push the braid ends and scarf up behind your braid. Tuck it nicely in. It should stay on its own without any pinning, but add a pin if needed.

Want more scarf-spiration?

xoxo, HTHG

#DIYhair Friday……Secret Garden braids.

Posted on June 7, 2013

Here is a pretty garden-y braided delight. This look is perfect for a bride or bridesmaid, flower girl, or just any renaissance woman inspired occasion. You will need a pretty crown, headband, or pretty necklace to tie around your head.

This hairstyle works on hair that is as short as a jaw-length bob, and as long as your mid back and on all hair types. For best results, first mist the hair with my favorite texture spray for natural pretty waves and then use one of HTHG’s no-heat curl tutorials,.

This hairstyle involves making small braids and then wrapping them around your headband or crown.

Here is how to get the look!

1. Start by putting on your crown. Take a small section of hair from the front on one side. Braid it all the way to the ends.

2. Now wind your braid once around your crown.

3. Now take another small section of hair from behind your first one. Braid in the ends of your first braid into a new braid.

4. Wind this braid around your crown.

5. Take one more section behind your 2nd braid. Braid in the ends of braid 2, and then wind this last braid around your crown. Let the free end hang down the back.

6. Repeat these steps on the other side.

6. Now, take both free braid ends in the back and braid them into a free hanging braid. Secure the end with a clear elastic.

7. Pull apart the sides of the free braid to loosen and mess it up a bit.

If you want you can stick a flower into the clear elastic in the end to hide it and finish off the look with even more pretty-ness. Now go and find your secret garden and don’t tell anyone where it is! EVER! XOXO.

#DIYhair Friday……The Dutch Herring

Posted on May 31, 2013

I will start by saying that I love anything dutch. I am a big fan of The Netherlands and tulips and Amsterdam.

My grandpas family, the Vanderstoeps, came over from Holland on a boat, and brought with them a sense of sillyness, practicality, offbeat humor, and large foreheads.

This is a hairstyle that I came up with while bored in my sweaty little attic room where I shoot my photos by skylight. I hung my spring-y sheet, and cracked the window in an effort to evoke springtime tulip-y hair inspiration. And then, like a birdsong in the soft breeze, the Dutch Herring hairstyle came to be.

It is a hairstyle that requiresfrench fishtail braiding skills. Watch this video and practice up on the fishtail braid. Once you get that down, you are ready to try The Dutch Herring! You will need hair that is shoulder length or longer for best results. If your hair is shorter, you can try this as a half up hairstyle, leaving the back down!

1. Start by parting off the sides of the hair from the top of the head to behind each ear.

2. Make a center part in the front. Start a french fishtail braid on one side at the top of the front hairline.

3.. Braid it all the way down the free end.

4. Secure the end with an elastic.

5. Repeat on the other side section. Take both braids together at the back of the head and secure them with an elastic. Remove the rubber bands from the ends.

6. Now start a fishtail braid with your large center section, adding in the tail of your first two combined braids.

7. Braid all the way to the ends and secure with an elastic, and then pull apart and loosen the braid a bit.

8.. Now split the hair behind your first 2 braids, and take the tail of the third braid and wind it up and through the split (topsy-tail style)

9. Loose-ly wind the tail of the braid through the split and around the first 2 joined braids.

10. Discreetly pin the end to your head, and add a couple more pins to secure the whole hairstyle.

Now wear this hairstyle out this weekend and inspire others to go Dutch.