Papa's Hair Salon

I don't believe my hair has ever been more than two inches long at any point in my life.  My girls were born with almost that much.  This is written more for fathers than mothers, but feel free to keep reading no matter what sex you are.

Today, their hair reaches almost halfway down their backs.  It has grown at an amazing rate recently.  One day I was struggling to hold it out of their face with a hair band and the next thing I know it is in a pony tail.

While I never had to deal with hair issues myself, I have become at least halfway decent at styling theirs.

Here's a quick rundown of the options I have for them:

Hairband - I used this before I felt competent with any other styling work, and when time was/is of the essence.  Particularly, I use it when they start eating and I haven't done anything to their hair.  It pulls the hair out of their eyes and mouth so they can get food in there instead (the mouth, not the eyes).  It also works well when they have a runny nose.  Hair clips might work well for some kiddos, but not for ours.

Pony Tail - The basis for all the hairdos, so we'll start with it.  Pull all the hair you can from their bangs and sides toward the back of their head.  Use one hair tie to hold it in place.  Until it is long enough, this is not an option as the shorter front hairs will fall out and go right back to hanging in front of their eyes.

Water fountain - This works well no matter how long their hair is.  As long as their bangs are long enough to obstruct their vision, this has a use.  You'll need to pull the hair up into a pony tail, but have it start on the top of their head.  The shorter the hair, the closer to the front you have to work.  One hair tie here will also do the trick. 

Pigtails - This is the next step after the water fountain.  It is slightly more complex, takes twice as long to do, but is at least twice as cute once you figure it out.  All you have to do is take the hair on the left side of their head and pull it into a pony tail starting somewhere over their left ear.  Repeat on the right side. 

Braids - I've never found braiding to be a problem at all, but that's probably because I was a Boy Scout in my youth and figured it out at a young age.  The reason it's the last style listed is because you need the most amount of hair for it, as well as the most patience from your client. 

Divide the hair into three sections - left, middle, and right - all having approximately the same amount of hair.  The easiest way to proceed is to take one hair tie at the end of each group of hair to temporarily hold it in place.  Grab the lock on the left and move it to the middle, going over the top of the current middle lock.  Now do the same with the right one and put it int he middle.  Back and forth you go moving the outside lock to the middle until you reach the end.  Use one hair tie to hold the three in place and then remove the original three ties you put on.

Once you can do that you've graduated from Papa's Beautician School.  There is no more I can teach you about hair styling.  If you want an official degree, send me $50 and a SASE.