Today’s post will either be really informative or really overwhelming for you – it depends on which group you fall in. Group A: those who can “do” your daughter’s hair or your own with ease. Group B: Those who can’t but really, really want to.
I fall in Group B. I try. I try really hard. I want to do the perfect French braid on my daughter’s hair. I really want to braid my own hair. I’m not very good at either – or any other hairstyle for that matter. I’m not exactly sure why – maybe my arms are too short. Or maybe I’ll blame it on my left-handedness. I blame a lot of my shortcomings on left-handedness: sewing, crocheting, opening a can manually, writing in a straight line on a white board. Hair styling seems like a good victim of left-handedness, too.
It’s not for a lack of practice. Cabbage Patch Dolls, Barbies, and all of my friends in elementary school. We’d spend HOURS practicing all different hair styles. I still have no salon skills. My daughter hasn’t mastered many hairstyling skills yet either, but she’s also not really practicing much (and she’s a little too much like me). Cabbage Patch Dolls are out (that yarn was perfect!), Barbies aren’t French braid material, and after two bouts of lice, I’ve threatened her within an inch of her life if she touches another person’s head. Sure, she’s got an American Girl, but those things have their own hair salons, don’t they? Plus, that hair is no joke. One knot and I seriously think I hear the doll screaming for her life.
There are SO MANY cute braids and other hairstyles popping up everywhere, and we are dying to master a few.
We’ve started watching YouTube videos (in between watching “Say Yes to the Dress” and “DC Cupcake.” (I am very aware that Smarty Dad Zack’s engineering background is teaching his daughter to fly, but my journalism degree is fostering its own creativity…right? :-)). We both love it, and with a house full of boys, this is ours. Plus, teaching my daughter how to style her own hair is a life skill, don’t you think? I sure wish I had it!
Um, have you ever watched YouTube videos on hairstyling? If you have EVER felt inadequate after watching an 8-year-old teach you how to do a double-triple-fishtail-zigzag rainbow loom, then you are in for a treat. Get ready to feel worse (unless, of course, you are in Group A (so jealous!). Group A will scoff at these). One word about these girls: amazing.
Example 1
This was after our search for “easy pony tail hairstyles.”
How OLD is she?! I have a hard time differentiating ages lately. It must be the fact that I am getting older, and they are getting younger. Is she 18? 13? 25? All I know is she is old enough to know her way around a video camera but young enough to have braces and zero wrinkles. I say it’s too young for such perfect make up and skin! I am just now perfecting eye make up application (thanks, YouTube!) and hers is…well…model perfect. And her hair is a HORSE TAIL. It’s gorgeous. Of course it will braid perfectly without any loose hairs. Who has THAT hair (besides Smarties Susan and Wendy)? Gotta give her props, though. Her hands are like a surgeon’s – precise, and dexterous. At least she has a fall-back gig if shampoo commercials go nowhere (someone get that girl an agent).
Example 2
Search for “hairstyles for shorter hair.”
This girl can’t be more than 15 and she has more product know-how than I do in my mid-thirties. She makes the sock bun look easy when from my experience, it’s not always. I appreciate that her explanation of a French braid is to “grab and add pieces.” Look at how she can get it all the way around her head! Amazing. Plus, like the other two examples, this girl has film making skills. I guess that’s just this generation – their kids’ baby videos are going to be AMAZING.
Example 3
Search for “Easy Hairstyles for School Days”
She lost me at “teasing.” How can teasing your hair and “school day hairstyles” even be in the same video?! She also says “volumize the bun.” I’m out on that one. Love her use of text bubbles, and I’m dying over her repeated use of the phrase “just gonna.” It’s killing me that these YouTube girls are headed to basketball practice after filming and uploading their videos to YouTube. Like the other two examples, the dexterity in her arms and fingers amazes me. Maybe my we need some yoga for upper body flexibility.
So, after about an hour of YouTube inspiration, our next school day’s hair style was this:
Laugh all you want, but it looked AWESOME for about an hour.
I’m not giving up. She will learn to do her own hair, and I might actually be able to French braid my own someday. We’ll master the skill together. One YouTube video at a time. And, I’ll keep getting older, and they’ll keep getting younger.
Have you or your daughter mastered any new hairstyles? Or, maybe I should ask, do you considering it a mastery skill to finally do a new hairstyle? 🙂 What YouTube videos have you found that made you feel especially inadequate as a wannabe perfect mother?
4 comments
That braid is rocking – I’m seriously impressed. We should have a mother-daugther hairstyling party to learn the tricks of the trade from a mom who knows what she is doing – like Cynthia Clark! I need serious help in this department. I lack the skills to pay the bills. We barely make it out the door for carpool as it is. Adding this to the mix? Disaster.
That braid seriously looks amazing! You should be darn proud of yourself.
Cheryl, I love this! I’ve been braiding my daughter’s hair for years but, now I’m feeling inspired to learn to French braid my own!
That braid looks EXACTLY like mine on Isabel. And I have to say, I’m pretty proud of it! But hers too falls out within an hour. I just don’t think I have those skills in my deck of cards. What happened to messy hair do? Bring it back!