The Rookie Department

I've never been a pro when it comes to styling my hair, applying my make-up or doing my own nails. It’s not that I don’t try; but I'm just not great with these things, my one and only hair style is blow dried + curled with a large barrel curling iron to keep the frizz down and add volume, it’s my go-to hair style and has been for years, it has never let me down through many different hair lengths and styles.

But recently I wanted to step it up a notch.

Part of my recent success with hair styling is owed to the World Wide Web. Yes, surfing the net for endless hours has contributed to my life in a meaningful way; who knew? It was only though Pinterest that I discovered “The Beauty Department" .  With step by step pictures and written instructions even an idiot like me can pull off most of the looks they post (some are still a bit too difficult for me , baby steps, baby steps).  I also found this site, which happens to be a wedding site but has many cute hair and make-up ideas.  

Why didn't someone tell me about these sites sooner? I have been trying out many styles over the past few weeks and I wanted to share with you the results. Many of us “Pin” these pictures but never, ever attempt them…well here goes.

The photos you are about to see are my genuine, FIRST ATTEMPT at these styles. I hope you find this helpful, and if anything at least amusing :) 

The Bouncy High Pony Tail: Any idiot can pull off a high pony tail right? WRONG! There is more to it than just pulling your hair into an elastic band. For a recent event I decided that having my hair down for over ten hours probably wouldn't yield positive results, so I went for a high, bouncy ponytail. I styled my hair as usual, from wet, to blow dried, then curled as if I was going to be leaving it down. Then I teased the crown (it was my first time ever teasing my hair) and flipped my head upside down to get the pony tail high on top of my head. Now, I'm pretty sure flipping your head upside down is NOT the proper way to get your hair into a pony tail, but if thats what you gotta do then don't be ashamed. I needed assistance with wrapping a strand of hair around my pony tail to conceal the elastic because after 5 failed attempts I was ready to shave my head. NB: since then I have managed to figure this out and do it myself. My tip with this style is to make sure you curl your hair properly from the beginning  don’t be lazy and curl it once it’s up in the pony tail because it won’t have that same “bounce”.

So you know, I was going for this...

And I was able to produce this....not too bad, I would give it a B+ with room for improvement. 

The “Heidi” Braid Look. I tried this when I was in Milan last week. I managed to pull this together while my hubby was napping. It honestly didn't take very long and my only complaint is that my arms were KILLING from keeping them held up the entire time. So added bonus: its a hair style and a work out all in one! Without the ability to see the back of my own head (obviously) these were the best braids I could pull off, not bad eh? The front frizzed like mental, but it was a very humid, rainy day. I’d like to re-attempt this one when the weather is less extreme. It still looked pretty cute nonetheless.

The instructions and prof version looked like this...

The twisty way to keep hair from frizzing: Disclaimer* I did this one wrong..haha. 

So, after blow drying your hair you twist it back and away from your face it helps reduce frizz, and you can get dressed and do your make up while your hair sets. Sometimes I rush through things and often I don’t read instructions properly, this is obviously one of those times. I twisted my hair in the correct backwards motion, but tied my hair around the back which only made it more difficult, but I believe it still produced the same results. My hair was frizz free, and I think I will be trying this one again

And that's all Iv'e got for now, I have a list of other cute styles and one which I forgot to take pics of (sowwy) so I will likely be back with a Part II. In the meantime  does anybody know of other fantastic website with hair styles like these? Or do you have any style that you would like for me to attempt? If so please leave links or ideas in the comments below. Thanks :)