Quick and Easy Girls Hairstyle: Fancy Pigtails

My littlest has some very specific ideas about her hair.

1. It must be long and Rapunzel-like. Cutting is not an option, although she will tolerate a teeny trim every so often.
2. It must be braided every night to guarantee she’ll have some curls in the morning. The number of braids she requires changes on a whim.
3. She’s very opinionated on styles and generally chooses one that she’ll wear indefinitely.
4. Brushing is a dirty word.

This poses a little bit of a problem for momma. Long hair that she prefers to have flowing freely does not mesh well with a super messy wildling who emits ear-piercing shrieks when I try to brush through her tangles.

Luckily, we stumbled across what she calls “fancy piggies.”

Her big sister has an old American Girl book that’s full of hair styling tips and tricks for girls. After seeing Samantha and her friend looking through it one day, Ellie decided she wanted to take a peek too. Inside, she found the now-beloved fancy piggy tutorial and she has not stopped wearing them since.

She loves that they don’t take long for me to do, that they let her flip her hair if she feels like it, and that they’re different than regular old pigtails. I love that they don’t take long for me to do, that they keep her hair out of her face, and that I don’t have to wrestle with her to get them done. Win win, my friends! Bonus points for looking like they take more hair skills than I actually possess (which falls under the little to no category).

A quick and easy girls hairstyle? YES PLEASE!

Here’s a little peek at how you do it:

Step one: tame the mane

I wasn’t going to include this picture because it’s blurry, but it totally captures the drama involved in brushing hair in this house. Some girls enjoy having people play with their hair. The girls in this house do not. The drama was turned up so high that Ellie had to grab a squishy pillow to alternately squeeze the life out of and scream into. Her hair was barely knotty. The struggle is real.

Anyway, I used a Wet Brush and detangler spray to brush through and then separated her hair down the middle, just like you do with regular old pigtails. In fact you can go ahead and put your girl’s hair in two pigtails. This style looks better if you use thin or clear elastic hair ties. Ellie refuses that business because she says they hurt too much to take out. So we go with regular old ouchless hair ties.

Step two: twirl and pull

This step is the most complicated one (and trust me, it’s actually not complicated at all). Take your finger and poke a little hole in the middle right above the hair tie. The hole should go all the way through so that your index finger and thumb can touch. Next, twirl the pigtail and pull the end of the hair over the hair tie and all the way through the hole so that it covers the hair tie and hangs like freely. You are now the proud maker of one fancy piggy. Do the same thing on the other side and your girl is set.

Seriously.

Cute, right? Ellie wriggles so much that I don’t spend a lot of time making sure that everything is straight and even. I know that she’s going to go wild and they’re going to slide down anyway. Luckily, I think they look pretty stinking cute even when they’re messy.

Dressed-up pigtails also work as a quick look for adults! My sister has worn them since seeing them on the girls and it looked much more dressed up than the word “pigtails” implies. I also want to try adding a third “tail” in the middle and possibly tucking all of the hair up for a quick and easy updo. I’ll update this post when I get a chance to try it out and take some decent pictures.

And if you have any super easy girls hair ideas, I’m all ears!

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