Elsa's Braid, Sort Of

Mondays are usually pretty quiet days for us.  After dropping Love-bug at school, my 3 year old and I usually stay in so I can take care of things at home (chores, online banking, phone calls, etc.).  However, we always make time for play.  Today, typical of many days since we've seen the movie Frozen, Sunshine has been obsessed with the song "Let It Go".  She heard a father at this morning's school drop off mention that he would play the song for his daughter in the car, so she asked to hear it.  She usually does her performances a capella, but today it was done to music, courtesy of YouTube.  In between her performances, she asked to have her hair in one side braid, like Elsa wore hers when she let her hair down in the movie.  This was not the first time she's asked for hair like Elsa or Anna (the main characters), but today I decided to give it a try.  I explained that her hair may not be long enough to look exactly like Elsa's, but the sad look on her face made me determined to make it work.  I think it came out pretty cute and she was very happy with it!  I thought I'd document it in case anyone has a similar request from their little one who doesn't have enough hair, or if you're not able to french braid to accomplish Elsa's exact hairstyle.

Sunshine's hair is almost to the middle of her back, with natural tight curls.  French braids require more detangling than I wanted to do.  If I tried to put it in one low side braid/plait, the crown of her hair would be puffy, and the braid would look small in comparison and may not lay on her shoulder (the key to this style).  I compensated for all of this by using the three sections her hair was already in from a previous style.  Her hair was also stretched out a bit from that style, which gave me more length.

I braided (plait) the top section, then braided it into the second braid, going towards her right side.  I then made a low side ponytail with the second braid and the third (bottom) section of hair.  I braided the hair coming out of the pony tail and added two ponytail holders down the length of  the bottom half of the braid, to help weigh it down.  Here's some pictures to illustrate.  We took these right before her requested outdoor performance of  "Let It Go". : )

I only used water, a soft brush and my fingers to detangle a bit.  For those that prefer sleeker styles, a little product may help with flyaways and frizz. However, with naturally curly or kinky hair, the earlier you embrace the frizz the better. I definitely have!   Plus, with a 3 year old, neat hair only lasts for seconds.  Considering all of this and, most importantly, how happy she was with the result, this was a major win!

The rest of the morning was spent reenacting scenes from frozen (I played Anna, of course) and watching YouTube videos of songs from Frozen.  Some videos were clips from the actual movie, and others were of aspiring performers like my little Sunshine.  My daughter did not discriminate.  She enjoyed the performances by the truly talented, as well as the ones who had more passion than talent, like me.  Now, on to the next thing....