Our family LOVES celebrating our freedom on the 4th of July each year. Family, great food, fireworks, red, white, blue, FREEDOM. Here is a collection of our Patriotic Hairstyles through the years. We feel truly blessed to live where we do, love the way we do, and worship the way we do. The world has been a scary place recently and I am feeling a little more grateful this year for that freedom that is so fragile.
MEMORIES:
I scoured through so many pictures to find these Patriotic Hairstyles to share with you. This one is probably my favorite and is definitely the most complicated.
TO CREATE THIS CUTE STAR RIBBON HAIRSTYLE:
(There are step by step pictures of how to create a star on another hairstyle below.)
Starting with damp hair makes things much easier. Part a square at the top of the head with the back of a rat tail comb. The front half of the box at the hairline will have three box ponytails and the bottom of the box near the crown of the head has two box ponytails. You want the tip of the star to be higher than the other two top points, so place the elastic closer to the hairline on the middle ponytail and closer to the middle part on the right and left ponytail. Whew. I hope that makes sense!
STAR SHAPED BRAIDS:
Once you have the five ponytails created on the top of the head and secured with little elastics you will create the star. You can do rope braids or three strand braids. I took a really long thin piece of ribbon and threaded through the elastic on the middle front point of the star and another piece from the left to the right points on the top of the star. Make sure they are long enough to make the whole star.
KEEP GOING:
Split the hair from the ponytail into two sections and braid each and attach to the bottom two ponytails. Then either the ponytail on the right or left top will also split in two sections and be braided and added to the opposite side on the top and bottom of the star. You should just have hair left on one point on either the right or left at the top of the star. Braid it and combine to the opposite bottom side and you should have a star! I tied the ends of the ribbon and very carefully cut the ends off. Don’t cut the hair! 🙂
REPEAT:
Next I did TWO more stars, one on each side of her head. It uses the same steps of five ponytails, braided and secured with elastics to create a star. I didn’t use ribbon on the sides. This would be much simpler and still very cute without the stars on the side.
PONYTAILS AND RIBBONS:
I split the rest of the hair in the back into two low ponytails. Then with the hair from the stars on top I created 6 rope braids with red ribbons and added them to the lower ponytails. Once again I carefully trimmed the ribbon ends. To finish off the look I took a wider striped ribbon and tied in bows around the ponytails. This took a while to do, obviously, but it was so dang cute and held up really well all day long.
MORE RED AND BLUE RIBBONS:
This next hairstyle is similar with the small ponytails and ribbons, but there are no stars. It takes a while to create all the little ponytails, but it is fairly simple. I love this picture of little Emma with me.
TO CREATE THIS RED AND BLUE STRIPE HAIRDO:
For this hairdo you want to start with damp hair again. Using the end of a rat tail comb helps to create nice straight parts. I parted her hair on the side and just started making boxes. On the first box I added the long ribbon in with the hair and secured it with the elastic. Then I just moved on to the next box ponytail and secured the hair and ribbon again with an elastic. I chose to use red elastics to match the red ribbon and blue elastics on the blue stripes.
From the part on the left side of her head was three rows with four ponytails on each going toward the opposite ear. The hair on the other side of the head I did two rows of ponytails going from the hairline back. It looks way more complicated than it really is.
To finish off this hairstyle I did two low ponytails and added all the rest of the hair and ribbons to them and trimmed the long ribbons to match up with the hair. I took a couple big hair elastics and tied shorter pieces of ribbon right on the hair tie then put them on the ponytails. They were so simple to do and looked so cute! Definitely a favorite in our collection of Patriotic Hairstyles.
HOW TO CREATE A STAR:
Just like I posted above, you will create a star in the hair by starting with five ponytails. For this hairstyle I did one large star with all of her hair.
THE BASICS:
Start with damp hair and create 5 ponytails and make sure to place the elastic on the ponytail where you would want the point of the star to be. So, the top ponytail elastic is closer to the hairline on the front, the two sides are lower.
ROPE BRAIDS:
Normally you will take the top middle ponytail and split it into two sections, for some reason I started with the left side. It works either way. Each section will make a braid. You can create a three strand braid or a rope braid like we did. For the rope braid you simply split the hair in two sections and twist both sections the same direction, separately, then the opposite way together. Secure the top two braids to the bottom two ponytails. The hair on the top left ponytail we split in half and created a rope braid and attached it to the right ponytail. Then that hair is combined with the hair on the right and made into another rope braid and attached to the bottom left ponytail. Clear as mud. 😉
FINISH WITH BOWS:
Create and attach the final rope braid and top with a couple cute bows. I always make sure to hairspray it to keep everything in place.
ANOTHER YEAR ANOTHER STAR HAIRDO:
This big star hairdo really is so simple and is a go-to for us. We always get lots of compliments. It is cute with bows or flowers.
HAIR ACCESSORIES:
Sometimes we keep things simple and just use a really cute hair accessory. I used to make and sell these hairbows. Emma’s hair was so cute when it was short and looked even cuter with a big ribbon accessory on a headband. Some of our favorite Patriotic Hairstyles include cute bows.
GLOW STICKS:
I don’t have a real great picture of this hairstyle, but it it just a star with rope braids on the top and combed into a low side ponytail and topped with a cute hair bow. We always have glow sticks on the 4th of July and the kids put them everywhere, including their hair!
CRISS CROSS:
This hairstyle is just six ponytails on the top of the head. The middle from one is split into two sections and made into rope braids and connected to the bottom outside ponytails. Then the hair from the two front side ponies are made into rope braids and connected to the bottom middle ponytail to create a criss-cross pattern. We clipped on three little flowers on the bottom ponytails in red, white, and blue. We lived in North Dakota at the time and it was COLD during fireworks. Emma zonked out before the end.
GO BIG:
Sometimes we don’t have time for fancy hairdos so we just stick a big patriotic flower or bow in Emma’s hair. Still cute!
OVER THE TOP:
Cousins like to be twinnies and these two loved having the same hairdo. A star on the top side into a low side bun and topped with a super cute bow. The face paint helps with the festiveness. What do you think of these Patriotic Hairstyles?
The boys like to be festive too! I can’t even handle Luke in his little top hat with Grandma Norma.
And Lincoln and Brody are definitely double trouble! This was at a little parade at the senior living facility where my Grandparents lived at the time. Fun memories!
ANOTHER WAY TO CREATE A STAR:
This one was different and fun! We used the back of a rat tail comb to “draw” a star shape on the side of her head and made a ponytail. We french braided the hair on the opposite side of her head and also did simple three strand braids with the ponytail hair and the “leftover” hair on the star side of her head.
To finish it, we took all three braids and braided them together and secured with a small elastic and added small white bow. Super simple!
TEEN HAIRSTYLES:
Emma is 14 now so we decided to do a few more grown-up Patriotic Hairstyles this year. She would still happily rock the star hairdos though! For this one we did a dutch braid across the top and loosened it up and secured it in a high ponytail. We LOVE this cute scrunchie we got at Hobby Lobby. It really finishes the look and I can’t believe how grown up and beautiful she is!
SCRUNCHIES ARE BACK:
At first I wasn’t too sure about the scrunchie trend, I mean, I grew up wearing ALL the scrunchies. We MADE our own scrunchies and bows back in the day. So fun! We have found some really cute scrunchies lately. I love the ones with the long tails. This one was also cute with her hair half up and flipped under. We did some loose curls with a straightening iron.
BANDANAS:
Bandanas are also in style right now. We love that they are inexpensive and super versatile! Here’s a few ways to wear a bandana. For this one we just folded the bandana and wore it as a headband. It looks cute with the tails on top like a bow or turned around with the tails hidden underneath. One of our favorite Patriotic Hairstyles.
We thought it was also super cute worn like this. I had to have her hold it in place while I tied it so that I could get it tight enough without slipping off. We thought a little hair out the front and the tail tucked in the back looked cute.
We really hope you enjoyed our Patriotic Hairstyles through the years!
If you would like to be notified when there is something new here at Huckleberry Life, make sure to subscribe! You will receive an email about any new posts. You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
