Start with clean hair and brush out any knots.

Using your finger or a pin start sectioning a piece of hair starting from the top of your ear and moving backwards.

Clip it up and out of the way:

Underneath that and just behind the ear take a small section of hair:

Plait that section ^_^

Use a pin or a hair tie to keep it from coming loose for the moment.

Now on the other side of your head take a section near the top and pin it out of the way:

Plait another section under that and secure the end  ^_^

Now with the first plait you made pull it over the top of your head like so:

Pin it on place like this:

Using the second plait make a loop:

Continue with the loop so it turns into a figure 8. Here you can either make it really tight so it looks like a bow or looser so it looks like a heart when it’s finished:

Pin it in place and cover the pins using a flower or another decoration:

Now you can unclip all of the sections you pulled back and fluff them up. You should have something like this:

Finished!

From one side:

And the other:

From here you could curl the rest of your hair for a more dressy look or leave it straight or wavy ^_^

Depending on what else you’re wearing at the time this can either be a really dressed up style or nice and casual!

Plait each section like this and tie the ends. You might need to experiment with plaiting overhand and underhand to see what looks best in the finished product because it can affect the way the plait sits on your head. I find that overhand works best on me.

Now take one plait and pull it upwards.

And over the side of your head:

Hold it very securely with your fingers and remove the hair tie.

Roughly pin it in place using the bobby pins. It doesn’t need to be perfect because this is just to hold it while we work with the rest ^_^

Now grab your other plait and pull it upwards too:

Hold it over the top so it crossed over and covers the end of the first plait. You probably won’t be able to get this one as far over your head as the first one because it has to go over a lump. As long as it reaches the half way point it’s fine though.

Hold it in place and remove the hair tie.

Now using a pin catch a small amount of the first plait:

Pull the pin over the end of the second plait (still holding the little bit of the first one) and push it back the way it came but underneath. Kind of like you’re following the line of a “U”. This is the most secure way to use bobby pins and they won’t just slide back out!

So when you’re done it will look a little like this and most of the ends of the plait will be hidden.

You should repeat this in a couple of the bumps of the plaits on both sides and front and back. If you do that then the ends will all be incased and nothing will be going anywhere 😀

Decoration is the key to not looking like a milk maid so I generally choose flowers and cover the back ^_^ The extra pins always help keep everything in place too. If you don’t want to use flowers then I also like pining pearls or little diamantes etc. Very cute!

Lastly it’s time to straighten your fringe or whatever you want to do with it!

From the side it looks a little messy because I didn’t push the flower pins in far enough but you get the general idea!

Finished!

Nice and cool for Summer and very versatile for different styles!