My youngest daughter graduated from elementary school today. She picked a very grownup dress for her promotion ceremony, so she wanted a grownup hairstyle to go with it. She saw the movie, Letters to Juliet for her birthday and wanted something similar to a look the main character wore in a scene in that movie. Half up, half down, it turned out very cute and was easy to do. It works best on long, wavy hair, like Sarah's.
Here's what I did......
*Start with clean hair. Comb the tangles out, apply a combo of leave in conditioner and gel (mix half and half), then put it up in a towel to pull out the extra moisture. (When She took the towel off she said, "It's like Kate's hair when she comes out of the ocean." Oh, my little LOST fan.)
*Start drying with your blower set at low. Scrunch the ends up toward the roots, to encourage the curl. Blow until it's damp-dry, then use your fingers to twirl a 1 or 2 inch section into a spiral, lay that down, move on to the next section, and repeat the process. Do this all the way around.
*Let it air-dry the rest of the way. This allows the curls to dry into an organic sort of no-work look.
*When it's dry, part the top of the crown off and give it a light back-combing to produce a little height. Nothing huge, we are going for a sort of mermaid-y look. More romance than Jersey Girl (not that I have a problem with Jersey Girls - they are skillful back-combers, that's for sure).
*To section off the "up" portion, use your fingers to slice off a hunk of hair, leaving the front sections free. Slide your finger along, drawing a line about an inch above your ear to the back of your head. Use a pony holder, to make a small ponytail, then gently pull the crown loose-ish, so create a little height.
*Give it a quick spray with some hairspray and you are good to go.
