Woven ribbon headband

When I dreamed of having a little girl, I imagined that her hair would always be beautifully pulled back in braids or pigtails or plaits with ribbons and clips etc. (Mind you, I also imagined that she would have dark hair like me- what the heck happened there?!!) I loved styling hair and had practised lots on my dolls, sister and cousin growing up.

In the real world, more often than not, my daughter's hair looks something like this:

Or even this:

Occasionally, if she is in an easy-going mood, I can sit her in front of 'Peppa Pig' and quickly get a couple of braids in. There is only a small window of opportunity!

Over the past couple of years, I've come to realise that it's probably not such a bad thing that she hates having her hair done and is only really interested in how long it's going to take and how much it's going to hurt rather than what she looks like in the mirror. After all, I'm sure there will be plenty of time when she is (not even) a teenager when she will worry about her looks. Why help her start that now? I would love her to learn that what she looks like is soooo not a measure of her worth and even though the world will tell her that it's important to be 'pretty' or look a certain way to fit in, I want her to know that it's hugely more worthwhile to be kind, generous, faithful, wise, happy, creative, healthy, fun, honest, respectful, forgiving, thankful, STRONG. That's what I pray for my girl.

So hard though. How do you navigate this with your daughters? I would love to hear your ideas. My husband and I are deliberate in our efforts to make more comments about our daughter's character than her looks. Of course, we tell her she's beautiful, but we also tell her she's smart and funny etc. Trying hard to keep a good balance. And then there's the example I set. Does Gabby see me worrying too much about my hair, weight, make-up and clothes? YES, probably! Must work on that!

Alas, my little girl is about to start big school. With this, comes certain requirements for hairstyles. So my priorities are:
1. Avoid nits (Man am I dreading the first time this happens! She will not tolerate nit treatment well!)
2. Quick and easy to do in the mornings
3. Accessories in school colours
4. Hair out of eyes
5. Neat and tidy
6. Stays in all day

Gabby's hair is very fine, but she has a LOT of it. Even when I try to do her hair really neatly, she gets all those little wispy bits coming out the front and sides. I have found headbands useful for this so thought I'd try my hand at making a woven ribbon headband or two after seeing a couple of girls at school wearing similar things. They weren't too tricky once I got the hang of it. There seems to be a gazillion tutorials on the internet for these little babies. I used THIS ONE.

Here they are in school colours:

I would definitely recommend giving these a go. There are endless possibilities with colour combinations which can totally change the look of the pattern.

Be sure to send me a pic if you give this a go. I would love to see them!

Thanks for stopping by.