Wardrobe Wednesday: New Blog + All Banged Up + A Hair-do Tutorial

Okay, people.

You might have noticed that I’ve gone a little Goodwill-wild the past several weeks here on Wardrobe Wednesday. But it’s not been without a purpose. 

You see, I’m starting another blog (yup, because I don’t have enough to do already) called Secondhand or Bare Bottom (oh yes, I did), on which I will document my adventures in extreme thrifting every.single.weekday.  Just like you’ve seen here for the past two weeks, every item I wear/carry will be either secondhand, gifted, or made by me.  I’ll just post one look per day instead of slamming you with all of them at once.

I’m excited and a little terrified.

So, what will take the place of Wardrobe Wednesday? Two answers: 1) Nothing, and 2) Everything.

Lemme ‘splain.  No. Is too much. Lemme sum up.

1) Nothing: I will still post one outfit at the beginning of my post every single Wednesday, and this will be my “cheat” outfit—the one day a week when I can post an ensemble that includes items that I bought retail (gasp!) and other such wild and crazy shenanigans. (I will also post a collage of “mini’s” for the rest of my outfits that you can see in their full…ahem…glory @ SHOBB).

2) Everything: after my outfit post, what follows could include anything from more fashion-related content to befores + afters to pretty eye-candy I’ve stumbled across. I have ideas bouncing around in my noggin, but we’ll all just have to wait and see how they come tumbling out. 

So, without further ado, I present you with my “cheat” outfit of the week (this was actually an accident; I meant it to be an entirely thrifted outfit but somehow managed to forget that I’d bought the skirt for $7 at Gap Outlet).

I’ve taken pictures of a “low” and a “high” version of it to show how I would take it from running errands to date night or church.

Top: GW, $3, Skirt: Gap, $7, Flip-flops: Old Navy/GW, $1, Necklace: local thrift-shop, $4, Earrings: GW, $2

TOTAL: $17

Belt: GW, $1, Clutch: GW, $1 (flower made by me), Bracelet: gifted, Shoes: Enzo Angiolini/GW, $4

TOTAL (including items listed in the first option): $23

And here’s a taste of what you’ll get over at my new site:

I also wanted to assure those of you who were a little concerned with my “banged up” post title…it’s just a reference to my hair.  I’m sporting a bangin’ (wow, the puns are practically endless) new hair-do, but you’ll have to take a look-see around Secondhand or Bare Bottom to see exactly what it looks like styled.

And finally, speaking of hair, I’ve had some questions about the way I wear my hair twisted like you saw in this Wardrobe Wednesday post and this one too (in fact, it’s the hairstyle I get the most questions about in “real-life” as well), so I thought I’d give you a quick tutorial.

It really is as easy as they come.

1) Divide hair down the middle and secure one side with an elastic (I have naturally curly/thick/frizzy hair, so I don’t even pretend to try to make it perfect. In fact, with this hairstyle, the messier the better—my favorite kind):

2) Pick one side of the part to start on, and grab two pieces of hair:

3). Pull the front piece over the back piece, like so (there’s the bangs!):

4) Gather another piece, while maintaining a firm grip on the piece you just pulled over the top:

5) Merge the piece you just gathered and the original “bottom” piece:

6) Twist the bottom piece over the top, so that they are in reversed positions:

7) Continue gathering/adding hair to the bottom piece and then twisting it back and over the top all the way down the side of your head…

…until you end up with something like this (note—you will always be twisting away from your face):

9) If your hair is long or mostly one length, you could secure your two “tails” together once you’ve done both sides, but because mine is layered and not super-long, I just twist mine up into a mini-bun and wrap my little elastic around it like so:

10) Do exactly the same twisting/gathering technique on the other side of your part, continuing until you end up with something like this:

In case this seems familiar, it’s almost exactly the same technique as French-braiding, except that you’re twisting instead of plaiting, and you’re only working with two pieces at a time.

It’s such a quick (it literally takes me about 3 minutes tops) and versatile (can be messy/casual or dressy/elegant depending on how you accessorize) hairstyle that I couldn’t resist sharing.

Hope you get a chance to try it!

Don’t forget to stop on by Secondhand or Bare Bottom to see this week’s thrifted treasures and then daily from here on out.  I would love to have your company on this new venture!

Oh, and come on back for Thoughtful Thursday tomorrow. Just make sure you’ve calibrated your cuteness meter to “high” first or else I just might blow it up!

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