30 Hairstyles in 30 Days

I have worked at home for the last six years. Being at home has gotten me into the habit neglecting my hair. In general it looks like you see here, twisted, bent up, then clenched into a hair clip.

What follows is my attempt to force myself out of the same old hair do and into 30 different styles. Pretty much anything will be an improvement on the clip but bare in mind that I am not a hair dresser and I do not aim for perfection. The main determinants for each style were:

• I had to be able to do it myself
• It had to be easy
• It had to different enough from my usual look to qualify as something new.

I decided to take it easy the first day. I put on a dotted jersey headband. It had to be secured on both sides above the ears with bobby pins; two on each side crossed over one another, to keep the band from sliding backwards.

Another easy day! I brushed my hair back and put it in a high pony. I kind of felt like Jeannie, except without the bounce. I used black Goody bands to secure the hair and it stayed up all day.

I thought I would get a little fancier by using a hair stick. This one has a lizard on the end and I bought it from ebay for $10 (see below). I put it in the night before with no problem. The morning of this photo I was nearly at wits end and considering snapping the thing and throwing it in the garbage. It just didn't want to work. My hair which is pretty silky just kept slipping out of position. Just below is a how tube video I used to give me inspiration for attempting this. This is not something I will probably attempt again.

This is one of my favorite pony tails. I put my hair into a loose pony then stuck my thumb and forefinger through the section closet to the skull and flipped the pony tail up and pulled it through. Super easy and looks kind of retro. I'd like to try it again with curly hair.

When I hit thirty it seemed like my naturally light to medium blonde hair got darker and darker. That blonder streak you see is natural and most of my hair was that shade.

After a good forty-five minutes standing in the hair dye isle at Walmart I decided I was going to dye my hair blonde. Since my hair was already dark blonde I thought using a light blonde dye would at least brighten my hair. Nope.

It made it darker and gave it a red tint. You'll see it in the next few hair shots. I was not happy. My husband tried to tell me it wasn't that red or that bad but it just kept nagging at me. Then I saw a friend at the mall and she said, "Oh, you dyed your hair red!".

With my new red tint I decided to have a little fun with double side braids.

You know, kind of like Pippi. Side braids are easy to do.

There is no arm, neck, or shoulder strain involved like a back braid. I think it suits me.

I slicked back my bangs, that's why they are so shiny, and went for a neat low pony with a side tail. It feels like it's getting redder.

After a long discussion with a beautician at Shoppers, we decided the amount of effort and cost it would take to strip my hair and try to color, not to mention no guarantee that it would work, wasn't worth it. I decided to go to the salon and have the color of my hair fixed.

Ta da! After four hours in a chair and half a head full of foils I finally emerged looking and feeling normal again.There is still red but not nearly as much as when I started. The hairdresser also layered my hair which gave it some much needed shape and lift. I wore it down today and couldn't stop looking at it. Love it!

I put a little more work into day eight by creating pin curls with bobby pins the night before. Basically, you wrap a strand of hair around your finger and then secure with bobby pins close to your head.

Because my hair is quite long most of them required two pins. I took the pins out in the morning and combed my hair with my fingers. The bangs looked a bit wonky so I secured them with pins on both sides of my head.

I like the look even though the picture is really bad (I had to turn it to gray-scale because it was so washed out. I think I scared my husband with all the crazy hair.

My hair was still wavy the next day so I squeezed my head into a jersey knit head band. Because the hair had more volume than normal I didn't have to secure it with pins. Curly is a nice change but I wouldn't do this often.

This is a French braid. I used to wear this a lot in college. It was professional looking and stayed in all day.

I don't know why I don't wear them much anymore.

I don't know what the official term of this is but I call it a reverse french braid. You braid under instead of over. It's my absolute favorite braid. I wore this one a lot in school too. It works best if the hair is a bit wet (mine wasn't here) and stays in all day.

This was super fun to do and surprisingly easy. It's a sock bun. Basically, you comb the hair into a neat pony about midway up the back. Then you take a tube sock, cut off the toe, roll it into a neat donut and pull the pony through it. You bend over and spread the pony around the donut to cover it then put another band around it. You take the remaining hair and wrap it around the band and pin. I need some more practice with the pinning but I think it turned out really good.

Today was a Bump It kind of morning. And as you can tell from the red puffy eyes, it was a bit of a rough morning.

If you are not familiar with Bump Its they are kind of a crescent moon shaped piece of plastic that you put under your hair to create the impression that you backcombed a nest for volume. They are definitely easier on your hair than backcombing and require less fiddling.

I left my bangs out and combed them in opposing directions to give some texture and my hair was held around a Bump It with a barrette. I gave it a quick aerosol spray to keep it smooth. Pretty easy, stays in place all day, and usually garners compliments. I had an incredibly hard time trying to get the right angle so you could see it in the photo. It actually look better live.

Last night I got the idea in my head I should braid my hair. I dug out about twenty Goody ouch-less bands and went to work braiding as I watched television. These were surprisingly easier to sleep on than the pin curls. Unfortunately, because my hair is now layered it was harder to get close to the ends. Most of the braids had about two inches unbraided section on the ends.

This morning I took them out after breakfast and finger combed them. I didn't want to brush it because I was afraid it would be a giant frizz. It wasn't super wavy but a definite change from my usual poker straight hair. It makes my hair feel thicker too.

I brushed my hair and divided the top part my hair and secured it with a natural barrette. By the end of the day I decided my hair is too silky for this. It kept sliding down. I think next time I'll try a little back combing before securing the barrette.

Today's simple style started by dividing the bangs from the rest of my head and pulling them up and back. I gave the end a few twists and pinned it to the top of my head being sure to push it forward a bit to create a little bump (I definitely need more practice with making natural bumps). I sprayed with aerosol hairspray to secure. I brushed the rest of my hair to secure it it into a tight ponytail including the ends of the hair from the bang. I sprayed bangs again as well as sides to smooth out strays by hand. I took a very thin strip of hair from underneath my pony and twisted it on itself before wrapping it around my hair band and securing with a pin. I very carefully removed the pins that were holding my bangs (but had to end up putting one in again because I noticed a stray strand that produced a stray bump). With more practice I'd definitely do this one again. It feels finished and more made up than a straight pony.

I woke up around 5 am with this idea in my head. I sectioned off the top part of my hair from about the ears to the top and fastened with a clip. I divided the remaining section into two side by side pieces and twisted each section on itself into tiny buns and fastened them with pins. I unfastened the top section brushed it out smooth then let it fall over the two quasi buns. I then gathered the top hair low around pinned sections and gave it a couple twists then tucked the tail underneath and pinned it into the other buns. It stayed in all day, much to my own surprise.

I've been wanting to try this for some time as I've seen it on a number of celebrities. This is one of my favorite looks despite not being as easy as I thought it would be. It's a crown / side french braid. If you thought french braiding at the back of your head was a bit hard, then you too will find this side braid a challenge. But it is doable. I found that it is important to use a comb and make a complete and neat division between the hair to be braided and not braided. It is also very important to fasten the hair not to be braided in a hair band to keep it completely out of the way. It took me two tries until I got it to what I considered acceptable. It's definitely a weird sensation braiding in this direction but totally worth it.

This is a simple twist held in place by a brass Celtic knot fork I bought in Etsy. After trying to wear this for a whole day I've decided that smooth hair and hair sticks to not mix. The next time I try I'll have to try back combing and hairspray. My hair just seems to slide out after a few hours and I have to readjust it. It's kind of annoying but I guess I adjust my regular hair clip throughout the day too.

Believe it or not, this was actually harder than it looks. It's a red satin ribbon tied into a bow then carefully twisted around to hide the bow underneath the hair. Two bobby-pins anchor the ribbon at the ears to keep it from sliding back. It was hard because the hair on top kept shifting when I tried to twist it to the back. I finally realized I was tying it too tight. It stayed in place all day. I would definitely try this again.

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Make sure you stop by my "Keep It Or Chop It" page to help me determine if I should cut my hair Halle Berry style!