Ni Hao Kai-lan Anima Buns

Weeks ago I was messing around here on my blog, and I noticed over on the left where my ads run, there was a cute little cartoon girl staring back at me! Upon further investigation, I found out that the ad was for a TV show on Nickelodeon – or Nick Jr. called Ni Hao Kai-lan. To let you in on a little secret — we don’t have cable TV (gasp – I know!) We’ve never had it & don’t need it – so there are so many shows out there I have never heard of – this being one of them. Anyway, although I think this would look more “official” if my girls had dark hair, I thought Kai-lan’s cute little “Anima buns” would be a cute do on Bee.

I started by parting the hair completely from ear to ear like you are going to make a 1/2 pony. But take the part more straight across around the back of the head. Then I made a zig-zag part and sectioned it off into 2 little ponytails on each side and secured them with rubber bands.

I also left a tiny bit of hair out up front by the temple on each side, so I could give her some cute little curls up front since Kai-lan has bangs and some hair up there too!

Now, Bee’s hair isn’t overly thick, and to get the cute rounded “anima buns” we went for the rolled up sock trick. Conveniently I had one of her little socks that had a hole in it, and so I just cut a hole in the other sock and we were in business. You may have seen this on other sites, but just in case …. this is a fabulous way to give a bun a fuller look if you or your little one lacks in the hair department! Take a sock – and because I’m working with Bee’s hair we used one of her little socks. (Use a sock color that won’t show through the hair too!)

Cut a little hole in the toe of the sock.

Then roll it up so it has a more “flat” side —

and a more tire or donut looking side.

Put the flat side against the head and pull the ponytail through the little hole.

So in the end it looks like this – almost like you’ve got a round scrunchy that fits nicely around the ponytail.

Then spread the hair around the whole rolled up sock. I experimented a bit, and on one side I ratted the hair a bit, and on the other side I just left it plain. If you rat the hair a little bit, it gives it a fuller look to the bun, which in the end I preferred. Anyway – spread the hair around the sock like this …

Then take a little rubber band and stretch it around the whole “bun” so it holds the hair around the sock. It’ll hide up underneath the sock giving it a “donut” look.Spread the hair around as needed if you have gaps where the sock shows.

Then gather all the loose ends together and wrap them around the base of the bun.

Use a few bobby pins to secure the hair underneath the bun.

See- the bun on the left is a bit fuller (plus her head is tipped funny) but that’s the side I ratted the hair, and it gave it a bit fuller look.

When we got to this point of picture taking, she decided she was no longer in the mood, and I have a bunch of pictures of her scowling — so just ignore all that, as well as her red little chin that she’s decided she needs to lick all the time & cause to chap!

After we got the buns done, I curled the ends of her hair, as well as the little bits of hair I’d left out up front. I sprayed those with a bit of hairspray first, to ensure they held the curl and stayed in “ringlet” form.

We almost forgot our little flowers like Kai-lan! They added just the right touch!

And finally a smile! She really liked her buns in the ends, and thought it was so much fun to tell everyone she had “socks” in her hair!