A Bead Tutorial

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We were in Target about a year ago and Selah saw a little girl with beads in her hair and absolutely fell in love. We ended up going over to the little girl and telling her how beautiful her beads were. Before we had even walked away, Selah said, “Mommy, you HAVE to get me beads in me hair like that beautiful wittle girl.”

If you’ve been around here for a while, you know caring for Selah’s hair has been a journey, one I’m honored to be on. So many people have asked me over the years, “How are you going to care for her hair?” And my response is always the same, “I’m going to learn.” Caring for her skin and hair, is me loving her well. And I’m going to do everything in my power to love this sweet girl well. Even though I’ve learned so much over the last four years, I still know I have much more to learn. But I’m happy with the progress. 

So shortly after that Target trip, we went to Hobby Lobby and got some beads. I had no idea what to get but she liked the color combination of the bag she picked out, and they beads were large enough I knew her hair would slide through them. We came home, washed her hair, and got to work. 

I’ll never forget the first time we tried beads. It was a whole family affair. We knew there had to be an easier way to put the beads on besides hand beading, so we did what any great parents do, we looked it up on YouTube. We found an amazing tutorial and Brandon gave it a go first and it worked!!! So he taught me and a few hours later, our girl was cheesing in the mirror at her “bead braids” as she likes to call them.

I promised you, I’d always share the tips I learned, so if your little girl wants “bead braids,” here you go…

When I put her hair in beads, I have to make the sections smaller, so I knew I wanted to do triangle parts and rope twists. You can read how to make triangle parts here in this tutorial and how to make rope twists here in this tutorial. 

So before I start, she picks out the colors of beads she wants to use, and I sort them by color. 

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There are several options of beaders you can purchase on Amazon or at a beauty supply store. We actually bought a beader and I honestly liked my old hair rubber band better. I just put the beads in the order she wanted like in the picture above. 

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Then when I got to the end of the twist and was ready to secure it with a rubber band, I took the rubber band with the beads and put the end of the twist in the top circle of the rubber band.

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Then I pushed all the beads up to the hair to make it tight so the twist wouldn’t unravel. 

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Then I pulled tightly on the bottom circle of the rubber band. When I did that, it pulls the end of the twist through the beads. 

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Just pull the rubber band tightly. It’s really important that you use small sections of hair to make the twists, or the hair on the end is too thick to pull through. 

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The beads get threaded onto the twist and then you’re ready to secure the beads with a rubber band. 

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Pull the last bead down at the end of the twist to where the bead is sitting horizontally, then secure with a rubber band at the top, above the last bead.

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And then you’re done!

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And your sweet girl will have “braid beads,” as Selah says. 

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She’s so precious after I finish. She swishes her hair around and all the beads clink together, it’s the sweetest! And she always wants us to tell her that her hair is long like Rapunzel’s. So of course we do.

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She is one of our greatest gifts and being her mama is my absolute favorite. 

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I glanced in the mirror the other night when I was putting her and Micah to bed and suddenly remembered that I didn’t grow them in my belly when I saw our reflection staring back at us. It might sound weird that I forget most days my children are adopted, but I do. Because to me they are just my children. I remembered our story all over again that night in that quick glance and was reminded how much I really like it. 

My belly never grew in their pregnancies, but my heart sure did. 

PS I get lots of questions about products I use for her hair. You can click here to shop products and my other favorite things! (Amazon affiliate links used)

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PPS If love makes your family too, or your children are heart grown, check out these new glass bead bracelets I have available in my Etsy shop! You can click here to purchase yours!