A braid with a twist

First, I have to show you all these darling bows. It is coordinating ribbon tied around a hair elastic. Pretty clever, right? Super easy to make.

I started by parting the hair off to the side & putting it into rubber band. This will go into the right side of the pony.

I LOVED to do this on her when she didn't very much hair & it was hard to keep her hair in a pony tail. It keeps all that under hair into the pony tail by the end of the day.

Part the hair down the middle, & pull the pig tail that you are not working on, out of the way. Part the side you are working on (the right in this case) & part it horizontally. I like to clip the top part up so it is out of my way. Smooth the lower part into a pony.
Add the lower part into the top to make a piggy tail. Do the same to the other side.

Braid the pony tail, but leave out a chunk of hair. After you have braided the hair, twist the chunk left out & twist it. Wrap it around the braid evenly until you are at the bottom.

This is what it should look like after you have wrapped the hair around the braid. Do it to the other side.

Front view

Back view: Add some cute bows to finish it off