Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Under the weather

You know I've been sick when Elise's hair fails to sport a grosgrain bow! I wanted to take a moment to answer some of the questions regarding her hair bow "collection" for those of you who asked.

Do you make her bows?
Nope. I told you I'm not crafty! However, this website has great photo tutorials on hair bows.
I blame Amy of Momadvice for getting me hooked. After our Iron Chef Mom Challenge, she sent me one of her beautiful bows. It held back Elise's straggly forelock so well, I ordered several for $18. (This splurge was actually more than I spent on her clothing for the entire season.)

How do you get a bow to stay in her hair?
Elise likes to pull them out and laugh. We have lost several that way. Otherwise, I prefer the bows with the metal clips for her thin hair. The French barrette style doesn't hold yet. Several of ours are lined with velvet ribbon or a non-slip material for traction.

When the alternative is cutting bangs, I'd rather fool with bows!

Aren't you worried about using a secondhand hair bow?
Since Amy's bows have been dropped in grocery stores all over town, I picked up two lots of assorted bows for 99 cents/bag at a thrift store. I kept the Ziploc bags in my hot car trunk through July. Dr. Sears says that 10 days isolation is sufficient to kill anything that might worry you.

Now it's your turn! Several of her favorite bows have gotten grimy. I've used the Tide Pen and handwashed others, but my mother claims that washing ruins the ribbon's sizing. How do you launder hair bows?

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sorry, ours get lost before they get dirty.... I also avoid white... :-) Thanks for your blog! It helps we keep up a happy attitude and content spirit each time I read it!
Lana C. :-)

Amy said...

Aw, thank you for the link and I am so sorry to have gotten you hooked on hair bows ;) I am supposed to be a supportive thrifty friend- not get you addicted to things :) Since I had Emily, I think all little girls need a hair bow and she looks so strange to me without one.

As for washing, I don't think it would hurt to handwash it in a little Woolite and let it air dry. I had never thought about it changing shape or anything. If you want to stiffen it up though after you wash it, you can stick balled up tissue paper in between the loops and then spray it really well with a heavy duty spray starch. Let it air dry overnight and it will have its shape right back!!

Hope everyone gets to feeling better!!!

Sarah E. said...

For the ones I have bought at Walmart with the clips but aren't lined, I take one of those tiny rubberbands used to make the pony tails and I wrap it around open part of the clip. It helps grip that tiny toddler hair.

Get better quick!

Anonymous said...

I have a friend that makes hairbows and she glues tiny strips of non slip rug padding onto the clip. Of course, that doesn't stop my 2 year old from pulling the bows out but it does prevent them from just falling out.
Love, love, love Elise's hair!!!
Elise

Kendra Fletcher said...

I've not had a problem throwing ours into a lingerie bag and laundering them that way. We use Charlie's Soap so it's gentle; perhaps that helps. The ribbon tends to fray a bit but that's solved by trimming a clean edge with sewing shears.

Oh, oh... and I line dry them. I'm sure that reduces wear and tear.

thisisbeth said...

I believe all my childhood hair bows were washed by hands with little adverse affect. (My hair has never been cut, so I had lots of cute hair things. None of 'em would stay in my hair long, though!)

Anna said...

Man, she's cute. Two of my daughters have had what we call "haystacks" for their toddler hair, so we're all about scraggle. Bows are handy indeed.

Anonymous said...

To help with fraying after washing a commercially made bow, run a flame near (but not touching) the edge. Grosgrain ribbon is chemically treated and the heat will react with the chemical to seal the edge.

Virtually all hand made bows will have this already done (or will have been treated with fray check).

Laura said...

I have girls too and they have always worn bows - from the day they were born.

I have always just washed mine by hand with a little liquid dish soap. It seems to be gentle enough, cuts through the dirt well, rinses out easily, and doesn't cause problems with the form or stiffness of the bow.

I just wet it, rub a little soap in, scrub it with my fingers, rinse, and squeeze it (mostly) dry in a hand towel. Done! Quick and easy - which is a good thing since I usually notice the need as we're on our way out the door! :)

Anonymous said...

I was wondering if all these ideas work for ribbons as well? I almost always wear a ribbon in my hair, and some have gotten quite dirty from being stuffed in purses and such.

thisisbeth said...

It occurred to me that grosgrain bows will probably hold their shape. If you have more satin-y ribbons, then the sizing issue might come into play.

Elizabeth Sue said...

It has been a few years since I was in nursing school. But I do remember my teacher for peadiatric nursing telling us that putting items in a black bag (trash bag) for two weeks (keeping it sealed) will kill lice & eggs. Pebbles is a little younger than Elsie and she also pulls the bow out of her hair. Only she sticks them in her mouth...I normally just forget and put them back with the others. (Bad Mommy!)

Tonya said...

I drop my daughter's white bows in a bowl of hot water and powdered Oxy-clean. It works wonders with no scrubbing:).