Hmmmmmm. Monkey bread. Sweet sticky Mid-western indulgence. Show of hands if you feel me.
The beautiful union of dough and butter and sugar in a sticky pile of yum. Then, a dessert enduced coma while the food baby rests in your belly, requiring all your bodies energy and attention to identify and properly dispose of its aftermath.
My aunt Becky used to make Monkey bread like this…….Take a bread pan, fill it with torn apart Pillsbury cinnamon roll dough. Pour over it a PINT OF MELTED VANILLA ICE CREAM. Add butter chunks. Bake.
That recipe is up there with Grandma Ila’s legendary Mac and o’s with Zip sauce. (box of Mac n Cheese. Can of spaghetti O’s. Mayonnaise. Ketchup. That, my friends is a bowl of Midwest heaven.
For DIY hair Friday, I give you Monkey braid buns, Inspired by Midwest Monkey bread.
It looks like monkey bread in all the right ways. And, to achieve the deconstructed and rough-edged effect of the braids, you must pull them apart like monkey bread dough.
That’s right…..Each braid must be pulled and pulled and pulled from either side with the perfect amount of force and grace. Start at the bottom of each braid, and hold either side of the braid by the edge, between pointer and thumb. Pull the braid to widen. Work your way up the braid. Now start back at the bottom and repeat. Do this with each braid until they are nice and rough and flat and wide. This, my dears, is the key to a good lookin’ modern day braid.
Coming at you straight from the OCF this year, I created this intriguing look for Nikki J. I give you……
Monkey Braid Buns!
This hairstyle can be done oh hair of any texture that is shoulder length or longer. No get the proper amount of roughness to the buns, you will want to either use honey spray or sea spray to add grit to the hair. If you are a ShamPHree woman, you are fine without:)
Here is how to get the look.
Start by making diagonal partings across the back of the head from the front of the right side to the nape of the left side. Make 4-6 sections, and do a free braid in each section. Secure the ends with clear elastics.
Wind each braid into a loose nest-bun.
Pin each bun securely and discreetly.
I like this hairstyle to be offset to one side. What can I say. I am a misplaced flower child from the Art Nouveau era in Paris.
I really think that I was there in a past life. There, and also roaming the Midwest plains of America in a band of Comanche warriors.
That’s that!
P.s. Yes, Nikki’s earrings are her own design and you can buy them if you want.
XO, HTHG
