☫ Hair Wraps with Ruby Francis ☫

Back at the beginning of December, I very half-heartedly tried this Russian-inspired hair tutorial.  As the overarching concept of Russian Dressing, I like to approach pretty much everything with a “Russian twist,” but I recently got some major help and inspiration from Ruby Francis Rags...literally-I learned how to do "twists"! 

In-house seamstress at Parsimonia and creator/owner of Ruby Francis Rags, Stephanie Larimer (read more about her here!) was kind enough to give my hair a makeover and make my Russian hair aspirations come true with the help of some adorable Ruby Francis Rags headbands!

The holidays may be over but #shoplocal never stops-found at Parsimonia, Scarlett Garnet, The Foundrie, and of course Etsy, Ruby Francis Rags are made from recycled fabrics and all products are handmade by Stephanie herself! Featuring clothing, headbands, hair clips, bow ties, necklaces, and earrings, the fabrics and designs are adorable, retro-looking, and made with hand-stitched love. I fell in love with this delicate red flower-stitched headband, which reminded me of Russian red currants, or Смородина (smorodina).

 In addition to doing my hair, Stephanie was generous enough to gift me another gorgeous geometric pattern. I am so excited to wear them both. My mom tagged along with me and even she couldn’t resist: she ended up buying an embroidered doily necklace (cough…that I will be borrowing). We were both also obsessed with the doily earrings.

Awesome styling, awesome accessorizing, and local St Louisan talent to perfect my desired Russian twists:

(Note about these pics: all are taken at Parsimonia Boutique, located on S. Grand Blvd of St Louis’s Tower Grove area. Following the Ferguson verdict, violence affected many storefronts on Grand Blvd, including Parsimonia and neighboring small businesses. One of the coolest things to see come out of the tragedy was the artwork people contributed to the boarded-up entrances to keep these businesses safe and afloat. It just goes to show the healing power of art.)

When I lived in Moscow in summer 2013, I noticed how popular this hairstyle was-I would see girls getting it done at “salon kiosks” in malls all the time! It’s a little hard to do on your own-you’ll definitely need a mirror-but with a stretchy headband, it’s not impossible.

Put the headband over your whole mane and take a small piece from the front under the headband and weave it in. You’re basically tucking in your hair incrementally under the headband until it’s “rolled.” Start with a small piece and continually add more and more hair to it. Eventually you will be tucking in a “bun.” This style involves no braiding and is much simpler than you would imagine! Check it out in high speed:

xo ♡ SFB