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If you have short hair but want to dress it up for a special occasion, there are a few useful tricks you can employ to change your look from your everyday style. Depending on the situation, you may want a decorated look with barrettes and other accessories, or you may prefer a simulated "up-do" that is simple and elegant. I will begin by introducing some useful tools and accessories, and then outline a few strategies for dressing up short hair, highlighting how these can be enhanced with more decorated accessories. These techniques are also extremely helpful in dealing with awkward lengths in the transition time when growing short hair out.

ACCESSORIES:

Mini Clips - The most versatile accessories for short hair are the mini-clips. My dad used to refer to these devices as hair-bugs; mini-clips are about the size of a small marble, and have little teeth that can grip and hold short hair in a variety of ways. They come in tons of colors, as well as clear or black for the most formal situations. Sometimes they have little decorations attached, or they can be shaped like flowers and butterflies.

Bobby Pins - Or Robert Pins as my dad used to say, hee hee. Bobby pins are old fashioned, and can be either very plain or shiny and decorated. The decorated versions come in two varieties, one with a bauble at the end where the rest of the pin is intended to stick into the hair, and the other with decorations all along hte pin. They can be used to pin back the bangs, or hold the sides of a short hairdo up in pretty sweep that invokes the lines of a true long-haired updo. They can be a little unstable in short hair, so plan to redo them quickly once or twice in an evening. For very thin or fine hair, pins may not stay well. If pins do not stay in your hair, do not use them, it''s very distracting to have to redo the hairstyle every few minutes.

Barrettes - Barrettes come in a variety of styles. They can be used in similar applications as bobby pins, but they are a little more stable. For short hair it's best to pick barrettes that are not very heavy, so that they don't start slipping and sagging. My favorite variety are the type that bend inside out to open and then flip to hold the hair tight. Another variety has a bowed spring under the clip to create tension on the hair. These protrude a little more from the side of the head. It is best to steer clear of the snap-tight barrettes with a gap in the middle, because either there's too much hair and they bend when you close them,

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