Hairstyle ideas for below-shoulder length hair?

My middle daughter has long hair. Her favorite hairstyle is a low ponytail with an elastic headband to hold strays back. I also do the half pony tail on top, braid it and gather it up with the rest of her hair in a low ponytail. I used to do two small pigtails, braid them, and join in the back of the head with a rubberband. I need to start doing her hair regularly again, it was cut short for awhile and I got out of the habit. There are some good hairdo blogs out there as well, that show picture and video tutorials.

You could try wrapping it into a simple bun at the nape of her neck and securing with some sort of big fun claw clip or a bun-cover. Those are pretty and kind of unusual.

French braids are gorgeous on everybody and a whole lot easier to do than people think. Try looking on YouTube for how-to videos. Once you master that, you could even do things like braid ribbons into her hair.

For a really wild, fun look for a 9-year-old, you could also try braiding her hair in several small braids at night after her bath, then taking them out in the morning - she'll have frizzy, crimped hair that floats all over the place. You can pull some of it back with clips or combs, and leave the rest floating. IME, kids think this is really fun.

If you have a few extra minutes and a curling iron, a few corkscrew curls at the bottom few inches of her hair are a nice special-occasion treat too.

there are a zillion kinds of braids, too! French braids, the inside out french braid (yk, where the braid sits on top instead of going in like a french braid). It might be called a fishbone braid....Get a nice braid book!

go to claire's and check out all their clips and style aids. ask the lady for suggestions.

here is a web site I found with lots of styles and tips http://www.princesshairstyles.com/

Lilyka thank you for posting that link. Now I can't wait for my kid to get home so I can try some of those braids out. She doesn't know what she's in for.

Two pigtails at the top or bottom of the head, then each pigtail turned into a little mini bun. You can also just catch the bottom of each pigtail in the elastic, leaving a loop of hair on one side and a tuft of the ends on the other.

Headbands, the soft fabric kind that go all the way around the head. Bandanas. Some funky braids.

There was a book that American Girl put out about hairstyles for dolls, that my dd got one year. We used that as a take off for some longer hair styles! There may be a regular book in that series for girls, not dolls, too!

I've had hair just like that for most of my life and I always hate it in my face, so I usually kept it pulled back somehow.
I like pulling the top back like you mentioned, but clipping it with pretty barrettes. I also like pulling top back, but doing each side separately...either with little ponytail holders or with barrettes or those little butterfly clip things. My default is usually a messy bun or braids though. I've always liked the idea of headbands but I've never found any that don't result in a headache.

the headbands posted up thread are great and don't result in headaches. It is a stretchy elastic with little rubber grippy knobs on it. it doesn't slip and its not too tight.

My dd's hair is about that length, and I like to do a flip. Do either a half or full ponytail, secure with a hair tie as usual, then pull the hair tie a little loose, divide the hair in front of the tie in half, flip the tie up over that section and pull it through. It's a very cute and easy update to plain ponys.