Bridal hair practice

Brief: 

 

I was inspired by hairstyles like these. I think waterfall braid are beautiful, and provided a good way for me to incorporate and practice different plaits. To take it further, I decided to do a waterfall fishtail plait, although found this quite challenging. I like the look of a backcombed piece at the crown of the hair, and thought the long blonde curls looked very elegant and bridal.

 I started by back combing sections at the crown of the head and laying them back to create a raised, voluminous section. http://www.deerpearlflowers.com/

 I then created a waterfall fishtail plait around one side of the head, pulling parts to create a looser, messy effect.

 I did the same on the other side, although struggled with how much thinner the plait turned out this time. 

 I pinned both plaits into place at the back of the head below the backcombed section, covering the grips from before. I then fishtail braided the two plaits together.

 

Finally I curled all of the hair that was left down, including the fringe. 

I found this task quite challenging and stressful. I think my plan was quite difficult to start with, however I didn't really consider my model's hair type before I started. To avoid the hair looking thin or uneven in the plaits, next time I would add some false hair to thicken the braids. I will need to practice my technique a lot, as both plaits took two or three attempts; and maybe simplify my design, to perhaps a normal fishtail braid instead of a waterfall one. When curling the hair I found it hard to juggle the hair, tongs, combs and grips all at once while remaining safe while I worked. Despite these issues, after some help from my teacher, I feel my curling skills improved, and I feel happier about the finished look. 

Elizabethan hair practice

Inspiration: 

I find myself repeatedly referring to this image of Queen Elizabeth as I like the relaxed tendrils down the sides. Although much of it is hidden with the headdress and collar, it looks as though most of her hair is pinned at the back.

Plan: A plaited bun at the back; front sections backcombed and styled to create a heart shape, cover with crimped layer; curled tendrils hanging below bun down neck.

Finished look: 

Further photos:

I am quite pleased with how the hairstyle turned out and feel it is quite an Elizabethan look. I enjoyed doing it and managed to stick to my plan well. I found it difficult to work with such soft hair, so in future I would need to use dry shampoo or another product to give it some grip and texture. Also, I feel that given a bit of extra time and effort I could have made the hair look neater and more symmetrical. Also, I need to practice being able to hide hair pins!

Curls and frizz

Elizabethan hair was often crimped, or styled in tight curls which would have been created using a thin hot tong, much like today. Sometimes the crimps were very fine and frizzy, other times they were styled in a larger wave. 
The first picture shows a clear heart-shaped hair style, helped by the addition of a jewel in the centre of the hairline to create a widow's peak effect. While the hair on her head appears frizzy, the tendrils left down either side of Elizabeth's neck are not so much frizzy, as bumpy. 
In the second portrait the hair appears to have been tightly curled, rather than crimped. Again, the jewel in the centre of the forehead gives a heart-shaped effect, but the hair is mostly rounded. 
The third picture  has a much more round-shaped hair style, and the tight curls appear to have been brushed out slightly to make them slightly more frizzy; a mixture of the two. 

I had a look at modern examples of curls and frizz, finding variation through how they are brushed out or left in defined zigzags, or styled much more naturally.

Here is some practice I did in class. Using a fine pin, I wove a section of hair around the two lengths of the pin in a figure-of-eight style, secured the end with a bobby pin and then clamped the hair with hair straighteners for a few seconds. Once cooled, i removed the pins and was left with a larger, zigzag wave, perfect for tendrils like in some portraits of Queen Elizabeth. I tried brushing out these waves and was left with a much frizzier effect, which would be good for covering padded hair to create a generally frizzy, curled or textured look. 
I styled two larger sections just behind the hairline into a heart shape, by crimping the hair, brushing it out to create volume, and then twisting the hair up into rolls and securing with pins.

Technical hair lesson 3 notes

Crimping - creates instant volume and texture, makes hair mouldable 

• Take small sections of the hair and press between crimper, then release and move down length of the hair repeating
• Repeat all over head
• Brush out to stop hair sitting in separate sections and release volume

Backcombing - adds volume and makes hair mouldable

• Take small section of hair and place pintail comb near root on side that will not be visible once hair is moulded
• Gently pull hair towards root, repeating further up the length of hair if more volume is required
• Repeat with further sections of hair
• Hair can then be pushed over and gripped into shapes

Hair rats - adds a more solid structure and volume, requires less hair to be used up to make a shape

• Stuff a section of tights (match tights to hair colour) with couch roll/wadding/backcombed hair
• Method 1: place the rat at the end of a section of hair an roll it towards the scalp, then pin into place and arrange hair to cover and visible parts of rat showing through
• Method to: make a small plait beneath the section of hair that will be covering the rat as an anchor. Pin the rat to the anchor, then cover with the section of hair. Loose ends can be tucked under the rat with a pintail comb. Pin into place. 

(rat rolled into hair)

                (rat pinned to plait) 

(rat secured with anchor) 

Evaluation:
I thoroughly enjoyed this technical session as I have not tried crimping before, nor have I used hair rats. I liked how much volume was created, and felt like I learnt a lot of techniques that could be used in Elizabethan hairstyles. 

Elizabethan hair and modern similarities

Hairstyles that are most recognised as being 'Elizabethan' tended to have volume, shape and texture. The frizz or curls would be moulded with wire and padding into rounded or heart-shaped styles, and then decorated with jewels, pearls, chains, hats, feathers, lace, veils, and more.
Typically, wealthy people would wear these styles, possibly because of how long they would take to create, and their durability would be improved compared to on a working class girl.

Here are some modern images that I felt inspired by, which had similarities with Elizabethan styles, due to the volume, heart shapes, colour, plaits and adornments. 

In class I experimented with plaiting, and I tried to do a french plait that spiralled from along the hairline into the middle of each side of the head. I quite liked how this made a subtle heart shaped out of the hair, in theme with Elizabethan styles. I left some hair at the nape of the neck as tendrils that I could curl or crimp, like in some Elizabethan portraits. I like this practiced piece, however my technique would need to be polished and the finished work neatened. I could add adornments such a ribbon woven through the plait.