Review of Hair since September

I have enjoyed The New Elizabethan hair project we have been doing since we started in September. I found the historical element vey interesting as I had never really given much  thought to the history of hair and hair styling, and learnt some fascinating facts. I have particularly enjoyed creating styles using back combing and techniques crimping to give the hair volume, and enjoyed designing my own design and watching someone else carry out the practical assessment, as I feel this has helped me develope my skills as a designer and helped improve my communication skills.
I found learning french platts very frustrating at frst just because I found the tecnique very fiddly but having practiced alot I feel I have improved both in keeping the braids flat to the head and making them more even and neat.
I found time keeping much easier in the hair practical sessions than in the make up lessons, I thik this may due to the fact that I have much more passion creating hair styles and find it easier to concentrate.
One thing I definiteley need to improve on which I have touched on earlier in my blog is that I need to update my hair blog on a more regular basis and create a balance between the two subjects.. I also as wih the make up need to start referencing my sources using the Harvard method which I will be applying to all my future posts.

Anna's Timed Assessment, My Design

These are the photos taken of my design done on my hair by Anna for her timed asessment. I am really pleased with the way the hairstyle turned out for the assessment and I think Anna did a really good job, especially as the pearls were very heavy and this made them difficult to attach to the hair at the back and keep them in place and hidden. I think Anna has managed to keep the style very neat and it felt very secure when I was moving around.

MyTimed Assessment, Anna's Design

More pictures for my technical file

As with my make up blog I have had to upload any missing pictures for y technical file due to my email not working, I cant email the images to myself to print so I have uploaded them to here to save to my laptop and print from there. All though It will be useful to have them on my blog to show some more of the practice we have done throughout the semester.

 

 

 

The last practice of Annas hair design before my timed assessment

 



 

Half way through my first attempt at Annas hair design

 

One of my first french braids

 

Fishtail platt on my dolls head

This is the point when I finally got the technique for french braiding

 

Practicing buns

An Important post I forgot!!

This post is probably the most important one in demostrating how I came up with my final design for my hair look!! these are the two chosen images I  have decided to use and I have taken elements from each one to come up with my own creation, a blend of the two with and extra modern twist.
The first Picture is this old Elizabethan portrait of the Queen herself, with a typical Elizabethan Heart shape hairstyle. I also like the lace which is pictured running from one end of the heart to the other along the top line.

 

 

The second image I am going to use is this image of the singer Rhianna. I chose this picture because I like the way her hair colour is very Elizabethan as Queen Elizabeth the I was famously a redhead. This style is very Elizabethan with the long plat running from the top of her head around and down into one single wide plat which rests on her shoulders.

 



 

 

 

My design incorporates both a heart shape and a plat. The plat stars from just above the ar on one side and runs around the hairling all the way back to where it started with a wonky lop sided heart shape resting to one side of the head. I deliberately positioned the herat to one side to give the hair an un-symetrical look which give the style a more contemporary feel. True Elizabethan hairstyles were often symmetrical and I wated to break away fom this and create something slightly different. placed between the french plat and the heart will run a double a string of blue pearls which gives the effect of a modern day hairband, i chose to do this because Queen Eizabeth was known to be a big fan of pears and they give the style a traditional Elizabethan look whilst at the same time being blue gives them a contemporary edge. However to bring the style back to the modern day once again the plat wil be painted using Aqua colour, Pink, Purple and gold. I chose bright Barbie like pink because it is not  a colour that is associated with Elizabethan fashion, and the Purple to represent regality.

sketches of my hair designs

Annas practice of my design

Today in our Practical session Anna my partner for our timed assessments practiced my hair design on me. I think the practice went very well, Anna managed to finish the design on time and it looked pretty good, although the french braid could have been a little neater. However as it was a bit of a rushed practice Im sure Anna will be able to do this with no problems in the final assessment. I have decided to make some of my ow padding for the fnal assessment to ensurethe heart shape has a lot of volume and sits in the right shape on the head. I will also be  covering the padding with some hair extensions the same colour as my hair to keep them well hidden. Unfrtuneately I do not have any images of this practice session due to my phone breaking, I will ensure to take plenty in future sessions.

Practice, practice, practice

Yay, finally updating my hair blog!! Seems I've been paying more attention to my make up blog as of late which is a shame as I think being a hairstylist is a career I'd definitly like to persue. This being said I am going to make much more effort to keep an even balance between the two subjects and update my hair blog on a more regular basis. To start with today these are some of the practice "New Elizabethan" styles from our practical lessons and my final choice of style for my timed assessment in a few weeks.

This first style was created using curling tongs to form small curls to the width of the tong which sat neatly on their base, allowing them to be pinned into place to cool. We created curls firstly in an upward direction and then in a downward direction alternatley, starting from the side of the head at the hairline just in from of the ear, continuing this pattern of alternate curls up the head to the centre where we kept a straight centre parting as this is authentically Elizabethan.

this second style I designed after practicing the heart shape style in a previous lesson using to pieces of padding. The heart shape was a popular style throughout th Elizabethan era and I personally used it in this design as I consider it to be one of the more glamourous Elizabethan styles. I added two french plats down through the middle of each raised side to add some extra detail. As mentioned before the Elizabethans were great fans of the centre parting, however I managed to get a little carried away trying to make the french braids as neat as posible which trew the parting off centre.

This style was produced using curling tongs, a single piece of padding for volme in the centre of the head and french plats for decoration. Although this style was fun to create I do not think the end result looked very Elizabethan

This heart shape style was created using two quite large pieces of padding and a crimper to add volume to the hair and unlike my previous attempts at styling this was the first time I worked using a live model. In some ways I found it much easier to style the hair on a actual person rather than my dolls head, due to the fact that the hair was in much better condition and the length of the hair was consistent throughout the head. However at the same time I found there were also a few draw backs to using a real model, firstly because I was nervous about hurting the client I was much more gentle in styling the hair which meant I was not able to gain the same tension when pulling the hair into shape which resulted in the style being less tidy than the previous attempts usin my dolls head. I was also alot more aware of the effect of heat damange on the models hair so used applied the heated tools for a shorter period of time which mae the crimp limper and did not provide as much volume.

This is my first attempt at the final design I have chosen for my timed assessment. I have incorporated Techniques which were popular during the Elizabethan era but used them in such a wasy that gives th overall style a subtle modern twist. the hairstyle consists of a french plat fstarting at one side of the head over the top front section of hair following the hairline down to just below the ear on the opposite side, with a heart shape created using padding sitting sort of lopsided to the top left of the head. I deliberatley positioned the heart shape to one side and the plat to follow the hair line to break the rules of Elizabethan centre partings and give the style a more contemprary feel. The back section of the hair which is left over will be sectioned down the middle and pinned to either side of the head and curled to hang loose over the shoulders.

Contemporary Elizabethan inspired hairstyles

So I have been doing some research into contemporary hairstyles that have used techniques or accessories which give them an Elizabethan look. Here are some of the images I found.

This first image here is of an extremely elegant special occasion or maybe even bridal like hairstyle. Although in this design there have been no curls or plats used, it was the pearls and net like overlay of hair which reminded me of some of the Elizabethan styles we discussed in class. In Elizabethan times pearls were thought to represent purity and wealth, in todays society although synthetic pearls are common in high street fashion jewelry, real pearls are not cheap to purchase, therefore I think they give this hairstyle a touch of class and elegance suitable for a special occasion, particulary suitable for a wedding.

http://pixgood.com/elizabethan-era-hairstyles-for-men.html

This second image is a fantasic contemporary look with an Elizabethan twist. The hair raised in two sections on each side of the head is a common style found in many Elizabethan portraits and works well in this modern adaptation, the use of plats also give the style a destinctively Elizabethan feel.

http://www.pinterest.com/georgiafmorris/contemporary-elizabethan/

Elizabethan Society

In Elizabethan Society as in todays society, but to a greater degree, there was a definite divide between the so called upper and lower classes. Unlike todays society the class in which you were born was the class in which you would remain for the duration of your life, poor people were extremly poor and recieved no education and therefore had no knowledge of how to better their lives.
the wealthy upper classes however by contrast lived extremly extravagant lifestyles these were the Elizabethans that could afford to follow fashion trends, whereas some peasants could barely afford to survive let alone worry about their appearnce.
http://walternelson.com/dr/Elizabethan-peasantry

Introduction to Elizabethan hair

This blog is going to be based on the research I have done into the Hair styling and Hair fashion of the Elizabethan era. During our First Practical and therory lessons this year we examined pictures of Elizabethan women to determine the different types of hairstyles and headwear which were popular during Queen Elizabeths reign. Here are some of the images we looked at.

The first image is of a young Elizabeth, in this picture she is wearing what is known as an french hood, a type of headscarf, popular fashion for women during Elizabethan times.

This Second image is of Elizabeth later on during her reign as the Queen of England. in This picture Elizabeth appears to be wearing an elaborately styled wig. this wig contains two raised areas of curled hair one on each side of the head. The style of wearing hair in this particular shape was extremely popular during the Elizabethan era. Wigs were hugely popular in during the Elizabethan era, partly because women desired to have golden hair and would use products to lighten the hair which unfortunatley damaged their natural hair, causing thinning and hairloss. Not only this, but Elizabeth suffered from a bout of Smallpox during her late 20's which caused her to lose a substantial amount of hair (Alopecia) so she favoured wigs to wide her baldness.

In this shows and Elizabethan woman who is wearing what is known as a "pill box hat" a popular style of hat during Queen Elizabeths reign.

other hairstyles which we found were very common in Elizabthan times included:

• Attifets: a type of head dress similar to a french hood with an M shape at the front where the headdres meets the hairline.
• Coif: a type of bonnet
• Thread to hold hair in place: Elizabethan women would often platt their hair elboratley and then attach it to the hair on the head by sewing it with thread to create interesting styles.
• Centre partings
• High foreheads: which were thought to represent intellignce and nobility
• Pearls were often used to decorate hair hairstyles and represented wealth and purity.
• Plats were extremely trendy during the Elizabethan era, wether worn as long hanging fishtail plats or french platted and sewn up to create an intricate hair up style.

http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-hair-styles.htm

http://chertseymuseum.org/hair