Hair Design 1 (1st Practice)
Step by step:
1. Use a tail comb to neatly section off the back of her hair, starting from about an inch behind each ear and creating a point at the top.
2. Create a dutch braid all the way down the back section, keeping it as tight and close to the head as possible. Continue this plait into a normal plait at the bottom and secure with a clear elastic.
3. Section the front section of hair into five equal sections. Start from the top to make sure it is perfectly central and then work your way down. Put these in small buns to keep the hair out of the way when working on other sections.
4. French plait the hair on the outer sections going towards the ear, leaving sections out towards the face on every other fold of the hair, like a waterfall braid.
5. After doing french waterfall braids on both the end sections, french plait the next section in. When the french plait ends do a waterfall plait with the hair going to the left, but also take the hair from the waterfall braid next to it into the plait to create a caged effect.
6. Do a french plait down the middle section and then when you start to the plait the hair normally, take the waterfall sections of the hair every time you take the hair over to plait it.
Reflection
- I need to buy more small, clear elastics as my model's hair is fair and I ran out and had to use coloured ones.
- There were a lot of fly aways so use a smoothing product on the hair before plaiting to give a clean, slick look.
- I found it easier when the model tilted her head forwards when doing the french plaits so will remember to ask for this.
- The dutch braid at the back is slightly wonky so I will practice making this as straight as possible.
- Keep each section taken out of the braid as even as possible to create a neat caged look. Make sure the french plait is as flat to the head as possible and each section leads into the plait neatly.
- The plait down the centre of the face is slightly wonky which makes the hair look messy and uneven, so I will make sure I make this as straight as I can next time.
- Put extra product on the caged hair to make then look as slick and neat as possible and to allow more control.
- Make sure all the plaits are as tight as possible so there is little lift in the hair.
- Make each section even and sharp for a striking look.
- Lottie suggested I had an assistant to collect the sections from the waterfall braids as it would be too complicated for me or my model to do this. I will ask a Hair and Makeup student to assist me with this.
- I was struggling to make the french plaits flat against the head and I was experiencing a lot of lifting. Lottie said this was because I wasn't taking sections of the hair directly next to the plait, meaning the hair was having to be pulled too far downwards to connect to the plait. Lottie suggested I take each section of hair over and then add the hair afterwards so I can keep the hair taught and have more control over which sections of hair to add.
- You can see clearly in my finished look that both sides are not even. On the left side, when I first did the waterfall plait, I plaited the hair over the centre of the model's eye as I was focusing more on the technique. I don't like how this turned out as I think the side cage is too big compared to the small central one and I want the model's eye to be visible. On the other side I made sure I pulled the braid to the side before plaiting it to make it skim past the edge of the model's eye. I think this looks much neater and the strands of hair between each plait is more even.
- I didn't make the strands of hair tight enough between each plait on the left side which made them sag and look messy. However I pulled them tighter on the other side to hold the plaits in place to create straighter lines.
- The cage looks uneven because I didn't take enough pieces from the waterfall plaits on both sides and so they stop before the chin ends. I need to make sure I take out enough strands of hair to go all the way down the face.
- I think I could have started the caged effect further up the face because the cage looks uneven with there being a gap at the top, right of her face. I will therefore take hair from the side plaits higher up to create a consistent caged effect all the way down her face.
Hair Design 1 (2nd Practice)
I used product on the hair before I did this dutch braid which definitely helped to reduce the amount of fly aways, making it look neater; however the braid looks very wonky. This is definitely something I am going to have to work on before the shoot as I want it as straight as possible to reflect the restricting cage. I also need to make sure the sections of hair I am adding into the braid are even and straight.
Most of the sections are straight and neat, but I can still work on making them even more perfect by taking more time and precision. The sectioning is very visible in the final outcome so making these neat is vital in giving the caged look a sharp and powerful look.
The french plaits were still not tight or flat enough to the head even though I did use product. I tested using Lottie's technique when french plaiting the hair; however I found it more time consuming and difficult to use, so I will continue to use my original technique, but focusing on making it as tight as possible. I started to turn the side french plaits towards the face as I knew the plait would bend that way; however I need to make sure I keep all the french plaits perfectly straight and only turn the plaits when they are lifted from the face.
I used product on the strands of hair and they look so much more defined and neat than before, giving a crisper caged look. My model's hair is more silky and healthy than this doll head's so I hope the strands will look more slick and neat, without as much fuzz. Each strand is not perfectly even so I will have to practice with my hair styling assistant to get them as even as possibly.
The side plaits are even on both sides and skim the sides of the eyebrows to make the cage look even. The strands of hair between each plait could still be pulled slightly tighter to make them more straight and I think even more product could be used to eliminate any fly aways. I included more strands of hair from each waterfall braid so they finish at her chin, completing the caged effect. I also started the waterfall slightly higher so there were no gaps at the top of her hair, giving an even and completed look. I tucked the dutch braid under into a small bun at the back to continue the rounded caged look.
I am concerned with how to secure the caged hair at the front, as there are five plaits that are dangling. In the images above I have taken the excess hair bands out, split the hair down the middle and then tucked it underneath the outside plaits. This hides the excess hair; however it doesn't seem very secure and would therefore limit her movement. If I were to use this option, I would need to come up with a more secure way of tucking the hair, e.g. with hair grips. Another option would be to use either gel or eyelash glue to stick the hair around her neck, like a choker, reflecting how she feels strangled by society's discrimination and hate. I could talk to my stylist about this to see if we can come up with an idea to cover the excess hair, either with a neck piece of high neckline.
I am also concerned with the colour of my model's hair as it is very fair so may not show up as strongly against her pale skin. If the caged effect doesn't translate as well with her fair hair I could spray the finished hair design with dark coloured spray, whilst sliding something under to cover hair face, to make her hair contrast more against the pale skin. I could also do the opposite and paint the face darker so the lighter hair shows up. I will need to see this in person before making any decisions so I will book my model in to test this hair design on her next week.
Hair Design 2
I had never incorporated fake hair with natural hair before so I worked with Lottie in stages to create this look. I bought two strips of long hair extensions, one curly and one straight, as I wasn't sure which would be more suitable; however I ended up combining the two to give the hair the most volume.
Step by step:
1. I pinned the two strips of hair extensions onto a model head to keep the hair steady whilst I plaited it.
I experimented with the white leather to see how many strips I wanted and how thick they should be. I think the leather in the left image is too thick as it covers most of the natural hair and looks messy. I positioned the leather on top of the hair extensions which meant the leather was only visible from the top layer; however I wanted the leather to be more randomly positioned. I cut the leather into smaller sections, right, and I much prefer the more even amount of leather and hair visible; however I still think it looks too structured. In my chosen design I placed the strip of leather in the middle of the two extensions so they were more entwined and the leather was visible at random points.
2. Cut a strip of leather the same width and length as the hair extensions, put it in between the two hair extension layers and cut it into about 10 thin strips. (When finalised this will be sewn together).
3. Separate the hair and leather into three sections, plait normally and secure with a clear elastic.
4. Section the hair into three sections down the back of the head and create small buns.
6. Add some padding under the plait to give it some height.
7. Hide the padding with the hair by stretching it over and securing it under with small hair grips. Pull the hair around to completely cover the padding and give it a neat but textured shape.
Reflection
It was difficult to imagine the outcome on my model as the doll's hair is so dark; however I was able to see the shape and learn the positioning and steps to achieve my desired outcome. I was happy with the outcome; however there were many aspects I would like to improve on for next time. The points for improvement are listed below:
- The ends of the leather sometimes poked out and didn't follow the hair's curve, making it look messy, so I will either pins then down into the hair or cut them off completely from the end of the plait.
- The mohawk is slightly off centre so I need to make sure I focus on this to make it looks as strong and neat as possible.
- The fake hair is extremely silky, making it difficult to style and hold its position, so next time I will spray some dry shampoo into the real and fake hair to give it more texture; this will hold better and allow me to achieve a messier, more edgy look.
- I will experiment with leaving sections of the model's real hair out on either side of the fake hair to disguise the joining and, if back combed, will give it a more messy, textured look.
- The colour of the fake hair is very similar to my model's natural hair colour so hopefully it will blend in seamlessly; however I will experiment with using white hairspray in my next practice. I want the whole styling, makeup and hair to have a strong silhouette, but still look very pure and innocent, so I want to continue the white theme to her hair to add an angelic, ethereal feel.
- I am concerned when the model moves her head or gets hit with powder paint the hair won't be strong enough to stay in place. I will need to test this out when I practice this hair look on my model, making sure I use lots of hair grips to give it a sturdy foundation.
- The bun at the back will need to be moved up as it is still visible and so distorts the curved shape of the plaited hair piece. I will move all the buns up slightly to give the hair piece some lift and I may experiment with securing the padding onto the buns before laying the hair over the top to make it more secure.
I noticed when I first started working with Lottie I would ask her for help at every stage and if something didn't look right I would automatically ask for her opinion; however as the day went on and I began to feel more confident I would ask myself those questions to try and solve the problems myself. This improved my independent learning as I was able to take a step back to look at my work to work out how to improve it. I will practice these hairstyles on my model next week.
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