I practiced the two more advanced hairstyles, I had previously practiced on a model head with Lottie, on my film model. I was concerned with the length of her hair for the caged hair look and the colour match for the hair piece.
Hairstyle 1
In my previous practice I pulled all the hair into three buns; however this time I left the front section out so I could back comb and style it separately. I used gel in the model's hair to make it look more slick and neat. I noticed the back bun sagged slightly so I will ask the model to tilt her head backwards when tying the back section so it is taught when her head is straight. I do not like how there is a clear line of scalp showing between the first and second bun because it makes the hair look disjointed and messy; this was not as obvious in my previous practice. I will therefore only create two buns to go under the padding and make sure the hair on the sides looks more uniform and seamless. I am concerned only having two buns under the padding will not be sufficient support to hold the hair piece up evenly so I will have to experiment. I could also bring each bun forwards towards the parting so the hair is pulled up in the same direction; again I will have to experiment with this.
In my previous practice I noticed the hair piece was extremely glossy, making it more difficult to style and shape, so I sprayed it generously with dry shampoo to give it a dryer, more manageable texture.
I decided to secure the padding onto the model's hair before applying the hair piece to give a more even structure and to make the whole style more secure. In my previous practice I applied the hair piece first and then added padding where I felt necessary; however this was meant it wasn't properly secured and looked uneven.
I tucked the hair piece clips under, lay the hair piece over the padding and then tucked the ends under to create the mohawk shape. I then pinned the sides of the hair down to cover any padding and create an even shape. I found the hair grips weren't as secure as I'd like them so Lottie showed me how to pull the hair out slightly with the hair grips and then tuck them under which covered the clips more and gave a more secure feel; this is a useful technique I will use in the future, for all my hairstyles. The dry shampoo in the hair allowed me to mould the hair more easily gave a more realistic texture and look. The clips from the hair piece were difficult to cover; however I will cut these out and sew the sections of the hair piece together for the next practice. I wanted to make sure I was happy with the amount of leather used and the layer order before sewing them together; however I am confident with the hair piece so don't think I will need to alter this. After moulding the hair piece to the head, some of the leather sagged slightly so I used hair grips to pin these into place to make them look taught and slick.
The colour of the hair piece blends in seamlessly with my model's natural hair which I am so relieved about! I was concerned the colours would not match as then it would have looked obviously fake; however the hair piece looks like it could be her own hair.
The main aspect I struggled with the most for this hairstyle was the front section. I wanted to use it to extend the mohawk shape forwards; however I found creating this shape extremely challenging. I heavily backcombed the hair to give it a mouldable texture, but when I showed Lottie she said my backcombing could be improved on. I would put the hair in sections and then lightly backcomb the hair in across motions; however Lottie said I should backcomb the hair with more tension and push each layer to the root to create even lines of backcombing. This not only give the hair more strength to stand up, but also is easier to brush out afterwards. The example above it when I first backcombed the hair so it didn't hold itself well; I therefore created a messy scrunched look. The hair looks very textured and messy, but it had no strength so when the powder paint hits it or the model moves it will fall easily.
In the example above I lifted the hair upwards and backcombed the front so the hair could be moulded coming forwards. I folded the hair over slightly and pinned it to the hair piece so secure it, disguise the joining of the hair piece and make the natural hair look slightly shorter. I also curled the very ends of the hair to help manipulate the hair to create a soft curl at the front of the mohawk to give a feminine edge. I will need to continue to practice this front section to make it exactly how I want, as it still wasn't as steady as I'd like or in the correct shape. I will experiment with using more hair in the front for a fuller effect; however then I am concerned it will not hold in position.
In this final example I experimented with twisting the hair and taking it back. I think it would be more secure being pinned backwards into the hair piece and therefore not lose its shape as easily when moving; however I think it covers too much of the front of the mohawk and stops the mohawk's elongated shape, making it stop suddenly in a blunt way. This is a back up option if I can't create a suitable pointed shape, like the previous example; however I will continue to practice this until I think it's suitable and visually exciting.
Hairstyle 2
My main concern with this hairstyle was that Natalie's hair might not be long enough!
I used some oil in the hair before plaiting it and I found it so much easier to control and style! There were no fly aways, making the hair look slick and neat and I am happy that the plait looks straight and even the whole way down. I will need to buy some more clear elastics as in this practice I had to use coloured ones which made the hair look messy. I could improve on my sectioning as the point isn't perfectly in the centre and the link on the right is not perfectly straight.
I applied hair oil on each section of hair before plaiting it and it made the hair so much easier to control, with not fly aways or fluffy hair, allowing me to create clean plaits that were crisply separated from each other. The sectioning was straight and even and the french plaits were tied close to the scalp, even thought they could still be even tighter.
Above are image of when I first connected the front three plaits and I noticed the hair was not long enough to join to the middle plait; however this is because I wasn't plaiting the hair against the face and instead I was pulling it outwards slightly. This meant that when I did pull the plait tight to the face the strands of hair would bulge outwards. This relieved me because it meant the hair would be long enough if I plaited the hair tightly against the face.
The side plaits were even and slick, with clear sectioning and crisp edges; however the model's ears distorted some of the strands between the plaits. When I practiced this look on my fake model head, the ears weren't a problem because they were so flat; however my model's ears stick out further so the strands have to reach over them. To avoid this I could move the plait further forwards to come in front of her ear; however I like how plaiting behind the ear elongates the caged strands, making the cage engulf more of her identity. I will continue to create this plait behind the ear but make sure I make the strands tighter underneath the ear as I found I made these as loose as the ones having to reach over the ear, therefore making them look saggy. Looking at this photo, I also noticed there are some strands of hair straying from the rest, making the caged effect not as strong and defined. I need to make sure I use more oil or hair gel to smooth these into place if this happens again, as I think in this case the hair wasn't quite long enough to reach and therefore fell.
I plaited the middle three plaits together again, making sure to keep the strands tight and much more of the hair could reach the middle plait. The caged effect on her forehead looks very neat and separated; however as the strands get further down they don't look as neat. I think this is because the strands of hair got shorter and so I was finding it more difficult to connect them to the middle plait neatly. Some of the strands of hair fell out of the plait because they were only just entwined in the plait, meaning they weren't as secure as they should have been. This is a major concern of mine as the model will be moving in the film and so I want the strands to be secure so they don't fall out mid shot! I found a solution to this which is describes below. The plait isn't perfectly down the centre of her face because I was focusing on getting all the strands to reach the plait; however I will not be able to do this in my film so I will to come up with a solution for this lack of hair length.
The hair that is secured under her chin will be covered by the styling; I have spoken to my stylist about this. I was concerned her blonde hair would blend in to her skin colour; however I think the blonde hair is more effective because of the different tones in her hair giving it more dimension. My model's roots are a lot darker than her ends which gives the french plaits a beautiful ombre effect. The styling for this look will be black so her lighter hair will add a slight softness to the harsh look; however still reflecting her battle to unveil her true, unedited identity.
I noticed the cage didn't look as complete as the one I had done previously on my model head and that is because this cage didn't continue down to her chin. Unfortunately my model's hair isn't long enough to achieve this which was very disappointing; however Lottie suggested I could use sections of my hair piece and then, using a pin, weave it through the plaits at the bottom to make it look like strands of her hair. The image above shows a small bundle of white hair sewn through the plaits which could be tied at either end. I was so relieved when Lottie suggested this because I was so excited to create this hair design and didn't want to have to change it too much. This method also takes the pressure off me having to make every strand of hair reach each plait because if it doesn't, I can just use this method. I will experiment with doing this to make sure it looks as realistic as possible.
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