Dancer Hair Practice

Before I started practicing this design I thought it was going to be the easiest and quickest design of my film; however I found slicking the hair up into a neat, taught ponytail challenging as I found whenever a combed a section into the ponytail, the other sections would come loose. This is something I thought I would be able to do first time, although I will need to practice this to make it as tight as possible with no fly aways.

The other aspect I found challenging was creating a stencil for the zig zag design. I bought some white hairspray to spray over the zig zag card stencil; however the hairspray was not pigmented enough and so would look grey and dull against the white styling; also the card stencil did not wrap round the hairline as I had hoped. I had to twist the stencil so the zig zags didn't all line up and some white colour was on the model's face. However the combination of using card and hairspray did create sharp lines and the hairspray gave a beautiful, even fade to the natural hair colour.

White hairspray and stencil.

I decided to cut one triangle out of the stencil and lay it down for every section; however I found it difficult to keep them all even and symmetrical. I got frustrated with this method and so started to do it free hand; however I soon regretted this as the lines looked messy and the shapes were not symmetrical. I tried using white acrylic paint for this, as it would give a stronger colour payoff; however I shortly found this was extremely hard to get out of the hair and so I will not use this on my model. I also found the acrylic paint didn't leave a neat, sharp line and the application looked patchy so I will try to find a more pigmented white hairspray.

White acrylic paint and no stencil.

For the leatherette hairband I first tied the hair normally with a thick hairband to ensure the hair was tight and started wrapping the leatherette round that in small strips; however I found the thick hairband created a big bump for the leatherette to wrap round, creating a triangle effect.

Initial leatherette application.

I therefore tied the hair with a small elastic to keep the hair smooth and level, wrapped a thick strip of card around the hair and then layered strips of leatherette round that to create an even tube effect. I initially layered the leatherette to create a tight ripped effect, but I preferred it when they were more spread out as it looked more neat and smooth. I will have to cut the leatherette on the day of the shoot as the amount needed will be different from the model's head as the hair thickness will differ. I will secure the card and leatherette with double sided sticky tape for an invisible, secure hold.

Cardboard structure.

Tightly layered leatherette.

Chosen leatherette design.

My model's hair is in good condition so I will straighten the ends and add smoothing products to give a sleek and glossy finish. I will need to invest in a higher quality white hairspray for a stronger coverage, or I will experiment with layering the white hairspray.