Hair practice

Looking back at my first practice session, I thought I should look more into Victorian hairstyles and change my hair design. I wanted to create something more dramatic, yet keep it traditional. I did some research about Victorian hair designs and looked on Pinterest for inspiration. I chose to recreate the 'pin-up girl' hairstyle on my Katy head as they called it back then.

Required equipment: Katy head, pin tail comb, grips, pins, paddle brush, hairband and sectioning clips.

Step-by-Step guide:

1. Brush the hair using a paddle brush to get rid of any knots. For this hairstyle in particular, it’s best to have texture on the hair. If your model has straight hair, you will need to do some backcombing.

2. Section your hair from ear to ear across the top of your head and pin the whole front section out of the way.

3. On your crown, create a circle of hair; this will be the centre of the style. Twist that hair into a bun just to keep it out of the way for now.

4. You’re going to want to leave around 2 inches of hair along the circumference of your hairline to make the rolls of the hairstyle.

5. Start with the front section of your hair and roll this back on itself. Create a tube shape and pin the bottom section of this tube against your head using a bobby pin.

6. Continue doing this around the whole hairline. Direct the tubes so that they look like they’re merging into one another. You want to make it look as if you have one continuous roll going around your head. Remember this hairstyle will need as much height as you can give it.

7. Once you’ve rolled the entire head, go back to the section you pinned out of the way (step 2).

8. Take a hairband and put it into a ponytail.

9. Split the ponytail into 2 or 3 sections and create large flat pin curls and place them on the top of your head, trying to cover the ponytail holder. Secure this using a bobby pin.

10. Remember this hairstyle isn’t meant to be perfect. Keep it soft and romantic.

Reflection:

I really liked this hairstyle and thought it was a lot better than my previous design, however after discussing this with Helen, she told me it's actually a late Victorian hairstyle, called 'The Gibson Girl'. This hairstyle became popular right towards the end of the era therefore I couldn't do this design for my character. The Turn of the Screw is set in the first decade of the Victorian era, meaning I'd have to change my design again, into something more appropriate for my chosen character. 

This was a let down for me as I really wanted to go along with this design. I now have to reconsider what I will be doing for the timed assessment and create a new hair chart. I don't want to make the same mistake again, therefore I will need to go deeper into my research, looking only at EARLY Victorian designs.