Experimentation with Contemporary Elizabethan Hair styles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

ok, So Iv done some experiments with this hair style to figure out how it will work in my hair and to further develop it and see what I like and don't like. So here are the photos.

So first I tried the hair style with just my normal hair I didn't like the way it was looking and because my hair is so short the curls weren't really curls they were just ...not great looking. So I then tried using my hair extension's to see would that work better.

This is done using my hair extension's. What I did here was  curled the hair extensions separate to being on my head then placed them onto my head but I found it very difficult to blend in the extension's wit my own hair, however I thought that could be part of my look. To make it look like they had been placed on my head but I just wanted to try out another idea. I went to get some pringles in asda to keep me going with the hair styles and I found some Christmas bulbs and I thought wouldn't they be cool to put into the hair instead of actually doing a pin curl, just to give it that very contemporary twist to the hair .

How I did the hair this way was I made a head band out of elastic and clipped that into my hair either side down near my ears using grips(Will be blonde grips for actual assessment )once the head band was secure I then took grips and put them through the hole of the bulbs and clipped them into my hair. it is done here in black grips because boots was closed by the time I finished college but I am planning on getting blonde grips to blend better with my hair but I think it looks really cool and when its all done properly with the make-up I think it will look quite interesting .

 

 Showing the clips holding the ball in place clipped onto the elastic.

                                          My Second idea of doing a fish tail style 

So this hair style was just down with fish tail plaits.
So to start off doing this hair style put the hair into sections and put a fish tail plait into each section as shown in the picture. you do this for each section and then once all the fish tails are done to add a contemporary twist to it, you can pull the fish tails apart to make a slightly more messy look to the plait.

This is showing the fish tail pulled apart and a bit more messy looking.

Finished look

 

How I would do this in my hair?
Well since I have short hair I would add in my hair extension's for length and also for thickness and then I would plait in my own hair as much as I could to blend it in with the extension's and then fish tail plait the hair extension's as normal to give the same look.

 

For my third idea is to use French plaits (I'm a fan o the plaits lol)

So this is my third hair style idea, where you have two French plaits either side of the head and the held together using a hair clip.

How I did this?
I started off doing a French Plait on the side of the head going back to the lower crown part of the head. When I had one side done I clipped it to hold it while I did the same to the other side of the head. Once the two plaits where done I held them together with a hair clip that I made using glue, feathers and a jewel to make it look Elizabethan. I left the hang that hangs down straight and sleek to give I a more contemporary twist.

How I would do this in my hair?
Well there is two ways I could do this in my hair, I could add extension's in my hair if I want wanted the hair to hang long like I have done on the dolls head in which case I would blend my own hair with the extension's in the plait by plaiting my own hair in with the extensions . Or I could do it in the length of my hair the way it is but I just wouldn't have the hair hanging long it would be short. To do this I wouldn't need to add anything to my hair. You would just French plait the side of my head.  And then add the clip to hold them in place.

Studio hair -What we do in class and how to do it!

 

 

 

 

 

As our current project is to make-up an Elizabethan character we are learning how to do lots of different hair techniques that reference Elizabethan hair.
This is a normal plait.


How to achieve this look and what I did:
Take one section of hair, divide this into 3 equal sections.
overlap each layer over the other, for example,  bring the right over the centre piece and to the left then bring the left over to the right and so on so fourth. Put a hair tie at the end to hold all the hair together.

This look is known as ''The fish tail'' because well, it looks like a fish tail.
This is a slightly more difficult one to do but one you get it its not to hard to overcome. To do the fish tail you get one section of hair divide it into two equal sections and just like the plait you over lap each section taking a small amount of hair from each section each time you overlap. It takes quite awhile so I wouldn't recommend doing it if you are in a hurry!
I need to practice mine a lot more as this is the first time I have attempted a fish tail plait. Another technique that you can do is pull the fish tail apart and make it really kinda crazy looking or you can make it look really vintage and lose by pulling the hair out and having a more messy look so there is quite a bit you can do from this hair style.

This look is known as a French  Plait. This was actually the hardest for me to achieve. To do this look You start out the same as your normal plait with three small equal sections of hair and then you had hair to the middle section and then plait as normal. So for every time you plait the hair you add a bit to the centre piece of hair and then finish off plaiting as normal.
You can do a tight French plait or you can do a more lose one which ever style you prefer .

This is a bun done without using a ''donut'' . This would have been how the Elizabethans would of done their hair into a bun as they wouldn't have had the donut to use at the time.
To achieve this look you put the hair in a pony tail , then you separate the hair out into 4 equal sections. You then take one section at a time rolling the hair into the middle of the head and pinning the roll at the base near the pony tail to hold the hair from moving. You then can take a hair grip ir brush and gently pull the hair to make it more thick and full looking. If you have someone with very fine or think hair, you can gently back comb the hair sections that will be in the bun just to make them a small bit more dense and full looking. You repeat the same producer for each section and then join the hair together by pulling the sections apart to make it look like a bun . You can do this with the top section of the hair as I have done here or with the whole head if the person had very long hair and you wanted all of it in a bun.

This technique that you see here is done with hair padding or wadding. This was a very difficult style to get correct but it was very interesting and fun to do.
The first thing you do to achieve this look is put the hair into a section. I did mine from the hair up so basically the whole front side section. You then take the hair in smaller section and curl it with a hot tongs. I wanted the curls to be very tight curls like the judge wigs that you see in movies etc. When I was taking the hair from the curler, I just loosened the hair and then pulled it from the tong being carful not to burn your hands. I then put a clip into the curl very gently to hold it while it cooled down. Once I had all of the hair curled and had cool set I put in a plate in the hair where I wanted the ''rat'' to sit this was to secure the rat in place and stop it from moving. you then take grips and clip the rat to the plait. Once this is done. You take the curls and pull the hair over the rat and adjust the hair if needed to cover the rat completely. You can make some really interesting shapes in the hair using this. When I first did it I forgot to do the plait so the rat was not secure and kept falling out of the hair so its really important to have something to secure it to the head so it doesn't fall out as this is the base of the entire look and if its not done correctly, the look just wont work.


 Crimping



I really enjoyed this look a lot, To crimp the hair you just hold the hair up right and place a hot crimper on it, the time you leave it on will vary depending on the type of hair you have and the thickness of the sections.
  This gave me a lot of ideas to use in my designs for my final looks for my assessments

Hair Inspiration and styles that I like and inspire me.

This hair style I really really love so I said I would include it into my blog as inspiration for future hair styles. I felt it was reflective of what we are currently studying which is Elizabethan hair styles , make-up and fashion. I do feel that this style is an Elizabethan Style made Contemporary. The hair is quite textured and curly which was a proper hair fashion in Elizabethan times. The pearls reflect the Elizabethan fashion as pearls where often worn. The feathers and lace on this particular style highlight a certain delicately that was very dominant within Elizabethan style, for example the high ruffled collar often made of lace and fine fabrics which made the face and hair look very light and delicate.
    Also I think it references Elizabethan hair in terms of being a statement hair style. When you look at the image of the model you become very focused on the hair and the hair is the focal point of the image which was very much the case for Elizabethan hair. It was big and statment like but also very much contained in a certain shape. 



This is also another one of my favourite hair styles. I think this also reflects the Elizabethan hair styles but is also very contemporary . I think the hair looks very adventures and modern but still also has many historical references to it. I would image that the hair was done with hair padding and hair extenstions to make the hair appear more full looking , maybe would have backcombed the hair and then applied in the padding and gripped it all together with hair spray and other holding products.
   I like the way the style suits the shape of the models face and her general frame, it doesnt look top heavy or to over the top but yet thats basically what the style to me is about .



This one hasn't got much to do with Elizabethan Hair, I just really really love it!!



Coke cans in hair, I saw this and started thinking about the process in which pin curling was done, A style that I looked at in Elizabethan Portraits and films made about Queen Elizabethan. It started getting me thinking also about decorations in the hair , much like also explored in Elizabethan portraits.

      

Elizabethan Portraits.

This is an early painting of Queen Elizabeth when she first started ruling England. In this portrait you can see clearly that her hair is long, flowing , and very light and fair in colour. This hair color gets more rich and deep in tone thoughout the period of her lifetime.


In this painting notice the dramatic change in her hair colour and cut. Her hair is very short here and the style has changed completely. She has tight set pin curls, and is wearing hair pieces.  Which was a typical hair style worn by Elizabethan women. I really like the pin curls look.



this is a very unusual portrait in my opinion because Elizabeth NEVER wanted a painting of her to be released unless she looked amazing in it, but here we see her wrinkles and a quite tired appearance on her face. We can see the hair is lighter in colour in this one and is far shorter then in previous paintings of her but still has this frizzed texture and also is still wearing head pieces

About the Elizabethens.

                                             About the Elizabethans.
The Elizabethan period was between 1558 and 1603. It was the time Queen Elizabeth the fist was ruling England and was known as the golden Ages in England. Historians sill argue today that England at the time was more economically healthy and more expansive and optimistic then at any time in the last thousand years... And it was a female who was ruling too! :)
   The people at this time wouldn't f exactly been the most hygienic. hey rearly ever washed their hair, and wen they styled it , a heat protector was never used as they didn't exist back ten.. So think of the damage done to the hair... probably alot which is probably what gave the hair the texture that you see in paintings and such. If they had any teeth left they would have been roted black which is why you see in paintings no one ever smiles in them. The women covered their faces in egg whites and led for make-up . This gave an abnormally white appearance which was favoured in this time as it meant that you had money and a job where you were not out in the sun. The led was poisonous for the skin which caused break outs, uneven skin tone and texture in the skin. his would of caused all kinds of skin disorders and diseases. When the skin broke out they just layered on more of the led which was very harmful on the skin. To wash this off they would use Mercury which is also poisonous for the skin... This was just a cruel circle for them wasn't it .
   The culture side of he Elizabethan Ea was much better ten the hair and make-up of the time. There was world famous poets and play writers at this time such as William Shakespeare. This era is famous for its literature, music,eatre and poetry.  Shakespeare was composing plays that broke England free of its past history and style in theatre. Women also at this time in England had much more freedom to d as they please then anywhere else in Europe at the time. England had lots of educated upper class women then in all of Europe at this time. It was fairly unconstrained for women at the time.
   Education started at home where you where taught to respect others and basic manners, If you came from a family that was wealthy you where continued to be taught by a private tutor at home.

Contempary hair design's transformed into Elizabethen