Hair set - pageboy with side waved fringe.

OK – I have a new haircut – from the ever so lovely Miss Betty at “It’s Something Hells” salon.  She really is a marvel – she lightened my hair by a few shades and gave me a great cut which really helps the setting process.  Cutting it myself, whilst cheaper, doesn’t really do the same job!  She is also an absolute whizz at styling hair so I watched her technique as carefully as I could.  I’ve honestly never seen anyone whip up a pageboy from some basic curls so fast, she really is amazing.

Anyway, now I have a decent cut I thought it was time for a quite tute and have decided to try and recreate one of Betty’s classic styles – a pageboy with a side waved fringe.

Here is my hair post Betty-ing:

When Betty did this for me in the salon she used a curling iron and some hot rollers on my dry hair.  The style lasted until pretty well but my hair isn’t a real fan of heat styling and so I wanted to try this with a wet set and perm rods.  (You can see that my hair is wilting in the pics above if you look at the ends, I like a tighter style.)

To do this you need: 

rollers (perm rods preferably but sponge rollers would work too)

setting lotion

sectioning comb

boar bristle brush

round brush

hairspray

bobby pins

combs or clips, or a hairflower.

So, on damp hair with setting lotion applied I first put in the deep side parting.  Then, sectioning off each side behind the ear I rolled one roller into each of the side sections at an angle rather than straight, the higher end toward the front.  The hair should be rolled under the roller.

I then rolled the top section (and you only want this section to be around 3 inches deep) into a barrel curl (I used a mascara tube for this and then slid it out to pin).  The hair should be curled backwards, away from the face.

You could use a roller for this too but as the fringe section is the real focal point of the ‘do I wanted to keep it as free from lines and bumps as possible.

The back was then set in one row of rollers with the curls directed under, rolling no higher than the nape on the neck.

If you have thick hair you may want to do two rows but please try and roll no higher than the nape of the neck.  The back of the hair needs to be as smooth as possible for this style to really work.

Also, if you have two sizes of roller – use the smaller on the top layer and the larger below.  This sounds odd but it will help the top layer of hair hug the larger bottom layer to create a pageboy puff.

So, once set I put on my glamorous hairnet and went to bed.I'll spare you a picture of that, cos I'm kind.

In the morning I took out all the rollers and fluffed the hair up with my fingers and then, before starting the styling process I sprayed everything with a medium hold hairspray (Ellnet is good for this as it brushes out).  This lends some pliability to the hair, making it easier to mould it into shape.

You then want to brush through a few times with your paddle brush before taking your round brush and using it to curl the hair under, toward the face.  I find it best to start at the back and work my way round to the sides.  When brushing out the side sections try and angle the brush so that the curl is angled higher toward the face and lower at the back.  This helps to accentuate the “U” shape of the style, giving it a 40’s rather than an 80’s look.

Then pin or comb the sides back behind the ears.

Once this is all pageboyed under and pinned – and it might take a few attempts, don’t panic – you can start on the top wave.  First brush this straight up in the air with your paddle brush, this helps to create volume at the roots so you can get the lovely curve of the first wave.

Then shape the first wave by putting your hand under the hair and brushing the hair over it a few times.  Here, with a bit of moulding, you should be able to shape the first wave.  You can either hold this in place or clip gentle with a sectioning clip (I find hands work best). 

You can then decide what to do with the second wave.  Today I brushed this down and created a large  roll.  You can also form another wave like Betty did, again by holding and shaping, or you could even shape a main wave and then mould some little curls (again curled round a mascara tube) as in some of the photos below (same set, but yesterday). 

The great benefit of that earlier spritz of hairspray, a trick from Miss Betty herself, is that the hair is stiffer and easier to shape as you work.  A bit like the second day of a set when everything is much less slippery and much more manageable.

Once happy with whatever you got going on at the front, and often your hair decides this for itself, pin if needs be and if not shellac the hell out of it with a damn fine hairspray like Tresemme freeze hold (taking care not to spray it directly in your ear like I did this morning – I think I’m still a little deaf).

These are two of the finished results from the same set:

Full wave bangs - first attempt - a good fringe day

Well, it has been a while since I last set my hair and so, as I could finally move my arms above my head yesterday, I thought I'd give a new fringe style a go.  My fringe has grown out to around 7 inches long now, perfect for a style called full wave bangs. (The word "bangs" for fringe always amuses me, does anyone know how it came into usage?).

This is a deceptively simple set and is best done on wet hair with a little setting lotion (I favour Motions foamy set for wet sets).  First you need to separate the fringe area into a rectangular section. You then need to roll three rows of standing pin curls.  Most diagrams show each row to consist of four pin curls but with my fine hair I could only manage three per row.

I tend to roll standing pin curls around something - a mascara tube usually works well, and just slide the curl off and pin at the base through the curl with a single bobby pin.  You could also use a very small barrelled curling iron, hotsticks or perm rods to make these curls.

The row at the back are rolled forwards, toward the face, the middle row and that closest to the face are rolled facing backwards, away from the face. (see diagram).  These backwards facing rolls help to form the curl and to bulk up the fringe giving it height.

 

 picture courtesy of www.sepiachord.com

When the set has dried (or cooled completely if using curling irons) you need to first brush out the curls upwards, preferably with a natural bristle brush.  It will look like a huge frizzy mess at this point, don't panic!  Brush through a few times and then place your hand under the hair, on your forehead, and start to brush the hair over the hand.  After a few brushes the wave will start to spring into place, as if by magic.  No, really.

 picture courtesy of www.sepiachord.com

When you are happy with the shape of the fringe just remove the underneath hand and use your fingers to hold the wave where you want it and then spray.  I always press the wave in again while the hair is slightly damp from the spray as this helps set it into place.

This is a versatile early 1940's fringe style for when your bangs are in the growing out phase and it looks good with either the rest of the hair curled and put back with combs, with side rolls, a snood or even with an updo.

Sadly the rest of my hair did not want to play ball today and turned into a frizz ball, ignore it, I think I set it too wet.  Look at the fringe and not the rest.  :-)

This was only my first attempt and I'm going to keep working on this until it is perfect.

Leading Lady Hair: Mildred Pierce (1945)

Another film inspired do for you all, Joan Crawford's full waved bangs from Mildred Pierce.  Similar to the The Barbara Stanwyck do featured earlier but this time with full waved bangs and fuller curled ends to the hair.  This is my first attempt and it isn't perfect but I think it gives the right look.

For best results with this set I would advise having a fringe / bang area of 4-5 inches long in front and 7-8 inches in back (of the fringe).  You could try with a longer fringe, but you might need to backcomb the underside more for increased fullness so that your hair does not fall into your eyes.

So, I started by cutting my fringe, I used a rectangular part, brushed all the hair forward in front of my face and just chopped it straight across to 5 inches in length from the front hairline.  I often cut my own hair these days, it is so much cheaper and as it is always curled or in an updo I don't worry about little imperfections such as it being slightly uneven.

I then dry set the front section in two rows of pink perm rods.  The back row in two rods, hair curled toward the face and the front row in three rods curled away from the face.  The differing directions help build the shape of the wave and add fullness.

Behold the 7:30 AM make-up free face of someone who hates mornings!

Once these were set I put the sides up, each in two front facing upward directed pin curls.  Setting the hair like this really helps me with victory rolls as it sets the hair in the upward direction meaning I get much less annoying puffiness at either side of the head.  I really hate that.

The back I curled in a lot, probably about 12, pink perm rods, curled up and under to the nape of the neck and no farther.

I then gave it all a spritz with water from a spray bottle and went to bed.

In the morning I started by brushing the side pin curls out in and upward direction, I then backcombed the hair and smoothed out the top before forming a small victory roll on each side and pinning securely.

I then took out all the back rollers and brushed the curls out gently.

The final section to tackle was the front.  I removed the rollers and brushed all the hair together, I then held the fringe straight up and teased the hair at the front of the fringe with my rat tail comb to give it structure.  The key then is to get the right wave and curl to the fringe.  The best way to do this is to brush the hair over the hand to create the straighter section and then to use your fingers to press the wave into the hair and allow the ends to curl over.  It does take a few tries to get it right, I was starting to get frustrated buy got there on attempt 7.  Good old lucky 7, eh!

Being late for work I decided to ignore the flyaways and just hairspray and go.  Shame on me, I know.

So there you go - victory rolls with full wave bangs.

Have a go and let me know what you think.

Old Movie Madness: I Married a Witch (1942)

I've spent the entire weekend in the flat watching films and knitting.  I'm having a reclusive weekend and I have thoroughly loved it, despite the side effect being that time seems to have raced by.  I cannot believe it is Monday again tomorrow. 

One of the movies I watched today as the early 40's comedy, I Married a Witch, starring Veronica Lake and Frederic March.  I must admit to never having seen a Veronika Lake film before and I'm not sure if this was the one to make me like her.

The film starts in Salem where Jennifer (Lake) and her father are burned at the stake and buried under and oak tree after being convicted of witchcraft by the Puritan Wooley.  Jennifer curses Wooley and his descendants to marry unhappily for eternity.

270 years later the tree is struck by lightning and the pair escape as white vapours and float around the modern day looking for trouble.  Coming across the young Wallace Wooley, an aspiring politician and soon to be married descendant of their captor, Jennifer decides to wreak further revenge upon him by making him fall in love with her.

She needs a fire to regain her body and so the witches set fire to the Pilgrim Hotel. The hotel clerk tells the fire brigade that all guests are safe and accounted for, however when Wooley passes by he hears a female voice and runs into the building heroically.  Inside Jennifer has transformed into the ridiculously glamorous shape of Veronika Lake, with full peekaboo hair.  She is naked, sadly wreathed in smoke, and Wooley gives her his coat and carries her from the fire.

Unfortunately Wooley fails to fall for her charms and after stalking him quite determinedly she finally decides to give magic a try, concocting a love potion by singing badly at a cauldron.  Unfortunately Jennifer drinks the potion by mistake and falls head over heels for Wooley, crashing his wedding and finally persuading him to elope with her.

Wooley's political career seems to be in tatters, but Jennifer proves her supernatural powers by giving him a 100% win at the election.  In disgust at his daughter's show of love for the descendant of their sworn enemy her father removes her powers and attempts to trap her back in the tree which held them.  Love is stronger that witchcraft however and Jennifer returns to her husband, trapping her father forever in a bottle of liquor, where he seems quite happy.

All in all it is a daft little film, an average script and little attempt at acting from Miss Lake, however simply being so aesthetically pleasing seems to be enough to carry this lightweight yarn.  Famously March and Lake disliked each other intensely and this does come across, with the two main characters showing little on-screen chemistry.

It is all very predictable but as such is a perfect film to while away just over an hour on when you don't want something you have to concentrate on.  As mentioned earlier Veronica Lake's hair is utterly perfect throughout and it is easy to see why so any women of the time wanted to emulate her.

Worth watching as a bit of fun on a rainy day but nothing special.

So, could Miss Lake act?  Recommend me some of her other movies so I can see for myself.