Hollywood Hair - Style 2 - Hedy Lamarr

Another week has gone by. however did that happen.  It seems time spins faster an faster as one gets older.

This week I have the results of hairstyle two, the Hedy Lamarr.  I was somewhat dreading this one as it is a centre part and a look I have tried to avoid since starting out on my vintage journey years ago.  Centre parts always remind me of the 70s - not a look I want to put with my hand knits and pearl earrings.

I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised with the results of this as the week progressed.  Especially as my hair is the opposite of Miss Lamarr's - blonde, fine and pin straight rather than thick, dark, curly and medium weight.  Ho hum.

The set for this was a little more involved than for the previous do.  The hair was first given as neat a centre parting as I could manage and then four stand up pin curls were rolled up and away from the forehead.  Two rows of standing curls then went down each side of the face, rolled down and each pinned with a single bobby pin.

The back hair was set in two rows of flat pin curls, as if for a pageboy.

Here are the compulsory setting pictures, I look proper sulky in these.  Well, it was bed time and I had to try to sleep with those darn side curls in.

The brush out was fairly simple as the end result, from looking at the picture, is a fairly sexy tousled do.  Not overly "set" looking and thus very 50s.  I literally just brushed it all through and let it sit where it would.

Results:

Monday: This was the brush out of the first attempt set pictured above.  The one problem I did have is that the standing curls on the side got flattened somewhat as I slept and so there wasn't as much volume as I'd have liked.

Tuesday: Day two - and I just reset the same way, dry, with a little Boots Curl Creme.  Of course, not being a wet set it came out softer but I think you can still see the basic structure of the set.

I ended up sticking the back up, as you can see.  I was wearing an Edwardian jumper and it just didn't look right down.

I took a couple of days off setting as I was too late finishing exercising on Tuesday night to have time for it to dry.  The next real set was Thursday night and worn to work on Friday.  I cheated a little here and did the standing curls with rollers rather than pin curls and I have to say I much prefer the result.  It helped as I did not flatten the curls as I slept and so they had the required volume and definition.

I can definitely see myself wearing this one again, I had a lot of compliments at work with this do.

Verdict: An easy set but, if planning to sleep on it, it is easier done with rollers than standing pin curls, especially on fine hair.

The next on the list is a very innocent looking pageboy, the June Allyson.  I find pageboys rather difficult so am going to try and do this one every night this week.

Eek, best go stick my pin curls in.

Hollywood Hair - Style 1 - Ava Gardner

So - this week I attempted hairstyle 1 – the Ava Gardner – a delightfully tousled and casual, yet glamorous looking number that just screams 50s starlet.

It was a VERY easy set as the only bit you need to be strict about is the standing curls on the top of the head.  These are rolled toward the part.  The rest is just curled any old how.

The brush out was easy, just a gentle brush out all over, then isolating the fringe section and styling as you please.  

So - here are a two frankly terrifying pictures of me with no make up and my hair in curlers.  apologies for the yellow light, it was dark when I took these, I'm really not jaundiced - honest.

you can see the top curls are standing and rolled toward the part.  the back is, frankly, a mess - but it did say to not use any particular pattern.  I used the same rough setting all week.

Results:

Monday: This I styled closest to the image in the setting pattern, bearing in mind my hair is somewhat longer than Ava's.

First I took out all the pins and brushed the back and sides out loosely.  Then, for the fringe, I left it do what it wanted - given this was the first attempt.  It wanted to wave so I went for a very defined wave effect, brushing the fringe out fairly heavily over my hand until it formed one big wave and placing it where I wanted, holding the wave down and then spraying madly.  I like this as it incorporates a finger wave effect but with some volume.

Tuesday: I tried a looser effect, so set it back dry and didn't spritz with water.  I then just brushed it out loosely and came out with this somewhat Marilynesque curly top.  Not perfect by any means but I think that's the point really, some 50s outfits do requite a much less set look.

sometimes you feel an ass taking pictures of yourself and then this happens

Wednesday: was my favourite though - same set only brushed under at the back over a round brush and the top pin curls made into curls around the face instead of a wave.  These were just shaped with my hands and sprayed into place.  I added serious height here with a little backcombing as I was feeling a bit flamboyant!

I was lazy the rest of the week and put my hair up.  I know, I'm bad but 3 days in a row is a good long slog for me!

Verdict: 
I like this set - it is nice to know that one can get so many looks from one very simple and very quick to put in set.  I think the standing pin curls at the fringe could easily be replaced with rollers to be honest.  This is a set I'll definitely use again.

Let me know what you think.  Which looks do you prefer?

This week I am going to work on the next set in the book - the Hedy Lamarr.

This is a centre parted style - I haven't really done a centre part since I discovered vintage several years ago.  Centre parts always make me think of the 70s.  Not my favourite era, and so I am nervous of this one.

Hollywood hair - the BEST pin curl technique videos

Just a quick post for anyone who may want to follow along with my pin curl quest.

I've been scouring YouTube for the best pin curl tutorials and can highly recommend these from the lovely Vivid Makeup.  These two vids taught me more about pin curling in 20 minutes than I got from years of experimentation.

Be aware - this is not a visual guide but a long description of technique.  Don't be put off by her non vintage look here, this gal knows her stuff.  Part 1 below.




For a visual guide you can either look at Vivid Makeup's waves tutorial or, of course, there is the divine Lisa Fremont Street with another YouTube two parter.



Enjoy!

Hollywood Hair 1952 - the project

I’m back already – I know – shocking right?  Told you I had a lot to write about.

I just want to bring you in on a little hair project I’m currently working on.  Via a lovely blog which I have completely lost the name of (put your hand up please if it was you-hoo) , I recently had the good fortune to stumble across this little beauty.  A full copy of a 1952 book on pincurl sets.  Now, I’m not a 50s girl by any stretch, but I could not turn up the chance to perfect my pin curl technique on these simple looking patterns.

So, over the next couple of months I plan to work my way through each and every one of the styles in this book.  Some will suit my hair type and others won’t, I am sure, but the practise will do me good, give us all some laughs and I, and maybe even you, will learn some pincurling tips along the way.

All you really need for any of the styles in this series is:

• setting lotion (anything will do - I'm currently using Black n' Sassy)
• Spray bottle
• rat tail comb
• pin curl clips and /or bobby pins
• a bristle brush of some kind
• hairspray
• patience

So gather your supplies and perhaps we can work through this together.  I'd love to see how others get on with the same patterns.

The first pattern in the book is the Ava Gardner.  I'll update you on Sunday with my thoughts and my results with this pattern and details of the next on the list!

The Pin Curl Project: Part 1 - rolled bangs without a rat

Well hello there all, I hope everyone is feeling positive and ready for the New Year.  I certainly am - I started early last night with a few drinks after work at 1pm (champagne, £39 a bottle, ouch to me and each of us that bought one!) and then popped over to a friends to see some of the Vintage Mafia getting ready to go to White Mischief.  I wasn't up for a big night out myself and so was tucked up in bed sleeping by 10pm.

Anyway - despite not having big plans for New Years I did want big hair and so started my new pin curl project a day early.

I'm starting with bang/fringe styles and for my first set I tried a simple rolled fringe.  I need to do this without the usual hair rat as my hair is so fine I have trouble hiding them.

The setting pattern I have for this shows a rectangular section up from the temples set in two rows of forward facing standing pin curls.  As my hair is very fine I set three pin curls at the back and two at the front - any more would make my hair frizz.  I then set the remainder in perm rods and slept on it.

This was a wet set with just a little setting lotion.

Sorry for the scary no make up pics!

In the morning I brushed out the sides into soft curls and pinned them back.  I then brushed all the standing pin curls out and forward over my hand until they formed a large soft roll.  I backcombed the hair nearest my face to create a foundation and then rolled the whole fringe around a mascara tube, slid the tube out and pinned into the tube of hair at each side.  I then set it with hairspray and tied a scarf round.

Thnis is quite an easy style, the set took about 10 minutes and the brush out and pinning about 5 minutes the following morning.  It held pretty well, only starting to droop at about 7pm after several champagnes and so I think with a little more hairspray and a few more pins it would hold well on a night out.  Definitely a good one for work days.