Project Evaluation

At first, I didn't know what to expect from this unit. I decided to do it because I did not feel very confident working with hair and I wanted to improve my skills. Wig work sounded fun and I thought it would be good to know how to work with wigs if I ever get in that kind of situation. 
I think the content of the unit was very interesting and I feel like I have learned something new in both Lottie's and Helen's lesson each week. There wasn't anything specific that I struggled with. I really enjoyed developing the hairstyles for the project and the different techniques we've used.
The period I chose for my project was the early 50's. I decided to do victory rolls at the front and a pony tail at the back - pony tails were not very popular before this decade. For my contemporary look I wanted to do something completely different so I decided to twist the hair around the pins to make the hair frizzy. It took me a long time to prep and set the wig. The final outcome had a lot more volume and friz than I expected, but I am pleased with it nonetheless.For some hairstyles we used heated rollers which I never used before, but they're easy to use once you practice. I do feel more confident working with hair in general now and, even though I still have to practice a lot, I think I have done a lot of progress in only two months. I really Iike working with wigs and it's always fun to see how it can completely change the way someone looks. Another skill that I've gained from this unit is knotting. I find that knotting really relaxes me and thoroughly enjoyed creating mustaches and sideburns. 

Overall, I am really happy I have chosen to do this unit, as you can see. I wish this unit continued into our second semester because I would really like to improve my skills even more and possibly one day go into wig making. 

My First Sideburns

For my last knotting project I set myself the challenge to make sideburns. It took me about a week and I am quite proud of myself.  One turned out sligtly wider than the other, because I tried to make the edges look more natural on the second one. 

Progress after aprox 6 hours of knotting

(Nov 26 2015)

Second sideburn completed after aprox 7 and a half hours of knotting

(Nov 27 2015)

Second sideburn completed

(Nov 27 2015)

Both sideburns

(Nov 27 2015)

I cut them myself, at home, and I tried my best, but I am not a hairdresser. I am not sure if this is the way they should look, but I don't think I should curl them and I think they look good considering I didn't have anyone to help me. I left them as they were because I didn't want to ruin them if I cut the hair too much, or something...

Left  sideburn

(Nov 28 2015)

Right  sideburn

(Nov 28 2015) 

Both sideburns

(Nov 28 2015)

50's Contemporary Hairstyle - Informal Assessment

Here are the images from my second and final assessment in this unit.

I started by taking out the rollers and creating the big victory rolls. Every section was individually backcombed and hairsprayed, then twisted and pinned. 

Taking the rollers out and backcombing

victory roll

Both victory rolls

Then it was time to move onto the back of the hair and see if how my curles have turned out.

After taking the pins out I seeing how thight they've come out I knew that the steaming worked. I brushed the hair out and ended up with a massive afro. I pinned it around the crown of the head to create a nice, round shape. 

Taking out the pins

Brushing out the curls

Wig after brushing the hair out - side

Wig after brushing the hair out - font

Wig after brushing the hair out - back

I prepped my model's hair the same way I did for my first assessment, with pincurls and a wrap at the back. This time I used a darker stocking cap, just because I think it goes better with the colour of the wig, rather than the beige one. I pinned it, then put on the wig.

Again, the wig is slighty too small for my model's head and even though I've pinned it at next to my models ears, it kept lifting. I just left it as it was because there was nothing I can do really, considering there was no hair I could hide it with.

Pincurls

Hair pincurled and wrapped

Final look

Front

50's contemporary hairstyle

Final look

Back

50's contemporary hairstyle

Final look

Front/ top

50's contemporary hairstyle

Final look

Right side

50's contemporary hairstyle

Final look

Right side

50's contemporary hairstyle

Final look

Left side

50's contemporary hairstyle

Final look

Left side

50's contemporary hairstyle

Model: Charlee Baxter

Look created on: Nov 27 2015

The curls turned out great, but too big for the hairstyle I wanted to create and I think it looks a slightly too contemporary. I should've put the pins only in one layer and not two. But then again, I wasn't even sure if this technique would work with steaming. I am happier with it looking like this, than to have it fall out and not curl at all.

Styling My Second Mustache

Today I styled and cut my second mustache. Helen showed me how to do one side - cut and shape, then I trimmed it a bit more and did the other side. 

I've cut about half of the hair short, in a slight curve, in the inner part of each side. I didn't cut it too short because I will curl it anyway, but also, I prefer it slightly longer. The outer parts I've trimmed about 1 inch at an angle. 

Using pins I've pinned the ends in the shape I want them to be. Then I curled the hair to give it some shape and lift. 

I used gel to style the ends and the Black & White pomade in the inner parts of the mustache.

Pinning the ends

Styling and applying gel

Right side

Left side

Final look

Styled on: Nov 25 2015

I am not sure if I should've used more gel, but the ends turned out a bit messy. I will take the pins out and try to redo it tomorrow. 

When I do my next mustache I should try to avoid harsh lines in the middle of the mustache, that way it will look more natural. 

Making Sideburns UPDATE

This post is just to show how far I've gotten with the sideburns that I'm making at the moment. To make the first one it took me about seven hours all together. Right now I am about half way done with the other side and I spent about four hours knotting it so far. To avoid harsh lines and make both sides look more natural, I'm adding hair outside of the template. 

Progress after aprox 5 and a half hrs of knotting

First (right) side side completed

First (right) side side completed

(Nov 24 2015)

Template of second side

Progress after aprox 3 and a half hrs of knotting

(Nov 25 2015)

The second side will be completed in the next few days.

Practice For Second Assessment

Here is a hairstyle I created, in preparation for my contemporary assessment this week. I practiced my final look on my doll head at home.

First I sectioned the front, that will be used for victory rolls, and back. I started from the back and split it in half. The bottom half was devided into three sections, then started twisting the hair arund hair pins. The top was later devided into two sections. My wig has three sections at the bottom and four at the top, but this head has less hair. I don't have my straightener here because I forgot it in Croatia, so I just hairsprayed the hair before twisting around each pin. I didn't expect it to come out very curly and thight, I was just practicing to get the rough idea of what it will looks like.

Sectioning the hair

Bottom part sectioned and hair twisted around pins on the right

Close up 

Close up

Top half sectioned

 Head full of pins

Head full of pins - side

When I was done with the back of the head, I hairsprayed it and went to do the front while the back sets. My doll head actually had the victory rolls in from when I practiced on it for my previous assessment so I didn't have to curl the hair again. I just added more hair and backcombed it. Then I've lightly brushed through so it looks neater and pinned where I wanted the rolls to go. However, I can't create the victory rolls that I want with this had because it is not as long as the hair on my wig. 

Victory rolls

I left the hair another 30 minutes after I was done with victory rolls then came back to take out the pins. The curls didn't come out very defined because the sectiones I used were quite big but I still managed to get a frizzy texture. 

After taking out the pins

After brushing the hair out
Final look - back

Final look - side

Final look - front

Here I just pinned the sides because that was the direction the hair was going anyway, and that might happen on my wig, too. 

Side pinned back

Final look - From above

Created on:  Nov 24 2015

Since I still struggle with creating nice and neat victory rolls, I created a few at the front, just as a practice. But they turned out looking very 40's.
I created two on one side then one on the side where there was more hair, but I twisted it in the opposite direction.

Two victory rolls on the side

Victory roll

Victory roll - pinned down at the back

Close up

Victory roll with a section from the side twisted around it
front

Victory roll - back

Created on:  Nov 24 2015

I do feel a bit more confident now about the assessment but I still need to work on the victory rolls.