Hello again!!
I've decided that my first real post will be dedicated to the very first technique I learned when starting my journey into the "vintage world", and that was how to get bouncy pin up girl worthy curls with a curling iron! I still use this on most of our photoshoots, although not so much on my own hair as the heat can be SO damaging on a daily basis! However this is perfect for days when I haven't planned so well and didn't do a wet roller set the night before or something like that, also depending on your hair type using a curling iron can be more effective than hot rollers and take just about the same time to do. SO to start, all you need is:
A curling iron with a 1" barrel--any larger and you are going to deviate from the period look and get looser modern curls
A paddle brush
Your hairspray of choice
and a bunch of these
you can find packs of these at Sally's and most drugstores...you can also use bobby pins but I find they are trickier to maneuver and leave dents.
You'll want to start with day old hair, as freshly washed hair just does not hold curl as well.
Start by taking one section of hair, no larger than this piece
This is honestly a little larger piece than I would normally recommend, but for the sake of time I went for bigger pieces. You can spray your hair with heat protectant if you like. Roll the section in towards your face and hold it there until the outside hair is pretty warm to the touch, then gradually slide the curl off the end of the iron, I usually try to catch it with my thumb. Keeping the curl still rolled up, press it up against your head and clip it there. Now depending on what style you want, you can either have the curl facing towards your face, backwards or in to your head. When just starting out, don't worry about which ways your curls are facing just focus on the technique of getting them pinned to your head nice and tight. It will look cute regardless ;)
As you can see I did hers pretty large. I did alternating rows of frontwards and backwards facing curls and a few of the thicker ones in the back just pinned under. Let all of the curls cool completely before doing anything else. Make some coffee, have a smoke, just look adorable, whatever but make sure they have cooled off. Then give them all a once over with your hairspray before removing the pins. Once the pins have been removed, initially some of you may look like this:
and that's ok! The trick to the hairstyles is in the brushing out! I know the first time I went to do this I was skeptical too, like I just spent all this time putting my curls UP and now you want me to BRUSH them OUT!? But yes, only brush down the UNDERSIDE of your hair though and use your hand to brush against so you're not just ripping through them. Just keep brushing until you see what you like.
Here is the final product of the quick set on my friend today:
Once your curls are brushed out, you can leave it be or do something fun with the bangs, pop in a flower, whatever your little heart desires!! Finish with a ton of hairspray. All it takes is some practice figuring out your hair(don't get discouraged, it took me a few failed sets before I started getting comfortable with it!!) but this is really a pretty simple look to accomplish--whether you're like me and want to wear it everyday or just for a special occasion, I truly feel it looks classy and beautiful on everyone! <3
P.S. Make up was just some winged out eyeliner, mascara and a quick swipe of lip stick! Nothing elaborate!
Special thanks to my friend Dori for being a FAB hair model today!
