How to: Padding

I was really excited to try padding as I had never tried it before but had always wondered how the Elizabethan's got their hair in such weird and wonderful shapes! We were given a look to create, incorporating plaits, curl, frizz and padding!

Round Shaped
Equipment:
-Curby grips
-Small hair pins
-Hair clips
-Tiny hair bands
-Crimper
-Curling tong
-Padding

Step by step:
1. Section off the top part of the hair, roughly from ear to ear, and clip it up out of the way.
2. Section off the bottom, roughly third, of the hair and put it in a bunch to keep out of the way.
3. Crimp the middle section of the hair in sections, going from the bottom to the top.
4. Once all the section is crimped, brush it out to create the frizzing effect.

5. Curl the top section of the hair, using the curling technique I had learned previously and leave them in the pins curls.

Padding (This can be done is one big section or in two sections)
6. Take a section from the top of the crimped hair that is thick enough and wide enough to cover the padding used. Clip this section lightly over the curls to keep out of the way.
7. Just behind this section, create a small french plait to the end of the section and then make it into a regular plait and add a tiny hair band.
8. Turn this plait back on itself, as shown in the image below, and secure both ends with curby grips.

9. Place the padding on top of this plait and secure it to the plait with some curby grips on both sides.
10. Take a small section of hair from underneath the padding and smooth it over the padding. Secure this with some curby grips.
11. Take the top section of crimped hair and smooth and shape this over the padding to cover the padding and create a nice shape. Secure this with curby grips.

12. This is when you can decorate the shaped hair with the curls.

I am happy with how my first time at padding went and it excited me how creative I could be with padding. I noticed that the curls on the right side of the head were slightly tighter than the curls on the left so I will work on getting these as even as possible. I am also not completely happy with the shape because I think the padding needs to sit higher on the head so that there is more height. I really like how the curls give a really interesting texture to the hair and a more interesting look overall.

Heart Shaped

All the steps are the same as when creating a round style; however you need to use two separate, even, bits of padding to create both sides of the heart. You then need to mould the hair around the padding to perfect and shape the heart.

Side view. 

Back view.

Close-up of one of the sides, front view.

Front view.

I found this shape more difficult to create than the rounded shape because I needed to get enough dip in the middle and keep both sides even to create the correct silhouette. I think the design looks the best from the back because I really like the smooth shape and how I made it look like a giant bow. I am happy with the curls on the right (our right) side as they look tight and neat, but the curls on the left need to be a lot tighter. The heart shape is lost from the from because the curls aren't lying completely flat; however next time if I use curls I will shape them to give a clear dip in the middle so that the shape is not lost. I also think the the padding should be brought forward more to give more height.