Elizabethan Hair on Real Models

So far we have worked on our model's heads to practise and experiment with different hairstyles and techniques so in this lesson we got a chance to do a hairstyle on a real person's head. We did the same look that we had done on our model heads the week before so that we could compare. Below is the look that I achieved. (The details on how I achieved this look can be found on an earlier post.)

I was really happy with how my curls looked as I
had never got them to look this perfect before! 

Hair just after crimping.

Hair after the crimping had been brushed out.

After I had brought all the hair over the padding. I really liked
how the hair was ombre because there were different colours in the hair.

Hair after the pin curls had been taken up and placed on the padding.

Close-up of the pin curls

View of hairstyle from the back

I was really happy with how my curls came out and how even they were because in my previous looks, the curls have been uneven or not straight, but I thought these curls were my best so far and I am happy that I can see improvement! I loved how my model's hair was ombre because the look had so many different colours in it, making it look a lot more modern and intricate. Unfortunately, I put the french plaits in the hair, straight behind the curls, meaning that there was no hair to pull over the front of the padding. Because of this, I had to wrap the ends of the hair round to the front to cover the padding, making the look a bit messy. I found it easier to hide the hair pins in the hair because the pins were closer in colour to my model's hair, than to my plastic model. I am not happy with the back of the hairstyle because it looks very messy. To improve this, I would have made a straight parting down the back and pulled the hair up tighter to give it a more polished and neat look.

I then decided to pull the curls right back, over the padding to see what effect it would give and I really liked the effect! I love how the two colours of the hair look very different. I really like how the darker hair almost looks like spiders legs or a cage. The look also reminds me of Cruella De Ville! I think this is a really good, modern twist on the traditional Elizabethan padding looks. I could have made the shape of the look more even, but apart from that, I am very happy with the outcome.