Introduction to Project - Red Heads and Royalty, Buns and Plaits

Introduction to Red Heads and Royalty Introduction

When first thinking of Elizabethan hairstyles I think of extremely neat, structured up-dos. The reality of Elizabethan hair is that a lot of plaiting was in fact used along with pin curls and a lot of pearls and jewelry.
The forehead was kept high and accentuated by the small curls pinned back off of the head with delicate pearls often used to symbolize purity and power. Light hair was seen as beautiful in the Elizabethan era as well as a pale complexion, many women would try and achieve this look by dying their hair with cumin seed, celandine, saffron and oil as this light hair was a sign of nobility.


In Class Practice 

In our lesson with Lottie we focused on the basics of buns and plaits. It might sound easy but believe me to get it spot on was a challenge!

I first started off with a simple plait at the base of the neck and found that I needed to have a lot more control over the hair for it to look symmetrical.

To create a plait here are some simple steps:

• Split your hair into three equal sections wherever on the head you want the plait
• Next take the outer section and take it to the middle bringing the middle section to where the outer section sat originally
• Repeat this step on the other side always bringing the outer sections into the middle
• And carry on with these steps until you come to the end of the length of your hair.

After experimenting with a plait I then went on to a french plait. This I would say I am most confident with as I sometimes french plait my own hair, however it is very different practising on a dolls head!
For a french plait you start off my parting your hair down the middle so that you have two equal sections on either side of the head and pin one section out of the way to make it easier for yourself. You then take three equal sections from the front of the head and plait as normal once, the second time around take a section of hair from one side and add it into your original outer piece before taking it to the middle as you usually would. This means that the plait will travel down the head by adding little equal sections as you go along. Repeat this step on the other side and you will find that the french plait will take shape. Here is my finished french plait!

As I was doing my french plait I noticed that I was seeing gaps in the dolls hair where I had been adding the extra hair so asked Lottie and she showed me a way of preventing this. By taking a small section first closer to the plait rather than taking a bigger section I was able to cover the gaps. I then took a larger section further away from the plait which then covered any gaps, problem solved!Here is an image of the french plait I did using this method:

A fishtail plait is what I next practised, I've done fishtails before but wasn't too confident in doing them on others so this was a real test of my knowledge!

To create a fishtail you first have to section the piece of hair that you would like to plait into two equal sections (not three!). You then take a small section from the outer of one of the sections and take it across to join the other section making sure that the small sections you take across are really quite small as fishtails look more affective using smaller pieces of hair.This will take longer on longer hair so make sure you give yourself enough time for this hairstyle if its being used on shoot or for an assessment! When you've taking your fishtail plait as far as you'd like it, tie with a hair band or whatever you'd like to use. It's then useful to pull sections from the fishtail loose as this gives it it's full effect! Here is my finished fishtail.

Finally I moved on to practise buns! I quite enjoyed creating this look as I was able to concentrate on making sure it looked symmetrical at each angle. I first sectioned the hair into a half up, half down ponytail and tied with a hair band. Next I sectioned the hair in the hair band into four equal parts. Keeping the other three parts out of the way, I then teased the front section carefully (not too forcefully) and smoothed down any stray hairs. This section then began to lift and I looped the hair around my finger to create a loop shape and pinned to give me the front of my bun. Next I repeated these steps on all of the other three sections and pinned, leaving gap in between each one. Once all the sections were pinned I then carefully used the end of my comb to manipulate the hair to cover the gaps and create my bun. Because my sections were even and symmetrical this made it easier to cover the gaps and for the bun to look even all the way around. When my bun was nearly finished I combed any stray hairs out of the way to create a sleek looking bun and if I had a finishing spray I would lightly spray the bun to finish! Here is the final look!

Overall I really enjoyed this lesson as it helped me to brush up on basic plaits and buns and I realised how tricky it is to get everything looking perfect and symmertical! I'm going to continue to practise these at home and hopefully will become an expert!