Hairball Alley

We Do Wie Du Hair Do

Is it cheeky of me to use my blog as a brainstorming tool? It’s not the first time I’ve done it and I intend to abuse the privilege once again.

So in case you didn’t know, I’m getting married in September, hell yes, I think I said I never would, but I found out I couldn’t say no, so it’s on, Weddageddon.

All of a sudden I have a massive empathy with all my bridal customers. If you’ve never done this wedding thing, best advice – elope, never go back!

Dresses, cakes, photographers, rings and do-das aside, all I really care to talk about is the obvious, and most important thing might I add, your hair!

I’m in this situation, torn between up and down, I also have a workshop to write up on bridal hair – mainly aimed at MUAs and people hoping to either do hair for their friend’s wedding or become a wedding hairstylist (please feel free to book in for this).

One of my beautiful brides, Karen, pre-dress.

Let’s make my life easier and get you thinking about wedding hair before your trial, and i’ll try and have some revelations about my hair and my workshop.

So this is my list of considerations for bridal hair:

Do you want it up or down?

Do you have a weird thing about your ears?

Do you think your partner likes your hair in a particular way? (yes, let’s not forget this person that you love and are hoping to spend the rest of your life with)

Ok, so how will the weather be – is it outside? Hot, cold, humid, windy…?

Do you intend to head bang at any point (basically are you a bit of a party bride)?

What are you wearing? Do you want to be era appropriate to your dress, or just what you fancy?

How do you imagine yourself as a bride….?

Elegant old movie star/Hollywood glamour?

Princess Bride (yep like the movie) or 60s princess (tiaras or crowns desirable)?

slighty grungy (if I had a pound for every bride who said they’d like it to look messy and undone, sigh… I’ll come back to this later)?

Rock n roll/rockabilly/kustom kulture bride? (Hey well, you all probably have a Betty fringe anyway, but here’s some without)

sleek modern and stylish/minimalist…?

Think about who YOU are, you’re trying to be the best version of yourself, it’s not a costume party.

Do you have anything to put in your hair, veil, hair slide, hair band? This is best considered after the hair trial, but 9 times out of 10 I am given a hair slide and told to work with it.

Is that enough to consider?

No? Well here’s some issues that come up with bridal hair:

You’re looking at a fashion photoshoot for inspiration- the context of a photo does a lot for the hair and makeup, it looks great on the model, in the moment, in an appropriate setting, but this is not for a bride unless you generally dress like Robert Smith and in which case you are probably a pro at the teased look and don’t need my help anyway. 

This looks beautiful here in the photo, but bride with wet-look hair strewn across her face?

You’re not a sleek hair person, you want it undone looking. There’s a thin line between looking a bit sexy undone and looking like you once had a nice hairstyle and then you’ve been pulled through a hedge backwards. There are limits to “undone” styles and they still need structure.

People will wonder why you went to a hairstylist with one hand…

You want to wear your hair all down, but you’re having an outdoor wedding by the sea. Best advice, get it out of your face, have the front pinned up and the back down,  you don’t want it covering your face in photos, last minute tucking it behind your ears will look disappointing.

Clever lady on left having the last laugh I think…

I’m just going to put it out there- this…. 

…is a f*cking disaster. This is the dreaded bad-straightener-curls, I think this is generally accomplished by your aunt’s friend who does mobile hair cuts, and will do your wedding hair for £10+an invite to the wedding. Please do a hair trial, do not accept this from a person who claims to be a hairstylist, they are not.

Take a few pictures of styles that you like to your hair trial to show the stylist what kind of thing you’re after, but remember the results from your own hair might not be exactly as the hair models is, your hair will be a different colour, texture, thickness and length (also a different face shape, neck length and skin colouring) so slightly different results are highly likely.

Good luck with the decision making and don’t forget to have fun on your big day, your other half will love you whatever craziness you show up in. But, one last thing, always remember you have to look at these photos for the rest of your lives, fashions change and style is timeless, some high fashion decisions will later be regretted…

Anonymous asked: This may seem like an odd question, but is it better to roll the hair in the same direction or alternate it (rolling over on one row, then under on the next) when trying to sculpt deep waves while using rollers? I know that it works with pin curls and I was wondering if the same thoery applied with rollers. Also, I abolutely ADORE your blog. I went through the whole thing the night I discovered it. You are talented beyond all belief.

Thank you so much for your comments.

You can do it either way, you’ll achieve slightly different results, but both are nice.

If you have short hair (50s bob cut) you’d really see some interesting stuff from alternating, there’s some amazing 1950s set patterns that alternate direction. If you have longer hair it would be more subtle results, you’ll probably find the look is slightly flatter if you alternate, and will have more volume if you roll in the same direction.

Best advice is try both out, and have fun doing it, everyones hair is different and one way will work better for you :-) 

Kay x

bluerosevintage asked: Hi there! I just came across your blog today and I love it! I really love the hairstyle in your "How To Get The Most Out Of The Depression". May I ask how long was your hair when you did that tutorial? I have long hair and I am curious if I would need to cut it a certain length to achieve the first 1930s style that you did. Thank you in advance! Ashley

Hi there

Sorry for my long time responding, I’m very slow at answering questions as I’m not a pro-blogger, I’m a hairstylist so real life comes before e-life!

I did that style a couple of years ago, my hair is generally just past shoulder length, might have been a little longer at that point, but you should be able to achieve that kind of style with any length, as long as you have plenty bobby pins!

Kay x

The Sweet Smell of Success?

So New York was about a million years ago, and I’ve been backwards and forwards about whether to keep up blogging.

Travelling, soul-searching, self-evaluating; wondering whether my blog is helping or hindering my career. I’ve been weighing up the benefits of online presence generally, realistically does anyone see any benefits from being ‘Repinned’?

Pinterest-hate aside, I did some google image searching the other day, I generally do more image searches than text searches, and found my pictures hitting pretty high on some very random searches. It’s inspired me to do a little something on my blog anyway, there’s much worse ways to up my profile (than coming up in every film-noir-related search on Google).

Since NYC, and Brooklyn Fashion Weekend craziness, I’ve been to San Francisco, Seattle (yes I went to Twin Peaks, and got my hair wet at the falls), New Orleans, San Diego, and now I’m in New Zealand!

I had myself a little stall at the NZ Tattoo and Art Festival at New Plymouth a couple of weeks ago, which was a laugh and got me back into working flat out again, after much touristing in the States.

I have a hairstyling workshop at Rita Sue in Auckland, on the 16th December, which looks like it’s going to be busy (see Facebook for dets).

And that quickly we’re up to date, apart from discussing the all important month, Noirvember.

I hope a lot of you had the chance to watch some classics last month, here’s my list of the top hair moments:

Barbara Stanwyck, in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers

Olivia De Havilland and Olivia De Havilland, in The Dark Mirror

The tiniest wee Ida Lupino, in High Sierra

But by far my favourite was Nina Vale in Cornered.

The glammest Femma Fatale of the month

Check out the clip and you’ll see why I’m so smitten with this lady:

http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/349082/Cornered-Movie-Clip-Not-More-Than-Three-Husbands.html

So of course I copied the look…. I managed to also have a bad reaction to some eyelash glue, which was not a good time, but what’s a noir without a bit of shit luck.

So little curling needed for this, two rolls on top of the head coming toward the face, and I did a quick 1 spin with the tong in the back.

I pulled the hair back, clipping the side back to stabilise, until I got it pinned up.

Grabbed all the hair and twisted it up, and pinned it all in.

Put the ends into a loose pin curl.

Backcombed the back section.

Rolled it in, towards the face.

Pulled the sides down gently pressing flat with the palms of my hands, and pinned each end to the sides of my head.

I backcombed the front for stability.

Twisted the fringe/bang section to the side.

And pulled it across and under, this is an easy way to get a roll shape.

I pincurled the end, a full rolled fringe seemed unnecessary effort today.

I added my own touch with a Wee Dottle (new Dottles coming soon I hope, once my flowers are delivered, watch out New Zealand!)

With Noirvember over, it’s time to start thinking about Christmas, next for me we head down to Nelson, NZ, contact me for Christmas / NYE bookings, and from the 20th January I’ll be based in Melbourne, hello lovely Australians!

“I never confuse business with sentiment. Unless it’s extremely profitable, of course.” Clifton Webb, The Dark Corner.

I love to Tumble, but…

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Kxxx

The Lady From Wherever (WWVWD?)

New York, New York, well Brooklyn to be more precise. I’m in the good ol’ US of A and about to do some “fashion” work, slightly nervous, runway backstage is a crazy place to be, but hopefully it’ll be fun and lead to some other interesting pieces of work.

I’ve had the usual Brit travelling problem of having the wrong voltage on my tools so the start of my week here I mainly did wet sets and simple non curled styles, gave me the excuse to get my Little House on The Prairie on and braid it up a treat, with bows and whistles a plenty.

The poor show from my hairdryer, a change of shampoo brand, and shops full of exciting pomades, got me thinking more about hair care and my general hair regime. It reminded me of this article I have by Vivienne Walker.

It’s a fairly funny read, and on first reading had me thinking - WTF? It’s the kind of advice my Nan gave me as a child, I remember her brushing my hair 100 times before bed everytime I stayed with her. This advice I quickly threw away, believing it risked hair breakage from over brushing and a probable increase in dandruff.

It’s only after really thinking about my regime I realised, I actually do this in my own way! When I blow dry I constantly brush, in all directions, forward, back, brushing from the scalp, then through the ends as I dry. In all truth, I probably brush 200 times!

So page 2 I don’t rate so much, I dye my hair once every six weeks (Garnier Herbashine Blueberry Black), it is necessary.

I do love the advice of not copying the Hollywood styles, only to provide a few examples that most certainly look to me like wild Hollywood styles, but that said, I am a fan of wildly exaggerated Hollywood styles.

Leading nicely on to my “upswept” style. I was taken with the upswept look thanks to Rita Hayworth in The Lady From Shanghai. A blonde Rita, this girl can do no wrong when it comes to shade, perfect in noir and technicolour. 

I was playing around with this style after watching the film in Amsterdam

Anyway.. swept up styles, easy, you just need to decide how you put up the back, pincurls, french roll maybe, and how high you want the front.

This is one of those times where I say learn how to do victory rolls, they are very important for this kind of style.

And I got a new set of American tongs! Babyliss 1”, work a treat as always.

So I curled my hair, just enough to do each section at the front, and to get some shape at the back for my pincurls.

The front I curled back, away from my face.

I pincurled the very back to the nape of my neck.

Did 2 victory rolls, note I did them going in the same direction, both to the left, so the left roll is rolling towards my face. Just for the heck of it.

I did another roll far back on each side.

I waved the very front section over this back roll, and pinned the ends at the back 

I rolled the back top section, slightly to one side. This section is fully rolled in, so the ends are contained in the roll.

I took the main section of the front over the roll and pincurled any remaining ends at the back. I took a small section of the front and pincurled it to the front, just to give a different dimension.

And somehow I manage to have a red wall available no matter what continent I arrive in.

Thanks to Jason once again for taking my photos, he’s tattooing at Three Kings in Brooklyn this week, so New Yorkers get yourself tattooed!

I find myself wondering what Vivienne Walker would make of my style, and whether my own advice might be painfully analyzed in 60 years time by some snotty little hairstylist…

Engel Hair

We’ve done the UK, we’ve done Germany, and now in Madrid, about to leave for New York, a lack of WIFI availability in Madrid has been both a delay to this blog and a constant irritation. The experience is still surreal, and will hopefully and likely remain that way until the very end, but maybe by then the normality of staying put in one place will be the surreal experience.

Having left the UK, after some successful workshops, photoshoots, and fun times, Berlin was the first major stop.

In Berlin I did 4 workshops with the lovely people at Rock-A-Tiki/ Class of Berlin. This is a really cool shop in Berlin on Grossehamburger StraBe, selling both vintage and repro vintage. There’s 2 floors and the basement hosts a super-barber, Stan. I’m always impressed by barbering, there was a poster on the wall reminding the gents to get their hair trimmed every 10 days, top tip! Jason got a trim, and very nice it was indeed.

All the workshops were great, I’m so pleased the ladies all understood English and my German wasn’t stretched any further than “Kurfestiger” (setting lotion).

I have to mention Class of Berlin’s own brand, Marlene’s Tochter stitched instore by the beautiful Franziska. If I hadn’t a suitcase to worry about I definitely would have bought some of the new collection. I was lucky enough to be given a top, which I’ll definitely have on for my next blog, thank you Franziska!

In Berlin, as you might expect I had a bit of a Marlene Dietrich frenzy. We visited the Deutsche Kinemathek at Potsdamer Platz, which has an awesome Dietrich section, everything from her luggage to her love notes.

Aside from being something of a heartbreaker, and having the most insane eyebrow/cheekbone combo you’re ever likely to see, Marlene had effing style. Her travelling beauty case, with her name on it of course, was one of my highlights of the exhibition, and she pretty much steals every scene in all her films with her air of importance and immaculate often androgynous wardrobe. Witness For The Prosecution and Stage Fright, total bitch in both, but wouldn’t you kill for the look too?

I thought I’d do a quick Dietrich/1930s inspired look using heated rollers, my kit is stripped right back for travelling and I’m missing a lot of my tools now, but there’s the challenge for me!

 I have neither the cheek bones nor the eyebrows for this look, but I’ll do my best… I also wangled myself a guest photographer, he’s a better tattooist than a photographer, but I think he did a pretty fantastic job!

 I set my hair in a wave at the front (if you don’t know how to do this, see my earlier blogs). Don’t forget your setting lotion all over.

The rest of the hair I set in rollers, I set these vertically around my head, so that I would get a good ringlet curl, helping to keep it a curl, rather than it brushing more into a wave.

I pulled my fingers through my hair to separate the curls, this is the only time I’d recommend running your fingers through your hair (fingers are not brushes!) and I combed my crown flat.

When the hair is nice and curly like this, it almost works like backcombing/teasing, you should find it easier to pin up, just roll it up and under, but remember to use plenty grips and pins to hold it up, and hairspray to set.

I took my clips out the wave at the front and combed through gently.

10 minutes to put your rollers in, set it in rollers for 30 mins (or set over night in pincurls) and style in 5 minutes, very quick and easy style. 

I’ll be in New York from the 29th, hopefully doing some exciting bits and pieces over there, and making time for a new blog…

Anonymous asked: I came to your workshop at Manchester Lindy and want to try some hairstyles but was wondering how much to dilute my setting lotion by?

Hi there. Hope you enjoyed the workshop. If you try diluting with 25-50% water, depending how thick the lotion is. Go for about a third water if you’re not sure :-) Kx

Jan Pehchan Ho

I’ve been on the road for a couple of weeks now, and so far so good. 

We’ve stayed with some lovely people in Newcastle and Manchester, and just about to head on to Cornwall from our current stop in Derby.

The time in UK, although it felt like a drag to do at the start, has proved useful in learning what to expect from people, how to work and how to behave as a human being (if you want to get along in life that is). 

Travelling with your other half makes difficult parts easier, without Jason I’d probably have cried at least 5 times by now, so far no tears. Jason has worked like a trooper and I’m so proud of him, his work is looking better than ever, in my biased and untrained opinion, you should probably get tattooed by him, if you can get a space (La Familia in Cornwall and Magnum Opus in Brighton next)!

So I’ve been less busy as expected, but I’m still plugging away. I did a workshop with Manchester Lindy, and worked at Judy’s Fair at Tramlines at the weekend, and  some bits and pieces of hairstyling inbetween.

In getting excited, and ahead of myself as usual, I’m already thinking about how to dress in future destinations…

In a year we’ll be in India. Since we booked our round the world tickets I’ve been obsessing over getting a sari and dressing like a 1960s Bollywood starlet, and swanning around India in a fashion that most backpackers would ridicule.

Can you think of anything better than this…

Sadhana-Shivdasani, India’s answer to Audrey

Sharmila Tagore, that eyeliner.

Leena Chandravekar, adorable in gold

Asha Parekh, orchid placement perfection.

I did a style today as a homage to these ladies.

I parted a rectangular section from the front.

Twisted it to make a faux fringe (bangs)

I curled my hair in large sections, I didn’t want it really curly, just wavy.

I sectioned the top and pinned the bottom half to one side to keep the length.

I backcombed/teased the top section a bit, leaving out the sides.

Gave it a twist and a push to the side and secured with a pin.

I pulled the side sections up and over the centre of my scalp.

I’d probably go for a bigger beehive next time, but it’s a quick easy ethnic look that could be done even in the climes of Mumbai.

And it’s always worth adding a bit of extra colour to spice it up.

So next for me…

I’ll be in Cornwall next week, at Trereife House Summer Festival in Penzance working for 3 days from 3rd-5th August.

After visiting Jason’s ‘rents we’ll be in Bournemouth where I’ll be running a styling workshop/demo at What Alice Found Boutique on the 10th August.

Then our last stop will be Brighton before we head off to Berlin. In Berlin I’ll be working from the fabulous shop Rock-A-Tiki.

And lots more photoshoots and fabulousness in the pipeline too, hope you can join me at some point!

threadandcloth asked: Hi lovely! Hair colouring question for you. I read that you colour with Clairol Herbashine. I've recently made the switch to demi-permanent colour and am wondering how long I should wait before re-colouring? Is it safer to re-colour more often with demi-permanent than permanent? Thanks a ton! xoxo

Hey lady, i do indeed, I find the demi less drying than the permanent on my hair. I re-colour every 6 weeks roughly and have done for the past 4 years without problems. As with all hair colouring just make sure and trim your ends regularly. xx