Hairball Alley

A Sweater, A Sarong and a Peekaboo Bang

A notable absence from blogging signals both my ever increasing busyness, and my easily distractable mind.

In fairness after a long Jabruary, a horrible period lacking in opportunities for businesses, I did some more house moving, the painful memories and difficulties of my last move seemed a distant memory and I have had about 2 months of blissful living.

March signified a change in the air and work picked up, now that April is here, it all seems to be going crazy, my emails continue to get more bizarre, questions get more inane, opportunities become more surreal.

My big change year came full circle as me and Vanity Thrills took to the Scottish Tattoo convention once again, and once again worked harder than would seem reasonable for a weekend.

I started a range of hair ornaments “Wee Dottles”, which I’m currently obsessing over and preparing a large quantity of.

I started my photographic make-up VTCT qualification, took lots of photos with my SLR, got a Pinterest page and a www.hairballalley.com (also based on Tumblr) for more time-wasting, and watched a lot of Film Noirs.

On that last point, aside from my Dottles, I’m now obsessed with “The Bitch”, ‘Moronica’ Lake, sorry but I beg to differ with this opinion of her, I think her quite fantastic.

Her hair is not as voluminous as many 1940s starlets, but is smooth and relatively fine, her definitive waves, not curls, are the highlight of her films.

After watching The Glass Key last night I was completely won over, her style and charm is undeniable and today I wanted to be Veronica. The problem with today was it was snowing, and raining, and windy, so I saved myself for this evening and set my hair in some hot rollers.

Medium rollers set for a good long while, a few rolling down from your heavy side part slightly toward the face.

The rest rolling down your head, you don’t need loads of rollers to get this look, it only need a bit of curl, don’t go mad, you’ll only make brushing out hard work.

Note, it’s all very “off base”, you don’t want any volume on top.

Take em out, you should be a bit curly, but not insanely so.

Give it a good brush out, with your Denman and maybe a little hairspray.

Then you’re shaping it, I’m trying a figure gesture to get the point across today, sorry if this is mince. But think, pull the front back away from your face, and clip it, you’re then going to gently pull in a “C” shape toward your face, clip it there, then a backward “C” shape, pull it away from your face and clip. See easy!

See, pull the front back, before you pull the next bit forward. Clear?

Look, more fingers, same thing, back away from the face, then forwards, then back, it’s a bit like skiing, but way more fun, and you won’t break your leg.

Hairspray the hell outta it!

Do your best with the back, I’m not going to lie, I just gave it a brush under and hoped for the best from the waves. And that’s it, this is the easiest yet, god I’m getting lazy!

That really was too easy, I need to work on this Bitch look next…

“I’ve reached a point in my life where it’s the little things that matter… I was always a rebel and probably could have got much farther had I changed my attitude. But when you think about it, I got pretty far without changing attitudes. I’m happier with that.”

We Need to Talk About Audrey

It’s no secret that I’m more than slightly obsessed with the character Audrey Horne, from Twin Peaks. I’ve mentioned her on my blog many times, and half my wardrobe is based on her 1950s style. It’s not just the character to be fair, Sherilyn Fenn, the actress formally known as Audrey and hardly seen since, had the classic 50s sex kitten look down.

There’s no one more important in establishing this fact than the wonderful, god rest her soul, Elizabeth Taylor.

I spend 50% of my life trying to be Audrey yet I don’t have a bob. 1950s bobs and short cuts are quintessential, keep it short, set it tight, pencil in those eyebrows heavy and you have a killer look.

BUT… when you have all those fabulous Rita dos to consider you need to keep it long don’t you? This is why it is of vital importance that everyone perfects their own mock bob.

There’s so many different things you can do with a mock bob, consider the possibilities, not just 50s, this is going to take you from the 1920s Louise Brooks, in any of her hair forms

To Natalie Wood 60s style

And everything in between

First thing to think about is curl, how much curl, how tight the curl and how big the curl. Even a classic Louise Brooks, you should curl your ends to help you with the style.

Next do you want a wave shaping? A fringe? Well you’re going to curl that in too. This is the fun part, just try things out, directions, size of curl, you can get some great effects from just going wild.

Once you’ve brushed out to suit your style you’re going to need a mountain of kirby grips, and possibly a little backcombing, depending on your hair type and the volume you want, and a heap of hairspray.

Every mock bob is going to have the under-section of hair pinned at the nape of the neck and it’s up to you to get creative with what you can do from there, especially at the front.

Nothing without lipstick, as always.

This is my Lizzy Taylor tribute, but I might well be bobbing all week. Hopefully I’ll have a glamorous assistant on Friday in the shape of the beautiful model and talented artist Eleni Kalorkoti, who has the privilege of having a bona fide bob, oh the fun we’re going to have!

Glamour -Getter

My mum’s first choice of name for me was Rita.

Now don’t get me wrong Kay is alright, there’s Kay Francis…

Kay Kendall…

and the lovely Kay Starr…

…but, everytime I see Rita I curse my mother’s decision.

To be fair to my beautiful mother, who is one of my favourite hair models, Rita would sound horrible in most Scottish accents, maybe she did me a favour with the 1 syllable name that even the broadest of Scots can’t add much flavour to.

Moans over, I have this fabulous/hilarious article by Rita called “Every Woman Should Glamour for Attention”.

It’s a typical all over the place article by a filmstar, but there are a few gems in it which I can get behind in a Glamour Army kind of a way…

“Combine the two, mystery and sincerity, and you have a womanly personality which is irresistible. For the mystery will intrigue and the sincerity will gain and hold respect”

“It is your duty to be glamorous. This workaday world needs all the enchantment it can get and it is up to you to provide your quota.”

“Even the stay-at-home who has no chance to sparkle beneath the bright lights can be glamorous, for glamour does not demand public attention but is something you can be famous for even amongst a limited circle of friends or even in one’s own family”

She recommends expressing your “innate womanliness” through, perfect hair, perfect hands and a perfect voice (at least 2 or 3 registers below the everyday), carefully chosen perfume, and steeliness of spirit… make of that what you will.

Anyway, let’s work on the “perfect” Rita hair.

First off, here’s my easy wave shaping method for wet setting…

Side part and comb hair back, securing with sectioning clip,

With hair securely clipped, comb the remaining part of the section back on itself, into a ‘c’ shape

Give that hair a little nudge up with the comb still in it, and stick a clip in to hold in place before removing the comb (which should have created a little ridge by nudging it up a little),

Now reverse the hair ‘c’ shape again, but pulling the hair away from the face, so the hair is now snaking over your hairline, again give a little nudge up with the comb, you can see the little ridge in the picture, this isn’t a really hard fingerwave ridge, just enough to encourage a shaping, and clip again,

I rolled in 2 pincurls with the ends of the waved section of hair.

2 finger pincurl, for slightly looser curls, 1 finger ones can be pretty crazy stuff to deal with and tame sometimes.

Now I’m thinking a good number of large pincurls throughout the hair.

I sectioned my hair into 3 layers.

Pincurls starting at bottom layer.

I noticed Rita often had a section of hair from the back coming over the front, so I simply combed that forward and pincurled beside the first pincurls I did with the wave.

All of this can be done with heated rollers or tongs, as always though I like the wet set effect for a traditional and long-lasting look.

The next morning comes the brushing out and using my new camera again, which I am trying to get used to using for this, but it’s not easy, I may revert back to the old one for blogging!

I brushed out well for this style as I wanted looser waves rather than curls.

I do the sides before the front wave section,

I brushed through the wave, and remember I brought a section forward from the back in the set, well I combed that over the front wave, and tucked the ends behind the front section.

Now I just need to work on my voice.

And as Rita says:

“The girl born with pretty features can be lovely but it is the girl who uses her intelligence who becomes glamorous”

December Herald Newspaper article, with me and my gorgeous man http://jasoncorbett.co.uk/

Any Place I Hang My Hat is Home

It’s 2012 now, happy new year, and I resolve to get back on top of my blog.

After Japan, it went a bit festive, and moving house is never the best time to try and get anything done.

I’m now finished my Christmas holidays, a lot more chirpy than I started them. Spending time with my nearest and dearest, getting dressed up, getting clients dressed up and playing with my new camera, have given me a well needed boost after the stress of moving.

One thing I got the chance to do in the holidays was to model some of Miss Dixiebelle’s lovely head wear, and so my obsession du jour was born.

I’m a huge hair ornament fan, never more so than seeing the Geisha attire in Japan, but I’ve heard this is the year in fashion for hair ornaments and I’m running with it.

For my shoot with Fiona Timantti hats and Miss Dixiebelle’s range of vintage jewellery, I did a basic pincurl set in my hair, which I took out half way through to change for some classic waves. This is my favourite kind of set for getting the finished femme fatale waves.

The set was basic large pincurls (wrapped around 2 fingers), with a wave shaping at the front, which I promise a tutorial on this year!

You can see the full shoot on Facebook

Now, if today is anything to go by, my obsession with headscarves will be long continuing, but the lovely Emma made my day on Hogmanay at work, when she gifted me with a leopard print Bubble Betty.

If you’re not familiar with these retro delights, favourite of older ladies in the UK certainly, but in dire need of a revival not only because they are incredibly practical and keep your hair dry and untouched by the hellish wind but because they looks stylish (do not beg to differ, they are chique, it’s only connotations that makes my boyfriend laugh at me in it), then you need to get familiar.

If there’s one piece of important advice I can give this season, it’s don’t go outside uncovered!

Her Eyes Like Light Reflect The Aura of Her Hair

The weather is turning here, it’s wintery cold and it’s not something I dislike, the excuse to wear Fair Isles and cashmere cardis makes the season entirely enjoyable. I had in-mind in the summer that it was ,generally, my 1940s season, and if that’s the case the 50s is a definite for the winter.

All this positive winter talk is slightly marred by the runny nose and cough that I am, and everyone else is trying to shake, I wasn’t helped possibly by the face tattooing and more leg colouring in. Seriously, face tattooing is not comfortable, me and the lovely Miss Cutie Kills (more on her later), got our eyebrows tattooed on a couple of weeks ago, it was an interesting experience, but suffice to say I’m thrilled with the result, no regrets, and no more smudged brow pencil.

Happily timed, the October low-season means I’ve just got a bit quieter work-wise, but I’m taking the chance to get out and about a bit. Doing Judy’s Affordable Vintage Fair was a blast, some absolutely lovely customers and I stayed busy so avoided spending all my money on the lovely 50s frocks I was stood next to all day. The rest of my not-so-spare time was spent making a dress for my supremo tattooer Venus Flytrap, which has started me sewing again for myself like a maniac, which is probably not part of my business plan!

On Saturday, after sewing myself an impromptu frock, I headed out for Miss Cutie Kills leaving do, not only is she the best nail tech on the planet, she’s a super-lovely little lady that will be sorely missed by her fellow Dixiebelles, she’s heading out to Australia, so if you’re in that part of the world I’d highly recommend her for vintage style nails and tattoo/retro inspired nail art.

Avec cashmere cardi and Zara’s beautiful nail work, I took inspiration from the 50s and set my hair for a whole 24 hours, wearing my set during the day and taking out the next morning. Setting for a long time gives it a much stronger set that’s going to hold a pageboy type style like this.

As usual with me, it’s a simple set, 1 row of pincurls all the way round the head, one direction and keeping it low to the nape, with a slight shaping at the front.

Brush under and into shape, the long set time should give you stability, but you may want to do a little bit of back combing to hold, though I didn’t need it.

Use pins where necessary, but this style is fun 50s, so don’t worry too much about curls separating, it keeps it cute and away from the more structured 40s styles.

Finish the look always with red lips, a smile and perfect half moon shellac nails

Thank you Zara, good luck! xxx

Last Night My Kisses Were Banked In Black Hair

My first day off in 3 weeks on Sunday, so I spent it getting needles in my leg, don’t you just love being wrapped in clingfilm..?!

Aside from being a few more shades of neon, I’ve been contending with a passing hurricane and more brides-to-be, not sure which makes me less likely to want to leave the house.

The concept of “wedding season” passes me by, people don’t seem to stop getting married as far as I can see.

Miss Dixiebelle has begun her wedding empire and the shop is now adorned with wedding lingerie and a couple of wedding dresses. Bridal fairs ahoy! We did a lovely 1930s mock wedding photoshoot at the Voodoo Rooms with the gorgeous, and very sporting, Jess and Danny. Couple of snapshots, thanks to Jason for the pap outside.

We’re waiting on the edits from these shortly.

Not only am I tangled up in wedding hair, I’m currently working on a dress for a wedding guest, and I’ve still found time to become one of those sickening loved-up people myself.

Being busy I’ve been doing a lot of my previously mentioned wearable sets. It does what it says on the tin, it’s just any way of setting your hair so it looks ok to wear as a hairstyle in itself.

All that I’ve been tending towards is some fingerwaves through the front and small pincurls at the back with enough hair left on one side to pull over the pincurls. It’s super-simple as your hair can be a bit damp after washing, stick in some setting lotion and you can wear for one day, sleep in it and take it down the next day, leaving you with lovely curls.

This is after a day at work, so you can see if you use plenty pins it should stay in all day, even in hurricane conditions….

Here’s various angles on my shaping, shaping waves is all down to practice and sectioning clips.

It’s handy for setting to use a few discreet pins to hold in place until set, I use hair clips/hair flowers etc to distract from any pins.

Working backward this is the pincurls covered by one larger side pincurl

And my messy pincurl shame revealed!

The usual take it out and brush it out.

Once brushed out I tend to pin back on my good side

And that’s your 2 hairstyles, your 2 days, too feckin easy.

I have more amore, with a wedding booking on Sunday, if only I got an invite to all the ceremonies, just think of all the hats I could justify buying…

The Only Good Fight There Is

I know a lot of talented people, not all of them are successful, I think this month I noticed the distinction. If you put your energy into demeaning, or attempting to cause problems for others, it’s likely you’ll have no energy or self-worth left to fulfill your own ambitions. Basically stop worrying about what he/she/they are doing, and keep your eye on your own shit.

I’m a self-confessed control freak and never do what I’m told if it’s at all possible, this is why self-employment is my absolute goal. The people who inspire me in life are sometimes difficult, very independent and highly motivated. And, I really am turning in to my father!

I have met some interesting and inspiring ladies recently, talented in various ways and the kind of people who shake me into pulling my socks up and getting out there a bit more.

I spent a morning with Lorraine at Violet’s Salon a couple of weeks ago, (such a great looking wee salon) watching her cut, perm and set the older set; it’s quite different to what I do, but inspiring and makes you reassess how you go about things. Top tip from Lorraine was, get your lacquer build-up out using Radox bath salts! Hopefully I’ll be able to hear more from Lorraine once she gets back from her holidays.

Envy Greene visited Miss Dixiebelle for our styling evening. A stylist and makeup artist from London, she really impressed with her knowledge of vintage fashion, I really enjoyed hearing her thoughts about shoulder pads, and was thrilled that she had admired my work at Vintage Southbank. Envy really inspired me to get my years right, her date specific knowledge was seriously impressive.

I hooked up with Edinburgh’s premier nail girl and an absolute inspiration herself Miss Cutie Kills aka Zara Brodie, for a stand at the Roller Derby on Saturday. Though I tried and failed at the Derby when ARRG first started, I have a lot of respect for the girls that organise and participate, there is no motivation lacking there, the passion within their community astounds me, it’s impressive stuff.

Anyway on to the hairstyling. I’ve been getting practical this month, I’ve even been doing some wearable sets one day and taking it out the next day, not washing my hair every day! My inspiration for my wearable sets came from Valerie Hobson, and started with an homage to the original hairdo (from Preview 1950, note the year!).

I used some tongs to achieve a similar look, I simply tonged in various directions, and back combed each tonged section slightly and rolled and pinned in various directions, creating most volume to the back.

Start with your part.

Always take your tonging very seriously. Set in the direction you want the hair to fall, so go wild with updos.

As I started to unclip and back comb and pin, working from the nape up, you can see the back combing compared to the smooth tonged sections still clipped. Just experiment with directions and shapes, there is no right or wrong way to do this, just do what looks nice. I never look in a mirror at the back until I’m tidying up at the very end, I do it by how it feels, it’s less confusing.

The sides I combed out and shaped in to a wave, using sectioning clips to help.

I brushed the top out into a wave, combed back and curled the ends back toward my face

So I went out to work as I was running late as always, and returned home and got changed for going out, and finally got some finished style photos!

This post is dedicated to rolling the dice and not letting anyone stand in your way, whether you have tongs in your hand, skates on your feet or you’re just trying to get where you’re going.

Lying There Like You’re Tame

I arrived back on Monday afternoon, slightly spaced out from a weekend of highs and lows at the Vintage 2011 Festival, at the Southbank in London.

My intimidating day 1 first job was to style a TV presenter for the news.. I got through it looking very nervous, but reasonably happy with the style I did in the 5 minutes I had to do it. I went on to style the public for the next 3 days, for free, 3 hour long queuing ensued, but overall I have no regrets and am both proud of myself and glad that I did it, despite points of wanting to throw in the towel/punch someone in the face.

I’m not a event reviewer and I saw very little of the festival itself, as I was too busy, all I can comment on is the hair and what I took from it is that people really want to know how to get a traditionally vintage look, not modern reinterpretations. The amount of people who asked about my hair was incredible, I did wet sets for ease all weekend (I was sleeping on a friends couch, and trying to keep disruption to a minimum), and I told countless people about how to do a wet set.

One thing that bothers me about modern vintage styling is the fear of the frizz, my hair was far from sleek in the hot humid Festival Hall, and I’m going to argue the point that frizz is sometimes a good thing!

As I used my Babyliss stylers and Wave Envy (glorified crimpers if you ask me, my 1 unhappy customer got treated to these, it was an experiment that I won’t revisit) over the weekend, I thought about how much more “vintage” it looked to have a bit of fluff.

I set my hair last night with rags for a change, and today was close, muggy, rainy, hot, you name a weather that scares your hair, that’s what we have today; so perfect frizz weather.

First off here’s the ragging.

Once you’ve cut out some fabric strips this is so simple and you can play around with the size of sections and directionality, just as you do with pincurls and rollers.

As usual I had almost dry hair, wetted down just slightly with setting lotion and water mix.

I did a heavy side part and rolled my hair up in the rags all over, just have fun with it, most people seem to roll straight down the head, I used the approach I take with rollers and pincurls and went in various directions.

Unrolling is easy.

Rag curls tend to be a bit looser than pincurls and rollers.

As usual I brushed and brushed and brushed out the curl, don’t be afraid to really brush it out, and always use a Denman styling brush.

One side brushed out, undulatey.

I went with what the hair wanted to do and shaped in my fringe, as I felt looked good, and which went with the undulations made from the curling.

Pinning back one side seemed like a good idea.

And that’s the sleek part done…

….I just needed to go out for the day and work on wrecking my hairstyle.

My inspiration here is going to have to be the infamous Betty Page, who’s hair is often frizz-tastic, but gorgeous.

After a full days work and walking about in the hot rain for a couple of hours I brushed my hair through, quite fluffy, a bit frizzy, but not in my opinion bad hair. I love brushing out the products girls with curls put in their hair that make it look crispy or wet and giving them a good frizz and fluff, I have no idea why there has become this fashion dislike of brushed out curls.

Before I went out I brushed it furiously to a real frizz. Inspired by Betty I rolled in a fringe. Don’t be afraid to backcomb for this, it’s the only thing really holding it up, the pins are really there to keep it in place, it should stand without them if you have the backcombing stability correct.

Smooth the top layer of hair with a soft brush.

You should roll in and pin in the middle of the roll, before spreading around the sides.

The backcombing should hold the roll together as you spread it around the side of your head.

A quick RIP to Betty, and you’re ready for your Jungle moment

The artificial gloss of the Vintage Festival is over for me now and it’s back to the reality of being amongst the over-straightened. For those about to frizz, I salute you.

Curls on Film

After a mad, but fantastically rewarding, couple weeks of wedding styling, I’ve had the confirmation this week that I’ll be working down in London at Vintage 2011 at the Southbank Centre. This is mostly exciting, although the thought that people might be asking me for 80s hairdos does send a shiver up my spine, since when was the 80s vintage? This makes me feel old, and I’m not! I’m sure I’ll come to terms with this over the next few weeks and suck it up in time for the styling.

With my time in Miss Dixiebelle of late, the days I wasn’t in South Queensferry -Weddingsville, I took the time to admire (ie. steal photos from) some fantastic books that a lovely customer had dropped in for Emma. These Film Review books are most excellent for reference, and have some photos I haven’t come across anywhere else.

I have just ordered 5 of them from the 40’s 50’s and 60s from Abe Books, who I love for old photo books.

The 2 books in the shop have left me a bit embarrassed by my loose curls/waves that I’ve been sporting a lot lately, while rushing in the morning with heated rollers.

I did one slightly half-hearted wet set last weekend, but now inspired by these lovely bushy-haired vixens I set about setting.

For this styling I used traditional 40s pincurls, now today was hot and sunny, the lighting was fun… not!

I’m pretty lazy when it comes to pincurling, my pincurls are rather large and not the neatest, though I have slept on these to dry, when you set them damp with setting lotion, do comb the hair through and try to get the pincurl as neat a possible, I section into rows and pincurl from the neck up.

I did some large stand up pincurls on top, as I like a bit of lift, you can do flat ones if you suit a flat to the head style.

You get your corkscrews when you take them out, this is what you want and the more you have the more volume you’ll get, though the more you have the harder it is to work with.

I should mention that wet setting, although it seems like it would be better for the hair than heat, the breakage is far worse, you’ll notice how much hair you loose in brushing it through.