Hairball Alley

Everything’s Coming Up Roses

The past month has been awash with colour. From multicoloured Wee Dottles, to orange eyeshadows, to yellow hair, all mixed up with pink blossoms and green pines.

I’m coming to an exciting point in my life where I’m about to go full time in technicolour. I finish up my administration job at the end of May, and then do a month solidly of creative work, followed by a year of travelling around the world!!

Let’s put that excitement to the side as I work backwords in a film noir fashion, nobody gets killed, though my lover is currently in New York city covered in blood, but that’s his story, but in my tale the ladies all look fabulous.

Last week I was ill, officially dying of the flu I was, according to my mother, so it was a complete write off. At the end of the illness I did my first Wee Dottles photoshoot with the beautiful models Laura and Gemma, of course I had to do hair and makeup, and photography (possessive? Me?!), and it was wonderful, exactly what I hoped. I’ve got a few ideas for another photoshoot in the pipeline for a new set of Dottles too.

Wee Dottles now have their very own Facebook, Online Shop and even a Tumblr- bless ‘em!

I have some fun stuff on this month, taking part in Late Night at The Museum hosted by the National Museums of Scotland with Miss Dixiebelle, along with another World Wars event that they are running, I’ll be at Judy’s Vintage Fair again, a 1930s hat photoshoot with an Edinburgh Milliner and the usual mass of weddings and hen parties that this season brings.

Last week, in my sick bed, I spent a couple of hours watching the fabulous Natalie Wood as Gypsy Rose Lee. Although I’m not particularly interested in burlesque, Gypsy is an inspiration, and as I’m about to hit the road myself I’m seeing her as a kindred spirit in ways, except I intend to keep my clothes on, well mostly.

One problem with the film and poor Natalie RIP, is the adoption of 1960s hairstyles.

Don’t get me wrong, I love it, but it’s not Gypsy!

Gypsy went big upfront only, hair wise I mean, I already said I’m not a burlesque brain.

So let’s be clear, it’s all about being upfront, this is my approach to getting opportunities while I’m on the road, be ballsy and hopefully get the success.

So I’ll start as I intend to go on.

You’re going to want to roller your front, the smaller the roller the tighter the curl, I went for medium.

If you want a little something something on the side, roller that too, if not, just take it straight back pin it at the back, don’t waste your time.

See I didn’t even roller the back, just twisted it up, and put one roller at the top back to make fancy at the end.

Back comb, back comb, left and right.

Smooth the surface, hairspray and roll it in round your finger.

Pin it, top and bottom, and don’t forget the other side of your head.

Remember the bit at the back, I combed it and pulled it to the opposite side that I curled from.

Waved it down my head, using the wave from the combing out of the curl. I pinned in a few place and did a pincurl for a tidy end.

Brush out the front, altogether.

Time to be brazen, grab the end and pull it up, really, just pull it up and tuck the ends in as you pull it up, trust the wave that you have formed, it will make a beautiful shape if you let it, don’t try to hard, you’ll take away the soft natural shape.

Pin that bit with a few pins, and that’s you ready to take on the world.

Finally, don’t forget to add a Dottle, I told you I was going to be upfront.

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.”

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”

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.

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

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.

Getting Warmer

After my little obsession with Lana Turner it feels only fitting to be wearing something well fitting. What I mean is that I’ve gone in to a 1950s frenzy, not only am I obsessing over mid century furniture, I’m wearing my warmest sweaters and tartan skirts, and it is supposed to be summer.

In thinking about 50s hair, you really want it to match your sweater, in that you want it to be casual, clean and subtly sexy . I looked to Gil Elvgrin for inspiration on how to make a sweater look sexy, and there’s a man who likes a ponytail!

I know many a man, and woman, who are particularly impressed by this Vanity Fair shot of Isla Fisher, which incorporates the sweater/ponytail combo perfectly, and demonstrates the impact of both if done right.

So, with my inspiration I was ponytailing away last week and did a quick set of photos before I went to work at the Green Door Club on Saturday night (hence the poor lighting I’m afraid), which was a good one might I add, and I felt especially 50s and especially warm given my cashmere choice.

I started with dry hair, with a little touch of setting lotion in for hold, and scraped in a slick ponytail, using hairspray, a smoothing brush and a comb to do the final smoothing.

I left out a rectangle for the front, and secured  the ponytail itself using a regular hair elastic.

I put in medium heated rollers through the front and through the back, I kept them all rolling in the same direction for smoothess of shaping, if you want wilder curls just put the rollers in all different directions.

The back comes out all ringletty as usual, so brush through with a styling brush to get a nice whole together shaped curl.

Like this!

I secured the bottom with a grip so that it would last the whole night in the Scottish weather.

I also wrapped a small section of hair from the ponytail around the base to cover the elastic.

Curly front.

Combed it through, with a smidge of pomade.

And backcombed the base for a little bit of 50s lift, ala Beverly Owens:

Tip:Use sectioning clips to help you in achieving nice shapings.

I then just pincurled the ends into a sculptural curl and pinned front and back with grips.

And that’s your front done.

And this is me with my new (well old) stereogram and 50s sweater girl do!

I warn you, this 50s phase could go on for a while, I am living and breathing 50s design at the moment and wearing anything but wool just seems wrong right now, this is Stylish with a capital S.

Bike Parts

For me, this week has been all about being practical with my hair.

I’ve been painting my living room this past week, choosing not to get paint in my hair, I’ve taken to wearing a headscarf, which is acceptable on occasions such as this, I even hid my set under it on sunday in preparation for going out on Sunday evening, incredibly practical stuff!

This week, I am so excited to say, after a few weeks wait for the payment to go through on my bike to work scheme, my certificate arrived, and I picked up my gorgeous Barrosa Seville, which is, in my hugely biased opinion, the best bike ever. So, I had to think about what’s practical for biking. To be honest, I’ve just curled my hair and worn it down, flowing in the wind style for the past few days, but it’s time to get serious about it.

I saw this wonderful little parting situation going on in an art book and I’ve been hooked on the image ever since.

I thought doing a cheeky little boyish 1920s faux-cropped style for biking would work a treat.

I started with my parting, roughly based on the one above, just a narrow rectangle like a squared off fringe.

I sectioned another square behind the fringe rectangle section and secured it out of the way.

I combed back one side and sprayed with light hold spray to smooth.

Twisting in the hair at the back, and pinning in place, underneath the remaining hair.

Because of my length, I twisted the remaining length on top of the first twist, and again pinned in place.

I did the same with the other side, but left out a little sidey section for later.

I pulled this side over the twist to cover it and pincurled the end, and secured with numerous grips.

I did a little bit of backcombing on the top section, to create a small lift.

And combed this section diagonally backward, to reveal the parting clearly. I simply pincurled the end on top of the previous pincurl at the back.

For the front I used pomade to smooth, remember to use pomade incredibly sparingly, it’s very thick and you only want to give your hands a light coating, a pot of pomade could last you a lifetime if you’re using it properly.

I started off doing the fringe like the picture, and used curl clips to organise, before I would pin in place.

You can see the effect, but I decided this was too much for daytime, and just did one large pincurl instead.

However a cheeky little kiss curl was on the cards to give me a bit of novelty appeal.

Spray the kiss curl with plenty hard hold spray and it should hold fine, as long as the hair isn’t too long.

And that’s my Asian/bicycle/1920s inspired style, it lasted beautifully all day and was perfect for jetting about on my favourite new toy. I can add that I have been repeatedly rained on during my cycling, and even this hasn’t been enough to put me off the cycling.

And Even Lana Turner’s Smile

The wind in Edinburgh recently has been unbelievably annoying, frustrating, soul-destroying, hair-destroying, basically devastating for me; this style was perfect, it was as if the spirit of Lana was guiding me to a better way of coping, so despite the challenge of trying to look like Lana, this style had to be replicated in some form.

I started off getting some curl with heated rollers all over.

The only snazzy part of the set was to have a couple of rollers rolling the hair up the head on the small side of the part. I brushed all the hair through apart from this small section.

I took all the hair at the back and put in a basic french roll, or even just twist it up and roll into a pin curl at the ends, whatever you do, just keep it simple and get it outta the way.

I took the large side and back combed underneath slightly, combed it through and through, and sprayed with hairspray to encourage a smooth shaping.

I rolled in the end, without pulling the hair too taught, as I wanted to encourage the undulation in the hair. Once I pinned the roll in, I kept working through with the comb to encourage the wave shaping (NB** this is why you need curls to start with, the curls will do the work for you with the shaping, you just need to style and control them)

I took the sides that I previously rollered up the head, oh yeah I’m a bit blonde at the moment (little Lana peroxide tribute..?) which makes this easier to follow, and backcombed, smoothed and rolled in and pinned in 2 parts.

Two little side rolls later and you have the bottom part left, which you can play with to suit you.

One option was to do another little roll…

But that wasn’t going to be Lana enough for me, so I took the hair over the other roll….

…and pinned into the other roll a little further from the ends so to left the ends a bit loose.

And it’s Lana Turner Overdrive, well not quite, but it’s my Lana homage at least…

You can see how the shaping looks, just remember to work on this, sometimes it’ll come quite easy and sometimes you’ll have to fight the hair to get it.

I hope you find time for a little Lana love this week too.