Applying Wigs

In Helen's lesson today, she taught up how to apply a wig and wig cap properly to the head. We already did a session on applying wigs with Lottie in another unit class,. But with Helen, we went into it was more detail and care. To get the hair flat to the head, we used the pin curl technique. 

Pin Curls

Equipment;

• Grips
• Pin tail comb
• Fingers

Method;

1. With the pin tail comb, section the hair into a middle parting. 
2. Start by selecting a square patch on the front of the hair on either side of the parting. Twist it round the finger till it's reached its end. Pin it down against the head.
3. Create 3 pin curls on either side of the parting, going to the ear. Make sure it's along the hairline.
4. Create a large pin curl in the centre of the head in the nape. Pin in place with 2 grips going either side making a cross.
5. Gather a section of hair on either sides of the large pin curl and wrap the hair around it, pinning it when needed. Do it with both sides. 
6. Create 2 regular sized pin curls at the bottom of the head. 

Once you've created the pin curls over the head, get your model to place her finger on her forehead to grip on the wig cap. Pull it over towards the back of the head and then proceed to fit it flat against the front, back and sides of the head, making sure that the ears aren't covered. Then place the desired wig on the head the same way as you applied the wig cap. 

The first wig that I placed on Jas' head was the wig that she's selected for her wig unit. I like her colour because you can do any era with brown hair, however, the length might be an issue for her in she decides to do 1950s era. The second wig is my chosen wig. I really like the colour of it as it's not too outrageous so I can still make a contemporary version of any era. The length is also good as it's not too long but long enough to do most things. My era in mind when choosing my wig was PUNK. I loved doing it in lesson today and really want to create a contemporary version.  

1970s/1980s Punk

I knew I was going to have fun with the punk hairstyles in our technical this week with Lottie, but I didn't realise just how much fun it would be! I'm really liking doing hair lately over anything else in the course, so I'm so glad that I picked to do the wig course. I wasn't sure what to really expect with this lesson, I've seen a few styles but they looked rather simple. 

In lesson we created two hairstyles on the Kate head, I'd rather do it on a real person with this because as I learnt. You have to do some big separations in these hairstyles and it means that you can really see the clear line on the Kate head. The two styles we created were a Mohawk & a Horse Mane.

Mohawk

Equipment;

• Pin tail comb
• 4 tail comb
• Sectioning clips
• Heated rollers
• Roller clips
• Small rubber bands

Method;

1. Turn on the rollers.
2. Section the hair off so you have a section the size of a large roller going down the centre from front hairline to the back of the neck. Make sure it's equal. 
3. Section away the hair on the sides. 
4. Using the two biggest rollers, red & blue to get the big curl and height in the hair, alternate between the two and place all in the middle section of the hair. Place the clip on top of each roller to hold it in place. 
5. Place the hair on either side of the head into French plaits. Make sure to create a curve with the head. 
6. Let the rollers cool completely.
7. Take them out one by one and gently backcomb at the root of each roller point and go all the way up until it stands by itself. Do this all over the hair.
8. Use the 4 tail comb to slightly separate the backcombing and smooth it over slight. Try not to lose the height! 

I really love how this look turned out because it's just so big and dramatic! I knew I was going to like doing this type of hairstyle, so that's why I chose my synthetic wig around this idea. However, I did mess up slightly with the plait as on the right side on the head. It started to come away from the head at the bottom of the head. 

You can see where the left side flows naturally and sticks out with the directions of the hair. However, the right side is slightly twisted and hangs down. 

Horse Mane

Equipment;

• Pin tail comb
• Grips
• Open grips
• Fine grips
• 4 hair bands

Method;

1. Section the hair into a middle parting.
2. Create 4 equal width size sections across the head going from ear to ear, over the top of the head, over the nape and across the back. Place in hair bands.
3. Due to the fact the hair has already been into heated rollers, the hair tends to curve a certain way already. With the natural flow of the curl in the hair, create a twist in the hair using your fingers and crossing the hair over and pinning down the end of it with a grip. Do this with all four sections.
4.  Use the open grips and fine grips to pull each bun together towards itself to make it flow more naturally. 

I enjoyed creating this hairstyle because it's something different to than I ever would have done myself just from the top of my head. It's both punk, but also with the curls and buns, it makes it look elegant. I could see this going down a runway at somewhere like London or Paris Fashion Week catwalk! I love it! I've really enjoyed doing the punk look and I can't wait to create my own contemporary version of punk for my wig assignment. 

The 60s Beehive & Backcombing

Equipment;

• Pin tail comb
• Heated rollers
• Roller grips - metal or clips
• Hairspray
• Grips
• Thin open grips
• Sectioning grips

Method;

1. Turn on the heated rollers.
2. Part the fringe into a side parting and section it off from the rest of the hair. 
3. Use brick work, and start in the middle of the top of the head. Place in the first roller, make sure its tight without any lumps when going into the roller. Use your pintail comb to help this along.
4. When you feel the back of your head, you can feel where it comes out then dips back in and down into the neck. You want to put all the hair into rollers up until it starts to dip down. 
5. With the hair on the side of the head, angle to roller round so it gives that curved effect for the beehive to fall naturally. 
6. The fringe need to be put into rollers going towards the ears.
7. With the back of the hair, the rollers need to be going into the middle of the head with two on each side. 
8. Let it all cool.
9. Take out all the rollers and they will all naturally fall into place a flow backwards.
10. At the roots, gently push down with the pintail comb to create the backcomb, wrap it round and pin it in place with a grip. 
11. With the bottom of the hair, pull to the opposite side of which the top of the hair is pinned, and place two grips in a cross to secure it tightly. Wrap it into one and then pull it the other direction so it flows naturally with the top half of the backcomb.
12. The fringe with the larger section needs to come round and fall neatly into place with the back of beehive. 
13. With the other section of the fringe, I place it into a round flower shape for a bit of decoration. 
14. Look at the hair in the mirror once finished and with the pintail comb, pull the backcomb out and into place to perfect the beehive. 

Creating a Moustache & Applying Fake Hair

In our lesson with Helen, we had a guest speaker who works making wigs. We are unfortunately not able to make a wig ourselves because we wouldn't have enough time to complete it, so instead, we're making a moustache! The guest speaker showed us some of his work. He showed us a blonde wig that costs around £3000, and also a bread that he made himself. 

Firstly, we had to cover a square piece of cling film in celotape to make to stable and stronger. We then put it against out models face and marked out the desired moustache we wanted. 

We then had to stick this onto our head. After this, we had to place a piece of lace over the stencil and secure in place with some pins. 

This is when it got tricky, we then had to learn how to knot the hair onto the lace. We were given a needle and a bundle of hair to do this. A tip with with is to knot the hair diagonally. I did have a video of Helen teaching my up close, however, for some reason I can't upload it onto my blog. Once you get the hand of it, it's rather easy to work with. Collect a small bundle of about 10 strands of hair in your hand and make it into a small loop. You put the needle through one of the holes, and catch one of the hairs onto the needle. Pull it through the hole, then leave some slack so the loop comes off the catched bit and moves up the needle. You then need to catch the remaining two end of the hair that are still in your hand, and pull them through the loop to make the knot. You then need to give it a small pull to make sure it's tight. 

Over the weekend, I was able to sit an concentrate on making my tash. It was tricky to start with, but as soon as I got comfortable and had the time to practise doing it properly myself, I was able to get the hang of it a bit more and this meant to it started to be done quicker and neater. Here how the process went.

I've really enjoyed making this moustache and can't wait to learn to style it, cut it and apply it to the face. It's going to look so strange! Hopefully I'm able to make something else to go with it, like sideburns, eyebrows or a beard of some sort. 

During lesson with Lottie, we learnt how to apply fake hair to the face and hands. To get the hair for this, we chopped up little bits of hair from the section of hair that we got to create our moustaches. To create this look, you need to use spirit gum and an old brush. You first start by selecting which area you'd like to cover, I chose the hand as it was easiest. You then apply the spirit gum to where you'd like the hair to stick. A lot of us chose to cover the naturally already hair parts of the hand to make it look more realistic. To get the hair onto the desired area, you need to dip the brush into the hair so it only gets the small bits of hair. This is where it went wrong for me as I believe my brush was too large, so it didn't come out the way I was expecting. All the longer bits of the hair stuck to my hand so it just didn't look too real. However though, I now know how to create this look so I'm pleased about it.