Quitting Shampoo – Week 1

People have always said I have nice hair. One of the reasons for that, my guess anyway, is that I’ve always used as few products as possible. I own products, and I have used them. But it’s pretty rare. I like to be super gentle, I don’t even blow dry except on rare occasions when I have to. Another reason I hate products is that it would just be too gross, because for the last few years or so I’ve been seriously cutting down on shampoo, and days of product buildup would be gross. I want to keep it relatively natural, and I don’t want to be high maintenance. I do what I need to do to feel hot, but I won’t do anything unnecessary or not fun. And now after slowly spacing out my shampoos more and more, with the help of dry shampoo in between, I can go 6-7 days between washing my hair. Awesome.

Well I’ve become even more interested in this since I heard of the “no ‘poo” movement, and since I dyed my hair this outrageously pretty and bright pink-red color I wanted to shampoo as little as possible to keep it looking good. So I did some research. I have to say it looks pretty damn amazing. Save money, help the environment, and have the best hair you’ve ever had in your life? Hell yes. There are a ton of great resources about this on the web, here’s one of the more popular ones http://www.crunchybetty.com/no-poo-to-you-too.

So now I’m trying it. And here’s my progress.

Before. This picture is a tad old, but accurate nonetheless.

Feb 3rd. It’s Sunday, and I haven’t washed my hair since Thursday. Normally I wouldn’t wash it again for another few days, so I figure it’s a good time to test this out and see if it looks totally clean. I see that people are generally using baking soda as a substitute. I couldn’t find any baking soda, so I mixed a teaspoon and a half of sugar in conditioner because I read that one person used that too, and it’s gentler anyway. To my surprise, the sugar-conditioner mix actually lathers a tiny bit. Also, that lather is WHITE. With shampoo it immediately turns hot pink. You know what this means? It’s not stripping color out of my hair! Awesome! My hair looks pretty bright and clean, but I think using conditioner on my scalp put too much moisture in it and it’s weighing it down. Next time I’ll just dilute it in water or something.

Feb 4th. Ok, so my hair WAS clean, really really, but all that conditioner was really weighing it down and making it look greasy. I didn’t look so great. So instead of waiting 4-7 days I decided to try the more traditional baking soda method today. I didn’t have any apple cider vinegar for conditioning, so I used regular conditioner on the ends.

My hair is definitely clean, the conditioner is gone. I’m feeling like this is definitely something I can keep up. For better and for worse though, it feels like it was rinsed with salt water. It feels a bit dry and it’s a bit hard to comb, but it has some badass volume, and I’m always looking for more of that. I’d even venture to say it looks a little teased. Mike says he might try it. Maybe I used too much baking soda. It does have to be used pretty sparingly, and I didn’t measure when I put it in the bottle. A little bit of detangler has helped pretty good though. I’m tempted to rinse it again. But I kind of just want to wait and see what happens instead of messing with it too much and driving myself crazy.

Just look at my big stupid grin. This is me, not believing my hair can be this thick after just air drying.

Feb 6th. By today my hair still looked pretty ok, but it was starting to feel a bit greasy and look a bit stringy. Right on track as it’s been 6 days since my last shampoo. It was MUCH less than it would normally be at this point though, I’m sure nobody would even notice, but it was enough to prompt me to try this again. This time I used a VERY small amount of baking soda, less than half what I did before, and rinsed it really well to make sure it was all out of my hair. I also only used about a third of the bottle. Someone suggested pouring it over dry hair so you can tell if you’re getting it everywhere, and that’s all it took. It’s just as clean as last time and still has that same feeling, I guess this might just be normal. But I’m really looking forward to trying this with baking soda that isn’t years old and adding a vinegar rinse. Both have been added to the shopping list.

Later: My hair is greasy again like it was this morning. It’s pretty safe to say it’s entered the transition phase. However it is really shiny, and my rings, which have been tarnished for quite some time, are really shiny too! Never buy jewelry polish again!

Feb 7th (one week). I scrubbed really hard with water today. And, ok, one little squirt of the baking soda mix. Even though my hair still looks ok, I just don’t like how it feels. The shampoo is calling me. I’m also starting to break out, so maybe it’s time to put this bitch up in a ponytail. But I will persevere. I also haven’t been curling it, first of all because greasy hair doesn’t curl, and secondly because I really want to witness what my hair does in its natural state. It’s winter anyway, so I haven’t been wearing any pretty vintage-y dresses that need curled hair to look right. And in my new position at work, I sit where nobody can see me or the weird shit that may pop up on my screen. Perfect timing.

Later: I went to visit my former boss, a super cool chick, and told her I was quitting shampoo. She looked totally perplexed, and stated she couldn’t tell at all, my hair looks perfectly clean, and asked if it smelled. I let her have a whiff. It doesn’t 🙂

I was going to put this all into one article, but it got ridiculously long. Coming up next is week 2 🙂

Bonus Post – My New Hair Cut & More Raves About Goth Rosary

On Monday my friend and hair stylist Holly Hui was nice enough to come to my house to give me a hair cut. I’m still loyal to the middy, but in order to experiment a little more with classic styles I went quite a bit shorter than I’m used to. My long hair looks have a tendency to fall apart a bit when I’m trying any sort of specific shape, even with tons of hairspray.  I’m a tough case when it comes to hair because I like everything, which means I can never make up my mind and once I do the grass is always greener. In this case, it’s too short for me to like it as much as I did when it’s straight, though that’s just my taste and it still looks great, however it is so beautiful when it’s curled. With this length I can accomplish a classic page boy like Dita, but more often than not I’ll make it the big messy luxurious white girl fro that I love. And that’s so easy now, because nothing is weighing it down! These pictures are half so I can document how my hair reacts to different types of curls, and half for YOU to see the same, because I know a lot of vintage-lovers are always looking for more middy pictures, including me.

So the cut. This is not cut to the diagram. I honestly don’t think it’s necessary, even in the actual 40s I’m sure they just understood it and went from there based on the person’s face, head, and preferences. I would venture to say this is about 10 inches long overall (from what I understand it’s Rita Hayworth length, but it’s still longer than any official diagram). The cut is layered horizontally and fairly uniformly, cut blunt, so no feathering/texturing/what have you at all, and is U-shaped at the bottom so the layers frame the face. My hair is very straight and fine, and these pictures involve NO product whatsoever as per my normal routine.

I’ll save you the picture of it straight for now because I look sickly and miserable in it and it’s pretty much the worst picture ever. I’ll take a better one later.

This is hot rollers, all rolled under. I did this right after the cut. I have to try everything when I get a hair cut because I’m so curious about what it will do. My head looks huge haha. This is lovely.

Hot rollers loosening up. Still great.

Before I re-washed, because it felt a bit greasy as though I didn’t do it right the first time. Know what I mean? Actually it still kind of feels like that. But this is awesome, I love this.

Pillow rollers. Neat, but not totally my taste. I promise I’m not about to cry here lol I’m a weird picture taker. I’ll keep this style in mind for certain adventures in modeling.

Pillow rollers after falling throughout the day. Totally cute! I tied a ribbon around it here, it’s very Snow White.

I tried a tutorial I found on Classic Retro Glam’s Youtube channel. Normally these tutorials drive me insane because I’ll love it, run to my dressing room to do it, and fail repeatedly. This one I got right away, and it’s beautiful. YES!!

Another angle. None of these are great because I had to take them myself and I had no idea where the camera was pointing.

The big curly white girl fro of sorts. My hair always looks its best right before I go to bed. And it seems I’ve once again subjected you to pictures of me in my underwear. Sorry.

Aaaand today, after being set in large dry pin curls overnight to preserve some of yesterday’s curl. The top just needs some fluffing. I have also put clothes back on.

Now how exactly can I get it to look this way on day one?? Tell me please!

Also today, besides my hair looking totally boss, I got another package from Goth Rosary. The owner has been having some medical issues so the site was down for months, but I’m happy to inform you that it’s back up. I don’t know what I would do without this perfume. It’s wonderful. I ordered Samhain (everyone’s favorite. I mean everyone) and Fairy Wings for my mom. She’s very allergic to perfume, but she can stick her nose right in the bottle and it doesn’t bother her, so that’s saying something. Fairy Wings reminds me of a mix of Fantasy and Midnight Fantasy. I can’t smell the cucumber personally, but lots of sweet berries. It’s really delightful, I’m going to order some for myself next time. This time I got myself Gothic Rose. It’s a true deep red rose scent, untainted by alcohol. Mike says it smells like soap though, I guess because a lot of soap is rose-scented. It’s thus a little more commercial than their other offerings, but I like it a lot. This one lasts a very long time too, I can still smell it on myself without even trying. Or maybe I just used too much lol. I also got a sample vial of Black Wings, which is beautiful and very masculine, so I’ll be including some for Mike on my next order. I recommend that if you’re not in the US you go in on your orders with a friend or two; shipping is a bit of a bitch.

Until Monday!

Snoods

When I woke up on Christmas Eve I had a failed set. It hadn’t happened in a while, but there it was, a couple floppy wet curls, and only a few of them really worked the way I wanted them to. The perfect dampness for curls really is a science. Normally this would mean putting it into an only slightly less stupid looking ponytail, and maybe having to change my whole outfit because wonky ponytails rarely look right with cute vintage-y clothes. Well the convenience fairy seems to have paid me a visit because I had just gotten my new snood in the mail. Bad hair day: fixed.

Snood from Arthelia’s Attic

A snood, for those of you just entering the world of vintage style, has a long history. To be brief, they started in the renaissance. They were really pretty and had pearls on them and stuff. Then they came back in the civil war, and after Gone With The Wind became super popular, they became a staple of working women during WWII.

I wonder why I never got one before. I knew about them obviously. But they just never grabbed my attention. They had seemed a little utilitarian and costume-y I guess. But eventually I figured I would get one anyway. For variety’s sake.

As soon as I tried it though, it occurred to me that a snood is more than a fashion statement, it’s a life-saver. Failed set? Fixed. Windy out? No problem. No time? Fixed. Feeling lazy? No problem. It takes two minutes to make your hair look cute and you don’t have to do jack else to it. Curls fill it out better, but to be honest I wouldn’t be above just back-combing it a little and shoving it in there. If you’re good at doing rolls all the better. I do mine with a foundation stick – another life saver because victory rolls are hard. Add a flower and red lipstick – you look perfect. Nobody needs to know you just rolled out of bed with shitty looking hair.

Snood from Arthelia’s Attic

The ones I got were from Arthelia’s Attic. These are the “expensive” ones. They’re the best, made from the right kind of yarn for the right drape, from a vintage pattern, and with a cute removable bow. Even so they’re only $25. Not actually expensive at all. Mike has been calling them my “dudes” for some reason. They come in all different colors (I got black first because it goes with everything) and don’t slip at all. It’s hard to look at a snood without imagining it just slipping right off but I wore mine for over 12 hours and it didn’t budge. I only used two pins. And really, it doesn’t have to look costume-y, though that’s still cute if you want it to. I wore a pretty regular shirt and pencil skirt, nothing really 40s, and it worked out great. So it really seems to depend on the clothes and other accessories you wear with it. So versatility too! Yay!

I had to get a pink one too. You can get yours here.

Triple Reverse Ombre, or “Ombre Extreme!!!”

I’ve been hearing through the grapevine that the ombre trend is over. Excuse me? I hate trends, and finally I found something I really like. You don’t get to tell me it’s over. No, now is the time to take this shit to the next level. Ombre Extreme!! Let’s do this thing.

You recall from my first post about how to achieve a reverse ombre that I put black on the ends. Well, it turned out great. I absolutely love it, and I think I’ll keep it pretty much forever.  And today I’m going to expand on that. First up, a simplification of the process on the bottom. This is a complete revision and you’ll never have to read my first article again, except it still has pretty pictures.

The second time I did the black on my ends, I wanted Bea to do it because she’s a hair genius. I’m always afraid of missing things in the back because I’m not an alien and I don’t have eyes back there. Well, she surprised me, even for her. She did the whole thing in under five minutes and didn’t spill a drop. She also didn’t use the brush, or separate my hair into blunt chunks by layer like I did. As it turns out, that was totally unnecessary. In fact the whole thing is just so easy I feel kind of stupid now for over thinking it so much before. She took a small piece from the front, saturated the bottom, and just pushed the dye up with her fingers. Then she went around my head, going purposely uneven so everything highlighted and swirled beautifully, and that was literally it. The only thing to know about this is you want the bulk of the dye to be at the bottom so you’re not dragging very much up with your fingers. I just slap a little glob on there, make sure it’s really worked in, and just slide my fingers up and down up through the transition part to carry it through. Easy. You won’t even believe it. Retouching my hair as it fades is now crazy quick and painless. And after about 5 times doing this I’m still using the same jar I started with.

Seen here with hair flairs, for added color and sparkle.

Now you may also remember me saying I don’t use bleach, because my hair is already blond and bleach kind of scares me. So to get my bright red to take I was dying the roots very light blond as an alternative. Now, this is the shitty part about bright hair upkeep. Most hair dye is just one process out of the box, but these bright veggie colors need bleach/blond, and then color is a second step. And let’s face it, I’m lazy. Often I dyed my roots blond and because I didn’t want to dry and dye and wash my hair a second time in one evening, I just left it. And left it. And left it. Soon I had some pretty crazy blond roots going on, and my hair was three colors. And actually that was pretty awesome. The color itself wasn’t bad, but me and light hair just don’t mix. It’s not me, and I needed to tone it down a bit. So then over the fall I started dying it copper. At first I didn’t love it, it was just too orange. But it always faded to a very pretty warm golden blond. And there I have it, the perfect tri-colored fire ombre. My laziness actually paid off and now it looks like I put in even more effort than I did before. I just keep touching up the roots, and don’t go there when I touch up the red part.

Ta-Da!

So enough about me. How can you do this? Let’s take this into the perspective that you will be keeping with the light-to-dark theme instead of the other way around. This way is a LOT less damaging. If you hair is already light to begin with, you can take it any color from there. To do your roots just make a bunch of partings and paint them with your color of choice and your tinting brush. Go as far down the length as you want, you’ll be covering it up with the darker colors after and extending it down a bit may even help the gradient effect because hair dye is rarely opaque. Take the second color, making sure it’s complimentary and a bit darker, and dye from your preferred starting point downward. It transitions smoother when you brush upwards in a sort of rounded “swooping” motion instead of plopping it on and brushing down the usual way, which would be very abrupt and unforgiving on unevenness. Then do it again with the third color either with your brush or the way I described I was doing my ends earlier. Most likely of course you’ll be doing this in three separate steps instead of all at once, and it’s ok to not even do it all in the same day. It might even be four steps if your root color doesn’t come in a box and you need to lighten it first. Suddenly this style doesn’t seem quite so lazy anymore, but I don’t call it “ombre extreme” for nothing.

Hellooo profile picture.

Or you could sort of simplify and do it like me, if you’re patient and a little shy about wanting to do your roots something extra awesome (bonus – if you’re going white, the heat from your scalp processes bleach quicker, so your roots will be easy). This is also good if your hair is too dark/already damaged to handle the lightening and you want to start fresh with strong virgin hair. Choose the middle color as your base and do that all over. Then do your darkest color on your ends. Live with that. As your hair grows, touch up your roots not with your main color but with the lighter root color. Most likely this will involve lightening and either keeping it that way or dying something else on top later that day or the next. Have fun thinking of all the pretty colors you could do. White-purple-black, white-blue-black, blond-teal-royal blue, blond-pink-purple….this is going to be so much fun. Pro tip: Use lip liner, eyeliner, or eyeshadow to tint your eyebrows to match your hair. Next up for me, pink-red-black “flower” ombre!

Like a boss

You NEED to show me pictures if you do this. Let’s show them something fresh and keep ombre in.

Updates!

The Beehive – Easy Updo Version

Remember my first beehive tutorial? It wasn’t bad, pretty easy. But I found something even easier, that is if you want an updo version. This thing is totally idiot-proof. First separate the front of your hair from ear to ear. With the rest of it make a high ponytail where you want the beehive to sit. 90% of the time this will be at the crown. Then backcomb the living shit out of that ponytail. It helps to do it in small sections. Make a big scary mess of it. Then very gently smooth it out and pin, just enough so you have no big weird lumps or hanging bits. Lightly backcomb the back of the section you separated just enough for it not to separate, and gently cover your poof ball and pin, and tuck in the ends. You are done. This takes under 10 minutes and can easily last 2-3 days straight, even with very minimal hairspray. I mean you can literally sleep on it and wake up with your hair still done. The above picture is the second day of my second time doing it, and I had just cleaned up the front a bit.
Root Touch-Up

You know what Root Touch-Up is? It’s a fraction of the dye for the same price as a regular box, but you get a shitty little brush and tiny plastic container. Skip it. Wait until you see a 2-for-1 deal and get two (or four) boxes of totally regular dye. I like Garnier and Superior Preference. Then you get a tint brush for 2$ and line a bowl with saran wrap. Pour a little of each bottle from a box into the bowl – I don’t know the exact ratio so I just aim for 50-50 and it seems to work – just what you’re going to use, and leave the rest in the bottles. Dye with developer like this expires within the hour if you mix it, but if you only mix what you need then you can keep the rest until next time. You can get 2-3 uses out of a full box this way. It makes doing your roots a lot cheaper, and you’ll usually already have some dye around so it’ll also be less of a chore. Hell, I don’t even use gloves.

Blending Bangs

If you’re growing out bangs, or you just prefer them a bit on the longer side, it can be tricky knowing how to deal with them so they look nice and don’t hang in your eyes. I’ve personally found that tip-of-the-nose length is the most versatile as far as style, however you MUST do something or they’re annoying as hell. You can curl them softly with a little flat iron for casual side bangs (below, very gently curled. You can also curl them more of course), use standing pin curls away from your part to blend them in when you’re curling the rest of your hair, or use some pomade or gel and brush them to the side when your hair is straight. You might need a pin for this. You can also do a little pomp. My favorite thing to do lately is to curl them forward either with pin curls or a flat/curling iron, put some pomade through it, an aim them away from the face with the ends forming a little circle at the side. It’s super pretty, and I don’t end up awkwardly shoving a pin in it halfway through my day to get it out of the damn way. It also looks fine when the rest of my hair is straight and lets me feel more properly “done.” It’s wonderful.

The Middy – By Holly Hui
I got my hair cut again by Holly Hui and this just shows why I love her and recommend her so much. Like my fire ombre?

Goth Rosary

Ok enough about hair for the moment. I just received my latest package from Goth Rosary, and I’m still nuts about them. I got Seattle Rain, Tea & Sympathy, and my fourth bottle of the always amazing Samhain. Her things smell like the things they smell like. They’re unique and don’t smell like alcohol. Tea & Sympathy is exactly what she describes – flowers, tea, and cookies. Yum. Seattle rain is fresh and clean and like an ocean storm. Come on, if you still haven’t tried this stuff you absolutely must.

Hiding Corsets

I also recently discovered Lucy’s Corsetry on Youtube. Now this is someone I can look up to. This girl is a scientist who’s been tightlacing for years, so she has not only reviews on every corset maker in town, but tons of reliable and fascinating medical information, repair tutorials, corset making tutorials, and outfits of the day. Now that my waist is about 21 inches virtually every day, getting dressed has become somewhat difficult. Nothing really fits, and when my waist shows it looks damn weird. Lucy suggests empire waisted tops, and when I tried my only empire waisted dress I wondered why I was such a moron I hadn’t tried it before. But now I’m going to need a whole lot more of these. Very wide belts are also great if you want to show a little but not everything. The wider they are the less they can fit into that tiny corner you’ve created between your ribs and hips. According to my mom this still looks freaky, but she should see what I would look like with a smaller one. So it’s still an improvement. I had also been avoiding wearing girdles over my corset to smooth over the bottom ridge and lumpiness from the lace because I figured it would just be WAY too much discomfort and effort for your average work day. Well I wore one to go out clubbing one night and it was so not a big deal I pretty much forgot I was wearing it, so don’t shy away from this one. Comment below with tips of your own!

What else to wear with your corset?

I just had a thought, and came in here to add a new update. I have a vintage black pencil skirt from the 50s, and when I put it on today over my corset I was amazed at how perfectly well it fit. No bagginess around the waist, even though I can wear it without a corset, though it’s snug if I do. My mom was surprised and asked me how I managed to get my skirt to lie so smoothly when hers always bunch up oddly when she wears her corset, and I just told her it was vintage so it was cut differently. But then I got to thinking more about that. This skirt is probably from the early to mid-50s, when the New Look was all the rage, that silhouette created by Dior of tiny waists and full hips. It was around this time that women were commonly wearing waist cinchers to accommodate the fashion, so my skirt was likely cut for a woman who would wear one, and that’s why it fits so amazingly well over a corset. So if you’re not necessarily trying to hide your corseted shape, but just want your clothes to fit already(!), I would definitely suggest buying vintage from the late 40s to early 60s. I’ve gotten my few vintage pieces from etsy, and there are a ton of other online shops out there if you find the local thrift shop way too corrupted by the 80s.

Oh wow, I really haven’t been posting much about fashion lately have I? Ok, here you go. This is the best shirt ever.

Pin Curls for Dummies

Pin curls are incredibly difficult to master. We all know this. I’ve been struggling off and on for ages trying to figure it out, and I was determined that as soon as I could manage a successful set, I would write about it here to help all of you who know what I’ve been going through. Don’t give up, it’s so worth it. There’s nothing like a pin curl set to get the most authentic look, the most malleable and cooperative hair, and the most staying power out of your look.

The basics. A pin curl should be wound (or wrapped, more accurately) from tip to root, not the other way around. This way the end gets tucked in and doesn’t stick out all funny. It’s especially important not to twist it or you’ll get the fuzziest incurable afro instead of smooth vintage curls. The basic technique is to take about a one inch section of hair, wrap the end a few times around a finger or two, and then slip it off your finger and wrap up to the scalp and pin with a pin curl clip or a couple bobby pins in an X. I recommend 2 fingers because it’s easier to get the hair off, and you can put the very tip of your hair between the two fingers to pull it into the center where it belongs. This is all fairly straight forward, but it’s extremely challenging to keep that little circle neat and tight as you wrap it, and to keep the ends in, especially if your hair is naturally straight.

What helps – the first thing you can try, which is time consuming but makes a big difference, is pin curl your hair when it’s already curled. If you’re dedicated and have a lot of time, you can set it in hot rollers before setting it in pin curls. But this gets to be a bit much, definitely not something you want to do on a nightly basis. The other way is to do a regular roller set one day, and then set it in pin curls that night. It doesn’t help much for keeping the curls tidy as you wrap them, but it really does help to keep the ends in and get the curls started, since you’re working with a shape that’s already somewhat what you want. Another quick tip – I found that standing pincurls are a little easier to position on your head, easier to clip since there’s less hair to get around, especially if your hair is long like mine, and gives more volume. They’re too small to really crush while you sleep, and if they do at all then the hair at the top will cover it. I managed this with no issues at all. Only one curl got crushed, and once it was all brushed out you couldn’t tell if you tried.

The BIG thing that helped me, I feel the only reason I was able to accomplish this finally, was using a pin curler, or pin curl stick. These are generally uncommon. When I googled it, I found nothing. The only mention I found of them was on the fedora lounge, where girls routinely do pin curl sets and look at old magazines of the vintage era. My grandma had never even heard of one and she’s been doing pin curls for probably over 60 years. Where I first heard about them though was in a Lisa Freemont Street video about pin curling. She had the Sculpture Pincurler from Vintagehair.com, and because she’s never steered me wrong, I got it immediately. The packaging and the product itself are authentic 1950s, totally adorable. It has a different size on each end, honestly not much different, and the ends are comb-like. So you put the tip of your hair through the comb part, roll it up like a curler, turn it on end, and slip your hair off. Brilliant. This made everything VERY easy, and the top and sides of my hair at least turned out perfectly parted and even because you can only use a very specific amount of hair for each curl. It forces you to be uniform, and when everything was pinned up it looked downright professional. Amazing. But I also got to thinking, this is so simple there must be other things you can use. Such as chopsticks, or dolly pins. Or you could use little end papers and something like a marker or lip gloss tube. The possibilities are endless. Do whatever works, it’s totally not cheating.

All set.

I also just want to mention water really quick before I move on. You can spray it before, or after you set. Which one you do will depend on your hair type, how quickly it dries, and the final look you want, but unlike rollers which you only want damp enough to resemble a fine morning dew, you can sometimes get away with setting it wet. I found that spraying each piece damp/wet before I rolled it resulted in fluffy hair like in the mirror shot I took below with the flower. That next night I set it dry in all standing pin curls and sprayed it after it was all done. Quicker, and it used less water and setting lotion that way. I also found that it resulted in a much smoother curl, like this black and white picture just below here. I didn’t love it when I first brushed it, it looked a little helmet-y. But after a little time to relax and shake it out before brushing it again, it was smooth and loose and luxurious, just like Rita Hayworth. Perfection. I will be doing this from now on. From what I gather, this might be best for longer hair.

So you all must know as well everything I knew about brushing them out – on paper anyway. But there’s something really different about doing this which really makes you deeply appreciate how true it is that brushing your hair out is the most important part. To start, it’s really tough to get the brush through. The curls are just so tight. I mean my hair is 14 inches long (which is to the bra band) and the curls that came out of the pins were seriously about two inches. My hair looked very short. That’s how dense it gets, so brushing is difficult. Then you start to get a big frizzy fro.

Sorry to interrupt, but I just had to come back to this article and add this picture, to show you that THIS is actually normal. Don’t panic. Worst case scenario, brushing doesn’t calm it down and you put it in a snood for the day. Put it back up into larger pin curls over night, leave them dry, and the next morning it will be beautiful.

See? Ok, I’ll let you get back to the tutorial now.

It gets scary. And you know you have to keep brushing for ages, but it’s not THAT long. Maybe a good 5 minutes. Try not to freak out during that 5 minutes. I knew this would happen and yet I almost did. But as you go, you start to see your hair turn into a shape. The top of your hair WILL smooth out, you won’t get granny hair unless it’s really short, like the midi baby or something. Brush against your hand of course, and brush it in the direction you want it to curl. To get everything uniform, and turn it into pretty much one solid mass of hair, I pulled everything back into a ponytail and brushed around and under my thumb, then made sure the ends were tucked in and gently spread it around to the sides. When my hair started to break up and look a bit messy I just did it again. Just a few seconds to get everything back into place. Now just add a flower and you have yourself some real 40s glam going on.

My first successful pin curl set. Go me!

So this takes a lot of time, many failed attempts at about an hour or so each time. But you’ll get there. It will get better, and faster. Just know that no effort is wasted. I found that even when my hair came out wonky straight, pin curling gave it enough structure to make the ensuing hot roller set last over 12 hours in high humidity. Hot rollers or hot sticks are blessings for a failed set, and everybody gets them. And then when nothing else will do, you simply have a new opportunity to try a cute retro updo. Keep at it!

Here’s that great video from Lisa Freemont Street.

How I Reverse Ombre-ed My Hair

I know that there are a million bajillion tutorials on how to do ombre at home, and yet in my own search for them I could find very little on how to do it reversed, where you don’t bleach the bottom and instead you dye it darker. It definitely stands to reason that if you have light or bright hair in general you wouldn’t necessarily want to go lighter or brighter on the bottom, so learning how to apply bleach in this way isn’t particularly helpful. It might not make any sense for you. So I’m going to add to the multitude a tutorial that may vary a slight bit, how I achieved this (last night, at the time of writing) using just veggie dye.

Hellooo profile picture.

You may recall that in a post a while back, Holly Hui Hair, I had decided I wanted a change and was going to get purple ombre applied to the bottom of my hair. Well after two relatively costly salon visits, I accepted that my hair wasn’t taking to it as I had hoped. The bottom of my hair was just a shade darker and plum-ier, but still very much red all over. A visible contrast could only really be seen in pictures. So I thought, whatever, my hair takes to Punky better than Matrix, it’s cheaper to do this at home, and why not go for black for more punch because I KNOW that will show up? I’ve been dying my own hair for ages now and with all the tutorials already out there it could definitely be worth a try to experiment with a new technique. So here’s how I did it in one step (if you don’t count my touch-ups) with no bleach.

Because my hair is extremely layered, I didn’t want to dye everything in one chunk. I wanted the color to go up roughly the same distance on every length, which helps with the gradation effect and just…makes sense. So what I did first was separate my hair into little bundles according to the different layers and tied them off so that each section was pretty much all blunt. This was a bit tough but most definitely doesn’t have to be perfect. When I was done this part I counted each ponytail – I had 11 – and tore squares of foil for each section plus one for my bangs.

Now here’s where I’m going to mention something you may find helpful. Instead of wearing an old tshirt, wear nothing. Just maybe some pajama shorts or something and a towel safety pinned around your neck, but be topless. I know you wear the old shirt because you wouldn’t mind messing it up but isn’t it still hard to get that thing over your head when your hair is smothered in dye, and wouldn’t you rather drip on nothing? I definitely find this easier. Also you will really be needing a tint brush for this, or if you can’t find the 2$ under the couch to buy one at the drug store, use a paint brush or toothbrush if you must. I don’t have a mixing bowl, so when I’m mixing color or it comes in a tube or bottle I can’t dip into, I line a regular bowl with saran wrap.

I know this isn’t *reverse* ombre but you must understand there is a lack of pictures, and this is just too pretty not to show you.

So anyway, now you’re all set up and ready to go. The hardest part I’m sure you’re thinking is how to get the color to evenly fade out instead of just stopping. With a piece of foil behind your hair so you have something to press on, brush the dye thoroughly into the bottom few inches. Turn your hair over a few times to make sure you’re getting it all the way around. I didn’t at first and this is why I had to touch up. I also forgot a piece. But if you do this right unlike me, you’ll only have to do it once. Once the bottom is covered, turn your tint brush to the side, and brush the dye gently upwards, easing it up gradually into the lighter color. Don’t worry about doing a perfect job, because it will be easily camouflaged by all the other pieces you’re doing, especially if you have layers. Where I didn’t go as high with the black, the red is thus taken down a little more in that section and creates a highlight in the black before it too fades out, making the effect look even more gradual. So don’t sweat it, this will look totally pro. As you finish each piece, wrap it in the foil and fold it up so it stays in place and protects the dye from getting onto the rest of your hair and boobs. Repeat until finished.

This abstract body art is brought to you by Punky Color.

When you’re using a veggie dye, there’s no developer, so you can leave it in as long as you want. Many people will recommend about 4 hours. I didn’t have that kind of time, and I was a bit nervous about what I was doing looking stupid, so I left it in for half an hour, which for black was enough. If you’re doing black you might want to check that the color base goes with the rest of your hair so it will look ok as it fades. The Punky Color black that I used is blue-based, as I learned from watching all the inky water go down the drain, so as the black fades the bottom of my hair will turn…purple! How convenient! If however it was green based as I believe Manic Panic is, I would end up with a gross mess and would have to do a lot more maintenance. So just keep that in mind.

I also had a bit of help in that since my hair had already been ombre-ed (somebody tell me if that’s a word) “purple”, my hair already got a bit darker towards the middle which makes this look better. If you want a similar effect, you can mix a small amount of your bottom color into your top color or dilute it in conditioner and follow the same general instructions to a little higher up, say, your ears. You can also use a different color for this altogether. But no matter how many colors you choose, remember that if you’re using veggie dyes, the top colors will run into the bottom colors as you wash your hair, and each color may fade enough to reveal the color underneath, so have a look at your color theory and make sure they’ll look good together and you’re going gradually darker towards the bottom, or your beautiful dye job could get all mucky.

So was that pretty simple? Show me pictures if you do this!

UPDATE: For a new take on the look with even more edge, check out Triple Reverse Ombre, or Ombre Extreme!!!

Bang Thing

First of all I really have to thank Micheline Pitt for this one. She posted the video that taught me this. It wasn’t my idea, I’m just sharing it with you.

I always thought clip-in bangs were expensive. I remember seeing them only for about 50$, and I definitely wasn’t going to pay that, so I never got any, as cool as I thought they would be. Then Micheline posted a hair video. I was shocked to learn that her bangs weren’t real, and even more shocked to learn that at least one pair came from Sally’s for a mere 7$. She was using one more expensive kind for long side swept bangs, and the Bang Thing from Sally’s for bettie bangs, which she cut herself. I did a complete double take, and ran off to the website to buy two of them immediately. I was not disappointed.

The Bang Thing looks hilarious when you first put it on. Actually it looks really stupid. But for 7$ you’re not mad, you just laugh at the hilarity of it. But it really just takes a minute to get it looking good. Clip all your own hair neatly out of the way, clip in the bang thing, and style it by putting one small piece on the thin side of the part to keep it looking natural, and ease the rest into place to the side, out of your eyes. Simple, and very cute. Micheline uses a scarf as a headband to hide the top edge of it. You can use that, or a bandana, or a headband, or anything else equally obvious. I know she doesn’t use this brand for the long bangs, but I find they work really well. They’re a tad bulky for sure, but I just tucked some of the top hair under my bandana and it helped, as well as to hide some of my natural hair in the front, since it was important as my hair is really faded right now and doesn’t quite match.

“Did you tell her about your little hat there? You know, your little hair hat there.”

Things got only slightly trickier when it came to cutting the second Bang Thing into bettie bangs. Micheline is experienced at cutting hair, but recommends having a stylist do it for others. Of course I was way too impatient. Making that first cut was a touch terrifying. Almost like cutting your real hair. You instantly wonder if you’re being an idiot and going to need to buy a new one. But I figured it out and it was quite the success. Here’s what you do.

And for my next clever disguise…

First cut the bulk of the bang thing just enough to indicate the approximate length you want. This should be at about eyebrow level or so. If you’re nervous at all, go a little longer, just enough so you can see. Then get the thing off, because you don’t want to risk cutting your own hair anymore. I was already starting to make this mistake, it’s easier than you think. Now, one important thing to keep in mind is that bettie bangs are actually round. I would have had an impossible time getting the shape right while it was still attached to my head, so I got the idea to use a bowl as a stencil. Yeah, I gave my fake hair a bowl cut. Get a decent sized cereal bowl and press it firmly over the bang thing, right up to the edge of where you cut. Make sure the hair is pulled taut so you’ll get it even. Then just cut all the hair that sticks out from the bowl. This makes a mess, so best to do it over a paper towel, even if you cut the paper towel in the process. Actually this even helps, because otherwise the hair just wants to creep out of the way of your scissors if they’re not especially sharp.

You. Rawr!

When you’re about done, lift it up, comb it straight out with a fine tooth comb, and inspect for any uneven pieces. Fix them carefully, still without the bang thing attached to your head. Now get a really small barrel curling iron or small flat iron and curl the very ends under. This will help give it the final shape and disguise any pieces that might not be quite perfect. You’re done!

When you put it on you can adjust the look of the length by placing it further forward or back on your head. You’ll use the same bandana or scarf or whatever to cover up the back edge. Mine looks super cute, and I totally suck at this. So there you go! Watch Micheline’s video, and add that tip about the bowl for the bettie bangs, and you’ll have some really cute bangs that you can play with for different looks without the commitment, or barely any money. Bang Thing rules!

Hair Flairs

You know what’s always awesome? Glitter. Glitter is damn fantastic.

A little while ago, I modeled in my first fashion show for The Foxy Shoppe. Remind me to do a review for them, ok? It was two shows, a ton of models, and I did the hair and makeup for about half of them. It was a good 12 hour day. It was exhausting and awesome. This fashion show happened to take place at the Taboo sex convention, and once all the work was over and I had lived out a few exhibitionist fantasies, I was eager to relax and take in what the convention had to offer. Mike made fun of me that I was more interested in looking at things like microfiber sheets than things that go in my butt. I’ll stick with the sheets, thanks.

Also on display, to my immediate delight, was Hair Flairs. I’d had their website bookmarked ever since I saw the owner on Oprah years ago, but I had never bought from them. I honestly can’t really say why. I already knew that 100 strands of these things only cost 10$. I told the girl I remembered these being mentioned on Oprah, and she said that it was actually her who was on the show. Unfortunately I couldn’t say too much about it because these things were about the only thing I remembered from the episode besides the fact that she wasn’t on the show to talk about the business at all, but some terrible events in her life. Oprah and the rest of us just couldn’t help but notice the pretty shiny things in her hair.

Hair flairs are exactly what they claim to be, tinsel for your hair. You knot them in according to the instructions and they look absolutely fabulous. They’re glittery and colorful and awesome. I had been wearing 5 inch heels for about 12 hours at this point so the fact that there was a chair at the booth made me sit down and pour over the about a million color choices for quite a while. (Note to small business owners. Make sure you have a chair at your convention booths. We will buy from you just so we can sit down!) She loved pale pink for my hair, to her surprise, and because I wanted something just a little more intense I went with hot pink. I decided to try them out for the first time a week before going to my first Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend, which incidentally takes place in Vegas, which is incidentally the birthplace of glitter. I mentioned how these things are 10$ for 100 strands. You know how many strands it takes to make your hair awesome? Exactly three. Though 10-15 is about ideal in my mind. This is a fantastic deal, and it’s been the same price since I discovered them years ago. What a nice lady. Well of course as soon as I put in just one strand I got all giddy about it and put in four more until I decided I better stop and set my hair if I was ever going to get to bed on time. Then I ended up blogging about it for half an hour, because I’m a genius like that.

They’re not difficult to put in per se, but they are quite tricky to start with. The hardest part is that you only attach these to three strands of hair at a time, so it’s hard to keep a good grip on them and even see them while you’re tying these knots. I highly recommend starting at the front of your hair where you can see what you’re doing a little better and don’t need as much dexterity until you get used to it, or get a friend and do them for each other. Totally worth the effort by the way. As I went along, I started to find it was getting pretty fun.

Yeah, rockin it like I'm 15 for some reason. I wish you could see it more.

Now even though my hair is straight in that picture, because it was raining and humidity is mean, I had my hair curled up in a wet set that morning. And you know what? Hair Flairs can be heat styled, but they can take wet sets too! Horray!! They totally took to the set. I have no idea how this works, but it’s great. be warned, these are addicting. Every day I’m like “just a couple more,” until pretty soon I’m going to wake up looking like this person.

http://www.hairflairs.com/

Holly Hui Hair

I like my red hair. It’s the color that perfectly borders natural and wild, because it can go either way depending on the shade. It’s also just a sexy color. Photographers use me for my red hair too, so if I had a more standard or freakish color I have the feeling I wouldn’t get asked to do pictures half as much. The thing is, it’s been red since I was 19. And I have a tendency to get bored. Before it was red, it was blond, white, black, blue, and green. I changed it a lot. But one color I never actually got to do was purple. It was one of the first colors I intended on trying but I chickened out once my hair was bleached and never quite got around to it again.
Enter the “ombre” dye job. You’ll know this as the big Hollywood trend of girls with long brown roots gradually lightening into blond on the bottom half. Obviously those colors are not for me. But I like the idea of having two hair colors at once, especially ever since I saw Megan Massacre on NY Ink with her fire engine red and black ombre hair while I was just dying for a change of some sort. Suddenly after a bit of google image searching the solution became all too obvious. I wanted ombre hair, bright cherry red at the top, into deep purple at the bottom. Fuck yes.

The trigger

It also occurred to me that instead of seeing Becky and having to bring her a print-out that would require me to go out and buy color printer ink, I should see Drawn and Plastered’s resident hairstylist Holly Hui. I really must say, Drawn and Plastered is really lucky. We have the absolute most talented and awesome people out there working for us because they’re so awesome and support what we do. I’m so proud to say that Holly Hui is one of them. Obviously I couldn’t possibly go wrong here.

The inspiration

The location was definitely different than the fancy salon on Corydon I’ve been going to for the last five years. I wasn’t at all familiar to the area. So that turned my nerves up a little. But as soon as I saw Holly there I relaxed. I gave her my usual middy instructions and told her I wanted the longest part to be at the bra line, however gave her permission to take off more if she had to to get rid of split ends. This scared me as it was quite a bit shorter than I’ve had it for a long time. I also got bangs because I figured it’s been about 13 years, so if I’m going for different, let’s toss that in there too. I’d been toying with the idea for way too long not to. That was even scarier. But having trust will get you far. I held my breath and kept quiet.

Your first time seeing this unstyled is also mine. And how brave am I for posting a picture in absolutely no makeup and stupid pink pajamas?

When it was over I looked…normal. It’s the first time I used Matrix hair color, so it’s going to take some time for it to build up to the brightness and contrast I’d like. The bangs and the smooth straight style also looked unusually modern for me. So I looked great, but didn’t feel like myself. Of course we both knew all it would take was for me to play around a bit at home. The whole point of a middy is versatility afterall, and my bangs were cut long in keeping with this, just barely short enough for me to see. Holly also razored one side so I could wear them to the side without having a corner, and when I curl them up they’ll look very Bettie Page. The length should make them relatively easy to blend in and hide too.

Yep, there are bangs in there!

And later that very night. Who invented this sorcery!

Side note/tip: I quickly found just how easy blending bangs really is. Take the bangs along with a portion of hair from behind them, and backcomb the roots from behind to mix them together with a teasing brush or fine toothed comb. You want the teasing to be really tight, so you wonder how you’ll ever manage to comb it out again. When you let go you’ll have some odd pieces randomly sticking out. Just tuck them underneath with a pin and have the longer part of your hair fall over the ends of the bangs. Hairspray liberally. Ta-da! And I mean it was *quick* – it look less than a minute and you would never know they were ever there.

As soon as I got home I got to curling it in my regular style. This was challenging because a lot of the layers were quite a bit shorter, so it was difficult to get everything into the rollers. Nevertheless it somehow seemed to take quite a bit less time, since there were no more ratty ends, and a shorter length means less hair to roll up, and less maneuvering to reach the ends of it. Once the rollers were taken out, my hair was fuller and bouncier than ever. There was so much less weight that with some backcombing and hair spray it would virtually stick straight out with very little effort. Then with a little combing of the bangs to the side and a bit more spray, I was easily able to get myself into a style that felt really great for me. Very Joan Holloway.

After the first time styling it myself. I’m me again!

Now I don’t know if it’s because it was shorter, the layers were shorter, the products that were used, or the fact that I saw Holly, but out of the now three times that I’ve had this particular hair cut done this is the first time that it physically feels like I expected the middy to feel. Before it just felt like my hair, only the look was different. This time it feels so light and soft, like it could just float away. It feels luxurious and easy and the complete opposite of being buried in hair. It feels fantastic. And it actually made a big difference in my day, like I was wearing silk pajamas instead of jeans. I just had to mention that.

By the end of the night I was in love. I was no longer ambivalent about bangs, and the huge messy curls I had made me feel awesome. Of course anything that makes you feel like Christina Hendricks, Dita, and a spy can’t be anything but all sorts of awesome. Mike is super happy too.

Having trust in your stylist will get you far. If I didn’t have that,  I wouldn’t have done it. And I’m so glad I did. You can trust Holly Hui.

For more about asking your stylist for a middy see https://victoriablack4.wordpress.com/2010/05/14/vintage-hair-part-1-the-haircut/ and https://victoriablack4.wordpress.com/2011/02/25/i-got-a-middy-and-a-word-about-setting-lotion/