Just Because

I have a very busy brain and a ton of interests. I decided today that I need not post only about hair and makeup. What about my many other passions? They are all equally important to me. I could have like 10 blogs but who the heck has time to do that and live?


One thing I am passionate about is art from picture books. I always buy picture books at thrift stores because so many are long forgotten. Here are some pictures from my latest favorite.

These drawings are done by Louis Slobodkin. Beautiful huh?

Recent Work

Do It Yourself Secial Event Hair-The Up Style

O.K. You are prepped and curled and now you are ready to pin in to a style. This first style is a side ponytail look.

 With both hands smooth all the hair to one side. Hold it there with one hand. With your other hand push bobby pins in to the style in an up and down placement.

Pushing pins in vertically.

It doesn't have to be too tight. You are going to twist the hair tight and pin it at the side to give it more support.

Grab a nice hunk of the side hair and divide it in to two sections and twist together. Once you have finished the twist, tuck the ends up under the twist and pin.

 Twisting

Tucking and pushing pin in to the style to hold.

 Take the rest of the hair and divide it in to two parts and twist together.

Tuck the twist up and pin. Pin all around to secure.

Now spray it to death with some finishing spray. Remember that it is o.k. to let some strands hang down. This relaxed look is in style and will look really romantic.

Mary

Do It Yourself Secial Event Hair-Setting the Hair

If you haven't prepped your hair then please go back to part one of this series and do so.

Otherwise you are ready to set your hair. You CAN use hot rollers but this technique using a curling iron will give you a fantastic curl pattern that will be consistent and last longer. You might even decide to leave your hair down!

To get started you need a few supplies. You need a very hot 1/2 in. barrel curling iron. Really any size curling iron will do, this just happens to be my favorite. Clips are very necessary. I prefer the long clips shown above but you can also use bobby pins. Lastly you need a good shaping hair spray. It should be an aerosol and it should NOT be a finishing spray. I don't really have a favorite because they all seem to do about the same thing. I will let you know when I find one that stands out.

Get your iron nice and hot. Then grab a hunk of hair from the top of your head. It doesn't have to be parted nicely or measured. Just know that the larger hunk you take, the larger and looser the curls will be. 

Holding the hair straight up curl this section. The best way to curl is to start the iron mid section and wrap in down to the base, slowly adding the ends as you release and curl. If this makes absolutely no sense to you then just start curling at the ends and go up.

When the curl is really warm slowly remove the iron leaving the curl in tact. Hold the curl with one hand and get ready to pin with the other. It does not have to look great or feel really tight. You may have to use a couple of pins the first time you do this to get it to stay until you have a bit more practice.

Insert the pin.

This is what it should look like.

Grab a second hunk of hair behind the first and do the same thing. 

Curl.

Hold.

Pin.

Now do two on each side. 

Grab.

Curl.

Pin.

You can do three on each side too if you have more hair.

You CAN continue this throughout the whole head. I usually opt for the lazy approach and just do a few banana curls on the bottom because the curls on top will be so awesome it won't matter much. You can choose what you want to do. Setting the whole head will give you more control.

Here are my banana curls. They are also called spiral curls.

Now you can spray the hair really well. You must let the curls cool completely before you taking them out.

Shake them up with your hands.

Here is a head full of beautiful curls ready to be finished or made in to an up style. You can brush them out to get a softer look.

Do It Yourself Secial Event Hair-Prepping the Hair

So you want to do your own hair. I can respect that. Not all occasions call for my assistance. I am graciously going to share a few tips with you so that you can create your own special event look. The first thing that you should know is that prepping the hair is the most important thing in the up style. You must start with clean hair.

This is my beautiful model Allison. Her hair is clean and dry. I do not use many hair products (gasp) because so many are completely unnecessary. I suggest a light creama gel. It is nice to give the hair a little body and holding power before you start. If I am going to use a product I usually prefer Alterna's Creama Gel for all hair types or Alterna's Thickening Compound for fine hair. Both products have organic ingredients in them although I doubt they are completely organic. It is really hard to find a quality hair styling product that is organic. If you know of a good one please do tell.

Creama Gel

You can get this from your favorite salon professional.

So please shampoo and condition your hair. Next use a light hold styling aide and blow dry until completely dry. It is good to blow dry in a downwards motion to keep the hair as smooth as possible. If you have really curly hair I suggest using an oil and flat iron. You don't want to iron the hair in to a finished style but you want to just work the oil in to the hair to give it a little shine and slip. I recommend Alterna's Spray Shine for this. It is the best spray shine I have ever found.

This spray shine is great for all hair types. It will not leave the hair feeling heavy or oily. It's a perfect finisher.

Now that your hair is clean, dry and shiny you can move on to setting the hair.