Help with finding out some Empresses Hairstyles?

[GrowingOut]

Okay, I'm getting a bit bored of my two dutch braids down the back, and I'm graduating soon.

So, can anyone help out a girl with getting a Crazy Historical hairstyle, while still looking elegant?

I was thinking about Mrs. Sisi, of Austria-Hungary, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empress_Elisabeth_of_Austria

But her hair was to her ankles, and I'm not there yet. I'm still inspired by her though, so can any of you lovely ladies and gents tell me the names of the styles in the pictures? Or how to do them?

[Sharysa]

A lot of them are variations on crown braids or half-up crown braids. They're pretty much Dutch/French braids wrapped around your head.

[SerinaDaith]

Check out the show me your historical hairstyles thread here, there are lots and lots!

[GrowingOut]

Thank you!

[kitekats]

http://www.google.lv/imgres?q=allo+helga&um=1&hl=lv&client=firefox-a&sa=N&tbo=d&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&biw=1920&bih=973&tbm=isch&tbnid=ySGyzQZmgh3-lM:&imgrefurl=http://www.sigsrus.nl/autographs/alloallo.php&docid=BgUYlC2BT8N90M&imgurl=http://www.sigsrus.nl/autographs/autographs/hartman.jpg&w=466&h=376&ei=A8fMUKz6I8ap4ASDh4DgBA&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=446&sig=114799094133782357518&page=1&tbnh=151&tbnw=187&start=0&ndsp=62&ved=1t:429,r:12,s:0,i:120&tx=173&ty=85
This is not a hairstyle of that time, but a very cute vintage one though:p. Its from allo allo tv series, a 40s updo (two braids pinned up with finger waves on sides), I made it today on myself, it did take some effort to get the both sides even, but it was not too hard to get a hang off and it turned out very very pretty (I have classic length hair, it suits on shoulder+< length).

[torrilin]

I'd describe the pictured styles a bit differently. There's a set of styles that make various sorts of braided crowns, and they're pretty length independent.

Depending on the relation between your head size and your torso and your hair's thickness, around BSL you should be able to do a lace crown braid around your head. If it is done French style, the braid will look woven onto your scalp. If it's done Dutch style, it will look like a braid pinned down perfectly. This is fairly tricky braiding since you wind up needing to change direction a lot. So while it can be done at the shortest possible length, I wouldn't class it as an "easy" braid. An easier variant is twin braids or braided pigtails pinned up into a crown shape. This is often called Heidi braids. If you can do Dutch braided pigtails, it gets a bit easier to pin up, but plain braids work fine. I'd class this as the easiest variant, since twin braids are probably the easiest braided hairstyle to do on yourself.

IIRC somewhere in the tailbone to classic range, it starts being doable to just wrap a single braid around your head and pin it up into a crown. It's sometimes possible to grow long enough to wrap a single braid around more than once. I'd class this one as having most of the difficulty in patience and genetics.

A lot of the time these sorts of styles are filled out somewhat with false hair to make the braid thicker and more impressive, and a lot of the time fashionable bang or layering styles are adapted to fit in with the crowned look. Women with ii thickness think that even a classic length single braid just looks too thin, or it thins out too fast and looks asymmetrical, especially if thick bangs are fashionable.

While a lace braided crown is somewhat tricky, lace braiding itself is pretty easy. If you like the crown looks, it's well worth learning since it can give you the look of extra "wraps" of braid.

[spidermom]

I know a lovely style that starts with two dutch braids down the back. Pick up the end of the braid on the right side and thread it back through a braid bump about 1 inch up from the nape on the left side and pull taut. Then go to the end on the left side and thread the end through a braid bump on the right. Continue doing this on each side until the entire end of the braid has been threaded through the braid bumps. Pin down the ends. It will go up the back of your head like this:
X
X
X

and is especially lovely embellished with ribbons braided in or jeweled pins to accent.