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aliceinmadness
July 22nd, 2011, 10:53 PM
So, I have had some requests, and I tend to pontificate on the particular technique because it has a lot of benefits. You can pull this off on anything from shoulder-length on (although you will have to show some determination when it comes to the shorter hair at the nape). It also works with layers - as you can see in my sig, I have quite a lot of those.


http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6014/5965950836_50085947a5_m.jpghttp://farm7.static.flickr.com/6141/5965950828_7be3744f63_m.jpg


The same technique is used both on these and my avatar. Only the sectioning and the puff-placement is different. In this one, there is a puff at the crown, and 5 puffs in the back, placed randomly and loosely.

TUTORIAL:

First, you will need to learn to make a "puff."


Take a strand of hair (the only difference size makes is how many bobby pins you need to secure it).
Smooth it and wrap the end around and underneath your LEFT forefinger and middle finger. You can now pull the middle finger out - you should have a little circle that you can pinch.
Take your RIGHT index finger and slide it into the ring. You can now roll up towards the head as if you're using a physical roller, using your thumbs on the flat side to work your way up.
Make sure all strays and ends are tucked into the roll as neatly as possible to avoid odd kinks...you may need to use a spray bottle and give it just the barest misting to make this happen. Don't overdo it on the water or else it will stay damp for 1000 years.
Pin the roll to your head using 2 bobby pins, one on either side, making sure that they cross and lock in place.



http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6134/5967940530_c53d45cc69_m.jpg

All ends are tucked under

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6142/5967940538_6c793b7aa6_m.jpg

The puff is placed loosely enough on the head to obscure the section...

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6013/5967940534_c972d62e23_m.jpg

...and pinned from the inside

To get volume in the front...[without the use of hair-rats, teasing, or blow-frying]


Section hair 2-3 inches back from the front hairline, down to just behind the ears.
Out of the front section, divide hair into three further sections.
The parts you make MUST be diagonal, as if you are making a triangle with the apex toward the crown. If you do not do it that way, it will not fall correctly!!
Brush the middle section upwards and make a fairly loose puff. The shorter your hair is in the front, the looser this puff should probably be.
Your hair should fall to either side of the puff on its own, creating a half-moon shape.
Take a side section, brush it up at a diagonal, and create a puff. Pin it very close to the middle puff (it may be easiest to pull the strand around over the opposite shoulder)
Repeat with the other side.
You can now take a fine-tooth comb and fuss with it to your satisfaction.
Alternatively, you can take the sections as described and simply push them forward. Pin the the base and then do a puff with the tail. This will require more pins, but it's a more restrained look if that's what you're going for.
Mind that you don't NEED to do this. You can just as easily pin and go and skip the volume.



The placement of your puffs determines the look of your style. It can be regular, irregular, loose, tight, etc. You can omit puffing the bottom section near your nape and wrap it around whatever puffs you want, drape it, braid it, or curl the ends (as in my avatar). You can do a lot of puffs for intricacy or just a few for a more modern feel, or even half-up.

TIPS:

1. You don't have to use product for this...in fact, in some cases product may cause frizz. Personally, I don't usually feel the need - just experiment to see if you need to use anything.

2. It may be helpful to give the ends a little twist to keep them together.

3. If you have layers and one is popping out, you can usually use your thumb without moving your hand to smooth it into the roll.

4. Slippery hair may be more difficult to work with until you've practiced this a while. Slightly dirty hair (or product) will allow you to lay the curls a little flatter - but be careful! If you pin a flat curl wrong, you will put in a weird kink when you take the do down.

6. If you use a scarf or cap, you can sleep on it.

7. You can use this technique to make pin curls and get a 1950's look. Just make the sections about 1 square inch and lay the puffs flat. There are many blogs with pinning patterns for these styles.

8. If you roll the ends and pin them at some desired point on the length instead of to your scalp, you can get curled ends without the use of an iron or dryer.

9. Bobby pins should cross over each other so that the ridges lock together. The ridged side should be laying on your head, and the flat side upward. It's extremely stable as long as the pinning is ok.

10. This should not take any longer than it would take you to put your hair into rollers, because that's basically what you're doing. Incidentally, you get GREAT, lasting curls out of it. In 20 minutes, you should at least have a decent body wave, if not outright curls (I do get real curls after 20 minutes, but my texture has a lot to do with that...YMMV)...as long as you didn't overdo it on the water. If you want to try it, dilute some light-hold hairspray into the mister and that should help speed up the setting process if you have difficulty.


BENEFITS:

No Heat
No Teasing
Products Optional
Fast
Versatile
Easy to Learn
Stable/Long-lasting
Will Produce Curls
Cheap
Will Work on almost any Cut/Length
Forgiving
Will Hide Wretched Mishaps

maria_asa
July 23rd, 2011, 01:59 AM
Thank you for posting this! I really like the intricate look of it and will certainly try it myself. Now I will only have to find a place to go to with fancy hair like this... ;)

KittyLost
July 23rd, 2011, 04:00 AM
Oh this is very pretty! Thanks for posting

aliceinmadness
July 23rd, 2011, 08:37 AM
You're very welcome!

lol I go out like this all the time - conventions be damned! ;)

GypsyGoddess
July 23rd, 2011, 09:21 AM
It's lovely! Can't wait till I have enough length to pull it off- definitely going in my book of tricks.

LisaB234
July 23rd, 2011, 09:28 AM
This is so pretty! Any chance you'd be willing to take pictures of the process or even better do a video tutorial? I gave it a try and can't figure out how you hid your pins and sections - your version looks so pretty! And I would totally wear that anywhere!

aliceinmadness
July 23rd, 2011, 09:47 AM
The pins should be inside the loop of the roll on the bottom to hide them, and the sections aren't visible if you place your puffs close together. They should pretty much be touching each other.

HTH!

(I will post some more process pictures soon)

Jezerellica
July 23rd, 2011, 09:52 AM
That is one gorgeous style! Thanks for sharing!:blossom:

princessp
July 23rd, 2011, 10:00 AM
Wow, that is very pretty! Thanks for sharing.

Cowgirl16
July 23rd, 2011, 10:15 AM
I really like that, it looks so pretty in your hair. Thanks for sharing :)

jaine
July 23rd, 2011, 10:17 AM
That is really pretty!! I second the request for a video or step-by-step pictures ... I'm so visual.

lapushka
July 23rd, 2011, 10:52 AM
Nice! It would help me too if I could see the exact placement of the puffs. I know what you mean by them from the description (kind of like pin curls but not rolled all the way to the top), but I can't exactly visualize how you do this style in its entirety.

It's pretty!

oktobergoud
July 23rd, 2011, 11:58 AM
My hair is waaaaaaay too short to do this so I just wanted to say how pretty it looks! :D

Isilme
July 23rd, 2011, 12:20 PM
Seems to be an easy style! And, as an amateur photographer I must say that I like your B&W theme:)

heidi w.
July 23rd, 2011, 12:46 PM
WOW. WOW. WOW.

Love this.

If I can master this, I will have a new professional office do.
heidi w.

aliceinmadness
July 23rd, 2011, 01:49 PM
Nice! It would help me too if I could see the exact placement of the puffs. I know what you mean by them from the description (kind of like pin curls but not rolled all the way to the top), but I can't exactly visualize how you do this style in its entirety.

It's pretty!

They're rolled all the way to the top, unless you want to just pin the ends to get a flip on the bottom. Except when you're doing the crown, the placement of the puffs is not particularly important...if you keep them close together and arrange them randomly, it will look good as long as the technique is done correctly. How much symmetry or regularity there is is completely up to you :)

HTH


Did post some more pictures in the OP!

lapushka
July 23rd, 2011, 01:55 PM
They're rolled all the way to the top, unless you want to just pin the ends to get a flip on the bottom. Except when you're doing the crown, the placement of the puffs is not particularly important...if you keep them close together and arrange them randomly, it will look good as long as the technique is done correctly. How much symmetry or regularity there is is completely up to you :)

HTH


Did post some more pictures in the OP!


Thank you so much for explaining further and for the pictures! :)

neko_kawaii
July 23rd, 2011, 02:00 PM
How beautiful! Bookmarked for the next time I feel like challenging my hair. Thank you!

embee
July 23rd, 2011, 02:16 PM
Very very pretty! So feminine and soft. :)

Now, to get hair thick enough to do sections....
Alas, some things are just not meant to be! ;)

aliceinmadness
July 23rd, 2011, 02:24 PM
Now, to get hair thick enough to do sections....
Alas, some things are just not meant to be!

Thickness should not be an issue unless you have extremely fine hair that has crazy slip. A volumizer of some sort should theoretically fix that.

LisaB234
July 23rd, 2011, 04:21 PM
This is brilliant! I LOVE your photos and it really helped! I will work on this - I was deflating the puffs and pinning on the top. . . Thank you for the great idea - truly lovely!

luthein
July 23rd, 2011, 07:02 PM
Wow, this is so pretty and romantic! =) I want to try this sometime.

proo
July 23rd, 2011, 07:17 PM
Miss Alice you rock

julliams
July 23rd, 2011, 07:44 PM
I don't know if it's just me but my "puffs" end up so huge I'm not sure if I could actually go out like that unless I was trying to do a Marie Antoinette look. Do you curl under or out? Also do you start at your nape or the crown?

aliceinmadness
July 23rd, 2011, 07:53 PM
I start at the crown and work my way down to avoid pulling in random hairs; the direction of the curl only matters in the sense of where you want to make it look smooth or if you want the whole puff to look defined.

The whole look is supposed to have quite a bit of volume to it, but you can tone it down by making your puffs smaller or by making more rolls. Your length shouldn't be causing a problem - I can do all of my hair in 5 puffs, but you have iii, so you'll probably need to do more like 7 and roll them a little smaller.

bigred199
July 23rd, 2011, 08:00 PM
I love this and can't wait to try it! Thanks for posting!

proo
July 23rd, 2011, 08:13 PM
Trying it now in 5 large puffs - giving it 20 minutes in a silk scarf. Will report back.

CaityBear
July 23rd, 2011, 08:20 PM
Gorgeous!!! I'm going to have to save this so I can try it some time.

proo
July 23rd, 2011, 08:44 PM
20 minutes is up and for my apl, fairly sebum covered WO, coarse hair, I now look like KATE HUDSON - albeit a graying, frizzy 52 year old one. But still, it's smooth and sweetly wavey, I love it. Gonna leave it in longer next time, and all day updo, maybe with a cute headband scarf to smooth frizz.

lorigirle
July 23rd, 2011, 08:58 PM
This hairstyle is soo pretty, maybe for one of my straight hair days when my hair gets longer! :)

aliceinmadness
July 23rd, 2011, 09:42 PM
20 minutes is up and for my apl, fairly sebum covered WO, coarse hair, I now look like KATE HUDSON - albeit a graying, frizzy 52 year old one. But still, it's smooth and sweetly wavey, I love it. Gonna leave it in longer next time, and all day updo, maybe with a cute headband scarf to smooth frizz.

So glad it's working for you! Those curls tend to stick around a surprisingly long time, too :)

Lassie
July 24th, 2011, 02:59 PM
Thanks so much for the detailed instructions!
Im struggling though :(
I have the puff making down to an art, but am struggling with the placement of the puffs and the divisions of my hair.
Could anyone please draw a picture? or more photos.
Im going for the all hair up look thats in the smaller black and white pics.
Thanks so much!

spidermom
July 24th, 2011, 03:44 PM
Oh wow! I think that I learned a similar style from YouTube this weekend, a combination of "rockabilly" and 40s pin-up hair. Basically, I rolled a giant pincurl on my fingers (no twisting!). Instead of pinning my rolls "on end" like it appears to me you did (so pretty!), I arranged them more flat, like a pin curl, being sure to pin down the side with the ends, letting the other side pouf up. I'm sure that with practice I'll get better and faster (it took almost an hour!) at hiding the pins and arranging the rolls, but I'm so happy with this because I was sick of dowdy, all hair skinned straight back buns to the point of eyeing the scissors. This looks so much less severe!
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c79/spidermom/2.jpghttp://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c79/spidermom/1.jpg
It looks pretty messy now, but I'm still really happy with it.

elbow chic
July 24th, 2011, 04:42 PM
Awesome! I gotta try this when I locate some more bobby pins around here. (I SWEAR I just bought a new package.) I agree, it's a nice change of pace from the "skinned back" kind of bun.

ddiana1979
July 24th, 2011, 05:27 PM
Beautiful! I'm definitely trying this. . . my hair is so freaking straight normally, this will be a nice change.