Hatsumomo's hair style

[Eirinn]

I've recently wetched "Memoirs of a Geisha" and just loved Hatsumomo's hair:D It's kind of half-up and I just can't figure out how it's coiled. Do you guys have any idea? Here it is:http://z.about.com/d/movies/1/0/5/z/7/memoirsofageishapubm.jpg

http://img325.imageshack.us/img325/6035/184792774ij.jpg
And another version:
http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/58063023/12202569

Sorry for the size and quality but it's so hard to find anything better :shrug:

[AerisDawn]

:confused: It's hard to tell but the second picture looks like the hair is folded under somehow.

[Samikha]

I would like to know this as well :D I love Memoirs of a Geisha!
So I dug up my DVD and got some screenshots :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v116/Sidsel/hatsumomofront.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v116/Sidsel/hatsumomoleft.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v116/Sidsel/hatsumomofrontside.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v116/Sidsel/hatsumomosideback.jpg

I am not entirely sure it is all the same hairstyle - the toys differ etc. But they're not different enough that I can really tell from the limited view we get of the back of her head, and it might be just that in some scenes it's closer to falling apart than others.

I'm hoping someone who's good at spotting updos can chime in :)

[Dulci]

Doesn't the DVD have a special extra feature on the hairstyles? *tries to remember*

[Samikha]

I watched the special features, they do say a bit about the hairstyles, but there's nothing about how they were actually made :/ I was hoping for hairstyle tips the first time I saw it, but it's useless! :P

[Isilme]

I would love to know how to do this style too! I love it:) I have tried to do just a loose half up with some tendrils falling out from the updo. I made a loosely coiled cinnamon bun. It's not the same, but similair.

[lora410]

I LOVE THAT MOVIE!!! And her and her hair are simply gorgeous

[Samara Morgan]

I've got the DVD too and they only show the various wigs used and I think one of the hairstyles for Sayuri in the special features. Hmmmmm - I remember someone on the old LHC (I think it might have been wonderlywroughte but I'm not sure) said they were interested in finding out how Hatsumomo's hair was styled, but I don't think we got an answer :(

[flapjack]

I think a giant cinnabun using all the hair in the middle of your head and leaving down hairs all around it would work out fine. Or a chinese bun, too. Whatever one holds better, but looks looser with your hair type. You and I have similar hairtypes and I think the chinese bun would work better for me in that regard. Then it looks like she kind of loosely twisted some tendrils hanging down on the back and sides. You could easily do that with a little bit of coconut oil on your fingers while twisting.


It also looks like... from the angles of the top of her head... that she has it two different ways. In some photos, it looks like she took a chunk of hair from her crown and parted it all on the side and then wrapped it around the hair sticks. Maybe trying that in an eternity/figure 8 shape around the hair sticks and over the bun would give it the loose/messier look with the volume on the top without making the actual bun fall out. And then throwing a couple long pins in to hold the chunk of hair wrapped around the hair sticks and over the bun.


I actually want to try this, now. Haha.

[k_hepburn]

I would hazard a guess that there are some hair pieces involved as well as some kind of a hair rat underneath the bun. Li Gong, the actress, appears to have a lot less hair in those real life pictures that I've found. I also find it noticeable that the hair for the bun does not appear twisted or wrapped tightly - so it was probably held up by lots of hair pins as well as tons of styling products.

Greetings

katharine

[flapjack]

I agree, the bun looks really loose. No doubt she has 30 million pins and a bunch of hairspray and gel in there. Along with fake hair, but Eirinn might be able to do it at her length (which is hard for me to tell what it is) or perhaps longer. I think waist length or longer hair that is medium or thick would be able to pull it off alright. Li's hair from other pictures is definitely not that long, however, it looks barely bsl in most of the more recent pictures I'm seeing.

[Bucatini]

Hmm.... I took a section of hair at the crown, like where a man's bald spot would be, and bunned that, leaving all the rest down and parting on the side. The bun is teeny tiny because my hair is really thin, but has almost the same effect.

Oddly, the part of my hair that went into said tiny bun is the only part of my hair that is wurly, so all my straight underneath is exposed. Kind of cool... maybe I'll practice at this so I can wear it in public

[kwaniesiam]

Maybe a sock bun in the middle and some extra hair wrapped around would help with the tiny bun?

[Sorus]

Instead of bunning the crown hair you could try some gentle twisting then holding with hair colored bobby pins. I find those hold better if I'm going for a non-twisted style. Pinning the hair loosely over a hair rat would get a really close approximation. Also, instead of putting all the crown hair up together, separate it into three or four sections and pin them up separately. You can get a more woven complicated look this way. Easiest way to do this is probably to put it in a ponytail then work from there.

[Riot Crrl]

I would hazard a guess that there are some hair pieces involved as well as some kind of a hair rat underneath the bun. Li Gong, the actress, appears to have a lot less hair in those real life pictures that I've found. I also find it noticeable that the hair for the bun does not appear twisted or wrapped tightly - so it was probably held up by lots of hair pins as well as tons of styling products.

Greetings

katharine

That's what I was thinking too.

In addition to having objects in it, it looks to me not really like a style with a name, but more like a stylist just started pinning and spraying stuff.

[DecafJane]

Exactly. That whole section on top almost looks . . . attached, somehow.

[Cinnamon.locks]

I also love that hairstyle, kind of like a disheveled half ponytail/half knot. she has beautiful long hair and it looks so soft and shiny. I've seen her in other movies and she always has long hair, so beautiful.

[darl_in1]

You know...I could swear there was a thread on this exact thing on the old boards. I cna't remember if anyone had instructions, but it might be worth doing a search.

[Katze]

I have to agree, there are hairpieces at work there.

What it looks like is she's got some kind of a rat pinned to the top of her head, then her hair arranged in a messy bun on top of this. Unfortunately, I have not yet mastered this style so the rat always pops out to say hi, but it is a nice one to try to master.

[Eirinn]

Wow thanks Samikha! So useful pics:flowers:

[Anathema]

I'm definately going to subsribe to this thread so I wont forget about it! Her hair in the pictures look absolutely stunning and I think I have to go see that movie REAL soon, haha..

If any of you gals try this and manage to do something similiar, I'd love to see pictures if you don't mind posting them!

[Samikha]

Wow thanks Samikha! So useful pics:flowers:
No problem ^^ I got dead curious and ended up rewatching parts of one of my favorite films, so what's not to love? I agree with the previous posters about a figure-8 sort of thing, it definitely has that shape (or at least one of them do).

*waits with Anathema for someone to experiment and add their own pictures :D*

[JessTheMess]

Wow! I would love to have her hair!!

[vindo]

Well there is a lot of hair pieces involved. Gong Li has almost BSL length hair there.

I spotted 2 types of updos:

1. Messy half up with just a few long strands down
2. 3 parted half up with bun.

All the hairstyles have a messy part with a few shorter face framing layers. For 1. I think they loosely coiled and pinned up strands on top of the head and left out just a few pieces aroun the neck and front.
In 2. they parted the hair at the ears and let her real hair stick out up front. The long extensions are down her back an her bun is a hairpiece but I think you coud recreate that without a hair piece if you have a big clip under this bun and then flip the length over it.

I think unless you have thick really long hair it might not be possible to recreate that style just like that but I think it would look just fine in smaller and shorter versions!

Well, thats all I can spot there, would like to try it but is not my washday yet.^^ Thanks everyone for the great pictures.

[rubber ducky]

hey guys
I got on this board by searching for an instruction for doing something similar to hatsumomo's hairstyle in the movie. I didn't find any, but the pictures posted here were really helpful
So...I want to show you what I did. I know it is very different to the original thing and far not that difficult...but here it is:
http://img120.imageshack.us/my.php?image=haare.jpg
http://img205.imageshack.us/my.php?image=haare2.jpg

on the top of my head I did that:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBpcdUv9xXA

it was really easy :)

[MadPirateBippy]

I think that's a hair piece... If you really want to do something like that, i'd say get some false hair, make something that looks like that, and then slide it over a ponytail. Pull the hair from around your face (from ear to ear over the top of the head) out and style that separately.

[Jessaka]

I loved her hairstyle. It looked "busted" in a good way, haha.

[Rentlle]

aaaaaaargh.. snif..
I read this whole thread to find answer, but didn't find them.. :(
isn't there some hair-style-genious-type of person here on the forum who wants to search it out??
:'( :cry:
I REALY love that hairstyle :)

[Maddy25]

Simply beautiful, I love her hair too! I wanted to dye my hair black so bad after watching that movie!

[Zéphine]

I saw this thread this morning and decided to give it a try. The pictures are here (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=3653). I have no idea how they did the actual hairstyle, but my attempt is a "messy bun" (make a ponytail and don't pull the ends all the way through the last time, so that you're left with a loop). I twisted and arranged it some and secured it with 2 Wavelength pins, 2 chopsticks, and a small pin.

[Maddy25]

I saw this thread this morning and decided to give it a try. The pictures are here (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=3653). I have no idea how they did the actual hairstyle, but my attempt is a "messy bun" (make a ponytail and don't pull the ends all the way through the last time, so that you're left with a loop). I twisted and arranged it some and secured it with 2 Wavelength pins, 2 chopsticks, and a small pin.

I just looked and it looks gorgeous! Great job :)

[marikamt]

I agree her hair is amazing... did a search on geisha hairstyles.... while the original post here was not a "traditional" geisha hairstyle, what I found was kinda scary (by lhc standards)... they put wax and additional hairpieces in, many of them had bald spots (yikes!) from pulling the hair so tight to achieve the look... this was actually considered a sign of a hard worker... there was a ton of interesting info out there, including a sight that had the geisha style hair toys... would post a link, but not sure how.....

[Candide]

It also looks like some of the strands are criss-crossed over the messy bun part, which makes it look almost woven on top, and creates those going-every-which-way layers.

Now, what would be REALLY tough is to try to recreate the Star Trek Janice Rand thatch-head look.

[camirra555]

That's a beautiful hairstyel. If only my hair was long enough...hopefully one day :)

As for how you would create that style, I have no clue.

[adiapalic]

It seems they've depicted her hair as disheveled multiple times. This usually symbolizes that a woman has been intimate or sexually active. I find it a really exotic and appealing style, especially in the context of a traditional time piece. :)

[jel]

I tried this just now, and I'm quite pleased with the result if I may say so myself! :o Unfortunately, I just realised I was out of camera batteries, so the pathetic webcam pics (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=3772) will have to do. Apologies for the background!

I did the 'huge' sock bun (starting from the ends, but without a ponytail holder so the result would be messy) on the crown, using about half of my total volume of hair. In addition to the sock, I used a grand total of one (1) bobby pin to anchor some pieces on one side. Oh, and I stuck a red lacquered chopstick under the sock, for authenticity :p

Yes, it's a bright red stick - the webcam is *that* bad with colour!

[ZenBird07]

I looked around on the internet a little bit and while they describe it as basically a chignon, either very high for the maiko or worn flat and loose for older geisha, I would warn against it. I am very tempted to try this myself but I would become obsessed and it is said to cause baldness on the top of the head over time. A lot of modern day geisha rely on "geisha wigs" that are attended to by artisans... Good luck in whatever you choose.:)

[Rentlle]

I tried this just now, and I'm quite pleased with the result if I may say so myself! :o Unfortunately, I just realised I was out of camera batteries, so the pathetic webcam pics (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=3772) will have to do. Apologies for the background!

I did the 'huge' sock bun (starting from the ends, but without a ponytail holder so the result would be messy) on the crown, using about half of my total volume of hair. In addition to the sock, I used a grand total of one (1) bobby pin to anchor some pieces on one side. Oh, and I stuck a red lacquered chopstick under the sock, for authenticity :p

Yes, it's a bright red stick - the webcam is *that* bad with colour!


I LOVE the result!!
Do you have a lot of volume/hair? because I think I cant do that with my hair... :(
please write an article on that one, I don't understand it completely :$

[jel]

I LOVE the result!!
Do you have a lot of volume/hair? because I think I cant do that with my hair... :(
please write an article on that one, I don't understand it completely :$

Thank you, Rentlle!

My hair is not voluminous (actually, due to iron deficiency, my ponytail circumference reduced to 3.1" last year, compared to 3.9" at maximum health), but the 'huge sock bun' makes it look so! Check out this thread about the sock bun variant (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=29777). I did that on the crown of my head, following the video instructions but without putting the hair into a ponytail first. Something like this:
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c131/jel_sher/hatsum.jpg
:p

Hope this helps, and feel free to ask more questions if it doesn't!

[Candide]

Hey everybody!

I was cruising youtube for updos and found this (very cute) video. It's not quite Hatsumomo, but it looks like a quick and easy approximation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LD-HoEfPiE

Just thought I'd pass it on.

My understanding (reading Liza Dalby's ethnography of geisha, before Memoirs came out, inspired me to become an anthropologist-- it's a really interesting book) is that the Maiko (apprentice geisha) develop the bald spots because of one kind of hairstyle, called the "split peach". Full-fledged geisha hairdos don't tug that much, although for every day, they tend to wear their hair in a chignon. These days, as was mentioned, most of them wear wigs when they do the whole trailing hem, white makeup, all-out gigs.

[Rentlle]

Hey everybody!

I was cruising youtube for updos and found this (very cute) video. It's not quite Hatsumomo, but it looks like a quick and easy approximation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LD-HoEfPiE

Just thought I'd pass it on.

My understanding (reading Liza Dalby's ethnography of geisha, before Memoirs came out, inspired me to become an anthropologist-- it's a really interesting book) is that the Maiko (apprentice geisha) develop the bald spots because of one kind of hairstyle, called the "split peach". Full-fledged geisha hairdos don't tug that much, although for every day, they tend to wear their hair in a chignon. These days, as was mentioned, most of them wear wigs when they do the whole trailing hem, white makeup, all-out gigs.

that's a beautiful hairstyle!
I tried it @ once and I like it very much.
but it's quiet damaging for my hair, pull @ it and stuff...
pictures soon in my album :)

[littlestarface]

I'm watching this movie n I found this thread seeing if someone ever figured it out. I wanna try it so bad.