5 vintage styles

VINTAGE HAIRSTYLES (introduction and resources)

Lately, I’ve been doing - workshops with Michelle at Studio L’amour. For a very reasonable fee a girl can come in and have here hair and make up done by me. Then be photographed by Jeff Millies and posed by Michelle.

The next workshop is May 31st, and still has spots available.  You can read about it here, and register here.

The results are usually pretty amazing and the process is always interesting. Everybody comes in a little shy and hesitant and by the end they are gushing and talking about how much fun that was. It can feel good to shed some inhibitions in a safe place.

I love attempting to re-create hair in vintage styles on all different kinds of girlies. I find the methods and traditions of hair setting really fascinating and generally when I find something fascinating I get my OCD on and try to get to the bottom of it. The girls who come to our workshops are always asking me, “How did you learn to do hair like this?” and though the real answer is “I went off my meds,” I generally say something like, ” Oh I just saw pictures in movies and books and tried to recreate them.” This is just simpler than saying I spent hours with brushes tangled in my hair until my upper arms ached and it still didn’t look good, I find that answer to be discouragingly honest.

But, In response to such questions I thought perhaps I could refer those curious ladies to my site and give them a few good tips to point them in the right direction. So here goes ladies you’re entre into sore upper arms and really crazy fabulous hair.

For the longest time it was very difficult to find any good books on vintage hair. But as the Pin-Up look gets more and more mainstream it has become easier to find good resources. One amazing resource I’ve stumbled upon recently is a book by Lauren Rennells (THANK YOU LAUREN!!) it’s called “Vintage Hairstyling” and you can find it here: http://www.vintagehairstyling.com/

Now this book has me doing some strange things in my quest for authentic vintage styling such as saving the hair from my brushes. I’m a bit mortified to be doing this but also thrilled to discover that if you bundle this hair and put it in a bit of hair-netting you can use the little filler bundle to create lift instead of having to rat the  heck out of your hair. And because it’s from your own head to begin with the color is a perfect match. This bundle under rolls helps to give height and make that perfect Victory roll or page boy. The book has excellent picture by picture steps for styling and some of the most comprehensive pin-curling instructions I’ve ever seen. If vintage styling interests you this book is a must!

Also now on the net is something called the Cosmo Lounge This site is fairly inexpensive and has step by step awesome tutorials and a help hotline chatroom. So if you need you’re the kind of learner that needs a teacher and has a hard time picking things up just from books this is probably your best bet. Plus the site Pinuplifestyle.com is just a great inspiration sight for all things retro. So many of the users on there are super helpful and encouraging. If money’s tight and you can’t spring for the $10 a month try youtube. This is another good way of finding make-up and hair tips. My lands, whatever did we do before the Internet!

I also love the old magazines, though they are usually more confusing than an ikea instruction manual. They are charming and usable once you’ve got a good base of knowledge. Just for fun I’ll post a few of my scans on here for you to check out. If you still have questions you can always ask Mimi! I’ll do what I can to help you out. Or if you need your hair done for a special event I’ll show you my hair-folio and send you my rates. Though the DIY approach is so much more rewarding because it feels great when someone asks, “Wow, who did your hair like that?” and you say “I did!”

Have fun ladies.

Here are some fun goodies to look at (these are all courtesy of miss-vintage.com):

http://www.mimifirst.org/pdfs/