Bibliography

Websites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_I_of_England
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabethan_era
http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/
http://www.sixwives.info/tudor-make-up.htm
http://www.extremecostuming.com/
http://chertseymuseum.org/
http://www.vogue.co.kr/

Movies:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_(film)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth:_The_Golden_Age

I watched the movies during the lesson at University.

Books:
Sherrow, Victoria (2006), Encyclopedia of hair: a cultural history , Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
Sherrow, Victoria (2001), For appearance' sake: the historical Encyclopedia of good looks, beauty and grooming, by the Oryz Press
Lowery, Allison: Historical Wig Styling, Ancient Egypt to the 1830's
Tierney, Tom: Tudor and Elizabethan Fashions

Final Evaluation

I am very satisfied with the both assessments as well as how my skills and understanding of the Elizabethan hair developed. Just a few months ago I didn’t know much about Elizabethan hair and now I can the Elizabethan influence in so many things. This really fascinates me. I am very pleased how I improved my skills and techniques as well as the thinking and understanding in developing hair designs. I was first very worried that I wouldn’t be able to come up with something good but I am very pleased with my final result.

The assessments went both very well. When I had my practical assessment I was very concentrated and new exactly what to do. But that’s only because we had such a good teamwork and practiced and prepared a lot. I also appreciate the honesty we had, because we could say straightforward if we didn’t like how the other person did something or if we want to change anything. We were both also open for suggestions. This helps a lot with working in a team. I am satisfied with the outcome of Ruby’s design. Even though I struggled during the assessment with the curling because the hair was too soft and the front bit of the rolls, which was my problem all along. But I think using my self-made paddings the rolls improved actually and don’t look too bad. Ruby also did a very good job with my design. I  like how she did the wiggle plaits a lot. The only thing that wasn’t how I wanted it, were the rolls. They were too small and too neat. I wanted them bigger and a bit messy for the modern feeling. The frizzing at the front was also a bit flat. But overall I am very satisfied.

Final assessment- Ruby as the hairstylist doing my design

On the day Ruby had her assessment I knew she was worried about the timing because things like doing the wiggle plaits would need a lot more time to do. But luckily we were allowed to prepare my hair. Means we did all of the crimping before the assessment which saved Ruby a lot of time! Because there was quite a lot to crimp. On the day Ruby was very professional and did a very good job. She was very quick with the backcombing and the frizzing at the front. At the end she got a bit nervous because she wouldn't be able to finish the wiggle plaits. But she did ,just as I told her :) I was really happy with the outcome of the wiggle plaits. I think it looks very cool and gives the design this very modern touch. She created a very nice heart shape as well and it looks like the rolls are almost even. The only thing that bothered me a tiny bit, was that I wanted the rolls to be bigger and a bit more messy. Ruby did the rolls very nice but they look too neat which makes the whole look for me too historical. Also the front frizzing bit is to neat and flat as well. But I still think that the final results looks very good. She did a good job and I could see a lot of improvement over the weeks we practice together. 

FRONT VIEW

SIDE VIEW

BACK VIEW

Here is the grading I would give, after taking everything in consideration I just mentioned.

Final Assessment- Me in the role of the hairstylist doing Ruby's design

Overall I was very pleased with the assessment. I practiced Ruby's design quite a lot so I knew what to do and knew I can make it in time which helped me be more relaxed on that day.There were only two things I wasn't happy about. The first thing is that I think that Ruby washed her hair just before the assessment(not on the same day but the day before maybe) or she used a hair mask the last time she washed her hair because it was so soft that when I curled it the curls just didn't want to stay in. Which was very frustrating. I didn't even have time to put a Kirby grib in because while I was reaching for the grib the curls fell apart. So I had to do them over an over again. When I was finally able to secure the curls with the gribs I sprayed hair spray on it as well to give an extra hold. Which was useless, because when I took out the gribs at the very end the curls still fell apart. The second one was the problem I had from the very beginning. The front bit of the rolls. I bought a medium sized hair doughnut and cut it in half to use it as a small padding just for the front. But somehow it didn't work as well on Ruby as it did on my dolls head. Maybe it has something to do with the different hair types. Anyway the rolls where this time definitely better then when I did them during the lesson v´but I was still not satisfied. I fell quite disappointed with myself that I couldn't do it. But I just k´looked at the pictures again and I think they are not too bad. Otherwise I was quite happy with the rest. I think the timed assessment was a good experience and not as scary as I thought it would be:) I was also lucky to have a very good partner, because first of all Ruby provided me with very good instructions on how to achieve her design which helped me to quickly get familiar with it. Also she said if she didn't like anything or wants something to be changed. And I appreciate that. It makes the work easier.

FRONT VIEW

SIDE VIEW

BACK VIEW

As you can see the curls are not as nice as the ones I always had during the practice.

Practice of Ruby's design and Step-By-Step guide

As already mentioned I was quite lucky with Ruby's design because it is not too difficult. And apart from 2 problems I had the practice always went quite well. My main problem were the rolls. After backcombing and taking up the hair I couldn't get the front bits of the rolls even. It was always slightly off, which seriously annoyed me so much. So during the practice lessons we continuously kept changing the look of the rolls to figure out if there is a way to get the front bit even. The other thing wasn't that big of a problem but because she has thin hair and wanted plaits going from the forehead down underneath the rolls and then to the back it was a bit tricky to do those plaits because I didn't have that much hair to work with. Originally it was a normal plait going down but because of the hair situation we thought it would be best to try a french plait. It helped a bit but sometimes looked a bit funny so I have to keep practicing that bit.

STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO RUBY'S DESIGN

You need:

• Paddle Brush
• Pin tail comb
• Sectioning clips
• Elastics
• Hair pins
• Kirby gribs
• Heat protection
• Hair spray
• Curling iron
• purple ribbon

Because Ruby's hair is quite damaged at the ends it is important to apply heat protection beforehand and don't turn the heat up too much.

• start off with brushing the hair and make sure you don't have any knots in it, also apply heat protection
• section the hair in 3 parts ->one on forehead for plaiting, then from about  ear height make a big section for the backcombing and the last part at the back of the head for curling

• start with the second section ( the one for backcombing)-> take small to medium sized sections and backcomb them, leave out some bits right at the front and the where the line to the curling section is->backcomb those bits only at the root to give it some volume so that it will later look smooth when put up
• after you are finished with backcombing take all of it up ,comb through because it is supposed to look neat and smooth
• then roll it in and take it over and secure it with hair pins
• so here is where I have my problem!-> I never get the front bit even, one side is always a bit lower or looks funny or like a Victorian roll

Font View

Side View

I really like the sides of the rolls. They look very smooth

Back View

• after we practiced for the first time we kept on changing the look of the rolls to see if we can somehow get them even very easily
• so we tried to leave the rolls open at the front

• but it doesn't look very Elizabethan anymore, because of the Victorian rolls->even though I quite liked them:) they were just not suitable for the design
• we also tried taking up the rolls right to the middle so there is no gab

• the joined rolls look much better and they look very smooth
• Ruby decided that she would like to have the rolls joined up for her final design, but have the front like in the original design
• So I have to find a solution for the front!
• after the top bit is done I'll do the first section and try to do a french plait going down->bit difficult because of the thin hair and I also think that the section may be too small
• plait from the top of the head down on both sides( under the rolls) and take it together at the back
• before you start plaiting secure the purple ribbon with an elastic as close to the roots as possible and make sure it's not too loose
• do another normal plait starting from the ear and take it around as well( also add the ribbon again at the beginning) and take it together at the back, but give it a bit space to the first one
• then curl the rest of the hair->secure the curls with Kirby gribs and wait until they are cooled down

Nice curls ^^

• fix curls and flying hair with hair spray (hair wax)

I think the practice always went quite well and I was quickly very familiar with the design but the front seriously frustrates me, because I want to get it even and perfect. I tried to even out the front with hair pins or the end of the pin tail comb and did work sometimes but somehow it also kind of fell apart after some time. So I thought maybe I should do some padding for it? But I will definitely keep practicing on my dolls head. Also heat protection is very important for Ruby's damaged hair. But luckily there is not that much I need to curl.

UPDATE

I had a look around to find something that would help me with the front and I bought a hair doughnut in Ruby's hair color and cut it in half. I want to use it as a partial padding in the front. Hopefully it will make the front bit more even when I take the hair over it. 

I think they have a very good size because I only want to add padding in the front so it wouldn't be good to use too big paddings.

Ruby's design

RUBY'S DESIGN

When I first saw Ruby's design I was quite relieved because I don't have that much to do so I am confident that I will be able to make it during the giving time. But little did I know about those nasty nasty rolls JJ

Ruby practicing my design

Overall I have to say Ruby did a very good job with my design but I think when she first saw my design she was quite overwhelmed and scared she wouldn't be able to make it in time because it has a lot of crimping and to do those wiggly plaits you need some time as well. But after we have been told that we could get preparation time for the assessment to do all of the crimping she felt more relaxed. You could clearly see from every time Ruby practiced my design on me ,that she has been practicing and was working hard because you could see improvement every time . The only thing she kept doing was to roll in the crimped and backcombed hair to much. Result would be that the rolls are too flat and in my design they are big/voluminous and a bit messy. I told her not to do several times but she kept doing it. But it didn't bother me that much that the rolls were flatter. I think she did extra good work with the plaits around the back of the head. I was really impressed about the result and liked it a lot. Another thing she has to work on is the sectioning. In the first practice the sectioning was quite off on one side so that in the end she didn't had enough hair to get the rolls even. But she worked on it and tried very hard to get the sectioning very precise .

Here are some pictures of our practice

In the first picture I really like the frizzed front bit. It wasn't taken back too much so it's still fluffy .

The problem we have all the time is my baby hair^^ But for the assessment I will bring hair wax so she can fix the baby hair. I think she did a very good job with the rolls here. They are not too flat and have a nice shape.

In the picture above and below you can see the wiggle plaits. As already mentioned I was always very satisfied with how Ruby managed to do them. A big thumbs up :)

When we have been practicing that day I really liked the outcome of the whole look but looking from the back you can see that height of the rolls is quite off. But I think the sectioning was good here so Ruby probably rolled one of the sides in too much. Personally I really like the height and shape of the right roll.

Things that need improving:

• sectioning
• getting the rolls even and don't make them to flat

How to properly backcomb and How to do wiggly/wiggle plaits

 I thought I should put those two things on my blog as well, as they are a very important detail in my design. 

HOW TO BACKCOMB

• don't make your sections too big
• take a section, hold it tight and with a pin tail comb push down the hair and gather it
• DON'T do this funny quickly going up and down motion to backcomb ( which I always used to do *cough* *cough* :) )
• after you backcombed the hair should stand on its own

like this

• if you have a person with very fine hair crimp the roots first and then backcomb the crimped bit
• if your backcombed hair is too messy just comb it through slightly, but don't comb everything out!
• also important->before washing backcombed hair try to get the most of it out before washing it using a paddle brush->something that maybe would help as well is using baby or children's untangle spray for hair

WIGGLY/WIGGLE PLAITS

Those plaits are quite easy. You first start plaiting like you usually would do when doing a normal plait but don't plait too tight. Then take 2 strands to one side and push them up on the one strand that's leftover,creating that kind of pattern

Which will look later when you do more of them like this

My design- Step-by-Step

STEP-BY-STEP

-MY DESIGN-

You need:

• Paddle brush
• Pin tail comb
• Sectioning clips
• Hair pins ( a whole lot of them)
• Kirby gribs
• Heat protection
• Hair spray
• Hair wax
• Hair straightener
• Crimping iron

->       Apply heat protection and brush the hair àmake sure there are no knots

->       Section the hair in 3 sections, 1: front->triangle shape->for frizzing, 2:middle for crimping, take the section down to the ears->make sure the sections are the same on each side otherwise there will be problems later when putting up the hair, 3: back-> for wiggly plaits

->       Start with crimping all of the hair from the 2^nd sectionàthen backcomb it a lot until it stands on its own J have to be able to create a ‘heart’ shape without paddingàwould suggest to make a lot of small sections for the crimping and backcombing to get a lot of volumeàwhen everything is backcombed take it over and secure it with hair pinsàtake everything right up to the middle so there is no gabàdon’t roll it in too much while you take it overàfix flying hair with hair spray and baby hair with hair wax

->      Now go to the front and separate the section in 2 rowsàto frizzing using the hair pin-hair straightener method(take hair pin and wind hair in an eight motion around it, secure by heating it up with hair straightener)àleave the hair pins in until the hair is cooled down

->       While letting the frizzing cool down go to the back and do the wiggly plaitsàHOW TO DO WIGGLY PLAITS: take a strand of hair and plait it like a normal plait, but not too tight, then take 2 strands of it to one side and push them up on the single one getting this kind of pattern

-> Do wiggly plaits around the back of the head in a random order

->       Go back to the front and take out hair pinsàtake frizzed hair apart and backcomb it if necessary àthen take it up and over and secure with hair pins->use hair spray if necessary

My designs + final decision

 DESIGN 1

For my first design I thought of crimping all the hair and make it very voluminous. Also i wanted to add a bejeweled hair band/ necklace. Along the sidelines of the hair band I wanted to do very tight curls and do two big pin curls on the forehead.

I also had another design which is quite similar, where I just added two paddings on each side to get a heart shape.

But this version was still too historical, so I won't use it,

DESIGN 2

My inspiration for this design came from the Korean Vogue Editorial from December 2012 starring Park Soo Joo

 http://md-management.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/soo-joo-park-vogue-korea.html

I wanted to create a heart shape ,using very backcombed hair. On the sides I wanted to do several rows of single pin curls and the fringe would be backcombed and formed into a big kind of curl( I don't know how to explain it very well ^^) But as you can see it is way too close to the original. So if I wanted to use I definitely have to change a few things. Which I did :)

DEVELOPMENT OF DESIGN 2

I wanted to keep the heart shape, but instead of only use backcombed hair I would crimp the hair first and then backcomb it quite a lot ,so I can take it over without using any padding. I don't want to use padding because of the simple reason to save my partner some time for the assessment. Also I want it to be big and a bit messy.The fringe bit I would frizz using the hair pin+ hair straightener method and the take the frizzing apart and take it over. But I still want the front bit to be big and messy as well. On the sides and back of the head I now want to do those wiggly/wiggle plaits. I think those plaits would give the whole design a very modern touch. I am still thinking about whether to use this bejeweled hair band from Design 1 or not.

DESIGN 3

I did this design a few times during lesson( you can find the blog post about it here) and thought if I add something modern in the back or use some colored ribbons it would make it a nice contemporary version. In this design I did a somewhat zig zag french plait at the back. For the front I created the heart shape by taking over some crimped hair over the attached padding and then do 2 rows of tight curls in the front from which you take the second row in loose curls over the padding. The first row of curls you position nicely along the hairline. I really liked this design and thought of using it as my final choice but here again it is still just too historical. 

DESIGN 4

For my last design I created a very round shape using padding and crimped hair. I would use all of the hair and cover the padding with it. In the front I did pin curls along the hairline and decorated it with a pearl necklace going along the forehead. I won't use this design because first of all I am not sure if I really like it and whether it reminds you of the Elizabethans or not. I am still very unsure about it:) 

FINAL DECISION!!!

For my final decision I will use the developed design from design 2. I liked design from the very beginning and it was already one of my choices. I just needed to make a few more changes as it was too close to the original. After I changed the design I liked it even more and thought the wiggly plaits would be a great extra.