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.