I know you lovelies with the superfine hair need help, too! Hopefully this will help you let your hair down for New Years. If you’re having trouble getting texture in your fine straight hair, try this! (more…)
Posts Tagged ‘kristen ess’
PREPPING HAIR FOR A PONYTAIL EXTENSION
photos/post/graphic design: Kristin Ess
Clearly we don’t all have a perfectly full hair. And while we definitely encourage you to embrace what you have and make the best of it everyday, sometimes we can all use a little boost for a special event. Thank goodness the ponytail extension exists. My clients and I love these things! They’re really easy to attach, but the most important part is prepping your own hair before clipping it in. Over the years I’ve done this about a billion times and this is truly my favorite way to get that sleek looking ponytail without any lumps & bumps. You may also opt for a more natural, loose look with your pony for which this is still a great technique. Let me show you how to “double up”! The idea with this technique is to make one ponytail inside of another. You can have a bumpy first ponytail and smooth it out with a comb and then pull your second (outer) ponytail over it to cover up any little mistakes. Here we go… (more…)
1950′s INSPIRED PONYTAIL
photos + post: Kristin Ess
Golly gee, we love very vintage-inspired ponytail. This is what I like to call the “Barbie Pony” when talking to a client. It’s got a part, a little volume + some soft bouncy curls. This particular version is a very wearable one. If you want to get a little more dramatic, you’re welcome to put as much volume and curl as you want! There are a LOT of steps in this tutorial, but that’s only because we wanted to be as detailed as possible. Alright, here we go…
- Start with clean dry hair. If your hair isn’t perfectly clean, give it a little shot of dry shampoo! You can do a side part or a center part– which ever you feel is more flattering to your face shape.
- Make a diagonal section starting at your part and going down in front of your ear.
- You can see exactly where we parted here…
- and here. Now clip the hair from the front section up and save that for later.
- Give the hair a nice tease on top in your “crown area”.
- Smooth over the teased hair using the finer side of the comb so it doesn’t appear too ratty. At this point you can give the top a little spray if you want to!
- Now, put all the hair in the back into a nice, high, secure ponytail. It’s okay if you end up flattening out the teased bump a little bit because…
- You can use a tail comb to pull it back up. As long as there’s teased hair under there, you can get that volume back.
- Next we take out the front section. Take one side and drape it over the ponytail holder. Use a little spray to hold it in place if you need to.
- Use small bobby pins to secure the pieces you’re wrapping around the ponytail holder.
- Repeat the same thing on the other side. If hair falls out of this section or doesn’t reach, you can just let it fall and/or tuck it behind your ear.
- Curl all of the hair in the ponytail. I like to curl everything in the same direction on each side so that you get a pattern going, but you can definitely make a more messy curl if you’d rather.
- It’s completely up to you whether you brush the ponytail curls out or not. I personally like t0 brush them because the ponytail gets fuller and more bouncy.
- Check the back using a hand mirror and make sure it looks balanced. Give it a final veil of strong holding hairspray.
Good luck dolls!
THE TWIST + FLIP BUN
photo/post/graphic design: Kristin Ess
One of my all time favorite hairstyles for a wedding or for red carpet is the most super simple chic chignon (say that 3 times fast!). In this tutorial we show future brides and bridesmaids alike how to keep their hair out of the way while maintaining a timeless, classic look for any event. This is one of those updos that really allows you to focus on the dress, accessories and overall beauty instead of being a major focal point. Let’s get started!
- Start with all of your hair in a ponytail. I like to place the pony at the occipital bone (that bone you can feel in the back of your head).
- Next, slide the ponytail holder down about an inch or 2 and split it down the center as you see in photo #2.
- Flip the ponytail up and feed it through the split, grabbing it with your fingers from underneath and pulling it through.
- Now give the ponytail a gentle tug so it tightens back up.
- Your ponytail should look like this. There should be a slight separation where you’ll be tucking hair later in step 7.
- Use a comb to tease the ponytail. You can tease as little or as much as you want. The more you tease, the bigger your bun will be. The less you tease, the tighter the bun will be. Once your done teasing the hair, smooth the outside of it gently by using a smoothing brush.
- Wrap the ponytail around one hand and tuck the tail of the ponytail into the hole you created when you twisted the hair.
- Once you’ve tucked the excess, start pinning the bun in place. Gently pull it apart to make it fuller. The teased hair acts like stuffing, so you can spread it out carefully for a little more volume! If you hairspray as you go, you won’t have to worry about it falling out so much. Use the larger bobbypins to start securing the bun and then use the smaller ones around the edges. For updos like this it’s crucial to have a strong holding hairspray, but one that doesn’t get sticky or look wet. My all time favorite hairspray for doing updos is THIS ONE ! It’s called SuperHold and it’s like liquid bobby pins! It’s got amazing hold and it stays dry. Once you have it all in place, give it a good spray all over and lay down any unwanted fly-aways.
A fuller bun + a tighter bun can both look great for different reasons. For example– I would do a bigger bun for a wedding and maybe a tighter bun if I’m going to a work meeting. Also consider head size– for a smaller head, don’t overwhelm the silhouette by making a huge bun because it could make your head look even smaller. Use a hand mirror to check on your proportions from different angles as you go.
If you’re looking for accessories similar the one in the top image for your wedding, here are a few of my current favorites:
- Colette Malouf’s Silk Feather clip
- Silk flower trio from Target
- Deepa Gurnani’s crystal flower in gunmetal for a more casual look
And you can always use fresh flowers, silk flowers or an embellished appliqué from the fabric store. Good luck! Tweet us a photo @TBDofficial!
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