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Post by Graveyard Goddess on Jul 10, 2005 12:56:21 GMT -5
I must admit I didnt know much about hair extentions...untill recently
There are so many different types!
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Post by Graveyard Goddess on Jul 10, 2005 12:58:37 GMT -5
try www.angelemma.com for hair peices of all sorts (UK) Synthetic dreadlocks are usually temporary (i.e., can be removed with no damage to your own hair), and can be quite expensive because they take much longer to attach than other types of extensions - this is why it's well worth trying to do your own dreads if you have the time and the patience. Most dread extensions are possible to do at home This can cost around 300-500 USD if done professionally * - Go and visit Atropa's site hem.passagen.se/atropab/She has the most astonishingly wonderful range of extensions, and her site is constantly updated too! |
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Post by Graveyard Goddess on Jul 10, 2005 13:01:28 GMT -5
PS this hair thread is thanks to angry candle sticks
Hair Peices
Hairpieces are a quick and easy way to add length to your own hair. They usually take a matter of moments to attach, and can be removed just as easily. Hairpieces will usually cost a lost less than fixed extensions, and they have the distinct advantage of being instantly changeable!
So how do I do that, then?
Essentially you make a bunch of fake hair, attach that to your own bunch of real hair.. hide the roots with a scarf or hairband, and off you go! You can use a number of different types of hair for hairpieces: Straight synthetic hair of the type used for fixed loose extensions, kinky 'jumbo braid' hair, Toyokalon 'pony' hair, Yaky hair, pre-braided hair, synthetic dreadlocks, curls, human tracks of hair.. The best thing to do is play around, and see what you like best. If you want to make a copy of loose extensions, then use silky hair, or Yaky hair. If you're going for huge hair, try jumbo braid.
"Ponyfalls" - quick method, takes about 5 minutes to make.
You will need:2-3 packets of synthetic hair and a cotton-covered elastic band or two
Most synthetic hair comes with a rubber band or two looped around the hair at the top to hold it together. You could just fix the rubber band onto your own hair straight from the packet, but you'll probably find it kinder on your hair to replace the rubber bands with a cotton-covered hair band. You might also want to pull the bottom of the hair around a bit, so that it is a bit more layered, like real hair, and not so neat and blunt.
You could also chop the ends around a bit with a cut-throat razor or a pair of scissors.
To attach to your own hair, scrape your hair up into a ponytail or a bun. Loop the elastic on the ponyfall round the base of the ponytail or bun to secure it, making sure that the synthetic hair falls over the bun or ponytail if you want to hide it. If it's being stubborn, use hair pins to pin the fake hair into place over your own hair.
If your own hair is very long, and too thick to put in a bun or buns, the easiest thing to do is to pull it up into a ponytail, attach the ponyfall to the ponytail, then twist your natural hair around on itself (or braid it). Then wrap the natural hair around the base of the bunches of fake and real hair, and pin into place. This makes it extra-secure and very unlikely to fly off your head, mid-boogie!.
Cover the whole base of the ponyfalls with a scarf (or the leg of a pair of tights, which works well - strong and stretchy). If you think your own hair is showing too much between your forehead and the ponyfalls, use something like a pair of goggles, a scarf or snood, or a section of feather boa to hide your own hair a bit more. Ostrich feather boas are particularly good for this, because they have an almost hairlike appearance.
Hairpieces - longer method, takes about an hour to make.
You will need: 2 or more packets of silky hair, a piece of strong lace about 1½" wide and about 2' long, a hot glue gun or some latex hair glue
If you're having trouble getting your hair to hang properly, you can try to attach/arrange it in small sections along a length of lace, so that instead of wrapping a rubber band round your own hair, you tie a 'fringe' of synthetic hair around your own ponytail or bun. This is easy to do, and well worth the extra effort for the improved results. The lace acts as a particularly firm 'tie' around your own hair, because lace is quite rough and textured - you can try other fabrics, but I find lace the best.
It's as easy as it sounds - take a small (¼" wide) section of hair, loop it over the top of a piece of lace , braid for about an inch, then squidge on some glue from a hot glue gun, or a bit of rubber hair glue to seal it. Repeat, until you have a section of hair arranged along the lace which is the same length as the circumference of your ponytail. You can alternate colours quite nicely in this way. To attach, make your hair into a bun (even a small stubby bun will do), then firmly tie the lace around the base of the bun, so that the section of lace with hair attached is wrapped round the bun. Skewer a few hairgrips through the hairpiece and the base of your bun to hold in place - then hide the base of the hairpiece with a leg from an old pair of tights, scarf, feather boa, etc. This also supports the hairpiece, so it doesn't place quite as much strain on your hair.
Wearing hairpieces
The most comfortable way to wear very long/heavy hairpieces is to arrange them that they don't so much hang off your head, as sit on top of it - and attaching it on top of your head also gives extra height to the hairpiece.
If you want to wear a pair of hairpieces, do two high ponytails or buns close to the top of your head. Attach your hairpieces to each ponytail/bun, then wrap the leg from a pair of tights around the base of both ponytails, so that you're almost tying them together. You can just wrap round both ponytails, or do a figure-of-8 with the tights. This really does help to take a lot of the strain off your own hair. You can also skewer hairsticks though the base of your hair/hairpiece which will help to take some of the weight off.
A word on mixing, and blending with your natural hair...
It's worth bearing in mind that if your natural hair is not dyed, then most bright colours will look -very- fake in anything but dark clublight. Sometimes it's worth matching the synthetic hair to your own shade, then mixing in streaks of the colour you want to add.. this -will- look much better than just strapping two bright blue bunches onto a brown head of hair. Also, the higher up you wear the hairpieces, the more the synthetic hair will fall over your own hair and cover it up.
If you really want to have lots of odd colours that would clash with your own hair, there are coloured hair sprays or pomades you can use - and you can always hide your own hair with an assortment of goggles, headwraps, scarfs and boas, so that the hairpiece pokes out at the top and is the only visible haircolour. Consider also braiding a few pieces of the coloured extension hair into your own hair, around your hairline or where your own hair will show - this will help to break up the contrast more, and blend the hairpiece in much better.
Human hair on wefts
My own favourite way of wearing hairpieces at the moment is using wefts of human hair on a track. This is just like a long fringe of hair.. so it's very easy to wrap the weft round and round a bunch of real hair, and pin into place. Most wefts are about 6'-7' long, so you might want to fold the weft over a few times and stitch into place, just so you only have to wrap it round a few times to get the same volume of hair.
Because it's human hair, it looks very real indeed. Weft hair comes in a whole range of natural colours with freaky-coloured ends, which makes it a good way of adding both colour and length whilst blending in with your own colour. You could also do what Stevy did in the pic above, which is to trim a section of human weft, and attach it to a hairband to make a fake fringe.
Taking care of the hair
There's not a vast amount you can do to prolong the life of cheap synthetic hairpieces. Jumbo braid type hair tends to snag very easily, and picking out the worst of the knots by hand, whilst combing silicon spray through the hair with a wide-tooth comb is about the best you can do. Textured hair like dreadlocks and curls tends to hold its shape for many wearings, so it's easy to keep looking nice. Monofibre hair will stay looking nice for a lot longer that cheaper jumbo braid hair.. I really can't stress that enough. If you want a good-looking, long-lasting hairpiece, spend the extra money on the nicer hair. Monofibre hair can also be blow-dried straight using a hot hairdryer and a bristle hairbrush, which restores it to its shiny 'brand new' state. My number one tip for keeping fake hair in good condition is not to let the cats anywhere near it!
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Post by Graveyard Goddess on Jul 10, 2005 13:04:00 GMT -5
Using yarn or wool to make extensions is generally a lot cheaper than using hair, and is often lighter too. You can use it in the same way you might use hair - braid it in, use it for making wraps, or braid in at the roots and leave the ends loose.
One small word of warning though - some wool shrinks when it gets washed, so you might find it difficult to remove if it shrinks itself into your hair. The fibres in wool do tend to get themselves mixed up with your own hair in time, so I'd advise checking after a week or so, just with a couple of sample sections, to make sure you can get the wool out fairly painlessly!
Wool, whether real or synthetic, gets incredibly heavy (and a bit smelly) when wet, so I'd advise dry shampoo if you keep wool in your hair, rather than the usual wet shampoo.
If you cannot stand to go without shampooing your scalp, then try to hold all the wool out of the way when you shampoo - just run diluted shampoo over your scalp and massage in using your fingers, before rinsing with a well-aimed showehead. I have also seen people suggest that you bag the bulk of your wool hair up in plastic bags to keep it dry - no doubt a comical scene in the shower, but it definitely helps.
How to?
Some of the pictures above have explanations of the way they were done attached to them - click on them to check. If an explanation is not there, see below!
Wool dreads:
I see people ask a lot 'how do you dread wool?'. The simple answer is.. you don't. You buy it that way, usually. The exception is roving, which needed to be 'felted' to give it a dreaded shape.
If you want to do a full head of Colinette yarn without using hairpieces, then the method is very similar to doing wool braids (see below), except that instead of using several pieces of wool together and braiding all of it into your hair, you use just one long piece of Colinette, folded over at the top, and braid just one side of this into your hair. The other side of the Colinette is left hanging loose, so for each segment of hair, you have one Colinette-hair braid and one loose piece of colinette. Colinette is pretty bulky, so usually hides the braids fairly well. If you want to add more volume to your wool, then simply tie more pieces of Colinette in at the base of the braid. You don't have to braid all of your hair if you don't want to, just an inch or two at the base would do.
You'll need 4-5 skeins of Colinette .5 for a full headful.
Colinette make some extraordinary yarns and wools , both natural and synthetic. Have a look at their website and see if they list anywhere near you that stocks it. They dye the wool in specific colourschemes or 'colourways' rather than one flat colour, but it is possible to buy it in plain colours, you just have to ask. As it's pure wool, you can also, of course, dye it yourself at home to get a specific shade.
If you're in the UK you can order directly from them, but International buyers have to rely on local stockists. Colinette is sold online in the US for about $20 a skein, when it only costs £5 ($7) in the UK!
Lucky you!
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