Testing out Elizabethan Hairstyle Ideas

Feeling quite inspired from the studio lessons, and wanting to practice a few of the skills we'd learnt such as plaiting that I didn't feel 100% confident with, I decided to try out a few ideas on a dolls head that Terri-Anne kindly lent to me. Here are some of the styles I created:

 When we practised french plaits in the studio, I really struggled to get it right, so I wanted to pracice some more at home. When I completed the plait, I wanted to see what it would look like to tuck in the plait at the nape of the neck. It turned into quite an elegant hairstyle, and I think it is quite a pretty contemporary hairstyle, with a hint of Elizabethan, but I think if you wanted to create an Elizabethan look with this hairstyle, you would probably have to put heavier Elizabethan detail into the makeup and styling.

Again, I wanted to practise my french plaiting, but this time I wanted to try just plaiting the front of the hair to go all the way around to create a really pretty frame to the face. I had never done this before, but always wanted to as I always thought it was a beautiful twist to a hairstyle, and I struggled at first but once I applied the same technique to less hair, it worked quite well. With the remaining hair, I decided to practise the buns we did in studio. I like the overall hairstyle I created, but to me it is a little bit too contemporary. The Elizabethan detail is there in the form of the plait, but again, it is not quite enough to be identified as an Elizabethan style. Perhaps if I had added some ribbon through the plait it would have given it more of an Elizabethan feel.

 For the next hairstyle, I decided to try something a little different. I sectioned off the top third of the hair, and back combed it, so that it appeared volumised, messy and slightly frizzed. The backcombing gave it brilliant height, and texture so I tucked the hair underneath back and rolled it under itself at the back, to create quiffed shape. I could also have used a hair rat, but it was not really necessary. With the remaining two thirds of the hair, I thought it would be a really lovely contemporary twist to fishtail plait the remaining hair. I also wanted to practise my fishtail plaiting again. I then played around with what it would look like if I then pinned the fishtail up, but I didn't like the look at all. 

For this look, I decided to incorporate some ribbon into the hairstyle. I did a centre parting in the hair, sectioned off the front and did two regular plaits to go along each side of the face. I backcombed the remaining hair so that it was textured, and full of volume. I pinned the hair into place at the back of the head and secured the two plaits. I then took a piece of gold ribbon and tied it around the head, to hide the parting of where the plaits were, and secured it under the hair at the bottom of the head. I really love this hairstyle. I love the texture, height and messiness at the back of the head contrasted with the neat, girly plait at the front of the head, and the ribbon almost acts as a wall between chaos and order. The only thing I wish I'd done differently was to do two french plaits rather than regular ones, as I think they would sit flatter on the head.