Working on Human Hair

We have only ever worked on our Kate heads in lessons so it was really different when we were told to practice hairstyles on human hair! It is a lot easier to use the Kate head as you can manipulate it how you want, but you obviously can't do that on a human so you have to be very gentle with what you are doing. We had to include some of the techniques that we learnt such as frizzing, curling, crimping, plaiting, buns and also using padding in the hair. I chose to include; crimping, padding and curling. I chose to work with my model for my timed assessment as this meant I could start getting used to the hair I would be working on. I studied her hair and its long and it good condition but its quite thin which made it quite hard to style. I had 2 hours to create this look, including setting up my work station and getting out the equipment.

I parted the hair down the middle and started to section the back into layers to make it easier for me to crimp it. I left about an inch and a half section at the front of the hair for me to curl. Once all the hair was crimped I sectioned the hair that would cover the padding. I put a mini french plait down the hair and then attached the padding to the plait. I got the section of hair I left and then placed it over the padding to cover it. Because her hair was quite thin it made it hard for me to get a good coverage so I know for next time to leave a bigger section. 

I then used a barrel curler to curl the front section of the hair. Once they had cooled, I pinned them into little pin curls to decorate the front of the padding. I think it gives it a nice finishing touch.

This is the back of the hair, I ran out of time as I struggled tucking the ends of the hair neatly under the padding, but I got there in the end. If I had more time, I would have either plaited the rest of the hair or but it in a bun. 

Overall, I am not really pleased with how my look turned out today. The padding isn't even and one side is bigger than the other. I also think I could have done a better job at covering the padding and styling the back of the hair. This was good practice for me as I have never created a full hairstyle including these techniques on human hair before - and it was a challenge! I am glad I practiced on my partner for my timed assessment though as I now know what I need to do in order to create a better hairstyle for next time. I will leave a bigger section of hair to cover the padding, I will also make sure both of my padding pieces are the same size and are placed evenly on the head. I will go in with a structured plan so that I won't run out of time and I will know exactly what I am doing.