THE 1960's BIG TWIRL UPDO(S)

Mammoth (as in massive) hair post coming up!

I had many people asking me for a how-to on the hair after this post, where we went to the sixties party.

I only feel comfortable doing tutorials on styles I actually sport a lot and are familiar with, and this was the first time I did an attempt to this particular up do, and it was tricky. But lathe past year I've been oozing for big hair and huge buns to be worn in a more every day style than just with a gold lamé dress. And I've developed a couple of styles  that are rather fast and relatively easy too.

Here's a couple of variations on the 'do in a more everyday fancy-and another one in more evening style:

Like this!

I've been doing this style a lot during autumn.

And this! Ooh-lala fancy shmansy party hair. December is party season you know.

You obviously need some extra hair of good quality for these. Unless your hair is a meter long or so. Which is a totally different thing and tutorial and yes yes bla bla. My hair pieces are of kanekelon fibre which feels and looks very real.

Here's the how-to:

(You can click the multi-images for a larger view.)

For the first one you will need a long ponytail of with claws, some filll; a hair doughnut or a rat -you can make your own with some back combed (cheap) extensions and a hair net for example- and pins.

First, choose your parting and how you want to keep your hair in the front - drawn back, a fringe, loose on the side, pincurled or so.

Pull your hair back into a french twist. I make mine rather simple, just roll and twist it tightly to one side. I think it works with both a sleek or a bit of a messy-lot-of-back-combed hair twist, depending on the occasion. It does not have to be perfect on top, as it will be covered by the bun. Avoid sticking too many pins in at the top, as you want to attach the pony tail there. 

HereI comb my fringe to the side and tuck it in the twist. I put in two pins crossing each other closest to the neck, to keep the shorter hairs from falling out.

Time for the pontytail! I happened to find one that is exactly my hair colour.

Instead of putting it in like it's supposed to you will put it on sideways (like I did here last summer).

Clip it on at the top of your twist, grabbing both hair rom the crown of your head and the twist with the claws. (If your ponytail is without claws you can add it after the retardo-step below; pinning it to the donut/fill.)

Ta da!

Then, place the rat/doghnut on the top of your head. It should stay put with one pin on each side. You can use the fill like this, rounded or rolled, or place it along the claw of the ponytail more like a sausage. (You can skip this step if you want your up do a little less chunky.)

Retardo-phaze.

Then, depending on in which direction you roll your bun, put a bobby pin on one side of the ponytail - I roll mine counter clockwise, so I put the pin on the right side. Just fastening the pony tail to the head. This is so that it won't make a gap when rolled to the side.

Take the hair and roll it over your head and the hair fill to the other side. As you see your ponytail needs to be quite long for this to work. Pin on the other side. 

Roll the end into a curl, or tuck it in under  itself if you can't get it neat.

Smooth out evenly over the hair fill and along the sides. Put in a few pins on each side and one or two trough the swirl on top into the hair fill. It should stay in place quite well with just a few; mine stayed well even in nasty October weather!

And that's it, we're done!

Quite simple and versatile as the look changes quite much according to how you keep your hair in front.

For the other version you will need pins, a comb and a fill plus a hair piece without claws or strings.

And some attachable bling.

I have "declawed"  my ponytail; taken the claws out.

You can also use pretty much anyshorter wig for this. It might work with some clip on hair too.

For this version I pulled all of my hair back into the french twist, which I rolled more slanting across the head than straight. You can also make a little bun on top of your head instead of rolling it into a twist, but for me my hair never stays nice and sleek in the back that way; it always falls out in the neck. I also find it more festive with a twist than with it just pulled upwards.

Then, add the hair fill on top of your head, as high as possible - Retardo mode again.

Put the hair piece on top of the fill,  scure it by sticking a comb in.

Ta-ta! for this one so far.

The next step depends a little on what kind of hair you used. If you had a ponytail like me or a shorter wig, just gahter the hair together, twist it a bit to one side, forming a curl, and then pin. Or tuck it in under the bun if your curl won't form.

If you have a longer piece you roll it more in a loop/bun. You can use a net over it in that case. (In my sixties pregnancy style post I did it like that; rolled it a couple of times inwards and pinned, put a net on. I had a rather long wig of more cheap quality in that version.)

Sleek out the sides, tuck in some pins if needed. Watch out so that the pins don't make gaps in your hair though.

There you have it!

Decorate your 'do with a sparkling pin or comb either in the front Hepburn style or place something sparkly in the back swirl!

Now you're ready to part-ey!