Friday 9 March 2012

A 1935-ish hairstyle for long hair

I had always thought that I could not do 1930s with my long hair. Until I saw the 1935 Czech(oslovak) comedy Ať žije nebožtík ("Long Live the Dead Man") and squeeled in delight over Adina Mandlová's hairstyle there.


Hairstyling has never been my strong suit; I only came up with this on Tuesday and it still needs to be perfected; it's also not quite the same as the hairstyle in the film. I have no idea how to achieve those waves without some fancy equipment, for one thing.
And I'm very much indebted to all those hairstyling tutorials I've looked through and watched over the time, particularly to Gertie's Heidi braids tutorial - this is just a variation on that, so I suggest you watch her tutorial to get a better idea of what's going on here. As I said, hairstyling has never been my strong suit. :-)

You only need a comb, hair elastics (some thinner ones) and bobby pins for this. (At least, that's the basic set up - you may want to use other things, like some hair gel for keeping your hair tidy, if you know how to work with them. I don't.)

You start by dividing your hair into four portions. Comb and clip back the front two. Divide the two back portions into three sections again and braid, always starting with the inner section (left for the right braid, right for the left braid) and braiding towards the front. This may seem trivial, but it later helps the crown lie smooth against your head.


Tie off with hair elastics. Now watch Gertie's tutorial if you haven't already and create a braided crown on top of your head following her instructions.

Or just pin it as seems natural to you.


Now it's time to work the originally front, now back, portions.

Again, divide each portion into three sections and braid. (You may want to comb them smooth again before doing that.) This time, start with the outermost section and braid under - so in this photo, imagine starting with the right section and swapping it with the middle one, with the right section going over the middle one as you look from the back. Does that make sense?

(I tried to photograph it, but it did not show. Photographing a hairstyling tutorial with self-timer is one of the craziest things I've done to date. Particularly because every time I was taking a photo, I had to squat down in front of the camera, because it was lower than my head. I don't know what I would have done without a tripod. Given up on the tutorial, most probably.)


Do not braid up, though - that was just to show the three sections for a visual backup. Braid down, at least the beginning of the braids (I do find it easier on my arms to braid the lower portion of a braid up). All this, again, will help the braids lie smoother against your head.

And now the fun part: the bun at the nape of the neck is simply a knot.






Tie a knot, tuck the loose ends underneath and pin in place (four, one from each "corner", suffice for me).

It looks rather messy on the photo... as I said, it needs perfecting. I suspect Adina Mandlová's bun was made differently. Any better ideas?

But in spite of the shortcomings, I already love this updo. It's better than the plain Heidi braids for me - the crown is not so thick, it lies smoother against the head and is easier to pin in place. And it can be varied into a Regency-style updo! Which I will show you one day, too.

It has only one shortcoming that cannot be perfected with time: because of the crown, I cannot wear my hats with this updo.

But it's still fun.

18 comments:

  1. I love the look, it suits you. Maybe you can make a little pillbox or leaf hat to work with it :)

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    1. I remembered the other hat I got from Lisa... a small pillbox-y but open hat with veil. Something like that might work, but the veiled number is not an everyday job (and the veil is torn).
      I was also thinking that perhaps the bergére, when I finally make it, could work.

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  2. I can't wait for my hair to grow more (WHY OH WHY DID I CUT IT??) so I can wear these styles again...

    Looks super lovely, lady. :)

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  3. This is so pretty! I'm always looking to do new things to my hair too.

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    1. I'm looking for them, but am bad at actually executing them. :-) Which is why I'm glad for this - it's something I can do fairly easily.

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  4. So nice to find another style! It looks good.

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  5. Love it! A variant of that is one of my favourite hairstyles of all time. There are actually a surprising amount of 1930s hairstyles for long hair, but they are really all about treating the front of your hair, and then putting the back hair into increasingly elaborate bun variants. And none of them work well with a low cloche - it's definitely a thing for later '30s hats!

    There is a way to get an approximation of those curls with just a curling iron. It's not perfect or historically accurate, but it gives the effect. It involves using the iron to crimp, and pulling the hair forward for one part of the wave, and back for the next. I suck at explaining it I'm afraid!

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    1. Sometime around 1935, really, according to the German magazines I have - 1932 still had cloches, 1935 already has other styles.

      The problem there is, I don't even have a curling iron. :-) I'm suspicious towards it and what it does to your hair. That's just the way I am. No poo most of the time, avoiding even the hairdryer if I have time to wait for my hair to dry on its own...

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  6. I love the braid hair wrap! Its so lovely on you. I kinda miss doing that form when I had long hair, but I just couldn't be troubled to take care of it now.

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    1. Thank you!
      My mom had long hair before I was born. She's had it short ever since then... but it looks good on her as well, when it's the right length. :-) Just a few cents on the issue of long and short hair from my family history. :D

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  7. I don't like it.You should change the hairstyle

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    1. To what, may I ask? Do you object from a historical or a modern point of view? Because I'm somewhere in between. :-)

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    2. well I am not sure to what - I am not expert in hairstyle :) but according to me this does not suits you .After all if you like it - does not matter what other people think,right ?

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  8. What a pretty hairstyle! I always wondered how this was done, though I've never had enough hair to give it a good try. Thanks for the tutorial! I'll try to refer back to it when my hair is long enough.

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