hair tools
How to do Pinup Rolls, Part Two, Basic Hair Roll Technique
Ok so in Part 1, we went over on how to start doing a pinup style hair roll by teasing and smoothing. After you tease and smooth your hair and hair sections like part one, you’re now ready to create your actual hair roll. After learning this, you’ll be able to create many pinup and vintage inspired hair looks. Below I included different pictures of me and some of my past hair looks you can create with hair rolls. If you have any questions about anything, leave them in the comment section below here.
Tools you’ll need: Curling iron or wand, rat tail comb, smoothing brush, a lot of bobby pins, pomade or hair wax, and hair spray.
Here are steps to creating a basic hair roll.
First with the end of your rat tail comb, part your hair. Next, with your curling iron or hair wand, curl just the ends of your hair section. You don’t have to do this step but it helps make it easier to curl the ends so the inner part of your roll doesn’t have any straight or frizzy bits sticking out.
Next thing is to TEASE AND SMOOTH using the steps I talk about in Part One. After teasing and smoothing, hold your hair section by the layer that is the shortest and roll the ends around your fingers, most people including me use the index and third finger for this. Keep rolling down using your thumbs to lay in place.
Last thing is with your bobby pins, pin your roll into place. Use as many bobby pins as you want but try to hide them as best as you can so you can’t see them through the front of your roll. Pin from the back of the roll to help hide them. Last step is to take your hair spray and spray your roll or rolls to keep them in place. Then you’re done.
To make sure your hair rolls will stay up and last, move your head around, (not crazy wild) but just enough to make sure nothing is moving. If you feel anything not secure, use more bobby pins.
It does take practice to create the perfect hair roll so don’t ever feel discouraged if your roll doesn’t look absolutely perfect the first time. It will happen. Just practice, practice, practice.
How to do Pinup Hair Rolls, Part One, Tease and Smooth.
One of the things I get asked and complemented about the most is when I have my hair coiffed and have my hair rolls. Whether it’s a single “Barrel roll” or two “Victory Rolls,” people get intrigued on how I create them and they usually think it’s extremely complicated to do vintage hair styles. I completely understand why people would think that because I thought the same thing when I started getting thought I would never be able to do a roll or any cool pinup hair styles. Now I feel confident.
Because I get asked how I do my hair a lot, I decided to do and show a basic way on how to create them. These are just the basics on how to get started and create rolls. Once you learn and practice, you’ll realize you can actually create them and to be able to do all different styles that include a roll because the basics never Below are some photos of me with different hair roll looks. You might recognize one from my site in a past article long time ago to give examples.
This is PART 1 of pinup hair basics which is how to properly tease your hair and how to smooth it to prep it for doing vintage hair styles, especially any kind of rolls. Tools you’ll need: Rat-Tail Comb, smoothing brush, pomade or hair wax, and hairspray. First thing is how to Tease and Smooth. Teasing is definitely a must for MANY vintage inspired hair do. To start teasing, part your hair into sections. Make sure they’re smaller sections makes teasing your hair a lot easier. It also gives you more volume and height with your hair.
While holding one of your sections of hair, first make sure that you’re holding a section of hair tightly. Next take your rat tail comb and very quickly, move the comb in and out of your hair in a circular motions. To keep the volume and height, when you’re done teasing a section of hair, take some hairspray and spray at the roots of the section.
After you’re done teasing, you’re now ready to smooth. It’s important to smooth any frizz without ruining your tease. Take a tiny amount pomade or wax and rub it between your fingers to warm it up. Then gently smooth any pieces of hair you want to keep looking smooth. You can use your smoothing brush for this.
Just smooth out the outer layer of your hair. Don’t brush through your tease.
To set your hair wax Spray it with a little hairspray.
You are now ready to proceed with your vintage or pinup hair style. Get ready for Part 2.
Ways to Keep Your Hair Healthy
I’ve gotten asked by several people on how I keep my hair looking healthy and shiny so I decided to do a post about it. I included a video on this subject to talk about it but I wanted to go more in depth on the topic. I also included some photos of some of the hair products I use as examples. Here are tips and secrets on how to achieve gorgeous looking locks.
1. Use the proper shampoo and conditioner- For example, if your hair is dry, damaged, or you use a lot of color, buy a shampoo and conditioner that is meant for color treated and/or dry hair and that is very hydrating. I use the brand Keratase, which is a little on the expensive side, but brands like Paul Mitchell are wonderful as well.
2. Hair Masks- Hair masks are great on keeping your hair healthy. You apply them after your shampoo and leave them on for about three to five minutes depending on the quality of your strands. I love the brand Maui which you can pick up at pretty much any drug store and like different shampoos and conditioners, they make masks for all different hair types. Your hair will also feel amazing afterwards.
3. Be gentle to your hair- After washing your hair, don’t be harsh and shake your hair with your towel. Hair is more delicate when wet and rubbing your hair harshly will cause more strands to fall out. Wrap your wet hair GENTLY in a towel instead or just let it dry naturally.
4. Don’t brush wet hair- Don’t brush wet hair unless it’s with a wide tooth comb or a detangler brush. Regular brushes can cause extra hair to fall out.
5. Get rid of split ends- If you’re trying to grow your hair long, like myself, you still need to get split ends trimmed. Hair stylists won’t cut too much of the length off and will keep your ends looking healthy and will get rid of any dryness.
6. Don’t blow dry soaking wet hair- If you can, after you finish washing, don’t blow dry your hair right away. Wait until your hair is damp. By doing this, you’ll use less heat and cuts your time in half. The less heat you use, the better it is for your hair.
7. Thermal Protection- Using a thermal protectant is extremely important before you use any hot tools like a blow dryer, curling iron, flat iron, etc. It keeps your hair from getting major heat damage. You can find thermal protection products pretty much anywhere. I love using ACAI daily smoothing serum. All I need is about a dime size amount of this cream, run it through my damp hair, then blow dry. I also really like Paul Mitchell’s HOT OFF THE PRESS thermal protection hair spray which is great to use before curling or straightening your hair. It doesn’t make your hair really stiff which I always love.
8. Giving your hair some extra shine- To give your hair some extra shine, buy a great shine serum. There are some many shiny serums on the market. Moroccan Oil or Coconut Oil serums are wonderful and more natural then other serums and are very healthy for you hair. I switch my serums up. Paul Mitchell makes a great one that I use a lot. It’s PAUL MITCHELL smooths and conditions and again you only need a dime size amount to smooth and keep your hair looking extra shiny. A good tip that works for me is to apply the shine serum the day after you blow dry your hair.
***I HOPE THESE TIPS AND WAYS TO KEEP YOUR HAIR HEALTHY HELP! ALL THESE SUGGESTIONS WORK FOR BOTH MEN AND WOMEN!!!
Bang Hair Tips and Tricks
Check out my latest video on how to take care and keep your bangs looking fabulous!
How to Make Your Blow-Out Last Longer
I absolutely love getting professional blow outs and always want to make them last as long as possible. Even when I do my own blow outs, I like to keep them looking fabulous as much as I can for as many days as I can. If you are like me, here are some ways to maintain you do’.
1. When you first get your hair styled and blown out, whether you do it yourself or get it done by a hair stylist, don’t weigh your hair down with a ton of products like a lot of hair spray, pomade, or styling wax. Use as little product as you can so your hair doesn’t feel weighed down or greasy right away.
For me, when I first get my blow-out or blow dry my own hair, I only use a thermal spray or cream to protect my hair from the heat. Then I’ll use a dime size amount of shine serum at the very end to keep my hair looking shiny and healthy.
2. Don’t wash your hair everyday. My hair isn’t oily so I don’t need to wash my hair every day but even if your hair is more on the oily side, you can buy dry shampoo in either the color of your hair or a clear dry shampoo and spray a little at your roots which will soak up an excess oil. A little bit of baby powder sprinkled at your roots will work the same as the dry shampoo but if your hair is dark like mine, you might look like you have dandruff so I would recommend getting dry shampoo instead.
A great one is, Batiste Dry Shampoo but there are a lot of different ones on the market.
3. If your blow out starts to fall limp after a day or two and want to get your volume back, there is a great product you can use to give your do’ back it’s fabulous volume without a bunch of teasing and hairspray. It’s called Thickening, “Dryspun Finish,” and it’s by Bumble and Bumble and it’s a dry spray that creates and helps instant fullness and gives your hair a great airy texture. My friend Krystal who does my hair a lot told me about this product and I love using it. All you have to do is hold the spray about 10 inches away and spray even strokes where you want the airy texture or some lift.
The other way to use this awesome product which I mainly use it for is for when blow out loses some volume, I spray at the roots then ruffle them with my fingers. I have instant volume after I do that. You don’t have to use a lot of this spray which is good and won’t way down your hair.
4. Another great tip to keep your hair style help up, especially if you have waves or curls is to take a silk or nylon scarf and tie it gently around your head before you head out for the evening and/or definitely before you go to sleep.
5. Last great way to make your beautiful blow outs last long is to not do any heavy styling until the 2nd or 3rd day you’ve had your hair washed and blown out. This can vary because of the type hair you have, thick or thin, oily or dry, etc., but if you’re hair is freshly washed and dried, any fun looks you want to do won’t work or stay as well as if you do a fun look on the 3rd or 4th day when you’re hair produces more natural oils.
For example, you all know I’m a pinup model and love doing my victory rolls, bumper bangs, and more but I don’t do those type of hair looks until at least the 3rd day of my blown out hair. It’s easier for me to get my desired hair look.
Depending on the time of year or the weather, my hair can get a bit dry so if attempt to do a vintage style on the 1st or 2nd day, I’ll have to use a lot more product and heat instruments on my hair which can cause damage and leave your hair feeling icky. Plus it’s more time consuming but those styles can be hard to do on freshly clean hair.
Hope these tips help to keep your locks lustrous for as long as possible!
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All pics taken by me except the two black and white and product shot.
Hair Must Have Tools
For any kind of hair looks, especially the pinup, vintage, and rock and roll looks I like to do, I feel there are certain hair tools and essentials that are definitely necessary to have in your repoirtare. These items I can definitely not live without but it you think of any extra goodies that you should have in your arsenal, please post them in the comment section. Enjoy!
1. BOBBY PINS- I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have these pins. For pinup or rock styles, bobby pins are estential , I have them in both of the smaller and larger I use both but since my hair is so thick, the bigger ones I usually more.
2. HAIR SPRAY-A good hold spray is what you need to help set and finish certain looks such as victory rolls, barrel rolls, etc.
3 THERMAL SPRAY- You can find this everywhere and its purpose to protect your hair follicles and helps seal them in before you use hot tools. It also protects from any dryness an/or damage from your hot tools.
4. POMADE/WAX- Smooths away any flyways and like hairspray it can help set a hair style but it’s a bit lighter and more flexible than hairspray.
5. CURLING IRON- This is probably the most tool for pinup hair. It helps sculpt the hair and gives your fabulous hair looks. Size wise, if you want tighter curls use a smaller iron and if you want more of a wave use a bigger iron.
6. HAIR STRAIGHTENER – I sometimes use a straightener to curl my hair. It’s a neat way to do it. Obviously it’s mostly used for straightening hair. Also if you have really curly hair, sometimes, depending on the hair style, it’s better to straighten your hair before styling it.
7. PIN CURL CLIPS- You definitely need these to pin your hair to hold in the curl. When you do pin curls, make sure they’re all cool before taking the clips out. After that, you can lightly brush them out.
8. RAT TAIL COMB- This is for teasing your hair and definitely a tool you can’t go without. The backside of the comb is perfect for parting your hair in sections.
9. SMOOTHING BRUSH- Help to smooth your teased hair without pulling it and smooths any baby hairs you may have.
10. HAIR COMBS- Combs are nice to hold your hair in styles, especially if you don’t want a bunch of bobby pins stuck in your hair.
Like I said at the beginning here, these are must-faves for pinup/vintage hair but if you have any other ideas or tools you love to use, please feel free to post in my comment box below.