Hairstyle Tutorial: Free-fall Curls :)

No matter what anyone says, I am still of the opinion that gently curling hair is one of the most beautiful ways to wear your hair down. It's so feminine and timeless.

Now, I know that most people are not endowed with this perfect sort of hair that is neither too kinky or stick-straight. I have never dealt with kinky hair so I'm afraid I can't help you sorts much, but I have developed a way for people with straighter hair to get curls without having to use curlers, or a curling iron. Bear with me. :)
Curling irons are terrible for your hair (not to mention a pain for anyone trying to do their hair independently) because they basically fry each strand of your hair. Now and then it isn't a problem, but if you are in the habit of frequently using a curling iron your hair will end up frizzled. Yeah. Not so much.
So here's how to get soft, gentle curls:

Start with clean, slightly damp hair. (Not too damp, or else you'll have to have it up for much longer.) Beginning with medium-sized strands of your hair, wind them around your fingers and into coils (rather like a curler-shape), then pin down. You can pin them flat or leave them standing up. If you do this step neatly, you can achieve this sort of look:
I love this method of curling my hair because it is perfect for wearing throughout the day. If I put it up in the morning, I wear it through the afternoon, and then if I'm going out in the evening I let down the coils and voila! We have lovely, soft curls! :)

There are no tangles or curlers-getting-stuck using this method, and it is fairly easy to do on oneself. Here are two pictures of the process. (Pardon the lighting--the camera battery was dying and I didn't have time to be choosey.) You can spray your hair after you let it down if you'd like. :)

Tips about this style:

Tip One: The longer you leave the coils up, the tighter the curls are.
Tip Two: This style is a great base for some of the historical styles I've shown you how to do.

I hope you enjoyed this hairstyle tutorial! :) ~Rachel

Layered Peppermint Bark

Hello! Here's a very holiday-ish recipe for one of our favorite Christmas candies! We made this for the first time a few years ago, and it's turned into an annual tradition. :) You can make it as a fun treat for your family or you could put some in a pretty box or tin and use it as a gift for a dear friend. :)

Layered Peppermint Bark

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. white chocolate (either chips or bar)

• 1 lb. semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips

• 2 tsp. peppermint extract

• crushed candy canes

Okay, so this recipe couldn't be simpler. :) I have made quite a lot of this candy and have kinda modified several recipes to the results I like. 

First of all, let me give you a very helpful equivalent to keep in the back of your head: 

1 cup of chocolate chips = 6 oz. 

I was constantly having to go use those equivalent calculators, until I read this recently. 

1. Melt your dark chocolate in a double-boiler. (or if you don't have one, you can be like me and make your own. Simply take a medium sized pot, fill it with water and set your smaller pot (the one the chocolate will go in) in there when it's boiling.

Tip #2. We've been making Peppermint Bark for our Coastal orders for the past few weeks. Several times as I was melting my chocolate (for some reason it's only happened with the white chocolate..) it wouldn't melt down well, and would get terribly grainy. So, after it happened again today, I Google searched my issue. And guess what? Apparently it's common enough in candy-making. When that happens they say the chocolate has "seized". It's caused by the chocolate coming in contact with water. Which makes complete sense, because I'm using a double-boiler and I'm sure I've had a few splashes make it into the pot before. 

2. Once the chocolate's melted, add in 1 tsp. of peppermint extract. Stir it in well, but you don't want the alcohol evaporating, so try not to keep it on the heat for too long. 

 

3.Then get a cookie sheet and put parchment paper on it. Spread the chocolate out evenly all over the pan. Stick in the freezer for a couple minutes to let it set.

4. Do Step 1 and 2 with the white chocolate, this time spreading it on top of the dark chocolate layer.

5. Sprinkle on the peppermint candy pieces and stick the tray in either the freezer or fridge.

6. Once the chocolate's set, remove from freezer and here's the fun part. Take a hammer and brake up your peppermint bark into whatever size pieces you'd like! =D (if you don't wanna risk the hammer ordeal, just brake it by hand. ;) 

Since this candy is so quick to make, I always seems to forget to take pictures of the process. :P But here are some of the final product! :)

 

Mmmm.....doesn't it look scrumptious??!! ;)

Until Later,

Sarah

Vintage Hairstyle Tutorial!!! :) "Sweetheart Updo"

I thought it was time for another hairstyle tutorial post, and since I've been looking at and thinking about vintage clothing/hair/makeup and watching such movies as Roman Holiday and others, I decided I'd try my hand at a vintage hairstyle for you. :) My model exited the scene as I was blow-drying her hair so you are stuck with me! :D I have seen styles like this in many vintage photos and even in a couple movies set in the 40's, so I'd say it's pretty authentic. :) I am randomly naming this the Sweetheart Up-do. It's sort of vintage-sounding, right? ;)

I'll apologize in advance for the quality/color of these photos. I was taking them myself in Mama and Dad's cavernous bathroom and trying to get a variety of shots at arm's length...needless to say, it was a bit flabbergasting.  

1. Start by combing or brushing out your hair and parting it to the side.

The first of many funny faces as I struggled with self-portraiting an entire hairstyle tutorial. Blimey!

2. Separate a piece of your hair from the left side (or whichever side you parted it to.)

3. Begin to roll the hair with your fingers, keeping it neat

4. Pin it gently, but flatly to your head, keeping the center of the coil tidy.

5. On the opposite side, begin rolling hair, but instead of pinning flat against head, gently twist and lay flat so you've made a bit of a sausage curl. This sound complicated, but just play with it until you get this look:

You can leave the back hair down and gently curl the ends to get a half-up look. This is pretty and wonderful for a girlish look. 

I look extremely devout about something. Haha! :D

I would have to do something about the frizz if I was to keep my hair down. :P

A view of the top, as it should look

However, I finished the style out:

6. Gather remaining hair smoothly into a low, tight pony-tail.

7. Gently loosen pony-tail holder and proceed as if you were making a flip-pony-tail. Don't pull all through. Instead, tuck the hair inside the cavity and pin in place. You'll achieve a sort of puff that looks vintage indeed! :) Spray in place. I find sometimes that my hair stays in the "puff" better if I dampen it before flipping. In the picture I wasn't as particular as I generally would be with neatness. The idea of the puff is for it to look soft and feminine. 

I know this is a *horrid* picture, but I hope you can get the idea! :)

8. Voila! A lovely, vintage look. Here are some of the Glamour-Shots. ;)

Yes, I took off my glasses for these photos. How I miss my contacts!!!! I deemed my "Specs" un-vintage so off they went! ;)

Love my vintage pearl earrings! :)

Am I in love with my camera? :P

I'm sorry. I had fun with Picasa and this photo. I look ever-so-slightly like one of those famous glamour-girls way back then! :)

Historical Hair: The Little Dorrit Wedding Hairstyle Tutorial!!

Dear Bloggeresses Who Have Hair and Love Period Dramas and Have Been Waiting An Age For Another Tutorial:

Here is the moment you've been waiting for!!! Yes, I know I did a whole big "There will be lots of new tutorials on this blog and which ones do you want?!" You may have been wondering if all my sisters-who-act-as-my-models-and-victims had contracted Scarlet Fever and lost all their hair. ;) But truly, I have had no time to dabble in fun historical-hair styling this summer. Until today.

Eeep! I had to let that out because this style turned out so amazingly more beautiful than I imagined, and that's a bit of an exciting event to a girl who loves to succeed in her hair-ventures. :D So with great pleasure I introduce: "The Little Dorrit Wedding Hairstyle Tutorial". As usual I will illustrate the direction with pictures that I hope are pretty clear. :)

We begin.

Step One:
Curl the hair. Usually I would set the hair in bandana waves (which I explained how to do here) but in interest of time I used a curling iron. Ahem. :P The front of this hairstyle is supposed to be loose and a little wavy, so I just curled a bit of Sarah's front hair to get some volume and wave going. After you curl the hair, or take it out of the bandanas, finger through the curls.

Step Two:

Gently French-braid the hair on one side of the head, until you get to the back. Clip in place temporarily while you work on the other side. :)

Sarah's hair on the left side, and below you will see it on the right side. And look at those lovely sun-kissed streaks! That, dear ladies, is not something that you can get with a chemical dye! That's called one of the bonuses of spending your life out in the garden! :D

Step Three:Finger through the French-braids, loosening the pieces of it and making it pouf a little. :) See? At this point both sides are clipped back temporarily so you can arrange the front. :)

Another shot where she was playing dramatic "hair-model"... :D

Step Four:
This may be the trickiest part of the style, merely because it would be nice to have an extra hand holding all this hair. :) But all you have to do is unclip the French-braids, gather them into your hand with the left-over hair, and make a short, regular braid. Pull the braid a little bit toward the left side so that it falls a bit over your shoulder.

You can see it more from the left side below...

Step Five:
As hair-bands are entirely *un*historic, you may take a section of the hair beneath the band and wrap the strand around the hair-band, and pin it in place, or tie it in a loose knot, if that's more convenient. :)

Step Six:
Using small pieces, curl the ends of the hair with a curling iron. I alternated curling the hair under and over so that the curls would look interesting. :) If your hair doesn't take kindly to staying curled, spray some hair-goo over it. :)

Step Seven:
Add some flowers down the left side, and a couple near the bottom of the braid. :) I used the sweetest little red rosebuds with charming effect. :)
And voila! You have completed the not-so-complicated Little Dorrit Wedding Hairstyle!! :) Here are some of the "Victory-shots" ;)

(Next time I would like the hair a little wavier, and perhaps a bit more French in the French-braid, but it's still lovely. :)

*GAH!* Isn't it simply beautiful?!? I was surprised at how gorgeous it turned out! Especially with the red roses. :) This style is perfect for a 1800's ball, a wedding, or any other special occasion when some timeless elegance is required! :) I hope you enjoyed this hair-tutorial, and that you found the directions clear enough. Tell me what you think? Do you have any suggestions for following historical-hair tutorials? And as always, would you like me to do more of these how-tos?

~Rachel

Historical Hair Tutorial Poll

I am thinking of doing more hairstyle tutorials, and I wanted your opinions- quicker than a poll would get them! :D So here we go- Tell me which hairstyle you'd like to see a tutorial for:

The Sweetheart Twist (No image yet, because I made it up! [Abigail, I did this to you on Sunday] :P)

The Anne Shirley Pompadour

Amy Dorrit's Wedding Hairstyle (the actress's bangs are a little funky- I'd probably change that)

Amy March's "Abroad" Chignon
(Sorry I couldn't find any closer pictures!)

Lady Dedlock's Aristocratic Up-do :)

Other Original Styles :)

So just let me know which one you would like me to figure out and do! :) ~Rachel

Historical Hair: The Belle Gardiner Ball Coiffure

So here is the second historical hairstyle tutorial. Leah agreed to let me do her hair in this gorgeous style...thanks Leah! :)
The difficulty level of this style is a little harder than the Ada Clare Pull-Back, simply because you begin with straight hair, and mistakes are more easily seen. Remember, this is the style I have come up with from this picture from the movie. I know it is not exactly like the movie. But this is one version of a hairstyle inspired by and similar to Belle Gardiner's movie coiffure. I may try again sometime and try to watch it over and get the exact style, but anyway, to begin! :)

Step One: Brush out hair

Step Two: Pull hair smoothly and gently over ears, so that is looks smooth and flat over the ears from the front. The essence of the Civil War hairstyles. Pin in place.

Step Three: Starting below the right ear, very gently begin French-braiding the hair, keeping it loose so that the hair will still lie flat over the ears. Braid along back of head and over to left side.

Try to keep the braid inconspicuous. It is not the focal point of the hairstyle.

Step Four: Hold the braid loosely in one hand, and take out a strand of hair near the middle of the back of the head for a curl. Take another strand or two to curl and hang over the shoulder. Braid the remaining hair into a long braid, and coil into a bun. Pin in place.

hee-hee...you can see I was double-dutying on the hair thing...there's Sarah with her hair in bandanna waves! :P

I also kept the coiling of the braid loose. This is not supposed to be a very tight style as far as the braiding goes, so a meticulously braided and coiled bun would be out of place.


A side view

Another side view. You can see the way the hair is pulled softly over the ears.

Step Five: Curl the strands of hair left out and arrange as you like. I left one curl hanging down Leah's back, and two over her shoulder. In the original hairstyle in the movie, Belle Gardiner's curls were very tight and small ringlets. However, my curling iron is sort of fat and would not make a small ringlet. You may wish to set the strands of hair in sponge curlers to get that effect. Also, the shorter your hair, the smaller the ringlets will be.

Step Six: I put a comb into the hair, above the braided bun. This is how Belle Gardiner had her's in the movie, as far as I can tell. Her comb was much larger than mine, though.

Here are the final pictures! :)



I could have wrapped her curl once or twice around her bun to make it shorter, but I chose to leave it longer and looser.




So there you go! Complete instructions for the Belle Gardiner Ball Coiffure- as far as I could get it right! :) Tell me what you think! ~Rachel