My Regency Hair-do...done!

Yesterday was the Jane Austen Festival in Louisville, KY.  I will save all of the juicy details of the festival for another post, but in the mean time, I want to give you a brief tutorial on how to get that wild 1790's hair-do.  My hair has a slight natural curl, but on most days, the best effort my hair gives is a half-hearted wave at my temple.  I wanted a LOT of curl, so I resorted to something that women have done in the past to achieve that: the pin curl.

I remember my grandmother patiently pin curling her hair ever night.  And when I say patiently, I mean it.  It took me close to 45 mins. to pin curl all of my hair.  My arms felt like they were going to fall off by the end of it.  (Note: It helps if you have shorter pieces of hair around the front part of your face if you want to achieve this look, but the effect could still be captured even if your hair was all one length. You might just need to pin up some of the long front hair at the very end so that it looks shorter.)

The first thing I did, was wash my hair.  Then, while my hair was wet, I thoroughly doused it with mouse and parted it down the middle. 

Next, I pulled little sections of hair out and twisted those sections really tight.

Then, I carefully rolled that twisted section into a little flat curl, like a garden hose wound up.

And placed two pins crossing in opposite directions through the little curl.  (sorry the picture is so blurry...I don't have the best camera.)  Sometimes, if a curl looks as if it is a little loose, I will then add a flat metal barrette on top of it all, just to give it a little extra security.

You can see in this picture, that I am working my way from the top of my head, down the sides.  I did the same thing on both sides of my head, so that the curls would be as even as possible.  Then I started at the top again and worked my way down the back.  Don't try to do the under sections before the upper ones, or the upper sections will get in your way.

And here's the SCARY picture.....my whole head is pin curled....and now I know why I don't look good with short hair.  My husband said it makes me look like a mean, tough girl, who could beat someone up.... Yikes!

Ok, so the next part is a bit painful, but worth it.  You have to sleep on the pin curls...overnight, of course...and in the morning, when your hair is dry, then you can take it all down. 

Ready for what it looks like?

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Here it is...

Just call me Medusa!  No, this isn't what I want, but it is what it looks like after the pins are taken out.  The first time I tried this, I thought I had ruined my hair.  But, all you have to do next is carefully run your fingers through all of the tight curls, and loosen them up a bit.

And here's the true effect of the pin curls!  Lots of volume, to say the least, which is what I want for a 1790's hair-do.  I do NOT have thick hair, so anyone can achieve this.  If you have really thick hair, then you might want to take smaller sections of hair at a time when you are pinning it all up.  (note: The volume didn't quite make it through the day, because of the extreme heat and humidity, but it still looked pretty good.)

The next step was to just take a silk ribbon and wrap it around my hair in a few places, being careful not to smash my hair down.  You might have to move some of your hair out of the way when you do this.  Then, take a few pins and pin up a section of hair at a time, leaving some pieces to dangle.  There is no right or wrong way to do this.  Just remember, you don't want a perfect "bun", you are trying for height, volume and over-all random curliness.

Here's the side veiw.

And the veiw from the back.

And, finally, the veiw from the front.  Soft, and messy...just how the 1790's like it!