Upswept or
Updo Wig Styling
or"> Upswept or Updo Wig Styling or, How to style those beautiful sexy updos! A few big pictures, please be patient... WIG STYLING This page last updated 01/02/2008 06:50:30 AM
Upsweep Styling
This is the second in a series of "How To" articles on wig styling. If you haven't read the first article, please try to before you read this one, otherwise some of the terms that I use will not make sense. Even if you do read the first article before this one, some of those terms make not make sense.
This article deals specifically with upswept hair. I define that as French Twists, French Knots, Gibsons, top knots, pony tails and poofy bunches on top of the head. I like the look of sexy fine tendrils hanging down over the side of the face and draping onto an exposed shoulder. There is nothing more sensual and sexy, at least in my mind, and I have a very active imagination, very similar to yours!
Hair styling is not a mystery, it is a mechanical act. Good stylists are created, having been born with the ability to visualize the finish product. Getting from the beginning to the finished product is where I run into problems.
Upswept hair can be styled with a minimum of effort if you use the right tools. Recognize that no hair will defy gravity and stay up above where it is supposed to be without mechanical assistance. I use bobby pins, roller pins, u-shaped pins, and I even make big u-shaped pins out of stainless steel welding wire to hold heavier do's. Add to that all the hair clips, styling products, flexible bands and scrunchies on the market and you have a veritable plethora of tools available to you. The engineers in the crowd will realize that styling an upsweep is simply an engineering problem and come up with some very innovative solutions.
I think the hardest part of styling any upsweep is defining what you want the finished product to look like. If you have a picture, it is relatively easy to copy the picture and make some assumptions about where the hair goes and how it is held up. Many times I start an upsweep and don't have a clue what the final style will look like. I let the flow of the hair and the coverage that it provides dictate how the hair will hang.
Look at pictures of hair stacked on top of the head. The styles generally have something in common, they are relatively messy! The hair is kinda twisted and pinned and draped and off you go. I did the style in the picture below in less than 2 minutes and looked very natural. Many salons spend a lot of time to complete an up-style and charge a lot for some very simple styles. We as consumers pay because we don't have the skill to make our hair look as good as we think the salon can. In reality, our styling can look just as good, we are simply more critical of our own work than of a professional's" work".
Click on a picture to see the complete set of pictures that show her in updos and with the piece down.
So become less critical of your own skills, and have fun with it! Practice is the key to any hair or wig styling. Once you understand how hair flows and holds a twist and won't defy gravity, you can do anything with it. Look at women and how they wear their hair and you soon realize that we as a group spend an inordinate amount of time worrying about the finished product. Let it look a little messy for the more natural look. For the upswept styles, leave a few long tendrils hanging free, a fringe of fuzzie hairs at the neck, and uneven side strands.
Enough philosophy…get on with it!
Start with the basics. Remember, we are working with upsweeps only at this point. You will still use some of the skills learned in the "street" article, but will disregard some of the common-sense rules when working with upswept hair. You have to be able to hold the wig upside down to be able to work on it without performing gymnastics. Buy, build, or borrow a wig head, a post to hold the wig head, and a means to hold the wig head upside down with the wig securely pinned to it.
As an example, I take a standard commercial canvas-covered cork wig head and add a one inch strip of Velcro loop around the base. (A Styrofoam head works well also, it just doesn't hold up for very long) Look at the example picture for the white strip at the base of the wig head. Obviously you can use any mechanism that you want to hold the head upside down, the point is that it is much easier to work with the hair when gravity is helping. I use a few T-pins to hold the sticky-back fuzzy Velcro to the base and use an additional strip of hook Velcro as the "belt" to hold it tight against the wig head post. My wig stand has a ¼ in bolt through it to act as a stop for the Velcro. That way the head doesn't slide down the post.
These are typical canvas heads, they hold up very well to years of use, or abuse...
Hard to see, but this is the support post with a 1/4 in bolt through the side to hold the wig head from slipping...
This is the canvas head with a velcro strip around the bottom
This is how I hold the head upside down during pinning and initial smoothing operations. Helps to have the whole thing upside down to see how the hair flows
This is an upswept style being finished, now upright on the stand.
You end up with the ability to hold the wig head upside down with the wig pinned on and work the back of the hair with ease. Some caveats for upswept hair. All women that have their hair upswept have little fuzzies at the neckline. I get criticized on occasion for not having enough fuzzies or any sign of them. Big give-away! Go to your favorite woman-watching site and look at the backs of the necks of women when their hair is up. You will see lots of little fly-away pieces, strands tucked behind ears, "too-short" pieces tucked into the style and generally a "cluttered" area at the neckline. This is what generally looks sexy on a casual updo. We have to emulate that look or we look un-natural. The completely finished, "every-hair-in-place" look will be addressed in the next article.
With the wig attached to the wig head with as many pins as are necessary, strapped upside down to the wig stand, pull out some of the short neck hair and leave it sticking straight up, not caught up in the hair that will go up away from the neck. Later, when you have finished the up-portion of the style, you can go back and fuzzie-up the neck area and make the style look very natural.
Upsweep tip
If, when you are trying to pull all the hair up, you expose the weft and the cap material at the neckline and can't get it covered, try this trick. (Caution: this trick sometimes causes the wig to become an "up" piece unless you reverse the process) Take the wig off the stand. Turn the piece inside out. Looking inside the wig and using a styling pick, pull hairs through the cap to the inside of the wig and bend them back out and around. Take hair from the area close to the edge of the wig so that the hair doesn't have to run all over inside the cap. Tough to visualize, so I just took some pictures with my new digital camera that should take away some of the mystery. Just think of having hair coming from under the wig and out past the edge of the cap. I do this on all my upsweep pieces and it really helps cover all the cap edges.
French Twist or Knot
This is an example of how long hair can drag the face down or make it look longer. Notice how the picture on the left makes my face look long and the middle picture reduces the overall appearance of the length? My chin is emphasized in the first and mysteriously pulls back in in the next picture. Something to think about the next time you are dying to wear that really long hair....
With the styling pick or a big-toothed brush, lightly brush all the hair down (with the head upside down). All the hair will be aimed at the floor. Lightly mist the hair with water. This keeps most of the hair from "flying-away". Once all the hair is going in the direction you want, place a scrunchie on the hair as close to the base of the wig as you can, doesn't need to be too tight, just hold the hair until you can get the wig head turned over.
Undo the Velcro, place the head on the stand right-side up. Holding the mass of hair up away from the head, remove the scrunchie. Now comes the practice part. Hold the hair straight away from the head, lightly comb the hairs into your hand, keep combing until all the hairs are relatively neat and going into the bundle held in your hand. Don't pull too hard and don't force all the hairs into your hand. If you pull at this point, the wig base starts to become visible. Once all the hairs are together and you are ready to practice, relax the pull from the head a bit and gently twist either direction in an upward motion. Point your hand toward the top of the wig.
Don't worry about the hair sticking out of the hand, you are simply trying to get the twist portion established at this point. Look at the result. If it looks like something you like, stop and start the pinning process. If it looks like crap or fell apart, re-brush the hair and try again. Practice is the key. My instructor in beauty school sometimes took 4 or 5 tries before she was satisfied, and she had years of experience.
It takes some artful twisting and a lot of practice, but that is all it takes to make a French Twist or Knot. I generally try at least 6 times before I get an end product that looks half-way decent and start the pinning process.
If the look you want is to have all the hair except the bangs in a roll, no poofy stuff on top of the head, visualize this technique. After all the preliminaries, while you are holding the hair in one hand, from about mid-length of the hair, twist the outer end of the hair into a tight little twist while the base hair remains untwisted. Take the twisted portion and double it back behind the portion you will twist. Then twist as previously described. This effectively hides the ends of the hair and buries them under the roll. Very sexy look when accomplished.
Pinning is another art form not taught in general education. A single lightweight u-shaped pin CAN hold the entire mass of hair, but if you move your head it will probably fall. Therefore, use all the pins you need to effectively hold the hair securely. Place the pins to hold the hair in place by aiming the pin toward the top of the head and once started into the hair, make a 180 shift and aim down the head. This effectively locks the pin in place. Start at the top of the twist, since this is where the majority of the weight is concentrated. I use a lot of pins. They are easy to hide and can be covered with decorative devices if necessary.
Don't worry about any hair except what is in the twist, let the top section flow freely until the twist is secure. I sometimes jump to the top because it is so messy and have the twist fall apart due to insufficient pinning.
Go to the side of the head away from the twist, where the hair has a long smooth appearance. Lightly spray the hair with wig spray and lightly comb down the "fly-away" hair onto the smooth base. Go to the top of the wig and backcomb the ends of the hair and pick them in the direction you want. If you want long spiral tendrils, grasp a small portion of long hair at the base, comb it out with your fingers and add mousse or heavy fixative to keep the hairs together.
Look at pictures of the front of upswept hair, try to copy the look. Practice until you are happy with the finished style. At this point I generally put the wig on and finish the look in a mirror. Many times the style on the wig head looks terrible on my head. Back to the drawing board.
Gibsons
All of the upsweeps are similar. The Gibson-girl look is actually easier to achieve than the French Twist once you get the hang of it. Use the same starting technique to brush the hair up away from the neck, using the upside down wig head system. Once all the hair is going the way you want, establish the level of the curly bun by placing a row of bobby pins through the hair. Build a little solid fence that holds all the hair from falling, If you were to turn the wig over at this stage, the ends of the hair would simple fall straight down and expose the neck and the back of the upswept hair, but with no styling to it. I have worn hair similar to this that really looked natural with a little additional work.
The solid row of pins starts just behind each ear and meets in the middle of the back of the head. When you are finished with the upside-down work, turn the wig head over and go to work on the top. The same backcomb techniques and curling tips are used here as on the street styling section. Simply arrange the hair around the face to complement or hide your facial features.
Banana clips
Use the same starting technique, brush all the hair together into your hand. (once again upside down) Hold all of the hair away from the head and drape a banana clip with the open end down right at the base of the wig about 4 inches down from the wig cap. Holding the hair with one hand, bring the ends of the banana clip together with the other hand. Make sure that all the hair is included in the clip. For security, I tie the end of the banana clip together with thread (same color as the clip) to prevent it from opening and having all the hair fall. (This happened to me on the dance floor one night, actually pretty cool effect, I tossed the mane of hair around and tousled it with my hands and kept on dancing)
Buns, Twists, Braids
Time consuming yet stunning! I love to wear braids and twists and buns because they are so feminine. Once you have the basic concept down, any of these is simple, it just takes times to do. The French braid above took about an hour, the bun 10 minutes, and the twisted braid about an hour. But, they can stay in this style for a long time and look good. A bit of minor touch-up and they look real.
One caution when braiding, twisting, or making buns, don't pull the hair too tight from the wig head and leave the edges turned out. This can become very difficult to fix once all the hair is tightly braided and refuses to come down to cover the edges. Try taking your wig pick and with the comb end reach into the area where the hair is too tight and with just the last tooth on the comb, gently pull a few strands out. If the effect works, do it until the piece looks right. If it doesn't look right then try the other side and if it still looks wrong, re-braid the piece. Doing the same piece over and over will teach just how much to pull the hair.
I once watched a hair stylist that did incredible French braids on his clients real hair try for over an hour to get one looking right on a wig. He was too used to pulling the hair up and back because you can clearly see the hair coming out of the human head. On a wig some deception is necessary, i.e., don't make the hair do as much of an initial bend at the base, just gently bring it back to where you want to start the braiding.
Once again, practice here is the key.
Wig tape
Most of us put on a wig and touch up the edges and go. With an upswept piece, you need to spend a little more time and effort to get it right. Use wig tape to hold the upsweep in place. Go to a beauty supply store and buy "toupee tape". It comes in rolls and pre-cut pieces. The pre-cuts are either straight or curved. I use both, depending on where the wig needs to be taped. The only real problem with tape is that your neck has to be clean, no hair. I wear my hair very short and usually have a close haircut and my neck shaved before I plan on wearing an upswept piece. Prior to applying the tape, use alcohol to thoroughly clean the neck of any body oils or make-up. Believe me, the piece will stay on and the look is as good as natural. If fact, getting the tape off may be the biggest problem. I generally leave the tape on my neck until I take a shower or use a washcloth with lots of warm water to loosen the tape before I try to take it off, especially if I plan on wearing tape the next day.
Put the wig on without tape. Situate it into position. Using a hand mirror and a fixed mirror, look at all angles of the head. Does the wig come down far enough in the back to cover your own hair? If not, either the wig has to have more hair pulled down, the wig is wound too tight (as if we aren't anyway at this point!) or the wig may be too small to achieve an upsweep. If the back and the sides appear to look pretty natural and your hair doesn't stick out all over, visualize where you will need tape to hold the piece in place.
The tape is to be hidden under the wig, with about 20% of the edge sticking out past the wig. With the wig off, place the tape in the estimated position by peeling off one side of the protective covering. Take off only one side of the covering at this point. Press the tape home firmly. If you have to overlap pieces of tape, remove the exposed protective cover on the tape that is to be semi-covered, but leave the protective cover on the covering piece.
When I put on an upswept piece, I generally place the tape at the back of the neck down an extra ¾ on an inch or so and stretch the wig over it and press down. This holds the wig down on the back of the neck and completely covers my hairline.
Once all the tape is in place and firmly secured to your head, gently pull the wig on. Situate the wig and see if you have left too much or too little tape sticking out from under the wig. Once you have everything adjusted, it is time to peel off the second protective layer.
Here is how I do it, you can develop a technique that works best for you. Lifting the edge of the wig on one side, I gently remove the protective covering and press the wig down. Move to the next piece of tape. Finish pressing down the wig over all the exposed tape. With the styling pick, pull out some fuzzie hair and press it into the tape. Make sure the edges of the tape are covered with hair. Remember to have some fuzzie hair all the way around the neck, it looks really obvious to have hair running straight out of the head with no short pieces or neck peach fuzz.
At this point you finish styling the front to fit your face. Are you covering your eyebrows, does the hair need to go straight up, whatever the style calls for. Carefully check the sides for complete coverage, especially over the ears and right at the front of the ears. Pull some longer strands out of the do and re-direct them downward. Add a touch of mousse or gel to further define some of the fine tendrils.
That's all there is to styling upswept hair. If you find that you don't have the knack or just don't want to bother, find a friendly salon or a friend that can accomplish what you want.
Don't be disappointed if after reading this article you are still frustrated with your wig styling efforts. This article is mostly words, a few pictures and a lot of imagination. I know that your imagination is not in short supply or you wouldn't be here reading this. Just remember my parting words, practice, practice, practice!
Click to go to the first article, "How to style a wig" so that it looks realistic!