Bumper bangs or Pompadour

I decided to give this look ago as it's a classic Rockabilly style. I've noticed on Instagram that it's called 'Bumper Bangs' but in my Vintage Styling book (by Lauren Rennells) this look is called a Pompadour.

First thing I have to say on the subject is that it is easier than it looks...!

I've tried this a few times with zero success - this is genuinely the best it has gone. It's not too messy but you can see a lot of the pins, which in an ideal world, would be invisible.

I really like the view from the top though - it looks pretty good and the purple scarf is a nice contrast to my hair and completes the style. 

I cheated slightly by creating a fake rat fill. For those who don't know what this is, it's a hair net filled with your own hair that you sort of harvest from your hair brush. This is then used to pad out the centre of your style. It's kind of gross to be honest and, as I change my hair colour all the time, I'd end up with a multicoloured rat fill. There's something a bit creepy about keeping scraps of your own hair but I know that is the traditional method. Who knows - I might come round to it.

So, the fake rat fill was made with a small bun ring that I tied with plastic hair bands into a tube shape.

The bonus is that hair pins go into it really easy and grip into it well. I don't know if this is something other people have used as I just came up with it while I struggled to create the hair shape. It worked at any rate, the biggest problem being that you can see it if you look closely at the ends of the roll.

I used hairspray to secure it and a tail comb to smooth over the roll and try to tidy it up. The hairspray is quite sticky so it was quite frustrating as sometimes it just stuck to the comb instead of smoothing down as I intended. 

I think this style looks awesome on other people but I don't feel it suits me at all. It's too high up and away from my face - it's kind of floating over me. I wouldn't feel comfortable wearing it for real, especially not out of the house but I'm glad I tried it. Maybe I need to experiment with it further - perhaps make it larger and try to get it lower on my face...

At any rate I'm glad I was finally able to create one of these because it's been the bane of my hair trials, haha,

Thanks for reading.

Read more »

The Pompadour that never was, a curly confession & OOTD trials resume

So today I decided would be the day I would tackle and conquer the pompadour. Boy, was I wrong. I gave it the good college try but it just looked awful - I couldn't even bring myself to take a photo because it was downright embarrassing. So I've given up on that style for now and went for another style similar to what I've already done - a roll combined with a curl. I felt positively bouncy and peppy and even god damn cute with this hair do. I think it was the swishyness of my hair - I curled it with tight little curls then gave it a good brush out before tying the bandana. The roll was an accident... a happy one after the disaster of the pomp.

I have a confession to make. I do not curl my hair properly - no wet sets or heated rollers... I totally cheat by using a Babyliss Pro curling machine. And I love the results. I know if I want to achieve the more professional complicated looks that I'm going to have to forego the cheat machine but in the meantime whilst I have such limited time and means it's the way I'm going with it.

I dug out my old Nikon and dusted off my photography 'skills.' I've been determined to get some full length photos as I'm so excited by putting together outfits and I've been desperate to join the OOTD (outfit of the day) social club on Instagram! I'm fucking fussy about photos of me though and generally too controlling and critical of what other people take - something else I need to work on. My full length pics were somewhat thwarted, however, by the fact I couldn't locate my tripod for the life of me. I managed to get a few test shots by balancing the camera on top of the pushchair but there's some serious work needs to be done there. The good news is that my Bloodhound Husband sniffed out the tripod this evening from under our bed and so I'll have another go tomorrow. I did get a few close ups though and was surprised by my eye colour - in my mind's eye I have dull grey eyes but they look green here. I'll take that. Just trying to work out how I get my photos off my computer and onto my phone so I can insta them... hmmm.

Nothing says glam like a safety gate. I think my use of the vintage suitcase in this last photo was a step too far as well - a bit 'running before I can walk' type thing. Also, I love my shoes but I don't think they were the right ones for this outfit. Plus I think you can tell from my face I'm just worrying about my camera falling off the pushchair. But otherwise not a bad start! Hahaha.

When I brushed the roll out I got a rather pleasing Farah Fawcett style flick. Had to get some photos of that as would never ever manage to recreate it if I actually tried to get this style:

 

My new mantra appears to be "if in doubt, pout." 

I toned down the make-up and removed the roll and bandana for the nursery run (as still not brave enough to go out in public fully made up) and resumed my civvies. BUT I am at least looking more glam in everyday life than I was.

Thanks for reading.

Read more »