Elizabethan Hair

Having red or fair hair was very popular in the Elizabethan times as you would be referred to as an upper class women. Sometimes Elizabethan women would dye their hair yellow with saffron, cumin seed, celandine and oil in order to follow fashion. Queen Elizabeth was very lucky that she naturally has red colour hair, although she did have over eighty wigs which she also used and these were known as periwigs. It was very vital for Queen Elizabeth to keep up her image of being a beauty of a 'virgin queen' and she always had a pale complexion with red cheeks and lips to match her required look.

Many Elizabethan hairstyles were created for the upper class fashions and ruffs or ruffles were extremely popular and were built on gauze wings which were raised at the back of the head. Frizzy hairstyles was also another popular style for the women. It was important for the women to always keep their hair looking long because the full natural beauty of this was displayed by the young women. This is because it was a clear sign of a virgin and was the most liked hairstyle for a woman to have on her wedding day and the bride would beautifully decorate her hair with fresh flowers. Once a women did become married she would then sweep her hair back and a lot of the hair would be covered by a form of head covering. Usually long hair would be put back into a bun, although the front and sides of the hair was where most of the hair design was showing, so extra attention was given to these parts.

Hair was always combed back off the forehead as fringes were definitely not in fashion back in the Elizabethan era. Queen Elizabeth's favourite hair was frizzy although it did depend on the type of hat worn to how the hair would be styled.

There were a number of head coverings in which were worn in the Elizabethan era to keep most of the hair covered. Some of which are listed below:

• The Coif which was also known as the 'biggin' and this was worn by all children.
• The French Hood which was a half moon, or crescent, style band or brim coming away from the face. The edges were often decorated with pearls or jewels. 
• The Atifet which is much the same as the French Hood although this is with a heart shaped crescent and were often decorated with lace trimmings.
• The Caul which was the hair net they used to cover all the hair at the back of the head.
• The Pillbox style of hat which had a veil attached to the back of it. 

Source: http://thepragmaticcostumer.wordpress.com/2012/01/09/fashions-least-sexy-accessories-the-coif/

Source: http://www.sixwives.info/tudor-hats.htm

Source: http://www.sixwives.info/tudor-hats.htm

Source: http://www.cardinal-creations.com/joomla/index.php/classes/tudor-lady-class

Source: http://webspace.webring.com/people/lo/oonaghsown/curves/pill_box_hats.htm

It was just as important to have the appropriate hairstyle for men as it was for the women. In the Elizabethan times the fashion began as men having short, cropped hair and gradually became longer later on in the period and it was necessary for men with long hair to have curly and curl it with a hot iron. A long amount of time was taken for men to have their desired look for their hair and they used gum or wax to keep their hair looking immaculate. 

Men also used to have beards during the Elizabethan era as it was very fashionable to do so. The beards were cut into a number of different shapes such as, oblong, round, square or pointed. They didn't require help from a barber due to them being kept long. To keep their beards in place they used starch.

http://www.sixwives.info/tudor-hair.htm

Source Information: www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-hair-styles.htm

Creating Plaits and Buns

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2253649/The-secret-beautiful-braids-Kirsten-Dunsts-pretty-hair-style-huge-year-Heres-look-home-.html

Source: http://diyfashionsense.wordpress.com/

Basic Plait

The first plait I created was just a basic plait. To do this I divided my hair into three sections and then took the right section and crossed it over the middle section so that the right section was now the new middle section. I then took the left section and crossed it over the middle section and I repeated this procedure until there was no more hair available to plait. 

French Plait

Here I created a normal French plait and to do this I simply sectioned the hair into three strands making them all even, I then held two strands in one hand and the third I held in the other. I created a few rows of a regular plait by taking the strand on the right and crossing it over the centre and then I took the strand from the left and crossed it over the centre. I continued this pattern crossing the strands diagonally over the centre strand but gradually incorporating other pieces of hair. When I had added in all the hair I continued it as a regular plait until I reached the end of the strands. 

I then created a backwards French plait which was the same procedure except I plaited under each strand rather than on top which gives a raised plait opposed to a flat plait. The tighter you do it the more raised it becomes. 

Left- Normal French Plait / Right - Backwards French Plait 

Fish Tail Plait

To create this look I divided the hair into two large sections. I then pulled a thin strand of hair from the outside of the left section and repeated the same on the right. I kept alternating sides until I reached the bottom of the plait.

Here I incorporated my fish tail plait in with the French plaits in which I created.

Bun using a donut

Here I just simply combed the hair and tied it all into a ponytail. I then placed all the hair from the ponytail through the hole of the donut and spread the hair out over the top over the donut. I made sure there were no gaps showing and clipped the hair underneath the donut using kirby grips.

Bun without using a donut

To create this look I combed the hair and tied it all into a ponytail. I then sectioned the hair in the ponytail and began to back comb each section from the root as this helps to create volume. I then smoothed each section out, clipping them in place with grips. I made sure each section joined together nicely so there were no gaps showing. I prefer using this technique opposed to a donut as I feel it gives it a more bigger and fuller look.