Step by Step to 40s Style Party Hair

As promised here is a quick step by step tutorial to a 40s style hair do. It’s really dead easy to do, though you will find it gets easier to do with practice.

One day I’ll do some tutorials on video, but right now I don’t have anything that videos for longer than 30 seconds, so step by step photos will have to do.

You will need:

• Curling Irons
• A hairbrush
• A comb
• Hair grips

So, here’s what I look like first with boring flat hair that makes me sad.

• First you want to part your hair slightly to one side. Then section off the front, from just behind your ears, using a comb. Tie the rest back to keep it out of the way.

• Take one side of your hair and pull it directly upwards.

• If you have very fine hair (like I do) then you will need to back comb this section to add some volume. Then you will look like you have stuck your fingers in an electrical socket and received a terrible shock. Like so…..

• Now, this is the bit that might take you a bit of practice to get right. But once you’re used to it it’ll only take a few seconds. Grab the section of hair and twist it in under itself, not too tightly, so you get a puffy cushion of hair at the front of your head. Don’t worry too much at the moment about stray hairs or how neat it looks.

• You DO NOT need to tuck all the hair under the roll, just grab a hair pin and clip the tail to the top of your head. Crossing over a couple of grips should keep it secure and leave you looking like this.

• Repeat on the other side (this is a redundant photo, but I took it so I’ll include it! Also I look quite scary in it which amuses me, so maybe it’ll amuse you too and I live to make you laugh.)

• Take the back of your hair out of the pony tail and you’re pretty much done. If you are in a real hurry then at this point you can just twist the back section of hair into a bun or pony tail.

• If the bumpy sections are full of loose hairs and a bit messy looking then tuck any extra bits out of the way using more hair grips. Rub some serum or hair gel between your hands and GENTLY smooth over the top to keep it looking tidy.

• If you are me you now look like this….

• This is fine, but for a really polished finished look it’s time to grab the curling irons.

• If you have a fringe curl that UNDER.For the loose section at the back of your hair try curling random sections in different directions, towards and away from your face.

• Gently brush your hair and fringe through to loosen the curl. You just want bounce, not full on ringlets.

• TA DA……

I know I look a bit cock eyed in this picture, but that’s just because my hair fell in my eyes, honestly.

So there you have it. I promise that with a bit of practice you can do this in literally 5 minutes and be good to go. The secret is in the back combing to make sure you get some volume in your hair. I knew about backcombing when I was a teenager and wanted to look like Courtney Love, but in the last 10 years I somehow forgot it’s amazing volumising powers. Apparently it’s bad for your hair, but I say “Pah!” hair grows back….