Hairy Styles: Padding & Shaping

The Elizabethans loved big hair and lots of volume. They used different shaped pads, backcombed their hair and wore hairpieces and wigs. By looking at their portraits we can se that the hair was usually round or heart-shaped. It was, and still is, important that while doing these kind of hairstyles both sides are identical, unless the look you are going for is asymmetric.
Preparation of the hair is also very important, whether you crimp it or curl it. That way you can shape the hair just how you want it to be and get more volume.

Padding
For padding we used tights stuffed with paper tissues. First you curl and crimp the hair. I curled the front, so I can use the curls as decoration and crimped the rest, to cover the pad. After crimping, you can brush through if you want more volume, but then the hair will loose a bit of definition, so I just used my fingers. To secure the pad, make a braid where you want to place it and use grips to hold it in place. Make sure the pad doesn't show under the hair.
I decided to do only half of the hair, to see the difference between both sides. Also I tried streching the front curls, to see which hairstyle I prefer, but I like it more when the curles aren't streched.

Curling the front section

Crimping

Placing the pad

Covering the pad

Covering the pad at the back

The final look with streched curls

The final look with curls

20th Oct 2014 (all images above)

Backcombing & Shaping
I tried the backombing technique to see if the resault will be better than when using the pad. I prefer the padding because it is easier to make the shape, but backcombing is good when you want to get the same effect quickly.
I curled the front of the hair by using grips and a straightener, and crimped the rest. I brushed it, which in the end, I realized it wasn't the best idea, as you couldn't really see the difference between the curled and crimped hair. But I like the volume it gives to the hair and it is easy to get the shape you want. I backcombed 2/3 of the part that I crimped and used the rest to cover and make it look smoother.