Category: Hair

Short bangs look cute in a weird kinda way…

~ Emmie Reve ~ Leave a comment

Bangs are really strange things.  Trimming them, and a shaping them and styling them can be a headache.  Which is why a lot of people outgrow their bangs at every opportunity they get.  But the reason I like them is that they actually prevent balding and thinning at that part of the scalp near the forehead where your hair naturally parts.  No bangs for some reason stresses out this point on your head.  Another bonus of bangs is that when you are tired of them, there are ways of concealing that you have bangs with hairspray and bobby pins so you still get to keep your styling options open.  It is much harder to fake bangs than it is to hide them.

Alyssa Milano. She looks the right balance between
Alyssa Milano. She looks the right balance between “polished, fun ‘do”, and “crazy girl who went too far with the scissors”.

I have been cutting my hair now for the past two years.  One of the simplest cuts that I have always found kind of quirky and cute was this really short, a bit chunky or uneven bangs cut that made one look as if you were a 4 year old child that was playing hairdresser with herself with the safety scissors she found in her kindergarten classroom.  It’s fun, unpretentious and youthful in a playful way.  This look is basically a regular bang cut, but what I do is aim to make it a little bit too short, in an awkward way.  If you happen to be like me, and do not work in a corporate office, I think this is something that you can try out.  And if it is too strange and unpolished for you, it’s just hair and it will always grow back.

On my recent bang trim, I was actually going for a bit of a longer, wispy bang length this time, but still ended up with shorter bangs than I wanted! 😦  So now I am still wearing the short bangs cut that I had sported the previous trim/cut.  But really experimenting with different shapes and lengths of bangs is super cool and easy to do.

Here is a video on Youtube that really helped me figure out how to trim/cut bangs.  Mind you this is on how to cut asymmetrical bangs but you can always modify the training of the video into any shape of bang that you may want!

Tips for cutting bangs:

1. Don’t cut them wet.  They will always dry a lot shorter than what you thought they would be.

2. Cut modestly…because it is actually super easy to over cut them in length when you add in the thinning and texturing process.

3. Experiment and try to visualize different bang lengths on your face.  If you see an edgy model with super short bangs, imagine them on your self and think about whether it would suit you.  Having a preset desired length and shape will definitely guarantee more success on achieving the amount of funky shortness or simple longness in your bangs you may want to show off…

This is my freshly cut slightly
This is my freshly cut slightly “too-short” bangs. That’s right Zoey Deschanel, I too can look “a-dork-able”

The mystery of the “top knot” bun

~ Emmie Reve ~ Leave a comment

As a  child I remember loving the Nancy Drew series…nothing intrigued me more than a good mystery and following it out as the teen-aged sleuth Nancy solved it.  The current mystery I have been trying to solve is about why every girl has been sporting a hair style known as the “top knot” these days. So I recently made an effort to make one of these things and two tired arms later, from combing my hair in an upwards direction, I finally understand.

In case you didn’t know, a top knot is a really, really high bun.  The kind that is so high, the round “bun” part is actually on the top of your head, and all your hair is pulled upwards along the face.  I had to ask myself why it has become so popular, and the go-to style for casual elegance and put-togetherness amongst women everywhere.   Because for some reason, a regular lower bun is granny-like, and unglamourous, maybe even too cerebral? But the higher top knot is alluring, fashionable and fun. Why is this great divide happening between where on the head you gather the bun?

After some thought, here is what I think:

~ Top knots are like an instant face lift.  Pulling the hair up, and out of your face has a gravity defying character that flatters and lightens up facial features such as the eyes, fore head and cheek temples.  It pulls everything up a bit.

~putting a bun at the top the head is dramatic, and adds height to a person.  It e-longens the face, making it seem slimmer and more delicate

~Because the bun part is on the top of the head, it doesn’t stick out in the back and doesn’t interfere with the line of the back of the head.  It’s smooth all the way down to the neck and swan like.

I gather and comb my hair up into a high pony tail. fasten with an elastic.
I gather and comb my hair up into a high pony tail. fasten with an elastic.
coil the hair in a bun shape around the base of the pony tail. Tuck in ends underneath the bun. arms tired yet? Mine were.
coil the hair in a bun shape around the base of the pony tail. Tuck in ends underneath the bun. arms tired yet? Mine were.

The second part of this mystery?  Why are top knots so hard to do in hair?  I have thick, ultra straight hair that really wants to go down in direction. The idea of making it go up is foreign.   My arms always get so tired combing my long hair in an upwards position, to wind into a bun.  But a few things really help tame hair so that it will get into place for top knots:

These are french pins. They do not pull or tease hair. They work by weaving through different layers of hair!
These are french pins. They do not pull or tease hair. They work by weaving through different layers of hair!

-have slightly dirty hair, or hair that has not been washed, using dry shampoo helps.  I find the added texture in your hair makes it grip as you are pushing it up.

-use french pins because they work, and do not pinch and pull hair the way bobby pins do. (French pins are awesome and so easy to use.  Ask me if anyone needs a tutorial!)

-Forget hair donuts (those spongy, foam donut shaped bun fillers used to make top knots), they are way too unnatural looking and uniform, if you get them to work–not everyone has thick enough hair to cover the hair donuts!

Am I right about why there is all this rage over the top knot?  What has been your go to hair style that never lets you down whenever you wear it?

Curling irons fail at giving effortlessly natural waves!

~ Emmie Reve ~ Leave a comment

I read an article a while ago about how to achieve waves in your hair that didn’t look super perfect, and avoided the “glamour shots” look that is so not desirable.  For those of you that didn’t grow up in the subarbs around Toronto, Glamour Shots was this boutique/salon/photo shop that briefly set itself up in malls in Canada I believe during the 90’s, or sometime near there.  This was when looking like a model or actress was a female fantasy, and getting done up at the photo boutique was supposed to be as close as you can get to “looking” like a Hollywood siren. Only the makeovers were very laughable.  Just overdone make-up, and very tight spiral curls, and unflattering bedroom clothes that seemed to add ten pounds to your body and face.  Maybe because 10 pounds is close to the amount of make-up they smeared on a client.

Anyways, getting back onto topic, for many years after the fad, I’ve adored texture and wave, and have used curling irons to occasionally fulfill my need for wavy hair drama.  I resorted to using a thicker barrel curling iron, so that the waves would seem more natural.  But the results were still quite done up, and larger curls sometimes meant less defined pretty waves. What I craved was that look you get with hair that is naturally wavy, like you had just gotten out of bed, and it was effortlessly full of texture and drama.  Mermaid waves, as it is called.    This is impossible to get with a hot iron.   The only way I could get mermaid waves was to use sea salt spray (I make my own), then tie my hair into tiny little buns and wait for them to dry.  The problem with this was that it took a lot of time to dry without damaging heat from a dryer.  The solution was to get curls while sleeping, when no one would see me in this altered state of scrunchied strangeness.  By using soft small scrunchies to hold my hair in buns, I was able to sleep after sea salting my hair, and I would wake up with gorgeous flow-y curls that were messy and natural.

How to use scrunchies for natural heatless waves:

1.  Use them to hold your buns!  After spraying sea salt spray evenly in you hair (check out my homemade sea salt spray recipe), twist your hair into a couple of tiny LOOSE buns.  I usually do four buns for more defined curls, but you could also do one big bun…tie down your buns with your scrunchies!

Not a pretty hairstyle at all! But do at at night when no one is looking! I made my own scrunchies!
Not a pretty hairstyle at all! But do at at night when no one is looking! I made my own scrunchies!

2.  Go to sleep and let the night do its wonders. Because of a looser bun and soft scrunchies, this curling way is actually comfortable enough to sleep in.

3.  In the morning remove the scrunchies to reveal a natural curly wave, not overly done up and hot-iron looking at all!  I feel this curl looks best after 2 days, when it has had time to relax.  Enjoy the texture and wave, and don’t let anyone know your curls aren’t natural!

After a few days, the curls relax and look uneven and undone. Like you fell out of bed with wavy hair!
After a few days, the curls relax and look uneven and undone. Like you fell out of bed with wavy hair!