Vintage Hairstyling

The Life Cycle of My Wet Set – Day Seven

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DAY SEVEN

Well, I made it! The last day of my set. My curls have fallen substantially and my hair desperately needs to be washed so I will do that this evening and start the whole process all over again.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this series and you’ve gained some insight to how I style my hair. I hope to produce more hair tutorials in the future for you. I prefer to do pictorials rather than videos, for me personally I learn better that way. Plus videos are so time consuming to produce and I just don’t have the equipment to do it properly right now.

So here is my seventh day hair with a quick how-to guide below. Only once my hair has smoothed out can I do this style. It doesn’t work very well at all when it’s curly, so I reserve this for 1-2 days before need to wash it.

Day 7 - 1 IMG_6527 IMG_6526 Day 7 - 2 IMG_6521 IMG_6525

HOW-TO GUIDE

First, you’ll want to section off your fringe and pin it up and out of the way. Brush out the hair and smooth it out with a bit of pomade. Start on one side of you head and and start twisting and rolling the hair gathering another section as you go. Place a bobby pin or two horizontally to secure the roll.

Follow this all the way across to the other side. Twist and tuck the ends in on it self and secure the ends with bobby pins. Feel along the roll for any loose sections and add more pins wherever needed, making sure you pin horizontally to hid the pins.

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Now take down your fringe and smooth it out. Add a bit of pomade to smooth any fly-a-ways. Create a swoop and tuck the end into the twist on the side of your head. Secure with bobby pins.

 

Take the tail of your comb and while holding the swoop secure lift up a little to give a bit of height. Place a hair flower or hair comb to further secure the end of the swoop and to hide the pins. Run a comb through the back of hair from the crown to the roll.

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The Life Cycle of My Wet Set ~ Day Six

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DAY SIX

My hairstyle today is one that I do on a fairly regular basis. I will give a more detailed pictorial on how to achieve this style below. It’s best done when the front fringe is not as curly, however the back should have some curl or wave to it to help with the “messy bun” look. I don’t always add hair flowers, but I recently bought these and thought they looked nice with what I was wearing.

Day 6 - 1 Day 6 - 2 IMG_6446 Day 6 - 3 IMG_6449IMG_6451Day 6 - 4

HOW-TO GUIDE

Someone on Facebook has asked me to show what my hair looked like before styling it, so here it is on Day 6 just after I’ve taken in out of a bun, I haven’t brushed it yet.

First, section a your hair on the smaller side by creating a side part then sectioning off the hair down to the top of your ear. Then section off the larger side down to the other ear. Tease a little bit to get some volume. You can secure the back of your hair with a tie if needed.

Take the hair from the larger side and start twisting the hair back and down until just past your ear. Push the twist forward a bit to give it some volume, then bobby pin to secure, making sure you cross the pins for a secure fit.

Do the same thing on the smaller side.

Now for the back. Take three sections and make a partial pony tail, not pulling the hair all the way through the hair tie.

Now, using small bobby pins, just start pinning sections of the partial pony tails up. Make sure you take some hair from each section and pin to the next, so they look like they are all one “messy bun”. There really is no specific technique to this, just start pinning where you wish. After you’ve pinned a few sections, check in the mirror for any “holes” or hairs falling down and pin them up.

Once all your pins are in, just take your comb and run it through down to the curls to get rid of the three parts and create a smooth crown. Then you can adjust the front part of your hair and carefully pull the twists up to get more height if needed. Hairspray and you are finished. You can leave it like this or add hair flowers if you wish.

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CLICK HERE FOR DAY SEVEN

The Life Cycle of My Wet Set ~ Day Five

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DAY FIVE

My hairstyle today is simple and honestly kinda lazy. I needed a quick style as I had a volunteer shift at the USO and didn’t have time to futz around too much this morning. My curl at the ends is still pretty good, so by pulling it into a side pony tail I can show off those curls. And since I had my fringe in a roll all day yesterday, I’m able to easily create a front swoop and pin curl it on the side. Add a hair flower and Voila!

Day 5 - 1 Day 5 - 2 Day 5 - 4

Day 5 - 3

 

CLICK HERE FOR DAY SIX

The Life Cycle of My Wet Set ~ Day Four

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DAY FOUR

As you can see my curls are really starting to fall and some of the volume has flattened. This will probably be the last day that I wear my hair down this week. I have to admit that I had a difficult time figuring out what I wanted to do with my hair today. Sometimes at this point, I would use a few hot rollers on my fringe or do a dry pin curl setting with my curling iron. But I really want to show how my hair evolves throughout the original set.

Today I just sectioned off my fringe and created a front roll, pinned it inside the roll and off to the side. Then I did a small pin curl on the smaller side. I added two small hair flowers to finish off the look. I prefer to do rolls like this on day 3 or 4 hair. As you can see the curl at the end is still pretty stable, but the rest is smooth.

Day 4 - 4 Day 4 - 2 IMG_6368 Day 4 - 5 Day 4 - 1 IMG_6369Day 4 - 3IMG_6373

 

HOW-TO GUIDE

 

CLICK HERE FOR DAY FIVE

The Life Cycle of My Wet Set ~ Day Three

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DAY THREE

Today was a very uneventful day, so I just brushed my hair into a more sleek style. As my set wears on, you can start to see how the curl falls a bit, especially in the front of my hair. I pull my hair back into a pony tail when I shower and put my makeup on in the morning and when I wash my face at night. This pulls some of the curl out, but it also smooths my hair, so I’m ok with it.

Day 3 - 2 Day 3 - 3 IMG_6329 IMG_6335

CLICK HERE FOR DAY FOUR

The Life Cycle of My Wet Set ~ Day Two

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DAY TWO

It’s still pretty chilly here in Germany right now, so I will try and wear my hair mostly down for as long as I can. Once my curl starts to drop I will wear it up more.

For my second day, I chose to wear my fringe in a front pin curl and bring the sides up using a twist method and secure with hair combs. This is really a very simple vintage style and one that I wear a lot in many variations. I lightly brushed my hair with my Denman brush prior to styling and added a little bit of Precious Oil for shine and taming fly-aways.

Day 2 - 4 Day 2 - 5 Day 2 - 2.1Day 2 - 1

HOW-TO GUIDE

Here’s a little pictorial guidance on how to twist and secure the sides. You’ll want to grab the sides of your hair and hold it up towards the ceiling and twist inward toward the center of your head. Push the twist forward just a smidgen to give it some volume and secure with a hair comb.

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Now the other side

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Day 2 - 3

 

CLICK HERE FOR DAY THREE

The Life Cycle of My Wet Set ~ Day One

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I have been wanting to do a series like this for quite some time. Now I can dedicate the time and energy to do a series like this justice. This is quite an undertaking for me as I normally do not take outfit or hair photos every day. But I am excited to share this information with all of you.

I was first inspired to do this post by a wonderful vintage hairstyle group I am in on Facebook. Many questions are asked about how to do specific styles, what products to use, definitions of terminology and how long a wet set might or should last.

So I’ve decided to create The Life Cycle of My Wet Set. Notice that I say MY wet set. My set and styles work for me and my hair. I truly hope that the information I provide can help you out, but please don’t dismay or give up if your set only lasts a few days or the products or techniques I use don’t work well due to a different type or texture of hair. Please note that I am not a hairdresser, I was not trained in styling hair. I am simply an enthusiast of vintage hairstyles. I practice AND FAIL a lot, and hopefully learn from my mistakes. I challenge myself regularly to learn new hairstyles and over the years I’ve really learned a lot about my own hair and style. I know what silhouettes flatter my face, I know the limitations of my hair and what products to use to achieve the different styles I love.

For this series I will only create styles that utilize my basic wet set as the base. I won’t really be using any additional styling tools accept my flat iron occasionally. I have naturally curly hair and sometimes I have to use the flat iron on my fringe to relax the curl that happens after I shower.

DAY ONE

I typically wash and set my hair once a week. The curls I create with this set are the basis of just about ALL of my styles.

Here is my typical wet set pattern and the one I used for this series. Please check out my previous post here for the products I use to set my hair.

Day 1 Wet SetDay 1 Wet Set - 2

I don’t re-curl or re-set the curls at night. I simply brush out my hair each evening with a wide-tooth comb and then figure out what to do the next day.

Here is the finished style. Day one is usually a simple brush out using my Denman brush and I tease the fringe a bit then sculpt it into an “S” curve. I place a small bobby pin to secure the curl and that’s it.

Day 1 - 1 Day 1 - 3 Day 1 - 5 Day 1 - 2 Day 1 - 4

Easy alternatives or additions:

  • Add a hair flower
  • Bring sides up and secure with hair combs
  • Make front fringe into a pin curl

 

CLICK HERE FOR DAY TWO