Sooooo, I'd like to do something with my hair, but am out of ideas. Sounds familiar? I decided to make a list of lolita-suitable hairstyles, with pictures and tutorials. These are all styles I have made and worn myself. My hair is long, about to my waist or hips and it's always been so, so I dont have much ideas for a short-haired lolita, but all of these styles can be made if your hair is to your shoulder blades or longer. Remember to always add heat protection to your hair! Also, making different styles is much easier if you first apply styling foam or something similar. Clean hair with no styling products is usually very slippery and thin-looking. But to the styles now:
Of course, the most common hairstyle with lolita is curls. Whether tight sausage curls, loose princess curls, messy braid curls or anything in between, these hairstyles can be seen almost in every picture of a lolita there is. Curls match to every style there is and are very variable. Lots of tutorials for making curls can be found. I recommend YouTube for this, type "curl making hair tutorial" and you will find tons.
You have your curls, you wear them, then go to bed and the next morning they are still there. Someone might be lucky and have them nice enough for wearing the second day. If not, a bun or a pile might be a nice style. To create a pile, collect all your hair on top of your head, twist the roots tightly and secure with hairpins (you can also use a rubber band instead of twisting). Then tease your hair a little and secure random curls around your head to create an effortless-looking style.
Another popular lolita style, especially for sweet lolitas, are pigtails. These are very variable too, and can be made with shorter hair too.
Here is a very good tutorial for the most common sweet lolita curly pigtails -style. Here are some inspirational pictures:
All kinds of French twists are very becoming especially for classic lolitas. I would recommend making a twist horizontally and placing it low near your neck. To make a twist, tease all your hair a lot, then simply roll it to a place and secure with hairpins and a lot of hairspray. Would look especially beautiful if decorated with flowers (and they can also be used to cover some of the not-so-smooth parts of your twist - I do this all the time :D)
Basic buns are always a good choice: they are easy but give a sophisticated look. Big buns look great when decorated with a bow.
Here is the basic tutorial. You can easily variate this style by moving the bun up and down, placing it left or right, making two buns and adding decorations.
Braids are a classic too. Be it one or two, French or normal ones, they are great for classic styles. Don't forget the second-day curls you can get! Here is my quick drawn tutorial for a forehead plait. (Forgive me the ugly faces, my little sister is the artistic one in the family.)
So, to do this, first separate your hair close to one of your temples. Then take two sections (1) and take the lower one over the upper one (2). Take a third section (3) and take over the now middle one. Then again take the lowest one and take over the middle one (4). Now comes the twist! When again taking the highest one to take over the middle one, add some free hair to the highest section (5). Repeat this until you reach the place you wish. Every time take just the lowest section to the middle and then the highest and some of the free hair with it and repeat and repeat and repeat... You got it. When you are about to reach your ear you might notice that your braid is somewhere close to your chin. This might look nice too, but if your intention is to have the braid with tied hair, then it's better to be careful and keep the braid tight.
(I had extra space, thus the heart ^^;)
The forehead plait can also be done with just two sections of hair.
Here you can find a tutorial for that. Remember to check binosusume's other tutorials too, she is brilliant.
I saved my personal favourite to be the last: hair bow! Everybody knows it, right? Lady Gaga and Poker Face... Also originally from binosusume, but nowadays I make it bit differently as I find my way easier. Here again a drawn tutorial.
First tie your hair to where you wish your bow to be (1). If you've got lots and lots of hair it probably looks the best placed on top of your head. A smaller bow looks best when placed to right or left. When tying your hair, leave a strand free in front of your ponytail (see the red arrow). Then separate the ponytail into two (2). You might want to clip the other side down to prevent it from mixing to the other one. Take your section and tease it from roots to ends (3). Be thorough so you'll get enough volume. Then carefully comb the hairs to create a smooth surface. Just a little so you won't unfold it! You can also use hairspray or wax for this. When you are ready, roll the whole section (4) and pin down to the size of your wishing. Then "open" the bow with your fingers (5) to create fullness and use more hairpins to secure. Repeat to the other section, and you'll get a nice bow! (6) Now remember the section left out in the first step? Use it to cover the middle part of your bow and pin the rest of it inside one of the bow loops. Hairspray! The backside of the bow seldom looks very pretty, I usually cover it with a flower hairpin. This might take a couple of times to master, but is not really very difficult :)
Binosusume's tutorial can be found
here.
Whoo, that was a whole lot of hair! Hope this was helpful ^^
Until next time,
Giselle
