There is nothing I enjoy more than getting up at 630 am to start the process of doing my kids hair for a Feis. Of course she never complains and and is always happy and ready to help the process go as smoothly as possible........ and then I wake up and smell the coffee (better have another cup), take a deep breath and wake the sleeping bear.
Ok - its not that bad anymore. (But it used to be!) Now she knows the quieter she is the faster it goes. Netflix is a life saver. Set up your iPad and distract them with a talking sponge or some such squeaky voiced character and get to work.
There are may ways to style the front of a dancers hair to compliment the wiglet. (And there are many really unflattering ways... but I like to chalk that up to moms who are just trying their best - the kid was probably complaining the whole time... haha). The "Poof" is pretty popular right now. I have tried - and failed - the poof on many an occasion but I think it's getting better. I'll share with you how we get the look shown above! I'm no expert but it's working for us right now!
1. Start with the essentials. For us thats bobby pins, elastics, tail comb, medium donut, hair textuizer and hairspray. (Not pictured is the wiglet, hair accessories and tired mom.)
2. Brush the hair out, paying close attention to the underside. Brushing this well now will save a lot of tears later on. Working with day 2 hair is easier
3. With the tail comb, split the hair from about the middle of the ear up on both sides. Clip this hair to the front or have your dancer hold on to it.
4. Brush all of the hair up into a high ponytail, smoothing the underside as you go. The pony will be placed on the crown of the head or slightly higher - depending on how you like to place your wiglet.
5. At this point you have a sort of Ariana Grande type hairstyle going on.
6. Now make a bun and fasten with an elastic and pull through the donut.
7. Now it's time to add the texturizer. (We use Power Play by Big Sexy Hair). Texturizer is used to help the hair feel more tacky and workable for the next few steps. Clean hair can be difficult to work with.
8. In small sections shake the textuizer onto the hair and work it from root to mid way up the hair. Make sure to rub it in.
9. Now the "fun" begins. Back combing. With your tail comb brush the hair back towards the head wile holding onto a section of hair. Work back to about mid way up the hair. NOTE: What I have started to do since making this blog is leaving a section along the hairline out before backcombing.This section will be brushed over top of the crazy hair for a smoother look.
10. Keep back combing until you dancer looks super crazy! This is a good time to mention that things will look absolutely nuts at this point and you will defiantly be second guessing the poof. This is a fun time for a photo. (Seriously - how hilarious is this!)
11. If you have left the section of smooth hair out brush it with your comb up over the back-combed sections. Take the larger section of back-combed hair and start to twist backwards towards the ear.
12. Test the height of your poof by pushing the hair up and down.
13. Tuck the twisted hair up into the donut and secure with a bobby pin.
14. Do steps 11-13 with the smaller section.
15. Adjust the height to your liking. It can always be altered after you add the wiglet.
16. Continue to smooth the hair as you go.
17. You can use bobby pins to secure the poof if needed. I use them to adjust the height and secure the smooth sections.
18. Spray like crazy with hairspray.
19. Attach your wiglet as usual. (We use the double Kaitlyn Bun). We like to pull the lower section of the wiglet outwards as we pin for a wider bun vs. a Marge Simpson look. (Unless thats what you want - no judgement.)
20. The curls might not be perfect. Twirl them into place with your hands. Ask your dancer to look down and spray the back/underside of the hair with hairspray and smooth out.
That should about do it. You can play with the look by changing the angle of the poof. You can also pull out little pieces of hair by the ear and curl them. Don't forget to add a fun hair accessory! The day I took these photos we were dancing team dances - so believe it to not, our poof and accessory were smaller then we usually do for solos. (See below for our solo hair look.) The most important things to have fun and not stress out. Give yourself lots of time and practice practice. After all it's just hair.
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