Hair Styling

HAIR!

I have been practicing with hair styles that I would be able to use for my catwalk and editioral shoots. Hair is so important when it comes to fashion shoots and it is often seen that it has been forgotten about. If this is the case, it doesnt create the final image very well and the shoot look unfinished. I have been known to do this something as hair isnt my strong point, but this is something I am going to work extra hard at this time.

Clay Masks

 

The first practice I did was using clay. There are different types of clay based products you can use. Professionally, there is one called fullers earth but to keep on a budget it is fine to use a general clay mud face mask. The process of doing so is so simple, and the effect reminds me of mud so it mixes in really well with my african theme. To produce a hair style with clay, you have to ensure that you style the hair first. If you do it the other way around then you wont be able to style the hair because the clay dries fast and produces a crispy, hard texture. So, once the hair has been styled you simply paint the clay onto the hair. Once its dried you can begin to crack it or give whatever texture you like, and then finally paint over the top if necessary.

Application of the Clay Mask

Up Close View of Clay Mask

Painting on the Clay Mask

After trying the clay mask on the hair, I then went onto working on the skin. I worked on the arm to see if I could experiment with tribal patterns and etchings. What I did for this was very simple. I applied a layer of the clay onto the skin, not too thinly but also not too thickly otherwise it doesnt dry. Whilst the clay was still wet, I used a wooden lolly stick to etch into the wet clay to draw some tribal patterns. I then used a hair dryer, on the cool heat, and dried it off. Once the clay was dry, I could then paint over it with colour and create decorated tattoos. I actually quite liked the idea of these markings on the skin because the clay looked a lot like mud. Even if I didnt want to etch into them, having the muddy look on the skin remined me a lot of africa. They also remined me of Gallianos Catwalk idea!

Painting onto the Clay on the Skin

Close Up of Painted Clay on Skin

The equipment that I used for this was very easy to get hold of. 

Fullers Earth 

Clay Fask Mask (cheap from boots)

Illamasqua Aqua Colours

Lolly Sticks

Paint Brushes

Hairdryer

Heres an image of the clay face mask that I used from boots. They are cheap, easy to get hold of spread quite far.