Vintage Hair: Pin Curls/Waves.

When I'm getting ready in the morning and I want to include Old Hollywood-style into my outfit, I always start with my hair. If I have this done, I can go out in jeans and a plain top and still feel fairly put together. My go-to hairstyle is loose pin curl waves. They might not be as perfectly sculpted as those on Dita Von Teese, because I'm not as talented as she is, BUT, I know what she does to get the look. The first thing you need to know about pin curl styles: there is never one final look, it all depends on how the curls fall when you brush them out. They might look similar, but they will never be exactly the same from day to day. With that in mind don't beat yourself up when you try this for the first time, because chances are you won't walk away instantly looking like Rita Hayworth. It takes practice.

 

There are a few things you need to buy before you attempt this style. First, you need something to curl your hair with. Dita Von Teese uses hot rollers and you can pick up a set by Babyliss for around £20-30. Saying this you can use anything to curl your hair (even straightners, but they might not produce as strong a curl). I use my curling iron more often than my hot rollers.

There are two things that are essential to this style: a bristle brush and pin curl clips. Without these things you can curl your hair, but it won't look the same as the vintage style.  I have a boar-bristle brush, which are normally quite expensive, but you can find them fairly cheap on Amazon. You can buy pin curl clips from anywhere that sells hair accessories, like Boots for example.

The trick to this style is that as you're curling your hair you need to roll them back into the curl you've created and pin them into place with your clips, so that as they set they're still wound up like a spring. There are a multitude of tutorials online that show you ways of setting the curls in particular directions to give you a different look, so you may want to look them up. A Youtuber that instantly comes to mind is Lisa Freemont Street, who has filmed authentic, clear instructions on a variety of vintage styles. 
When I do this style, I don't curl my hair away from my face, I curl the hair in a downwards direction. To do this I place the barrel of the curling iron horizontally and wrap an inch long piece of hair over the barrel. The result of this is a backwards 'C' shaped curl, curling towards my face. If you have a fringe, like I do, you can either leave it out or curl it with the rest of your hair. To keep the look authentic you may want to create a parting, starting just above the temple on one side of your head. This will create a lot of volume on one side.
When I set my curls I like to leave them for as long as I can, but if you don't have a lot of time, try to at least leave them until your hair is cool to the touch. Depending on the thickness of your hair this should take about 20 minutes. When you remove your pin curl clips you should have a lot of tightly packed curls. Once I've done this I either gently loosen them by running my fingers through them, or I use my bristle brush to lightly sweep over them. As you're doing this step try not to be too rough, or you'll end up brushing the curls out completely and just have a frizzy mess. Once you've patted down and gently brushed the curls into the shape you want, make sure to secure them with a good hairspray. Then you're free to style them however you want. I usually take around 4-5 bobby pins/grips and create an up-do.
Lots of Love,
Jessicat X

 

 

Here are two Youtube videos that I found useful as a beginner to Vintage Hairstyles:

 

Vintage Hair How-To | Dita Von Teese '50s Waves-

And

Vintage Hair How-To | Blonde Bombshell- Both videos by FASHTAG

 

 

 

Vintage Skin Care Tips

Most vintage skin care techniques have been forgotten unless you specifically search for them on the Internet. A product that is a personal favourite of mine that not many people turn to these days is cold cream. But before I start to describe the uses of this product, I need to talk about how important moisturiser is to a skin care routine. If you have bad skin (which you shouldn't been ashamed of because it happens to everyone at some point in their lives) the worst thing you can do, in my personal opinion, is to try to dry your spots out. I can understand how you'd think it would be the opposite, because in some cases spots are caused by dirt and excess grease, but if you start using products like harsh facial exfoliants that overly dry out your skin, your face is going to naturally produce more oils to fix it, and this, guess what? Creates more spots. That's why after you've cleansed your face, morning AND night (especially night, because skin cells repair themselves while you sleep), you should always moisturise. Eventually, when your skin gets used to regular moisturising (be patient!) it stops producing so much oil. Including moisturiser in your skincare routine is what most celebrity make up artists recommend. As I've stated in the Marilyn Monroe make up post, it also helps to create a nice base for your foundation in the morning.
You don't have to buy a particularly expensive moisturiser either. According to the Burlesque star, Dita Von Teese (who has skin like Snow White!) her dermatologist told her that all moisturisers do the same thing,  you just need a basic one.

Okay, back to cold cream. It's a very, very old concept. And it's what beauties like Lana Turner used. She had famously flawless skin. Cold cream looks like a moisturiser-mousse type thing, and it's named so because once you've put it on your face it stays feeling cold. You can get a lovely, rose-scented one from Boots from their traditional skin care line that absolutely saved me during my first year at university. It's quick and easy to use- all you need is a face flannel and warm water. It even does a nice job of removing your make up. You apply a fair amount on to your face and rub it in (it'll feel a bit weird at first because it's like applying moisturiser over the top of your make up). Obviously, try not to get it in your eyes. Leave the cream to sink it for a couple of minutes. Then soak a flannel in warm water and wash the cream off your face. Because you're rubbing with the flannel, you're also exfoliating your skin, which is always good for cell reproduction. Just be gentle or you'll irritate your face instead of helping it. Once you've washed off all the cream, your face should feel clean because your make up and impurities are removed, but also really soft due to the moisturising properties in the cream. And that's it. One more tip is to leave your face ever so slightly damp after you've washed it, because moisturiser soaks into wet skin better.

If you don't want to go out and buy a cold cream there are alternatives. As I mentioned before, Lana Turner loved to use the cold cream technique and the product she swore by was Nivea Creme, the original purpose of which was to use as a cold creme. I've tried it and it works just as well, your skins feels and smells lovely afterwards. You can buy a massive tub of Nivea for £2-3, but if you do make sure it says on the label beneath that it's produced in Germany, as the Mexican version has petroleum in, which clogs up pores.

Lots of Love,
Jessicat X