Evaluation & Peer Review - Course Over View

Evaluation & Peer Review - Course Overview 

Throughout the time I have been here I have learn a number of different skills ranging from communication skills with clients and peers, working with different hair types, working with different equipment straighteners, crimpers and curlers and many more skills. I really enjoyed hair styling a lot more than I thought I was going too because before this course I couldn’t even plait hair and then to look back on my progress throughout this term really shows how far I have come. I’m extremely happy about how the course started right back from the beginning because I think this helped me enjoy it a lot more because I knew that everything I was doing was the correct way.

The thing I have gained most from this term in hair is the confidence to work on clients or peers and believe in what I am doing. I’ve always liked doing my friends and family’s hair by never had the confidence to do any clients because I didn’t believe in my own work because I always thought I wouldn’t be able to do what they wanted me to do but now I feel like I have gained the confidence in myself to know that I can do it with practise.

I think as a result of how this unit went as a whole I think next time I will really focus on the research a bit more and when I find things that inspire me write it down on my blog as soon as possible because I found inspirations online and in books and in portraits but didn’t write about them straight away which meant when I came back to writing about my inspirations and research I struggled on writing it because I couldn’t remember exactly what inspired me at that point in time.

I attended all classes which really helped when it came to deadline time because I had all the technical stuff from the lessons and didn’t need to get help from peers on what they done in certain lessons and what parts I missed. I also notice that the research lessons with Helen really helped me develop my own ideas and where to look for inspiration which really helped me start getting first initial ideas and then shaping those ideas with practise in the hair lessons. I also used independent study time to update my blog as I go. The only thing I wish I did more of was use the library more and wish I used more books than I did because I feel like when I’m in the library I get a lot more work done than when I’m at home because there are no distractions.

Over all the unit as a whole went really well and learnt a lot of different skill, working from a partners design was more of a challenge than I thought it would be because you're having to rely on someone else and do someone else’s ideas which was really hard but it was also a really good key skill to learn because this means when someone gives you a brief to work to I will be able to work from someone else’s ideas. My final design and final hairstyle I was extremely happy with as I think it shows a number of skills in the styling and my design also shows I have researched into my character and gone in depth about her personally and linked my design to her life.

Evaluation Of Final Assessment

Evaluation Of Final Assessment

Over all my assignment went extremely well and was really happy with the final outcome to both my design and leah's design. 

In the build up to the exam I found quite stressful because I struggled with the plaits at the back of the head which was on her design, I found this quite difficult because of the position that leah had to sit in for me to do the plaits. The build up to the exam I tried to practise the design as much as I could on friends and my Kate head because I knew if I didn't practise it wouldn't come out the way I want it too. 

Every time I done the plaits at the back they weren't symmetrical which ruined the look from the back, so I trailed out different ways of doing this and worked out that if I'm off to the side doing the plaits the plait goes wonky, if I stand straight on both went the same way. 

I also had a problem in the exam because Leah has quite thin hair at the front it was really difficult to do the plaits at the front as I didn't have enough hair to make the french plait with. I ended up just adding more hair to the section too make it slightly thicker.

I developed my research by basing my design and research on my character I choose which was Bess of Hardwick. I started off researching her life and how she grew up. This showed that she was from a working class background and she worked her way up in status by marriage and ended up the second most powerful woman in the world under the Queen. I based her personality as quite a jealous person, being jealous of the queen because she can never be better or on par as the queen. Bess of Hardwick's most memorable part of her life was building a mansion to suit her statues. She build Hardwick hall which I tried to interpret into my design because all the windows were made from small diamond shaped glass. In those days glass would have been extremely expensive and this building, I saw a quote that said Hardwick hall is more glass than walls. I really liked that I interpreted this into my design because it shows one of her biggest accomplishments.

Working with my partners hair brief was hard at the start because you're doing someone else's design and I found it hard because I was quite nervous to do someone else's design because I didn't want her to hate the way I done it so I made sure the first time we practised it I took a lot of notes on what she wanted it to look like and where she wanted everything exactly. This was extremely important to me to make sure I got the design exactly how she wanted it to look like. Once I had these notes I could practise at home as many times as I wanted till I felt like I had it perfect. 

The unit as a whole I really enjoyed because I had never done hair before this so doing this unit showed me that I really enjoy hair a lot more than I thought I would. I also learn key skills when working in this industry like communication skills with clients and peers, this was extremely important in this unit because if me and my partner didn't communicate then we wouldn't have got the outcomes we ended up with. Looking back on what I done throughout this unit and thinking what I will do better next time is really use the time we have at uni and maybe come in and use the studio's outside of class because even though I got a lot done at home you still get a lot more distracted at home. 

The parts that I enjoyed the most would have to be the technical lessons learning the basic skills because I haven't done anything like this before so to be shown the best way to do things is really interesting. I also loved the designing part because I liked looking at images that have inspired me and then creating my own modern take of Elizabethan hair.
Over all this unit has been such an amazing experience for me getting an introduction to hair. 

Designed by Katie Baker 
Styled by Leah Seymour 

Designed by Leah Seymour 
Styled by Katie Baker

First Attempt at Partners Design

First Attempt at Partners Design

After reseving my partners design ideas i went through them and had a little practise on my kate head of how i would section everything off and what section i would start on first.

Her design shows two french plaits up the back of the head and then put into 2 buns on top of the head and also two tight french plaits at the front of the head creating a middle parting, a smooth front Elizabethan style beehive just behind the front plaits.

I started her design by sectioning the head into four sections one whole section at the front of the head for the plaits, then another whole section for the beehive, then a section for the two buns and then a back section where i would be putting in the french plaits.

The first part i done was crimp the whole back section becuase my model has quite thin hair and i think the buns and plaits would look a lot fuller and textured with crimping the hair first. 

I then started on the french plaits which i made a middle parting down the back and split it into two. I then got my model to lean forwards so i could plait the two back sections. I found this slightly difficult becuase im not great at french plaits anyways let alone doing them upside down in an awkward position. Once they were done i then got the section i sectioned off for the buns and put that with the plaits i just finished. After all the hair was together i then created the buns using the technique we leant in our technical class sectioning the bun off into four and then backcombing each section and pinning it under the section. I then done this for both buns. I then moved onto the next part which was the fiddly plaits at the front of the hair to create the defined middle parting. I started french plaiting these and then once i ran out of hair i then just carried on the plait down on both sides.

Next i moved on to doing the Elizabethan style beehive i was going to use a prop to do this bit then i decided that her hair is too thin becuase you would be able to see the prop through the hair and would be too hard to descice. 

I decided to use a technique we learnt just using backcombing and rolling the hair down to create the same shape. I then secured that with grips and then used pins to move parts of the hair around intill i was happy with the final outcome. 

Over all the practise went extreemly well and i times it and i did it in under the time we had been given. The parts i did struggle on was the front plaits because she has quite thin hair and i had to use more hair than i would have wanted to make the plaits stand out which meant taking hair from the beehive which didnt have much hair anyways. Over all i was really happy with Leahs design and how it turned out. I think i need to practise the plaits at the back the most becuase in my practise one went slightly wonky which ruined the back part i think so going to practise this a few more times till i get it perfectly straight.

Partners Design's

Partners Designs

My partner has given me her final designs for the hair assessment. I will be using this design in the final assignment which I will be using Leah as the model to perform her design on.

When I first saw her designs I was a little bit worried because before starting university I had never done hair before and I really struggled with French plaits and in her design there is French plaits going up the back of the head from the scalp into the two buns. Then at the front of the head she has two French plaits going down the side of the head creating a pronounced middle parting.

Another element to her design is the a beehive at the front behind the plaits, I will need to experiment how I am going to do this and what technique I’m going to use because I know from practising crimping on her hair before, that her hair is quite thin. It might be easier to use a prop with her hair, as I don’t want loads of gaps in the beehive.

Hair Design Idea's & Practise

 First Hair Design Idea’s

I have decided to base my hair design on my character I chose which is Bess of Hardwick. She was an extremely powerful woman as well as the Queen; people said she used to be the second richest woman in England. I have made her out to be quite a jealous person of the Queen because I think she always knew she would never be better as or equal to the Queen in people’s eyes. This is what I wanted to base some of my hair designs on.

My first design I done shows two French plaits at the front of the head leading into a tight bun at the back and then from the back you have another plait going up the back of the head into the bun. The idea of this way to take an Element from the film Elizabeth where towards the end of the film her hair got tighter and tighter which made her look more stern and powerful. I think this would show power because of how slick and tight the hairstyle is because in modern times that is a way of wearing your hair if you’re a business woman in a powerful position to show your serious about your commitment.

After my first design I didn’t think it showed much about her background or personality so I thought of ways I could show this through a hairstyle. What came to mind were the cauls that Elizabethans wore. I really think this is very elegant headpiece to wear. I tried to interpret this into my design because it doesn’t just relate to her having tight tied back hair to show power but the diamond shapes that this creates shows a big part of Bess’s life which was Hardwick Hall which she build it was known for it’s windows because in those days glass was extremely experience. All the windows were made up of diamond shaped glass. I’m going to interpret  this into my design. The first design I done I used the diamond effect on the top of the head but I didn’t think this showed it to be like a window or glass so I decided to change it to the back going up then you an really see the diamond effect. I really like my final design because I think it shows my character in it really well as well as it all being symmetrical because a lot of Elizabethan hairstyles would have been symmetrical and also having the plaits at the front make the forehead look bigger by making a hard boarder around the head. But also with a modern twist to it by is being slightly messy buns and with more of a catwalk style to it.

  

 Second Design

Second Design Practise 

 Final Design

Final Design

 Final Design Practise 

 Final Design Practise 

Designs That Inspired My Final Design

Inspiration for final Design

I do a lot of scrolling through the Internet to find ideas and inspiration; I found a couple of images on Pinterst, which inspired and sparked an idea in my head. The first image on here shows more of a Elizabethan working class hair style but with a modern twist. I think it shows a working class look because of the way the hair is out of the face and tied back using a sort of mesh which has the same style as the snood which was used as a hair net in Elizabethan times.

I think I m going to use this cri cross effect in my design some how people I think it suits my character really well because she came from a working class background and I want to portray this in the hair design as it was a important part of her life because she wanted the money and the status so her whole life was based around making something of herself.

 

I also really like the image of the caging over the face; I think this shows power and status because it makes the image look very bold and creates a strong image. At the same time I think it shows vulnerability because of the cage it shows maybe being trapped which my character might have felt like in many different ways, she would have felt trapped in these marriages which she didn’t want to be in was just there to raise her status. She might have also seemed trapped by the fact she was never going to be on par or better than the Queen. When all she wanted to do was be the best of the best.