Volumizing Your Hair for Cosplay
I struggled for years with styling my long hair. When I started cosplaying, I tried everything to get great "comic book" hair consistently, but completely failed. Some days I looked great and other days I was left with a stringy mess! Finally, I had a hair stylist teach me this trick for getting the perfect sexy hair style every time!
You will need:
- Hair dryer
- Mousse
- Rubber Hair band
- Hair Spray
- Curling Iron
- Aluminum Hair Clips
- Scissors (NOT for your hair)
Step 1: Hair Prep
Start by washing your hair and hand drying it with a towel. It should be damp but not dripping wet. Measure an egg sized amount of mousse in the palm of your hand and work it though your damp hair. Spread it out evenly starting at the roots and moving towards the ends, if you have long hair you may need to use a little extra mousse. Once this is done, blow dry your hair in sections until it is completely dry. Now your blank canvas is ready to begin!
Step 2: High Ponytail
For step 2, be sure to select a low cost rubber hair band. It will get cut later in the process, so don't pick one that you aren't comfortable destroying.
Think 90s ponytail for this step. Bring all your hair up into a tight ponytail on the very top of your head and secure it with the rubber hair band. The tighter you can get it, the better! Give your head a light spritz of hairspray when it's done. (Please ignore the complete lack of makeup in this picture! I was taking pictures for a makeup tutorial that same morning!)
Step 3: Curling
Start taking small sections of the ponytail that you made and curling those sections with a curling iron. The smaller and tighter the curls, the smaller and tighter the waves in your final style will be. Start at the end of the section of hair and curl up to the base of the ponytail. Hold the curling iron there for a moment and then CAREFULLY slide the curling iron out from the center of the curl without unraveling your hair. Don't burn yourself! Keep the hair curled up at the base of the ponytail and hold it in place with an aluminum hair clip (right). Spray each curl lightly with hair spray after it is pinned.
Step 4: Wait
The hard part is done and this is by far the easiest step in the process. Once all of your hair has been curled and clipped around the base of your pony tail, give your whole head one more light dusting with hair spray and then do nothing to it for a while. The longer that your hair is in these curls the longer your style will hold later.
I usually start my beauty prep with steps 1 - 4, then I finish getting ready by getting dressed and applying my makeup while I'm giving my hair more time to set.
Step 5: Take it Down
Carefully pull the hair clips out of your ponytail and let each curl fall. You can straighten them a bit with your fingers, but don't run your fingers through them or brush them out. Handling them is the deal of the curls!
Once all your hair is down use the scissors to cut the rubber band and let your hair fall. Again, avoid running a brush or fingers all the way through it, but you can shake your head or use your hands to shake your hair until it loosens up a bit. You can also use your fingers or a comb to create a part, if needed. Lock it in with hairspray when you're done! (Woohoo! I have makeup on in these pics!)
Step 6: Enjoy!
Enjoy your sexy look! Rest easy knowing that you can look this good whenever you want and without spending all morning on your hair!