Holiday Hairstyles

With the holiday season in full swing and parties galore to attend, are you looking for some holiday hairstyles for those parties? I recently went to Blowdry! Blowdry Bar in Minneapolis to get a few ideas for my hair. It seems I typically end up doing my own self-serve blowout on wash day or wearing it in a ponytail the 2nd no-wash day. I wanted to amp it up a bit looking for a couple of ideas for a more casual party and then something to take me to a dressier party.

Lisa from Blowdry! and I sat down and discussed a couple of options. I wanted her to show me how to do a few styles that I could do on my own as well. Here are the steps to get the looks. The first one is a blowout, but amped up a bit from my typical blowout. To begin Lisa washed and conditioned my hair using No. 4 products.

She started with putting No. 4 Styling Foam in my hair while it was damp/wet. This gave it lift and hold and helps to define the curl.
First she took my bangs and using a Mason Pearson style brush dried those flat so I didn’t end up with big 80’s style bangs.
Then Lisa took small sections of hair using a medium sized round brush and dried and curled my hair using the round brush drying the bottom sections first.

When she got to the side and top of my hair she left a brush in my hair a bit longer to help the curl stay by letting it cool. She also sprayed each section of my hair with No. 4 Mighty Hairspray. It gives hold, but still lets the hair have movement.
When this was done you can then take 2″ velcro rollers or a 2″ curling iron and curl the top layers. (The “mohawk” section as she called it) Curl the top layers back, not forwards. Then on the sides you can throw a few velcro rollers in, curling them horizontally.
Let the hair cool with the rollers – this will help to set the curl.
Next remove the rollers when cooled and do a small amount of back combing and lightly brush hair out.
Finish with Dry texture spray like Oribe Dry. This spray will give it some volume and a little “stick” and texture to the hair, which is good for back combing.

Next when this style was finished, Lisa showed me how to take it from this blowout to an updo.

First back comb the “mohawk” area of the hair in 1″ sections. Back comb close to the roots only.
The upper sides of the hair back comb diagonally in 1″ sections, again back comb close to the roots. This area is from the top of the ears upward.

Lisa then smoothed it out and gathered my hair in the back and gave it a twist. She also left a few strands out on the sides before putting it into the twist. When piecing some of the hair out, use a light texturing cream or hairspray on your fingers. This helps to piece out the hair properly.

She then secured the twist where the twist began, by placing two hair pins in the hair. She told me the trick is to layer or cross over the pins over one another – this will help secure them and prevent them from falling out.