Hey Sunshines!

This month I had the absolute pleasure of being a hair model for the fabulous number 8 hair salon in Truro, Cornwall.

I met Claire, the amazing creative Director at Number 8, at the Truro Fashion Show in October, we got on really well and when Claire asked me to do this hair shoot, I simply couldn’t wait!

The idea behind the shoot was to style a step by step guide as a ‘how to’ on 3 different hairstyles and the photos capture different points in time in order for the viewer to re-create the styles for themselves.  It’s kind of a still ‘vlog’, you know, the kind we all see in the magazines we all know and love where they give you a tutorial on how to do the look of the season.

Speaking of seasons, with Christmas fast approaching, you could well find a style to suit you in the 3 featured looks.  Be it curls, straight, sleek or outside of the box (keep reading and you’ll know what I mean!).

My date with number 8 started at 1.30pm and I made my way to their salon in Truro.  The girls are so lovely and I was introduced to Tamzin who is their marketing guru and Sue who was to be my amazing stylist for the afternoon.

The first order of the day is to wash and blow dry my hair.  Sue gave my hair the most amazing blow dry!  My hair is naturally wavy and I’m amazed at how straight it was.  I’ve never been able to get my hair that straight without the added help of good ole GHD’s!

Next, my hair is curled with tongs to give it some bounce and then Sue puts in big rollers for lots of volume.  She makes it looks effortless and prep time takes around an hour and a half.

So curlers in, hair done, we are good to go!  We head over to the studio for 3pm.  I am so excited!    As the weather isn’t really on our side, Sue carefully incases my hair into a towel to keep it safe!  She does a great job and there isn’t a strand out of place by the time we get to the studio!

Make up for the day was 60’s inspired dark eyes with iconic black eyeliner and ‘flicks,’ as Claire really wanted the look to make an impact.  I did my make up ahead of time before I got to the salon and so all I had to apply at the studio was some lippy!  Bonus!

I really focused on my eyes in order for them to be the main focal point for the shoot as I wanted them to have a distinctive look in the pictures, I made the rest of my make up more neutral toned in order for my eyes to stand out.

I think this comes across in the pictures, as I shaped my eyeshadow and ‘flicks’ into a point at the side of my eye and it shows in the side profile shots.

I used Natural Collection, Seventeen & Collection 2000 for my eyeshadow, MUA for my mascara and eyeliner, Rimmel for my foundation, Collection 2000 for my bronzer and MUA & Natural Collection on my lips.  Hopefully, you’ll all agree that you can get fab looking make up with these high street and extremely bargain priced ranges!

We get to the studio and we are greeted by our amazing Photographer, Ben Tyler.  I immediately felt very comfortable with Ben and he was fantastic at knowing which shots to get and also how to instruct me to get those shots, I found it really inspiring to work with him.

We do some test shots and then we are straight into the shoot!  Ben gives me some tips and also some handy modelling lingo for when posing for shots, it really helps and its great to have someone to guide you.

It’s a really fun experience to be working with such professionals and experts in their field.  To be around people who instinctively know how they want a style to look and how to get it, is very cool.  I’m loving every minute!

Sue wanted to capture the ‘hair in curlers’ look, one of which is at the top of this blog, and it is in fact one of my favourite pictures from the shoot.  This is the makings of ‘step 1’ of the how to guide.

So curlers done, and Sue carefully unwraps my hair and gently brushes it through with a paddle brush for that super sleek look.

Having been in curlers, you can see the volume it’s given my hair and also how the amazing blow dry has made it so straight (I told you!)!  Its full on glamour!  I also love how it showcases the ombre colours in my hair.

In between pictures, Sue does a fantastic job of re-styling my hair.  She has a whole suitcase full of tools and tricks in order to do away from the salon styling.

Next up, Sue styles my hair into a very sleek high ponytail which also has a section of my hair wrapped around it to finish it off.  She gives my hair lots of volume for this (back-combing – check!) and it looks fantastic.

Behind the Camera Shots

This style is definitely one I am going to try because a ponytail tends to be my everyday look and this is very ‘me’.  It’s incredibly versatile too and works with smart or casual and any style.  The pulled up pony also gives your face extra shape and shows off contours and cheek bones – another reason why i love it!  When my face is feeling tired in the morning, a high pony is an instant lift!  🙂

A bit more back-combing, then sleeking and then of course the obligatory hairspray, more hairspray, and a bit more hairspray, and the look is finished.  Perfection!

 

Look 3 is the most futuristic (and vintage at the same time) style I’ve ever had!  Sue handmade a head size doughnut and carefully crafted it onto my head.   My hair was taken out of the ponytail and lightly brushed.  I held the doughnut in place whilst Sue entwined all of my hair around the doughnut – it really is a showstopper style!

It reminded me of something you would see in either Star Wars or a Henry VIII novel!  So either end of the spectrum!  It was really fun and interesting to have such a unique hairstyle.

It required lots more hairspray and lots more backcombing (2 compulsory things in hairdressing I’ve found!), however the finished style was incredibly sleek and it was such a fun design to model.

Above are the first steps to creating this amazing masterpiece!  You need to make sure the doughnut is positioned in the right place on your head before you start winding it around the doughnut.  To do this, Sue made sure my crown was at the centre of it and 4 hands are better than 2 for this style, as the other person can ensure that the doughnut continues to sit in the right place and doesn’t move before its pinned.

Sue used a ‘rat tail’ comb to push in any stray hairs into the doughnut and also to smooth out the hair around the doughnut once it was in place to make it sleek and also to even out the hair to make sure there were no visible signs of the doughnut.

This look was so much fun!  I thought you could also use this style if you were attending a Julius Ceasar themed party – it would go so well with a toga!

So thats a wrap!   The shoot lasted about 2 hours and I had so much fun!  It was fantastic to experiment with different looks and I also learnt a lot about technique and how to get the most out of your hair, especially volume (mostly back-combing – ahem!)  but believe me there is a lot of technique to this too.  It’s a definite art to be able to backcomb hair and also make it look sleek at the same time!

The team were fantastic and I think it really shows in the pictures,  please do go to their website and keep an eye out for for all the insight into the shoot and also for the expert ‘how to’ on these looks!

You can find them at http://www.number8hairdressing.com/news-blog/.  A massive thank you from me to Claire, Sue and Tamzin for such a wonderful afternoon – thank you so much for asking to me to be your hair model!  I can’t wait to do it again! 🙂

Last but definitely by no means least, a massive thank you and shout out to our fantastic photographer Ben Tyler.  As I am sure you can see from the shots, his work is fantastic and he captured the essence of the shoot so well.  Catch more of his work and contact details on his website: http://benphotography.co.uk .

Hair products courtesy of Paul Mitchell.

The shoot gave me such an insight to the modelling world and its made me even more hungry to do more!  I absolutely love having my hair styled, and seeing the styles and shoot come together was really rewarding.

Hair-style me up – I can’t wait to do it again!

Love Debs xxxx

P.s – one of the blooper shots for you!   Perfect for Halloween!  Hee hee Xo