Thursday, April 7, 2011

Oh Veda!


With the recent revival through HBO's (I'm told, brilliant) remake of cinema classic, Mildred Pierce, I knew it was time to visit and pay homage to one of the most evil female characters in film. That of course would be Veda. Just thinking about her name puts a scowl on my face and makes me shake my fist! It's a little difficult to describe Veda in a few sentences; she just so happens to be a character that is best understood after watching the movie. Afterwards, you just get it, you can't help but hate her. However, sometimes its a love/hate thing. Why? Because the girl has got style! And in everything, clothing, makeup, and especially her hair.
Veda - Vintage Hair Styling by Lauren Rennells
One up-do caught the eye of the oh so talented author/hair designer extraordinare, Ms. Lauren Rennells author of Vintage Hair Styling (check out my post about it). It's even named after her, it's simply called "Veda". The book provides step by step instructions, along with a ton of easy to follow images. A few nights back, I gave it a try.

The book suggests to start by curling your hair with hot rollers. Instead, I went another way and used perm rods. Being my very first time using them for a damp/wet set, I was a little unsure as to how to compare them to sponge rollers.
I used only the orange rollers, which was the largest size I could find at the time when I picked them up (like the picture shown above). You can buy perm rods for dirt cheap at any beauty supply place. In Toronto I went to The Beauty Supply Outlet. I paid only $1.89 for a pack of 12.

I prepped my hair the same way as I mentioned in my foam rollers post done last week; with a small spray bottle (water and curling solution) to a suitable dampness. While my sponge rollers take approximately 3 to 5 hours to dry completely, the perm rods were dry in an hour and 40 minutes! I would have left them a bit longer, but the only issue I had is that they were starting to irritate my head by giving me a bit of a headache. Hah, maybe that's when you know they are all dry ;)

Took them out and the curls were PERFECT!! Maybe even better than sponge roller curls for me. My hair is pretty long now so that is saying quite a lot.

- Brush the hair out in a downward motion. This style does not require curl and the curling only aids in acquiring the form of the style.
- Make sure the back of the head is flat (like picture above). You can use bobby pins to temporarily keep it flat.
- Divide hair in 3 sections. 1 on each side, and 1 at the bottom.
- Next form a large victory roll on each side. Roll them up and towards the scalp. Pin and secure it to the head. A bit of backcombing and teasing can help form the shape. Another helpful tool if you need extra volume, or have difficult forming the roll is to use a hair rat.
-At the very end form one more roll at the bottom, again rolling upwards and securing the roll with bobby pins.
-Feel things out and use a mirror to make sure all the back sort of blends in together.

Here is my first time try. A good friend told me that she really liked it because it has a bit of modern twist to it.
Clearly I need a ton of pomade and serum to fix up those flyaways. But overall, I was pretty pleased with the look. The more I practice, the easier it will be for me to use in a pinch when my hair hasn't been washed in a few days and I want to do something with it. Don't forget to give it good hold with strong hairspray when you are all finished.

You can just do the back of the hair alone, or you can keep some extra front pieces of your hair handy for creating small victory rolls (like the Lauren Rennells image), or another variation that works with your hair.
Vedas hair looks a little more separated into 2 than what I did. There is volume and curl at the front.

Another great tip is to use a hair flower for extra va-voom!

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