Competition Hair

I hear you...

incidentally, my approach was to have my hair done by the comp sylists untill I had enough of a clue that I could do it myself...I will still occasionally have them do it for major comps...though there are a few who I will not go to...
 
additionally, what I need for hair to hold up on a wedding day doesn't even remotely come close to what I need to dance...perhaps for varying levels it might, but, in my world everything has to be significantly more battened down than that...I have had comp hair that last 3 days...under very demanding circumstances :)
 
fascination said:
additionally, what I need for hair to hold up on a wedding day doesn't even remotely come close to what I need to dance...perhaps for varying levels it might, but, in my world everything has to be significantly more battened down than that...I have had comp hair that last 3 days...under very demanding circumstances :)
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Totally agree with Fascination. Sleeping in a comp hairdo to have it done for next day (blackpool or any other very early event) is fairly normal in comp world. Unless you like getting up at 4am just to do your hair...
 
wedding car2.jpgThat being said, I could have definitely danced in my wedding up-do, and slept in it. My husband and I spent almost an hour deconstructing it on the night of our wedding, after which we decided to get some cocoa and go to sleep! :D

It's not the clearest picture but a rocket launcher wasn't going to destroy that baby!
 
skwiggy said:
I agree that there is a huge difference between regular up-dos and wedding hair vs. dancesport. I would be very cautious about asking a wedding hairdresser for comp hair advice.
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True, though I would LOVE to have someone do my hair for a comp the way it was done for the Houston wedding I was in. (An updo involving herringbone/fishtail braids, and no, there will never be a day when I could even do one on another person, let alone a style involving them. I couldn't put in my own ponytail until my teens or do a basic braid until my twenties.) I do have a bad fuzzy close up of it somewhere but have never tried having it recreated. I wasn't even supposed to have my hair done for the rehersal or by that particular stylist for the wedding, but when they were doing my nails, I had my hair down and he asked to 'play' with it.

And I haven't been to a salon but maybe once in my adult life, not counting weddings. My hair's not what I consider really long (to my shoulder blades-not long enough for, say, a proper coiled-around-the-crown braid), but I don't need to pay money for someone to cut off a few inches when I need to (I just hack it off with scissors, it's not rocket science) or wash or color it. The only time I've thought about getting professional color was when I considered getting lighter highlights, and because my hair's dark it would need to be chemically stripped first. But then they'd grow out and I'd just have to have it done again. Just like I had a layerd cut once, but it grew out (obviously.) It's all very tedious and you can't do anything really pretty with short hair anyway.
 
I've actually never had my hair cut, colored, or styled in a salon. My mother cut it for me and then I started trimming it on my own and I've been coloring it myself for years. I just make sure I have a day or two before anything important to fix any "surprises".

But back to the topic at hand, I rarely use a hair net but find starting from wet and adding gel to make a bun a lot easier. I do my own hair 90% of the time, it just requires some patience, practice, and allotting a lot of extra time in the morning.
 
I agree that the net makes everything MUCH easier - I can do my own hair in 5-10 with a net, and I don't have to gel the length which is a godsend on blonde hair.
 
While playing around with comp hair options recently I decided that I will eventually want to cover the grays. Since I've got more gray on top than underneath, a high bun still looks OK, but a low one not so good. So today I went to the drugstore and got a box of semipermanent color close to my natural shade, and gave it a try. I rushed it a bit because I was curious -- I'm going to have to leave it in longer to get full gray coverage -- but it's certainly something I can do. Good to know. Ballroom has taught me so much!
 
And a question. Do y'all have opinions on french braid (tucked in) vs. bun? I'm capable of both and quite like the french braid on myself. But I don't generally see french braids at comps -- pretty much everyone's in a bun or bun variation. Is it just because it's easier/quicker? I'll probably stick with the bun for morning sessions for that reason, but if I have the time for either, is there any reason to prefer one over the other?
 
As long as all strays and everything is neat, tight, and in order, I don't see why you should prefer one over the other. Maybe something you should experiment with, such as at competitions that have relatively the same judges, do the two different styles and see if you do significantly worse or better. Of course there are other factors coming into play, you might not be dancing as well one day as another or not practiced as much etc, but still if there is a significant difference, then maybe there is something to how judges react to which way the hair is styled.
 
I was dying my sister's hair using one of those new fancy foam mousse colors and go to thinking about how easy it is to get the hair all piled nicely on the head when it's well coated in that stuff. I've tried to replicate the effect with hair mousse from a can, but never quite got the effect I wanted and had to use a ton of it.

So I decided to do some experimentation.

I saved the mousse pump that turns the liquid haircolor into a foam and after rinsing it out VERY well, I put in about a quarter size amount of conditioner, a couple tablespoons of gel, and then filled it the rest of the way with water and mixed it well. It made a kind of soupy foam (the "recipe" probably needs some refining) but I was able to get all of my hair well tamed into a completely flyaway free ponytail with the stuff. A little time with the blow dryer, more layers of the stuff overtop, and it's holding quite well slicked back in a ponytail. I used about half of the mixture I made up. It's not mirror finish shiny, more of a sheen, so it might need to have some hair spray for that effect, but it was way easier to apply than just straight gel, used a lot less of it, and didn't leave my hands a super sticky mess.

Just something I thought others might want to try out.
 
Huh, interesting. And I didn't realize those color mousse foam things were refillable. I assumed they were one-shot deals, so I have avoided trying them. Often I can get 2-3 uses out of a box of haircolor by mixing up only as much as I need.
 
bia said:
And a question. Do y'all have opinions on french braid (tucked in) vs. bun? I'm capable of both and quite like the french braid on myself. But I don't generally see french braids at comps -- pretty much everyone's in a bun or bun variation. Is it just because it's easier/quicker? I'll probably stick with the bun for morning sessions for that reason, but if I have the time for either, is there any reason to prefer one over the other?
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One thing that occurs to me is that a bun, particularly a higher one, can seem to continue and seemingly elongate the line up the back of the neck. I don't know if you'd get the same effect with a French braid. Then again, I'm also thinking specifically of Standard, don't know what style you dance, and am certainly not a competitor. YMMV.

I do prefer how a French braid looks though, generally. A reverse one could provide some interest, and opportunities for "decorating" it.
 
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