Desperately need help with hair! - 2008/04/10 15:59Long story short, tonight is opening night- call time is in an hour and a half- and I still don't know what I'm doing with my hair for Belle.
It's long-ish, blonde-ish, and completely straight. I have to have it up in a ponytail whenever I'm in the blue dress (and I have an adorable blue bow to go in my hair). For the gold dress, I've been having it up in a bun with this gold flower clip thing (and, at the end, a gold crown). But what I'm really having trouble with is the pink dress. I have 53 or so seconds to change, and it takes me at least 40 seconds to get on the petticoat and dress, leaving only about 10 seconds for hair. Yesterday for our run through with full hair and makeup, I tried pinning it half back- but at the end, the director gave me the note that my hair looked awful. She said she wants it somehow different for that scene, but I really don't have any time to do anything with it.
I also tried curling it yesterday, which I think looked decent, but my hair does not hold curls well at all. I curled it before the run and during intermission, using tons of hairspray each time, and when I took it down from the bun I had in the end, it was COMPLETELY straight.
Ugh, I doubt anyone has suggestions, but anything you have would be EXTREMELY appreciated.- Caitlin / Cait -
Favorites Belle in Beauty and the Beast (2008), Jupiter in Cymbeline (2006), Narrator in Joseph... (2005) Present (possibly) YAGMCB...
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Christine_wannabe
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Re:Desperately need help with hair! - 2008/04/10 16:12For the curls, i have naturally pin straight hair, so the night before my performance i take foam hair curlers and create sections of my hair and put mousse on the section of hair then put the curlers in and leave it in while i sleep, then in the morning i take them out and hairspray the curls, so you might want to try that for tomorrow's performance.
For the pink dress (is that one after the blue dress?) maybe just leaving your hair down and then brush it so it isn't all messed up, you could even add a cute hairclip that goes with your dress.
Hope this helps and break a leg!!! -Laura
Favorite Musical: PHANTOM OF THE OPERA!!!!!!! As for more "happy" musicals i like BATB and Music Man (and lots of others, that i can't think of right now!)
Next production: R&H Cinderella?
“Practice as if you are the worst, perform as if you are the best.”
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It's a bit too late for the curler idea for today, but if I don't come up with some miracle solution while I'm getting ready today, I'll try it tonight. The only problem is, would it last through the day? Do rollers usually last longer than curling irons? Also, someone mentioned something about curling your hair with one of those wicked good GHD (or something) straighteners (I don't know how, but someone there might) and that that lasts longer. Know anything about that?
I think I might just leave my hair up for the library. If I were to take it down, I'd have to pin it back on the side where my mic is, becuase I got a note that my hair kept falling over my mic and making noise.
Thanks for your help though. - Caitlin / Cait -
Favorites Belle in Beauty and the Beast (2008), Jupiter in Cymbeline (2006), Narrator in Joseph... (2005) Present (possibly) YAGMCB...
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triplethreat
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Re:Desperately need help with hair! - 2008/04/10 18:02I have straight hair but I was in a show that required me to have ringlets. What I did was I worked firm-hold gel through it while it was damp, blow-dried it, then put it in hot rollers. I left the hot rollers in a good long time - as least a 1/2 hour. Then I hair-sprayed (extra-hold, of course) the heck out of it. It held VERY well, but I had to shampoo twice to get the gunk out afterwards. _____________ Kris MTA Admin
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KrisTibbles
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Re:Desperately need help with hair! - 2008/04/10 21:10When i was in Hello Dolly a couple years ago, i had waist length, thick, super straight hair, and I was asked to do ringlets. :o!
What I had to do was wash it at night, dry it until it was damp, then roll it in foam rollers (each strand SATURATED with mousse) and sleep on it overnight. Then I would blow dry it until all the rollers were really hot (ears-a-burnin') then let them cool. And THEN I would carefully take down the rollers, spraying each curl with extra-hold AquaNet.
My hair stayed curled through the whole show every night. And because I used lightweight mousse instead of gel, the curls were still bouncy too. I had to roll my hair while damp because it was so heavy, but if your hair is less thick and long, you could probably skip the overnight part.
So- if nothing else works- this will! It's a big time investment if your hair is very thick, but it really looks wonderful.
Break a Leg! kristina*~Kristina~*
Upcoming: Senior Year! Most recent: Maria in Sound of Music
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triplethreat
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Re:Desperately need help with hair! - 2008/04/10 21:15KrisTibbles wrote: And because I used lightweight mousse instead of gel, the curls were still bouncy too.
The gel I used certainly didn't prevent bounce... My curls bounced to the point that they were mentioned in one of the reviews! But products vary greatly - you gotta use what works for you._____________ Kris MTA Admin
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KrisTibbles
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Re:Desperately need help with hair! - 2008/04/10 21:25triplethreat wrote: The gel I used certainly didn't prevent bounce... My curls bounced to the point that they were mentioned in one of the reviews! But products vary greatly - you gotta use what works for you.
I agree- the gel i had was really sticky. And my hair was heavy anyway, so it weighed it down more. Instead of trying different gel I just bought mousse! But hair products definitely work on everybody differently- I had to experiment for a week before the show to get curls that would hold and last.*~Kristina~*
Upcoming: Senior Year! Most recent: Maria in Sound of Music
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katoru
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Re:Desperately need help with hair! - 2008/04/10 21:44Kris' method would be the one I would recommend, it's what we did for any actors at school who needed curly hair. Hot rollers are fantastic and if you use the heat set gel, it's all good. Everyone used hot rollers when I did South Pacific, only they just used hair spray. Lots of it. It was hard to breathe in the dressing room. Be mindful of that if you share a dressing room with other people.
In the future, however, for quick hair changes like this especially, I would really recommend using a couple of wigs in different styles (but the same colour!) instead of using your real hair. It saves a lot of time to just take your hair off and put some new hair on (provided all of your natural hair is up in a wig cap!) I really prefer to wear wigs for shows I do as I don't have to spend two hours curling all of my hair before a show, it's already done and ready to go!Kathleen Sera Current Shows: West Side Story - Wardrobe Supervisor Upcoming Auditions: Cruiseship Pinafore - Hebe or Josephine, Crazy For You - Irene Roth
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What I ended up doing is have a girl curl my hair with a straightening iron (which seems oxymoron-ish, but it worked) while it was in a ponytail. Then I killed it with hairspray. I left it up in a ponytail until the gold dress, and then just put it in a bun and fluffed it up a bit. It probably sounds bad (and, actually, I don't know how it looked, since I never looked in a mirror...) but it worked out nicely enough. I guess I'll find out if it was okay when we do notes tomorrow... Hopefully I'll find out early enough that I can hot roller it up before call time if need be.
Katoru- our costume company provided wigs for tons of people. Most of them were nice, but mine were hideous- not to mention I'm deathly pale with freckles and look ridiculous with dark brown, almost black hair. If I'd have known I was going to have so much trouble with hair, though, I definitely would have bought myself some decent wigs earlier.- Caitlin / Cait -
Favorites Belle in Beauty and the Beast (2008), Jupiter in Cymbeline (2006), Narrator in Joseph... (2005) Present (possibly) YAGMCB...
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MademoiselleMusicals
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Re:Desperately need help with hair! - 2008/04/11 08:25For Sweet Charity last year, I experiemented! Originally my director wanted me to wear this headpiece but I refused as I was worried that it would fall out.
Decided to curl it which is quite hard as my hair is straight and does not style easily. My sister had to help curl it with her GHDS which did do the trick but other nights I tried hair rollers. Only problem is that you need someone to help you, it's so difficult!
Main thing is not to let it detract from your performance =]
Hope the run is going well.
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CwEinDallas
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Re:Desperately need help with hair! - 2008/04/11 12:06You can tell i've been in the theatre a while since i know this, but here's my 2 cents:
hair will curl much easier if it is NOT freshly shampooed. I don't know why, but it is much easier to get it to stick if it is dirty. Hot rollers, especially the kind with steam and foam rollers work better than curling irons. hairspray or other product before AND after curling to really lock it in. for future shows if you need extreme hair changes, wigs or those clip in extension things are your friend.Chris
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I think my hair came out pretty decent, although I can only hope no one's ever going to ask me to have my hair curled and down. Here's how it looked: (Posted pictures as links because they refused to be resized)
I took this after I got home from whatever restaurant we were at Friday night. It's a little messy after me running around in it for hours, but it looked AMAZING when it was done. My awesome professional costumer friend did this in under 3 minutes, I kid you not. I also had a satiny flower thing pinned in it (or a gold crown at the end): http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn16/bellebeautyandthebeast/rehearsalsandetc036.jpg
