A 1940s Hair Tutorial and How to Wear Hats With It

 

Welcome back to more hair raising adventures and today I am showing you how to do another 1940s appropriate hair style based off an original photograph. For this hair style, the hair is curled and then secured to the sides of the head with hair combs. A nice thing about this hair style is that it can be styled for both day and evening and can be styled with a multitude of different hats - I will be showing you three hats and also a hair flower for more dressy occasions. If you are in need for a hair style that is not too terribly fussy and need one that can work for a whole day (and maybe a whole weekend with enough hair spray) then this look would work really well for you. 

Below, the original photograph and my inspiration: 

To get started, you will need curled hair, use any method that you like. I use pin curling to get my hair to curl. The original hair style used a side part. Part your hair just above the left or right eye, which ever you prefer. Here, my hair has been pin curled, the pins removed, and the hair brushed out a little bit. 

The smallest side of hair will get the first hair comb, I am using grip tooth hair combs. Take the hair and twist it once upwards and secure with the hair comb. Push the comb towards the front of the face. make sure it sits firmly to the head. If it's too loose it will not hold. 

Now for the large section of hair. Take a section and grip it with a fist pointing the hair upwards. Like shown. Take a teasing brush or comb and back comb, or tease, the base of the hair to create volume. The more you tease the more volume you will get. 

Take your hair and give it a gentle twist upwards and bring the puffed hair towards the front of the head. Take the side of your hair above the ear and get that into that twist too to keep the sides of the head tidy. Take the second hair comb and push it towards the face securing the hair in place. Now for the back of the hair you can secure it with a fine hair net and give it a shot of hair spray. 

This is a super simple look and there is not much going on with it style wise so that makes it perfect for accessories. Hats, flowers, or otherwise. Below is the final hair style, unadorned. 

This hairstyle is a blank slate in that once you have it completed, you can leave it plain for day wear or you can dress it up for evening. Here I am dressing it up with a vintage hair flower for an evening look. One flower is all that is needed. If you choose to use a hair flower, do yourself a favor and invest in good quality vintage ones. Stay away from the plastic craft store variety ones. 

This hairstyle also lends itself very well for hats! Hats of all kinds and below I have three different kinds for you to see. The first one is a hat that can sit at the top of the head and lean a little bit to the front. For hats like this that focus more on the front, they usually have a band or something at the back of the head that allows it to stay in place on its own. I will use bobby pins to help secure the band in place. I apply my bobby pins near the top of the band or as close to the actual hat as possible to hide the pins. I like a crisscross pattern myself. If it needs it, I will also use a hat pin. I poke the pin through the hat, then very carefully through my hair and back through the hat. For some hats, they really do require a certain hair style to stay put because the hat rests on the hair and if using a hat pin, the hair helps anchor the hat in place. 

The second hat is one that goes at the back of the head and leaves the front of the hair style exposed. For this hat, it will NOT stay put on its own. It will require either bobby pins to stay put or a hat pin. This hat has a portion that will sit at the back of the head and the front whooshes upwards. The weight of the front brim is enough that it will flip backwards if the hat it not secured to the head. 

The third is a classic 40s tilt hat and sits leaning very much towards the front of the face. Here you cannot see the front of the hair style, but you can certainly see all the back of it. What is nice about this hair style is that it is fairly plain and lends itself to a lot of playing around with accessories. This hat does have a fine elastic band that hides itself under the back of the hair style and held keep the hat in place when it is windy. From experience I can say that this hat really does a nice job staying put all by itself, but I have added a hat pin to it for extra security. 

And now a final and complete look. Personally, I think a hat just adds that final flourishing touch that adds wonderful authenticity. The outfit is a deep, cranberry red two-piece tailored suit in fine wool. The blouse underneath is a cream-colored silk blouse with looped edging.