For make-up artists, having a hair dressing qualification is helpful and sometimes essential but much make-up work does not call for hair proficiency. Many make-up artists get quickly out of touch with hair the skills they rarely use so need occasional updates.
Useful Basics:
Learning how to do a simple blow dry and to put hair up is useful in any make-up department.
Despite the time and facilities for a blow dry being a rarity on set, gaining confidence with this will lead to greater ease with hair in general. That in itself should help keep the make-up department running smoothly.
- For those nervous about hair styling, a day with a hairdresser is beneficial. Learn some basics in one session and then to back this up with practice on friends or relatives. This could be an inexpensive way to update basic make-up training as many hairdressers will take a private fee for a few hours teaching.
- Blow drying takes practice. Real people are the best models but practice heads are excellent for getting used to the necessary hand and arm movements.
- For maximum adaptability, practice blow drying with a paddle brush which pulls hair straight as well as a radial brush which can shape and give volume.
- Dirty, limp or kinked hair can be blow dried on set from damp rather than wet. Keep a water spray bottle to damp hair sections before blow drying. This will re-style hair in an emergency.
- Dry or frizzy hair can be damped down with a product like Aveda's Damage Control or Bumble and Bumble Prep. This will reactivate any product already on the hair as well as protect it from the heat of the dryer, resulting in a smoother finish than otherwise probable.
- Learn to set the hair with giant rollers before drying. This volume building technique leads to a bouncy, shiny hair style and is useful for photographic and bridal work.
Putting hair up dresses any hair unsuitable to be worn down. It could be badly died, dry, frizzy, dirty or in the wrong cut. A good up do will disguise all of this on camera and can be quicker than solving the underlying problems.
- A french pleat, chignon, simple bun and pony tail are easy styles to adapt being simple to learn.
- If hair is flat, greasy or pulls back in a strange shape, back combing the crown can give necessary structure. The final layer of hair can then be smoothed over this section resulting in a neat and tidy style.
- Choose hair grips carefully as these need to be secure and comfortable. Matte hair grips available from professional shops such as Sally's are less likely to slip.
Kit and Products:
Non hair experts are advised to get to know their products very well indeed as these will be the difference between success and failure.
- GHDs or ceramic flat irons come in different widths but the basic ones are the best to get if in doubt. They straighten most hair exceptionally quickly, leaving it shiny and camera perfect. They seldom rip, drag or catch hair and make it simple to curl hair all over without needing tongs. Get a demonstration as most GHD skills are picked up easily.
- Hairspray is the cornerstone of most make-up artist's hair kits and with good reason. Hair, like make-up needs to stay looking the same on camera and hairspray holds any style. Use the strongest hold possible but be sure to spray from a distance in order to avoid bubbles of lacquer beading the hair.
- Serum adds shine and stops frizz and flyaway hair.
- Strong hold and liquid gel is useful for short hair but can also be used with a little curl cream to make an excellent setting lotion for defining and separating curls. Try Confixor liquid gel from Aveda.
Green and Blue Screen Work:
Individual flyaway strands of hair cause extreme complication when editing blue and green screen work.
Make-up artists working in this field must ensure that hair is as tidy as possible.
- To minimize static, spritz hair spray on to a brush before use. Hairspray also holds hair in place smoothly
- Tie back long or wavy hair if in doubt.
- Serum smooths down straight hair and stops it from becoming flyaway under hot lights.
- If hair is really refusing to sit down, the best tactic may be to slick it down, back or to the side with a strong hold gel. Long hair can be tied in to a ponytail and similarly smoothed with a firm gel.
- Steer clear of products which enhance volume, wave or give a tousled appearance.
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