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[kath_a]

This journal is friends only, not to keep people out, but more to keep tabs on who is in!
Please feel welcome to friend me, I'll probably friend you back. Feel free to leave a comment here introducing yourself. If you like talking about historial clothing then you are very welcome!

Comments

[kath_a]

Hello! Yes, they are my real hair. It is somewhere between my waist and my hips at the moment unplaited. Its not something you can do with short or medium length hair, particularily if its thick. I start my plaits midway between the top of my ear and my centeral part, which is just the right length for my hair to cross over the top and meet and overlap slightly at the bottom. If I start too low I still can't get them to meet at the bottom, so I will just thread the ribbon through the ends and tie across the gap (I start sewing the ribbon in at the centre front and finish it at the back, and yes, I cheat by using invisible hairties on my ends then covering them with ribbon!)

Most of the other ladies in my group have short to medium length hair and they all manage to get something period through various methods, some of which involve false hair, some that involve coverings, some tha involve being creative and some that involve a combination).
Are you trying to do a 1480ish italian hairstyle or just wanting cute braids? if its the former then I am full of ideas, but if its the latter then remember that fake hair is period!

[tattycat]

Mostly, I'm patiently (okay, not so patiently) waiting for my hair to grow enough to put it up. Then I'll be waiting for it to get long enough to do the more typical 16th century Spanish styles, which seem to involve putting half one's hair up in a caul, and then braiding the other half and wrapping it, much like the Italian style in your icon, just in front of the caul. The braided hair seems to function as both an anchor for the caul and a foundation for pinning in more jewels.

Right now, my hair is usually up in a coif or cap, but that doesn't seem to be the preferred style for my area (end of the 16th century Spain). I am armed with false hair and many many bobby pins. I also estimate, at the rate my hair grows, I need another two years solid of growing time before it's as long as yours. *whine*

[kath_a]

I have plans to sew a false plait to a caul type thing, so for days when I am in a hurry (or unexpectly have to go 1480 and have hair too clean) I can just pop it on over my hair and sew the braid on with ribbon. I am sneaky :D
But its interesting that 16th centory spain and 15th century Italy have similar styes! I'm pretty sure they are similar in the 15th century in spain too, but I think hairstyles in 16th century Italy take a bit of a turn... I think. Then theres also the french hood theory that has a plait forming an integral part of the hood!

For the young girls in our group with thick shortish hair we use a lot of dutch plaits (also known as an inside out or upside down french plait) which kinda look like a plait ontop of the head. So if you can do a french plait, you could do a dutch.

And I understand waiting (not so paitiently) for hair to grow out! I started growing mine out when I was 16 from a short layered cut, I remember when I had enough hair to make a few twists in pigtail plaits, just enough to make them look like two plaits and not silly pigtails! Then when I realised it was long enough to get into ONE plait. My hair grew at 1/2 an inch a month, which apparently is the normal rate for healthy hair. Yes, I used to measure, I was, like, soooo paitent! hehe.

[tattycat]

Spain is really fascinating-- they tended to be the first to have styles that later became huge in the rest of Europe (farthingales in the 15th century, "Cavalier" in the late 16th etc.), and they tended to flog the fashions as long as possible before letting go.

My Laurel and I were just talking about Spanish hair yesterday, and realized that we both have come to the (tentative) conclusion that Spain seems to have given the whole structured hood phenomena a miss and gone straight from proto-French hoods a la Katherine of Aragon to braids with cauls and/or tiny hats.

Speaking of hoods and plaits, I will see if anyone got a photo yesterday (at Twelfth Night) of a woman wearing her hood in just that way. It's the first time I've really seen that look in this area in the SCA, and it was quite impressive.