I've always liked the look of head bands and scarves, especially in the retro, pinup style, but I always get so frustrated because they lose their shapes, wrinkle, bend, fall out, and slip out of place. So, I set about fixing all those problems and made these awesome headbands.
I installed wig clips at the center, so the bands can be clipped right into your hair so they won't fall out or move around. I designed them to close easily at the base of the head, and buyers can choose from hook & eye closure, snap closure, and velcro closure. I also made them with an internal lining of very stiff interfacing so that they won't bend, twist, or lose their shape.
These head bands will stay in all day and look great, no matter what kind of hair you have or how you style it!
Available in 6 prints, I can custom make these to length or just whip one out and let you set it up how you want it!
Each headband is just $15.00 and handmade by me. Get yours HERE!
In this post, I'll be comparing four setting lotions I have used, how they worked on my hair (long, fine, lots of it), their holding power, scents, ease of use, and more.
As I have mentioned in a previous post, I have a LOT of very fine, long, straight hair that resists being curly the way a toddler resists liver and onions. I have to force it to have any curl whatsoever, and, even if I do, I literally get one day out a roller set. Curling irons don't work on my hair. I recently discovered setting lotions, remembering that my Grandma and Great-Grandma used setting lotions back when I was a kid - they used Nestle Superset Wave Setting Lotion, which smelled like a combo of Mentholatum and floral perfume - that they would dip combs into and then through their hair, roll onto sponge or plastic rollers and into pincurls, and let dry overnight. Being that I was 4, I don't remember how long their curls lasted.
Below, I have rated the products for Ease of Use, Scent, Drying Time, Curl Production, Hold, and Length of Set.
I should note here that no person or entity is paying me for these reviews. I am just your average user who is looking for a product that works and I am sharing my experience with y'all. The following reviews reflect my experience with these products.
This is a photo of my hair when I do nothing to it:
A photo posted by ✨Molly Starlite✨ (@sixstringlass) on
A plain water set might last me a few hours, if I am lucky. Honestly, pincurling my hair while it is damp from a shower or swimming is pretty much a waste of time. After a few hours, my hair has a slight wave to it, the ends are probably frizzy as all hell. Not cool. Here's a pic:
Lotta Body Texturizing Setting Lotion Ease of Use: 4/5 Curls Scent: 5/5 Curls Drying Time: 4/5 Curls Curl Production: 4/5 Curls Hold: 4/5 Curls Length of Set: 4/5 Curls Overall Rating: 4/5 Curls Comments: Probably my favorite one. I use this by spraying my combed out hair before I start, and then again at the end before I put on a scarf for the night. Smells like a tropical drink, which is nice, lots of coconut scent, which lasts a long time. I've used this setting lotion with pin curls, magnetic rollers, and sponge rollers, and the curls all turn out about the same: lots of spirals, not crunchy, light and bouncy. At the end of the day, my hair will still look the same as when I styled it after taking the set out, which is what I want. Even after sleeping on the curls, the next day, I'll pretty much have the same look. I can usually get three good days out of a wet or dry set using this setting lotion. Drying time on a wet set is the biggest downside - as it is with all the setting lotions I have tried - but this one dries the fastest on a dry set and holds the longest. To use, I pour it from the bottle into a spray bottle and spray at the beginning and end of a set; that's it. BOTTOM LINE: If you've got long, fine hair like I do, this is the product to choose. Smells great, works well, and, most of all, the curls last a long time. Even with having to find a sprayer to put it on my hair, still my choice.
Lotta Body Setting Lotion (Concentrate) Ease of Use: 3/5 Curls Scent: 2/5 Curls Drying Time: 3/5 Curls Curl Production: 3/5 Curls Hold: 3/5 Curls Length of Set: 3/5 Curls Overall Rating: 3/5 Curls Comments: Related to the setting lotion above, this version must be mixed prior to use, and I think the addition of water adds troubles to the whole process. To use, I fill the spray bottle partially with the setting lotion and then fill the rest of the way with water, using the mixing instructions off the bottle. After mixing, I use the same process to apply: through hair at the beginning and spray over curls at the end. Curls on wet set with this product tend to be a little flat. Also, the drying time is just unbelievable. I have left a wet set with this product in for 22 hours and it was still wet at the back of my head while I was unrolling it, which meant that my hair - instead of being sweetly curled - was just frizzy with a little wave here and there. On a dry set, it isn't a bad product and works like it's supposed to; however, sometimes, the curls are a little on the crunchy side - occasionally, glued together - which makes the brush out very difficult. Why 2 out of 5 Curls on Scent? I dunno. It doesn't smell like anything. BOTTOM LINE: Works pretty well on fine hair; inexpensive option.
Jane Carter Wrap & Roll Ease of Use: 3/5 Curls Scent: 4/5 Curls Drying Time: 5/5 Curls Curl Production: 4/5 Hold: 2/5 Length of Set: 1/5 Overall Rating: 2/5 Curls Comments: I had high hopes for this one, as it was recommended to me by a lady whose hair looked freaking amazeballs and whose set lasted a full week. I wanted that, so I got some. So, it's a mousse, you spritz some in your hand and spread it through your combed hair, then curl as usual with sponge rollers and pin curls. It smells like floral shampoo, neither overtly pleasant nor unpleasant. My hair dried pretty quickly with only slight dampness at the back of my head after sleeping with the set in my hair, about 10 hours. The resultant curls were very "spring-y" and coiled and very soft. However, the curls tended to come out as soon as I started brushing my hair to style it, and, by the end of the day, my hair was just wavy; hardly any curl at all. By the next day, the curls were gone completely and I had to do an up-do. That night, I re-curled my hair with the mousse doing a dry set, and it was pretty much the same story: gorgeous curls that lasted a few hours, only a little bit better than a plain water set. Also, I have noticed that the product made the ends of my hair really dry and it's breaking some at the ends, which hasn't happened in a long time. BOTTOM LINE: I don't think that I will use this product again; I just don't think it works well on fine hair. It's probably a product that works best on thicker hair, or some type other than mine because it really doesn't work for me.
Suavacita Grooming Spray Ease of Use: 5/5 Curls Scent: 5/5 Curls Drying Time: 4/5 Curls Curl Production: 2/5 Hold: 2/5 Length of Set: 2/5 Comments: This comes in a handy pump sprayer that produces a fine mist, so I don't have to mix anything or use my hands to get it in my hair, which is a major win, in my book. Also, it smells like sweet watermelon, which is also a major win. It dries quickly in wet or dry hair, but the resultant curls - using this as a setting lotion - are a bit lackluster and didn't last. However, this product's strength isn't in its curling prowess: it's in smoothing hair as you style it! Right before I spray with hairspray to set my style, I spray some of this on my hair and use my smoothing and teasing brush to get a really smooth hair style on top. Big win. Using it as a curling agent, I didn't get curly, long-lasting hold out of this product, but it works great in other applications, so I will definitely be buying more. BOTTOM LINE: A better grooming spray than a setting lotion, but well worth the money for vintage hair styles; makes for a beautiful, smooth finish on fine hair.
As I have mentioned before, I make hair flowers to go with outfits. I make them just because I can, and I find it therapeutic and relaxing, I'd imagine in much the same way fishing fly-tiers find the steady wrapping motion relaxing; it's very much the same except, you know, flowers 'n'at.
Anyway, I am taking custom orders right now, so please contact me (through this blog, through my Etsy store - link over there on the right sidebar, through Facebook, etc) and let me know what colors/flowers/style you want and I will do my best to accommodate. Right now, I have on hand:
- Ombre pink to white peonies
- Cream colored mums
- Pale yellow to pink dahlias
- Pale green orchids
- Dark pink orchids
- Yellow and pink petunias
- Pink petunias
- Orange magnolias with sparkly centers
- Orange daisies
- Orange marigolds
- Yellow marigolds
- Dark yellow mums
- Red daisies
- Dark pink hibiscus
- Small yellow daisies
- Blue daisy
- White daisy
Anything else I can probably get; just let me know what colors and flowers you want, or show me photos of the outfit you's like to match! Custom orders start at $15; I can get deluxe micro-suede flowers for a bit more.
I've been making pinup style hair flowers for almost a year now, and while I haven't been able to make a career of it, it's a fun hobby. I make hair flowers while waiting for videos to convert from DVD format to MP4; I make them while waiting for videos to export out of my film-making software; I make them while waiting for videos to upload to a web site or video streaming channel (there's a *lot* of waiting and babysitting while making videos, which is why they're so expensive).
Anyway, it's a fun, relaxing hobby that lets me be creative and make something beautiful. I list them on my Etsy store, give them as gifts, and sell them to people I run into. I take commissions and make custom flowers. It's a lot of fun, making something one-of-a-kind and unique to a person's tastes.
I used to make them by winding metal wire around the hair combs and flower stems, but I have started making them using a new thread wrapping technique that makes them lighter, safer, sturdier, and waaaaay prettier than most other methods I have found. There's no glue to get brittle and break, no wires to poke you, and nothing unsightly or bulky to interfere with wearing the flower. The flowers are light, can be inserted into any hairstyle, and this method allows the wearer to "pose" the flower just a little bit (not a lot, but some... so you could move a flower a little to cover a bobby pin, for instance).
Soon, I may start adding new features, like glitter and ornaments. Stay tuned!
Hope all of your holidays were merry and bright and you got everything you wanted!
This Christmas, I got to go to a Christmas party (I rarely get invited to any, being as I am a contractor), so I got to wear my Monica dress, finally. I bought this one from the final sale rack at the Pinup Girl Clothing web site; it was my very first (and still only) Monica. :) I had pincurled my hair, but I had also watched a tutorial online on how to do a 1950s sculpted hair style, and so I was following along, brushing and back-combing... and the curls started to come out. Like I said in another post, my hair is straight and it doesn't want to do anything other than be straight. The only way I can keep a curl is to just gently lift from the roots for volume, finger separate the curls, and then leave it alone. So, I wasn't happy with my hair, but I think it looked okay. Here's a pic:
The roads were awful from our house to outside Coeur d'Alene where the restaurant was, but the steak there made it almost worth it. Seriously, it was cut-it-with-a-fork tender, perfectly cooked, flavorful... If you're in the Coeur d'Alene area, stop in to the Wolf Lodge Inn just off I-90. You won't be disappointed if you like steak.
But the drive home was hairier than the drive in, and my Tommy Lee and I were very happy to get home. I spent the evening with the kids, and I re-rolled my hair and put my little girl's hair in pin curls for the first time, too! She was so happy to match me:
The next day was Christmas Eve, and it had been snowing for the previous 5 days. It was supposed to have stopped snowing by Thursday morning (the 24th), but it continued to put down the white stuff pretty much all day Thursday. I decided to wear my white Niagara dress (also bought during a final sale or online yard sale - I forget which - from Pinup Girl Clothing) with red accessories to look Christmas-sy. I made a fabulous poinsettia and holly hair accessory that was glittery and big... it almost looked like a fascinator. I got a faux fur red shawl from Amazon for $10, and wore my red suede heels to finish off the look. And then I got the bright idea to add the perfect pinup shrug (also from PUG, another final sale item) and I was amazed by how the addition of that little jacket switched up the look of the Niagara dress from a 1950s bombshell dress to almost a 1940s, sophisticated ensemble. Here's a pic:
Like I mentioned earlier, it had been snowing for days and days, and it finally all caught up to us Christmas Eve, as we were plunged into darkness shortly after nightfall. We went and grabbed our camping lanterns and candles and set those up in my Mom's living room, and I played guitar while people sang and snacked on summer sausage and cheese and crackers and beef stew Mom moved from her cooking stove to the fireplace to finish cooking. The lights came back on after about an hour and half, and we got to sing Christmas carols and unwrap gifts from each other. It was a good time.
Santa brought my little girl a pink lurex sweater that just matched my Jeanie sweater (also from PUG, but I got it on a swap & sell page on Facebook for $40), so I wore the sweater with the black Jenny skirt so we would match; she loves that.
So, that was my Christmas, pinup style! I am looking forward to New Year's Eve, when I get to wear one of my Black Friday purchases: the Voodoo Vixen dress in pink lamè! My Tommy Lee is going to take me (weather permitting) to a 1950s dance in Coeur d'Alene, and I am so excited!
It's been the bane of my existence since I was a child. My hair has ZERO curl to it. Not even a wave. It is poker straight and super fine and lays flat on my head without a bit of volume. If those hair commercials over the years taught me anything, it's that I wanted to have curly, voluminous, thick, shiny hair. Is one out of three okay?
As a child, my mother would just wash it, brush it, trim the bangs and call it a day. As a teenager I would get lift with back combing and hairspray, but this was the early '90s, and trends took a long time to get up here; we were still in mid-'80s mode. No, back then, the girls my age and I, we had no clue how the back of our heads looked, but the fronts were amazeballs sculptures to the hair metal gods. I even had pink hair for a while, and this was in 1988 North Idaho: such things were not done. I caught a lot of flack from the church people for my red, red lips, pink hair, and Cyndi Lauper/butt rock dress code. (The fact that I went from no boobs to DD in one winter didn't help matters with the deacons any, either.)
Anyway... hair. I've never known what to do with mine. I brush it, keep it off my face, but, by and large, I have no damned clue how to style it. I went to a salon one time to have them chop my waist-length hair off to some manageable length, and all the stylist did was trim off about a quarter inch, despite my protestations that I wanted something different. "No," she says, "you're Rapunzel!" Another time, I went in to get a color and style and the stylists refused to work on my hair, citing that my at-home coloring would mess them up and ruin my hair... blah, blah, blah. So, since I can't get anyone to do anything with it, I do it myself.
Of course, I have no clue what I am doing. I hate how flat my hair lays, so I have tried everything this side of a perm to get it to have some volume. (You can either color *or* perm, my grandmother told me... I believed her.) As a teenager and young adult, I used a crimping iron, but the style got so out of fashion that I eventually turned to pincurling, considering that curling irons did exactly jack and sh** to my hair. But even that wouldn't hold for longer than a few hours.
Recently, I have started using magnetic rollers on top of my head, pin curls everywhere else, and spraying the lot with Lottabody setting lotion, which I have found works well. A set of curls set with Lottabody tends to hold a couple of days, and it does seem to give some volume. I generally wet set my hair after a shower, and then, a day or two later, dry set it and spritz with Lottabody and leave it overnight, and strangely enough, I've found that the dry set curls last about twice as long as the wet set ones. Both look about the same when I remove the rollers and pins, but I can get three to four days of curls out of a dry set.
For styling, I take a wide toothed hair pick and run it along my scalp and lift through the first inch or two of my hair away from my scalp, separating the hairs and creating volume close to my head. I then backcomb along the top, back, and sides, smooth the top, sculpt the bangs, and spray the lot (especially the roots) with a little hairspray, and ba-da-bing! Something resembling volume and an actual hairstyle:
And then I top it off with one of my handmade hairflowers to match my outfit!
So, in conclusion, clearly, I have no clue what I am doing, but I think it looks okay, for all that. One of these days, I'll figure out how to make my hair look sculpted, but, in the meantime, this is what I got. :)
