Tutorial: Create a Short Flapper Hairstyle on Long Hair
It's a new wave in faux bobs.
Ah, the glamorous Roaring Twenties! The era of gin ’n jazz that marked the start of a huge economic and consumerism boom, women’s voting rights and yes, those fabulous flapper hairstyles. Standards of womanhood were changing and naturally, fashion and beauty trends followed suit.
Ladies of this time sport this now-iconic bob haircut, shellacked and waved to precision, to match the glitz. Recreate this sophisticated, vintage short look—without having to commit to a haircut!—in a few easy steps. Read on and get ready to foxtrot your way around the fashion circuit with flapper hairstyles.
Recreate One of Our Fave Flapper Hairstyles
Start with clean hair.
Freshly-washed hair offers up more traction for an updo, and is generally the best way to start any intricately styled look as it refreshes both your scalp and strands. Shampoo and condition your hair with a gentle, light-wearing daily wash and care system, like Suave Professionals Coconut Milk Infusion Deep Moisture Shampoo and Conditioner.
Spritz roots with a volumizer.
Lightly coat your roots with a lift-inducing spray like Nexxus Hydra-Light Step 3 Root Lifting Mist to give hair fullness and texture. Proceed to evenly blow-dry hair on a medium setting.
Section hair off.
Create a side part and leave your thicker section down. Create several other sections on the rest of your hair, separating each with duckbill clips.
Bend the topmost section.
Use a 1 1/4″ curling iron barrel to create your waves. You can also go smaller or larger, depending on how thick you want your waves to be. Create bends (instead of full curls) by stopping right just before you reach one full loop around the iron. Leave the rest of your lengths untouched.
Mark with a clip.
Pin a duckbill clip right before the base of the topmost bend to mark your place.
Continue bending hair.
Create more waves by continuing the bending technique with your iron. Move downwards and make sure to note the placement of each bend, in order to easily align them later on.
Create your bun.
Once you’ve bent and clipped the entire length of your section, proceed to make your chignon. Gather the rest of your hair into a low bun, twist and coil around itself, fastening it with bobby pins at the base.
Pin back your wavy section.
Connect your wavy section to your bun with pins, looping it around the chignon if possible and securing with pins where the hair overlaps. You can opt to define your waves with bobby pins at each bend, or leave them loose and lightly misted with some hairspray like Bed Head by TIGI Headrush Shine Hairspray for some hold. Done!
