Test Hair 3: The Ultimate, No-Fail Way

So, we've covered Test Hair with a wiglet, Test Hair in a french twist, now it's time for test hair that cannot fail.

Test Hair-Part Deux--The French Twist

Last year I covered the way I do buns for skating tests. Today, I want to cover doing your hair as a french twist for tests.

I think this looks elegant. It's a
simple alternative for women who
don't look good in a bun.

There are complicated ways to do french twists involving pins and requiring three hands, but my way is simple and takes just a couple of minutes. However, my way requires your hair be close to shoulder length and a blunt cut. Shag cuts will require a lot more pinning.

Here's what you'll need.

A french twist comb:

This is a less expensive one.
Try in ULTA

This is a quality one. More expensive too.
franceluxe.com

If your hair is thin, you may want a 'rat' to pad the twist to make it larger. A hair rat is a roll of hair or foam or netting (the color of your hair) about 3-4" long and an ~inch in diameter. I take an old wiglet and cut a chunk out and make it into a rat. But the best way is to make it out of your own hair so it matches.

Here are a couple of rats someone has
made from their own hair
 (I learned how to do it when I was 5)
 Instructions 

Now, here are instructions on how to actually 'do' the twist and use the twist comb. If you have a little tail above the twist, you can let it wag, or you can tuck it down into the twist at the end for a smoother look. To use the hair rat, as you twist the hair in Step 2, twist the hair around the rat by slipping the rat into the fold of the hair at the beginning then continue as in the instructions. If the rat is too heavy or dense the comb won't work. So don't try using something like a rolled up piece of cloth.

I can do a french twist in about a minute. Zip Zap Thunderclap, it's done.

If you want to do a twist in a casual setting, don't tuck in the tail at the top of the twist. Take a barrette and insert it so it catches the tail of the twist and the hair underneath rather than to use a comb (which looks more formal).

You may be frustrated with barrettes from the drugstore or even the beauty accessories store. I have baby fine hair and find even the nicer ones in beauty stores snag my hair. I've taken to buying France Luxe barrettes online. OMG. If the beauty store barrettes are a Toyota Corolla, dependable, and reliable but lacking in finishing details, France Luxe twist combs and barrettes are Porsches. I love these. But they are expensive. I keep my collection of France Luxe accessories in my jewelry box. (On the nice side, for every 3 you buy in an order, you get a free gift of a barrette or pony tie. I've got a couple of nice ones worth about $20 each for free. But it's catch as catch can.)

Bright to match your costume

Classic colors for subtlety

So there's all my tips about how to do a french twist for a test, with comments on barrettes and combs if you want to try buying something of top of the line quality.

Test Hair

Testing is a nightmare. Not only do you have to worry about skating you have to worry about your hair. And I have the classic baby fine blonde hair with all the body of a well cooked noodle. It just hangs there, and escapes from just about any barrette, pin, ribbon or headband. I've tried bun doughnut that's supposed to be a net form for you to arrange your hair over. Said baby fine hair just won't cover the form. You can see right through the hair to the doughnut underneath. Even if I hot roller my hair, use a can of spray, and enough gel to decorate the set of Aliens, by the end of the five minute warmup, my hair is straight and floppy.

I finally found a way to keep my hair neat in tests. I wear a hair scrunchie.  These also go by the name pony tie, circle wiglet, hair wrap, and pony fastener.

Hair scrunchie

I started with a cheap one from Ulta, but I just bought a nicer one from a wig shop. We'll see how that goes and if it's worth the money. Anyway, I've seen some decent ones for $10 or less, so they're cheap enough for an experiment.

They're dead easy to use. Pull your hair back into some kind of ponytail, bun, or doubled over pony (depending on the length of your hair) and plop the scrunchie over it.

When I wear this for work I just use bobby pins to keep it in place. But for skating, I use Goody hair screws called a Spin Pin. Trust me those things are never coming out. And if perchance they do, they're easy to see on the ice.

Goody Spin Pins
How to Use

Maybe you want something more elegant than a fluffy/spiky set to your hair. I find the scrunchie useful for that too. I just plop a hairnet over the scrunchie before I put the pins in, and tug the whole kit and caboodle into something that looks like a bun. Then I screw the pins in.

Total time, 5 minutes.

And now for the obligatory cat picture. A cat in a bun.

"Coach, what do you mean this isn't the kind of
bun you wanted me to wear?"