Art Deco Hair: The Flapper Bob

With hair down to my elbows, I knew you were more than a little fascinated to see how I would create a Flapper 'do. But, I was determined to find a way to do it.  And what do you know? I came up with a Deco bob for girls with long hair.

This hair do works for: 

Shoulder length or longer hair.

You'll need:

Lightly curled hair

LOTS of bobby pins

Rat tail comb

A heating iron

Start with lightly curled hair. This is my natural curl, so I didn't worry with doing anything to my hair, but if your hair doesn't have as much wave then I suggest running the curling iron over it for a few seconds to get some movement and body to the ends. Part your hair to one side. 

Take a section of hair on the thinner side of your hair and separate it from the main section of hair. Then on the other side of the head, take an L shape section, including the fringe to just in front of the ear, and the hair along the hair line. Secure the rest back out of the way. 

On the thinner side of the hair, break that section into two, front and back. Take the back section and lay it over your finger. Then slide a bobby pin over it to secure this 'hump' and slide your finger out. Repeated downwards until you have done three 'humps'. 

Repeat this for the front section. Then take your heating iron and press it over each of the humps to set them. Hold it long enough they will retain the shape. 

Separate your fringe from the main section and repeat on the other side with the L-shape division of hair. 

Take the fringe section and arrange it into a wave pattern and press these with the iron too, this time flat towards your face to give them a nice shape. 

As you can see while the bobby pins are still in you've got some seriously crazy lumpy hair all over your head. Let the hair cool and take the pins out. You'll be left with some great waves, even if you do look a little odd. 

Take a thin section of hair on the thinner side of your part, and begin to curl this hair upwards and under. Once you get it to ear height, secure it with two pins that are secured under the main section of hair, just above the ear. When you let the hair go, the hair will cover the pins. 

Take another section in the same direction and repeat the upwards, inwards roll. When it is even with the roll before, secure it with pins that are pushed under the main section of the hair to hold the roll. I've put an arrow to show you where you would secure the pin for this. 

Keep working your way around to the back in the same manner. At this point you can see the 'bob' shape forming. 

Work all the way around to the other side, until you are left with the section of the hair including the fringe and hair in front of the ear. Push the fringe out of the way and separate the front section in front of the hair in two, top and bottom. 

Curl the bottom section upwards in a loose loop and pin it over the ear. Then roll the top section up and pin it over that loop.

To give you an idea of how they lay, I've popped arrows over the curls. 

Take the fringe and lay it across the forehead in a wave pattern, pinning it in the 'dip', trying to hide the bobby pin as much as possible. Then pin the end into the rest of the hair, hiding that pin too. 

Now your hair is done. I like to spritz on some hairspray to add hold to it. 

Of course, adding some era appropriate hair clips is a fabulous idea. I put in some Art Deco Star rhinestone pins from Jean Jean Vintage and some Art Deco green glass drop earrings from Boylerpf. 

Ta da! Next post I'll show you my Flapper inspired look to flaunt with this hair. 

Love WTP x