One of my hair staples for more than a year has been Janet Stephens' knotted Valkyrie ponytail, a historical style inspired by Scandinavian depictions of Valkyries:
This length-shortening updo/half-updo is pretty easy
and fast to do, and very comfortable to wear. I've been wearing the
standard Valkyrie ponytail and my braided variation (either three-strand
or rope-braid) as a weekly staple for more than a year now 😃. A recorded tutorial of my own version of Janet Stephens' video will be coming soon, but in the meantime here are some written
instructions as usual, as well as the (ample) pic gallery 😃 xD
For this style I used:
-Comb and/or brush as needed.
-A metal-free elastic for the initial ponytail
-Hairstick
-Open pins for final touches
Steps:
-With the help of some aloe vera gel as a light fixator to control flyaways and static, I comb the hair into a high ponytail, using a metal-free elastic. Mid-height is my preference, but you can do a higher or lower ponytail according to your personal taste.
You can also do this knotted ponytail without any elastic, as shown in Janet Stephens' video above, but I often use elastics for more than one updo because my hair is very fine-textured and slippery, and that combination generally means absolutely no hold on its own 😅, so I need to have an elastic as a base for the whole updo to stay put in a secure way. Because there's no way my hair wants to hold a knot on its own without the knot slipping down the hair in two seconds, no matter how long the length is xD
-Now comes the knot - Which I do similarly to Janet Stephens' video, but also differently, given that I use an elastic as a base and am also left-handed: What I do is twist the hair counter-clockwise around the base of the ponytail, as if I were doing a cinnamon bun. The knot comes from sliding the hair through the loop and tightening it by pulling against the base of the ponytail, similarly to the self-dressing part of Stephens' tutorial.
-As exemplified in Janet Stephens' video, the knot can be enough to hold the hair, depending on your hairtype and length. In my case my hair is very long, similarly to the first model in the video, but while hers is thicker and of less fine texture, mine is extremely slippery, so the knot slips out of shape immediately even with the elastic base. To remedy this, I further secure the knot using a hairstick (Janet Stephens's tutorial uses a bodkin/hairstick for her shorter-haired model). This also
looks nice in a decorative way, and it's additionally functional apart from securing the knot, as it also ensures that the hanging braid stays out of the way in a
comfortable way.
-I also tend to use a couple of open bun pics to polish some flyaways at the nape.
-Finally, I add some more aloe vera gel (or the fixator of your choice) to set the style and smooth flyaways, and it's done!
Final rec on this style: My very fine-textured, straight hair needs both the elastic base and the hairstick for this style to work all day long. Every head of hair is different, so, depending on length, texture (curlier hairtypes would generally hold the knot better on their own), density, fineness/coarseness of the hair strands, and hairtype in general, your hair will be able to hold the knot on its own or not, and you may need either the elastic base or the hairstick, or both or neither. Just experiment to see which option works best 😃!
Picture gallery (2018-, updated from time to time) (for larger size, click on pics or open in new tab):
-With side braids:
-As a cosplay style:
SwordWomanRiona / rionashairblog.blogspot.com.es
Please ask before using my work, or at least give credit to me and my blog when sharing.
No comments:
Post a Comment