Cosplay styles - Elrond braided half-up and length shots

 

  Long time, no cosplay hair post! So here's another Elven style, a couple of multi-braided half-up styles for my Elrond cosplay, from an Autumn 2022 nature shoot. The main style I went for is a couple of thin three-strand side braids in front of the ears alongside a fishtail/herringbone half-up braid at the back (well, a fishtail braid that evolved into a regular three-strand braid, because fishtail braiding at the back of your head is not for the weak-minded and is a real workout 😅 xD). 

  This style takes elements out of several Elrond hairstyles from the Peter Jackson movies: LotR Elrond tends to wear a fishtail half-up braid at the back with intricately looped sections in front of the ears, and sometimes, more intricate criss-crossing basket weaving braiding at the top of the head as well (see photo below, left).  In the Battle of Dagorlad (during the Fellowship of the Ring prologue, see photo below, middle) his style combines the fishtail braid at the back with two side fishtail braids looped into and around the main herringbone braid. Elrond's main style in the Rivendell scenes of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (see photo below, right) features a couple of three-strand braids in front of the ears instead of his signature looped look in LotR, and he switches the more elaborate fishtail and basket weaving braiding for what looks like a couple of side rope braids tied at the back alongside another minibraid at the top of the head. 

LotR Rivendell Elrond (FotR, Council costume) (left); LotR Battle of Dagorlad Elrond (centre); The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Elrond (right) 

 

  My version combines the fishtail braid at the back from most of the LotR styles with the three-strand braids in front of the ears from The Hobbit, which I tried to loop a bit at the ends as a callback to his signature LotR look (but three-strands overall were easier to do and more comfortable to wear). I actually could also replicate a near version of his Dagorlad style with this look (see below), by looping the front mini braids into and around the main braid at the back (the only difference being, in the Dagorlad style it's all fishtail braids, but lol nope, I tried that style with what I already had at the very end of the shoot xD).

• For this style I used (and you can use):

-Sectioning comb, wide-tooth comb and/or brush, as needed

-Transparent small elastics for the accent braids and the braided half-up

-A circlet and a leaf slide/barrette for decoration

-Aloe vera gel/fixing gel, as needed 

• Steps:  

1) Section the hair: one small section at each side above the ear for the accent side/front braids that will hang in front of the ears, and one section for the braided half-up at the back.

 

2) Fishtail+three-strand braid:

 

  To be honest, I've had very little practice doing fishtail/herringbone braids because they're pretty time-consuming and they involve considerable arm workout when you're doing them at the back of your head xD, but I was happily surprised to see that, considering the little practice I had, this one didn't turn out so bad and it was a bit easier to do than I had dreaded! Still, hard on the arms, and I was running late for the shoot, so it's not a fishtail all the way down - one third down (or so), it ended up morphing into a regular three strand 🤣. Still, I think it still looks pretty cool as is! And it's a good hack if you also have long, long hair and don't want to spend so long fishtail-braiding xD. I secured all sections of this braid with transparent elastics.

 

 

 

3) Accent side-braids:  Separate a piece of hair at each side and braid it. It can be a simple 3-strand braid, or a lace braid, French braid or Dutch braid. In this case - three strand, imitating Elrond's main hairdo in The Hobbit movies. You can rest your arms a bit more with this step, even if mini braids can also be pretty time consuming with very long hair. Secure with transparent elastics.

 

4) Final touches:  I added a thin circlet, tied at the back with some golden cord and also secured with a silver leaf barrette (which also serves to hide the knot). You can also use bobby pins/open pins as needed to fix anything in the braids.

 

Add aloe vera gel or a bit of gel or hairspray to set the style and potential flyaways (if you want), and it's done!

 

 

 

For the Dagorlad style, I just looped the front mini braids into and around the main back braid. I tried this at the end of the shoot, and also ended up wearing the style as an updo, with a fork and a casual cinnabun :

 

 

 

 

 

 

  I also used these couple of video tutorials as reference, from Loepsie and Silvousplaits: 

 

  

Picture gallery with more shots from the 2022 cosplay shoot, also feating mid-thigh length shots:

 

SwordWomanRiona / rionashairblog.blogspot.com.es

Do not copy-and-paste this post and/or alter it without any permission, credit or link. Ask before using my work, or at least give credit to me and my blog (beauty site who kept stealing my content a while ago, I'm looking at you).

Hairstyles - Fishtail/Herringbone braid

This is a WIP-post for now (as some of you might already have noticed, I upload earlier 'thematic' posts of this blog ('French braids', 'parandas', etc) with new pics, so I hope to be able to upload this very brief post soon!

The fishtail or herringbone braid is a braid I really love, partly because it's been associated with Tolkien Elves (Arwen, Elrond, Legolas and Tauriel wear them in the LOTR and Hobbit movies, for example, among others). I really like the look of this braid, so I hope to stop procrastinating and find time to practice it in the near future.

I've only been dabbling in fishtail braids for now, mainly practicing on my braid tassels and such xD I somehow find them really daunting because of my straight, slippery hair, I always have the feeling it's not going to be easy to make a full one without it being unravelled in seconds :S But I guess we'll see how it goes, I'll probably end up using lots of aloe vera gel at least xD

Three pics from a few years ago:

Three-strand braid into a fishtail:

And the one time I actually tried to do a full fishtail, as a half-up (and pretty slapdash, but yeah, practise xD):

2022 update: Fishtail braid (combined with a regular three-strand) for my Elrond cosplay. This one turned out better than expected, considering the little practice I've have with these braids!

                                          SwordWomanRiona / rionashairblog.blogspot.com.es

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Hairstyles - Half-ups

This post is mainly a pic overload of different half-ups I've tried (click for bigger pics):

• Three-strand braided half-ups:

   A very simple, yet very Elvish half-up, in my opinion.  

 

✨A single three-strand braid at the back:

✨Three-strand side braids held together at the back in another three-strand braid (or just two side braids):

 

•   With ribbons:

✨Three-strand braid at the back:

 

 

✨Elven cosplay styles, also featuring side braids:

 

 

 

 

✨Elven-ranger cosplay multi-braided half-up: Individual post here.

 

✨Two three-strand side accent braids knotted together:

  Just experimenting one Summer day (don't mind the clumpy, braidwave-free ends xD That's what happens when you want braidwaves but forget about the tassel *mental facepalm*. For heatless waves, I'd say either braid all the way down to the ends, as far as you can get, or my favourite, bandanna/bendy rollers waves for the braid's tassel. Unless you like this kind of wavy-then-straight look, of course. Everyone is different.)

                           

• Rope-braided half-ups:

  ✨The Catelyn Tully half-up:

 

 

✨Two rope side braids held by decorative pins and braided into another rope braid at the back:

• Fishtail-braided half-ups:

I handle the fishtail (more or less) when braiding my 3-strand braid tassel...but I still have a practice a lot if I want to do a full/half-up fishtail braid from the top. Yes, I've hardly practiced this braid.

 

-2022 update: I'm getting the hang of it more now, and usually wear it with my Elrond cosplay

 

• Just two pieces of hair held back with an elastic and/or barrette:

 (left one)

 

 



 

• Bunned half-ups:

✨Cinnabun:

I generally use the elastic I use to secure the two side pieces of hair as an anchor for this little bun, same as I'd do with a full bun. You can also bun the sections without any elastics, of course, I just find this easier because my hair is so slippery.

✨Rose bun: Individual post here

 

✨Braided bun with parandas+side braids: Aka the Eärien style from Rings of Power S1 (with added parandas). Individual post here

 

 

 

 

SwordWomanRiona / rionashairblog.blogspot.com.es

Do not copy-and-paste this post and/or alter it without any permission, credit or link. Please ask before using my work, and share it properly, giving credit to me and my blog.