They did what to their hair? (Crimping)

Todays blog will show you what Elizabethans did to their hair as it was the 'thing' to do back then. Would I personally do this as an everyday look? No. But it is 21st Century so I'll let Queen Elizabeth 1 off. So what is crimping? It's basically pressing lengths of hair into hot folds or ridges. 
Let's have a look at Elizabeth, she only started to get tight curls/crimped hair when she was on the thrown. It was to show authority and to not show innocence. 


So let's discuss the images I've selected, they are all Queen Elizabeth 1 as she is the main topic of this, it only seems fair to discuss her hair in portraits. The two images shows Elizabeth in her outrageously big outfit that is covered in glorious accessories such as huge necklaces and you can even see a crown in the background. Looking at the hair you can see it is crimped or placed into very tight curls. You can also see a soft outline of a heart shape (which I discuss in my other post). I like this one as it's really calm for a Queen. The third image shows Elizabeth again in a stunningly detailed outfit. Out of all the images this one is my favourite because the hair has a variety of styles and accessories. To start with you can see that all parts of her hair is crimped, but it has sections of the hair lose on her shoulders. I think this helps soften her face compared to other portraits. At first I also thought the top bit of her hair was pulled up to extend it but when I looked closely I saw it was a rather detailed hat. The colour is so similar to her hair, that it clear fooled me into thinking it was her own hair or how her wig was made. I personally liked how a necklace was placed in the middle of her hair, it helps separate the hair and it also gave me an idea towards my final design. The final image shows Queen Elizabeth in a portrait at clearly an older age. The older she got, the less she approved of paintings of her, till eventually she decided not to have them done anymore. I didn't just pick this portrait because of the hair but because it's a rare image of what we think Elizabeth looked liked when she grew older. That even when she had wrinkles, she still wanted to dress up in her hugely detailed dresses and be covered in expensive accessories. All these photos have something in common though... That she always has pearls. 

So lets have a look at modern day crimping because even in 21st Century we still like to crimp our hair. I selected these three images because they are all so different but still have the crimping technique. The first image has a braided top and her hair looks like a bird nest. It's huge from a whole lot of crimping, hairspray and backcombing! I like it because it's big and exciting. You could adapt it into your own look but adding even bigger accessories to the hair. The second image (top right) screams 'Elizabethan' to me for many reasons. Not only the bright red hair, but because it has a mixture of crimped hair and a styled bun. I also liked how defined the crimped parts of the hair look, you can really see the defined ridges. Then the final image is rather a simply design, it's just the hair crimped and softly pulled back. It's not most extreme version of a Elizabethan design but I think if you wanted something easy and then add pearls or other jewels, this would be a perfect look.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Hair+crimping