Experimenting with one’s hair is most definitely a Goth rite of passage, and one of the best ways to get yourself a new ‘do that doesn’t have to be permanent is to work your hair into a big, bolshy Goth-fro or giant, scary Mary look. Everyone who manages to do Big Hair successfully has their own means to achieving it, and I’ll be including some tips and tricks from other Goth bloggers further down. In the meantime, here are my tips for working a big ‘do that’s not going to fall flat as soon as humidity hits you.
Go big or go home
To work big hair that looks like you just rolled out of bed and brushed your hair with a cactus, you do actually need to put more work into it than you might think.
Big hair means adding volume rather than length, and to achieve this, you’ll need some combs, clips and products such as mousse, spray and possibly wax. Big Hair is not a look for those who are shy of products!
First of all, leave your hair at least a day after washing it before you get going, as freshly washed hair tends to be smoother and harder to work with. Comb mousse through your hair and blow dry it to add volume, and then back-comb from the tips upwards, spraying as you go. If your hair is short-ish, wax and products such as Brylcream can get your hair on the horizontal, but for those with longer hair, such products tend to be too heavy, and simply weigh the length of the hair down.
Crimping the underside of your hair and spraying this in place can also help to get volume from the underside up, rather than allowing the weight of your hair to flatten it out.
Getting the look right takes some experimentation, so when you’re at a loose end, play around!
The big top ‘do
If you have ambitions of having a semi-beehive or adding height to your hair while keeping the back of it long, look to the pageants, my friend. If you’ve ever seen a beauty queen with hair less than four inches tall, I want to hear about it. Pageant queens don’t keep their hair up top by luck and a prayer, either, but generally by using a range of accoutrements such as bun rings and Bumpits. You still need to have enough hair to cover the fixtures and fittings, however, so follow the advice above regarding mousse and blow drying, but skip the back combing and spraying until you’ve got your hair fixed to the top of your head.
Don’t know what a bun ring or Bumpits are? Here ya go.
Bun rings.
Cheat sheet
If you want the Medusa locks but simply don’t have enough up top, don’t despair. The aforementioned bun rings and Bumpits can help there, but if you need to add length, you’re still not shit out of luck. Clip-in extensions can add volume, and cyber dreads can add a lot of bulk as well as being easy to work with.
Stripy Tights and Dark Delights has also blogged about how to get your big hair on fleek, while Deadly Nightshade of Gothy Two Shoes has made this handy YouTube video too.
