When practising this hairstyle my partner did struggle quite a lot as my design wasn't something she has experience in doing which meant as a team we had to ensure she turned up to the assessment confident and happy with the design. As the designer I wanted my hairstyle to come out how I had planned which means that we had to somewhat simplify it and break it down into steps that my partner would be able to follow also with pictures as most people work best visualising designs to see what the designer would want the ending result to be. Personally I think the assessment couldn't have gone any better compared to the practise sessions we had. Also to simplify the design as a team we decided to keep half of the hair down as my partner struggled with hiding the clips in my hair as that is something she needs to work on however my partner managed to hide all clips and bands used in the hair which was something she was nervous about. Also keeping half of the hair down meant the curls were more visible and you are able to see the different textures within the hair.
Here is the preparation work my partner created for me before the assessment so that I knew what I was doing and what she wanted me to create.
After struggling to create the hairstyle and practising a lot I finally managed to get to be able to create my partners design which was made easier once I crimped it as it made the plait thicker so I didn't need to pull it out as much. The design worked out the best when during the final assessment luckily enough and I was able to create it exactly how my partner wanted it to look which was positive. However last minute my partner changed her mind and decided she wanted the plait to come down more onto her forehead whereas originally she wanted her hairline to be visible which made it difficult as it was hard to change it once the hair was crimped as it wasn't as smooth as it would've been on untouched hair. After our first practise when my partner wanted the hair that wasn't in the plait curled she changed her mind and wanted it to be crimped instead as it looked better and having the whole of the hair crimped meant it was easier to create the dutch braid around my partners hair.
The first practise for my design didn't go very well as I wasn't very clear with my instructions and I was still working out what I wanted to do with the top sections of my hair as crimping would take a while but would look better but backcombing would still give me the volume I needed. As Grace was struggling with my design I decided to break it down into different sections as it helped her understand it better and as she struggled greatly as a team we discussed what we could do to help simplify it which resulted in us deciding to leave half of it down instead of clipping them up as Grace struggles with hiding the clips and we also preferred it down as you were able to see the different techniques used in the hairstyle more clearly. This change also made the design look more Elizabethan in our opinion as it reminded us of something Elizabeth would have had before she became queen.
For my final design I chose something that is quite difficult when first trying it out but once you get the hang of it, it becomes quite simple.
When my partner first tried it out she struggled quite a bit and it didn't come out how I had planned so I went away from that session and tried to find a way of simplifying the hairstyle as the first way was already too difficult and made my partner feel as if the hair design was accomplishable which is not what I wanted to happen.
As the main thing my partner struggled with was the heart and filling it with the hair from the top section that was backcombed I decided it would be easier and made sense for the left over hair from the backcombed section to be made into the two plaits that will make the heart shape. After discussing this with my partner and trying it out, it worked a lot better and looks a lot better than when it was first attempted.
With this hair I was the makeup to be natural and golden as the hair is quite big and voluminous. So I will ensure the makeup is done and sorted out before my hair assessment.
For my last design I wanted to create a more intricate design as I had already see a lot of images with decretive hair net cover which inspired me to try to create my own one with the hair to avoid getting one on line as this would show my skills more. However once trying this I decided that this wouldn't be my final design as it just didn't look as nice as the other ones I had already tried as they looked more Elizabethan than this one. This hairstyle didn't turn out how it was expected to which also didn't help and if this was to be my final design I wouldn't be able to expect my partner to recreate this hairstyle if I was unable to carry out my own design.
Also with this hairstyle it was difficult to create the volume on top of the head instead of at the back of the hair as my partner had quite thick hair which meant when it was backcombed it was difficult to hide the hair that wasn't being used for the rest of the hairstyle. This encouraged my decision to use a different design for my final design as my other designs worked well and I would be able explain it and direct my partner on how to recreate my design.
