Hair Tonging

Hair: Hair curling with tongs

Our fashion hair lesson this week was on hair curing with tongs. my lecturer Emma demonstrated how to create various effects on the hair with a variety of electrical tools.

She sectioned the hair with a middle parting and clipped up the front sections. The back half of the hair was also split into two sides and a section was taken out the bottom of each of those sections just before they were also clipped up. This left one remaining section at the very bottom of the hair. The first appliance she used on the hair was barrel tongs. Once the tongs were hot Emma opened up the clamp and wrapped a strand of hair from the bottom section around the tong. Releasing the clamp onto the hair she then pulled the tongs to the bottom and began to wrap the hair around the tong going in a rotating motion to the underneath direction of the hair. This will lift the hair at the root giving it more volume. There also must be tension in the hair so the curl will reach the root and wont drag so its best if the hair is held firmly and straight at a 90 degree angle. You can also gently tap the hair to see if it is hot enough to remove from the clamp. Once the hair is hot enough it can be unwrapped and the clamp can be released to free the hair. The hair should now form a curl when can then be clipped up to cool (optional). This technique is used to stop the curl from dropping out whilst the hair is still hot.

Emma also demonstrated how a conical wand works. This wand is basically the same as the barrel tongs but instead it doesn't have a clamp and the hair is just wrapped around the wand instead.

I chose to use the Barrel tongs as I find these quite challenging so I felt I needed more practice with them. I started by sectioning the hair in a side parting. I then separated the front from the back and clipped up the front sections. The back section was clipped up and a small section was left at the bottom. I then used setting spray on the hair. This section was curled using the barrel tongs by taking one small piece at a time and clamping onto the tong and wrapping the hair around it. After a few seconds the hair was hot to touch so I undid the hair wrapped around the wand and unclamped it. I repeated this process unclipping the bigger sections and taking out small sections as I went. Once the whole of the head was curled I ran my hands through it to separate the curls and give it more volume and then gave it a spray with hairspray. Here is my final outcome:

Hair Tonging
Hair by Chelsey Pavey

Hair Tonging
Hair by Chelsey Pavey

Products and Tools

Heat Protecting Spray

Denman Brush 

Hairspray

Barrel Tongs

Sectioning Comb

Evaluation 

What Went Well: I am glad I got the opportunity to brush up on my hair curling techniques as I know it is something I needed to work on. I am pleased with how the curls came out and am glad I got the hang of the curling technique. 


What I Could Improve On: Sometimes I found when I pulled the clamp down the hair I would go a bit far down and the hair would come out. This tends to happen more when the hair is silky and smooth. I found that the more I got the hang of curling the hair with the wand the less it happened. I think this is because I pulled the hair slower to make sure this didn't happen.