Technical File - Creating Basic Chignons & Accessories

Health and Safety: 

Place apron around the neck to protect clothing. 

Always ensure to run a client consultation to check for any infections, allergies or contraindications.

Wash/Disinfect hands thoroughly before touching the clients hair/skin.

Tools Used:

- Paddle Brush

- Hair Elastics 

- Sectioning Grips

- Tail Comb 

- Shine Spray 

- Hairspray 

- Kirby Grips

- Accessories 

- Hair Pins

- Straightening Iron

Process of Creation:

1. Brush through the hair using a paddle brush to remove all knots and tangles. 

2. Part the hair into the desired paring on the head e.g. side, deep side, middle. 

3. Section the front of the hair away from the back of the hair along the ear to ear line. 

4. Taking the back section of hair secure backwards into a neat low ponytail. 

5. Using a tail comb, back comb the top layer (side visible to you) to create density and volume in the ponytail. 

6. Smooth out the underside of the backcombing. 

7. Taking your fingers roll the hair upwards to create a sausage roll shape at the back of the head and secure the roll at the base of the ponytail. 

8. Gently pull the sides out back toward the head and secure against the hair with hair pins. This will create the illusion of a bun shape. 

9. Smooth out any loose hairs with hairspray. 

10. Taking the front section style as desired and add accessories where wanted.

11. Complete look with shine spray and/or hairspray to secure any flyaway and set the style. 

Evaluation:

This hairstyle is something that was fairly easy to create but also looks effective and ornate with the addition of jewellery/curls, despite its basic structure. Learning to create a basic chignon is an essential piece of hairstyling as it can be used across a variety of platforms including bridal/occasion hair but also can form the basis for more elaborate fashion styles. I found creating the chignon itself very straightforward but also highly effective, I think that my chignon could use more refinement however this is something that simply requires more practice on a human head and experimenting with smoothing techniques. The fact that I was able to produce a fairly neat chignon on old model hair does demonstrate the level of ease in creating this look. Difficulty arose more in the area of adding texture and decor to the chignon through the use of jewellery and the front portion of the hair. By which I mean in particular creating symmetrical shapes and securing heavier items of jewellery into the hair, I feel that if the model being used had longer hair (therefore enabling me to add additional backcombing for grip) this would be something more easily attained. Overall I was able to create four looks within the two hours, my favourite being that of my last style that I felt would work nicely for a bridal/occasion hairstyle as the curls added a level of relaxed elegance to the chignon and I was able to get more to grips with securing a heavier item into the hair. 

Basic Chignon

Decorative Braid Chignon:

Parting Plait Chignon:

Ornate Curl Chignon: