hi, new here, pretty cool place...
I've been trying it for a while with little success and I wonder if there are still some experts out there who could give me some tips on how to get big hairs.
thanx!!!

i'm not crazy (well a bit maybe), i play guitar and i think it would be really cool going to gigs like that.

Lotsa back-combing and Aqua-Net...or your hairspray of choice...Aqua-Net was big in the 80s although I prefered Joico's Ice Mist which was just like liquid cement but I needed that playing drums in the clubs...the trick is to back comb it and then spray the hairspray at the root of the hair before it falls back down, thus giving it the lifted teased look we all were after...

man, it's been a WHILE since I've done this to my hair, let alone had enough TO DO it to!! ;D

Dude, you don't make big hairs...big hair makes you!

But if you absolutely must achieve big hair......EGG WHITES!!!!


Peace,


Loren

I usually use a 'paste mold' from ICE, it sticks like glue, great for sky high punk mohawk. If i want more like big hair/volumous dried, i use the same thing but moist the hair a bit with water, then use the hair foam, bend yourself and your head downwards ... loads of hairspray, gel. you can backcomb lots. Use crimpers for a more siouxsie look. A shaved undercut and big on the sides and irregular bangs helps loads with natural volume too. Also don't wash your hair for a few days before you apply crimpers or try to make big hair, it gives a lot of volume easily.
Mohawks are easily achieved with gelatine, egg whites, glue even sugar. But my fave method (ok more like a boutique punk, because hairdress/salons products are expensive) is the molding paste, a white goey gloop that looks like glue and sticks like glue, great!

i have some tips that i've been saving from the net through the years, i hope this helps, good luck!
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'How to make big hair'
           Big Long Hair, By Ladybee

1.) Don't wash your hair the day of the Bigness. If you can stand it, don't wash it the day before either. Dirty hair biggens better than cleen hair.

2.) Obtain a can of aerosol Aqua Net & a bottle of Rave Mega Hold 4 hairspray (both are cheapo hair products, & you shouldn't pay more than $3-4 per bottle.

3.) Take a Deep Breath. Envelop head in a cloud of Aqua Net. Then crimp your hair all over in small sections (this will take a long time, & may require the aid of a friend), or if you don't have a hour or so to do this, crimp as much of the underlayers of your hair as you can.

4.) Take a stiff-bristled brush. Bend at the waist & flip your hair upsidedown. Grab small hanks of your hair & hold it straight out from your head, down toward the end of the hair. "Backcomb/tease" it. Repeat all over lower layers of hair. Spray liberally with Rave Mega Hold 4. Wait a few secs for it to dry. Turn upright.

5.) Take a finetoothed comb. Repeat backcombing/teasing process w/top layers of hair. Spray after each tease/backcombing hair-hank with Aqua Net. With practice, you'll figure out how to use the propellant quality of the Aqua Net to help 'blow' your hair upwards into greater heights of largeness.

6.) When your hair is as large as you want it, spray all over with Aqua Net. Then finish your makeup or whatever else you have to do, & right before you leave, spray it all over with Rave Mega Hold 4. If it is windy out, wait a bit for the RHM4 to set/dry a tad before leaving.

more here:


>Tease and spray. Tease and spray. Tease
>and spray. It's not hard.

crimp first.  Makes teasing even easier! use lots of hairspray, something strong in a spray can, like aquanet. spray, backcomb, spray til your hair is very slightly coated with hairspray, and then blowdry while teasing some more.

hairspray, then gel, then baby powder (of all things), then more gel to get rid of the white in the powder. (he has black hair.)  then i think when that whole mess has dried, he sprays it again, if needed. There are a number of things that work well.  Many punks I know use soap or coca cola to get their hair sticky and into those big long stiff spikes -those both hold well but stay out of the rain :>  But really crimp/gel/let dry/crimp again/spray/let dry/tease/spray/tease/spray is the best method I have found on my thin straight hair for a Robert Smith type Dragged-Through-A-Small-Hedge-backwards-By-A-Large-Cat look.  It works best if you have not washed your hair on the day of the styling, too.  Also, the more chemically treated and out of condition the hair is, the better for this look.  
So many people miss the first layer of hairspray and the crimping, which has ALWAYS been essential to my big-hairedness... I have always despaired of trying to teach my friends this trick though, because it takes soooo long to make big hair - although if you do it correctly, it can stay up until you wash it again, giving you a possible weekend of bighairdom!

I put on the stuff to dry hair and when that dries then wet the hair and put on more. stick your head upside down and use an AFRO comb ??? those womens things with the extra long teeth. I put a ton of gel on and it goes rock hard.

egg whites are good for the nites when you're clubbin or otherwise bouncin around like a dancin fool.  try putting gel in your hair, finishing with some strong-hold hair spray, and dry your hair while bent over with your head upside down.  it sounds stupid but if you dry the gel/spray upside down, it'll keep it spiked longer

First of all, I put quite a bit of gel in my hair, and let it dry as much as possible, so it's not all gunky... then use a pretty hefty amount of the shockwaves extra firm hold hairspray, all over.  Once it's 'set' properly, it lasts for *days*, although if you sleep on it, it gets kind of odd.

-hairspray, by pulling up the clump of hair and literally coating it in hairspray while using a very hot blowdryer on it. works like a charm but hairspray costs are a downer

-gel, try using a sport gel since they tend to stick best. i can't think of any brands that come to mind but most sport gels, when they do get mussed up a little water and a quick run through tend to get the gel back together and voila, your spikes are back

-egg whites, works well on mohawks and is scentless. only problem is, your hair rots. great stuff. but one usually doesn't leave it in very long. but i advise you don't use egg whites if you plan to dissapear all weekend and wake up every morning somewhere new.

-gelatin, i've used knox flavourless gelatin. all you need is to get a good bucket of the powder which is generally cheap. just mix it in an ice cream bucket with water and sugar if you want it to stay longer. try 2 parts gelatin, 2 parts water and 1 part sugar. tends to work well

-sugar and water, doesn't work all that well unless your mix is about 80% sugar. and it's very disgusting to work with. attracts flies and is recommended you stay far away from bees. works best in the winter.

the only problem with gelatin and sugar is that dust and dirt tend to stick to your hair unless it is completely dry but once again, you can just use a bit of water to fix them if it goes wrong. with gelatin or sugar you need to have very large spikes though. a punk girl i know has about 8 really big
ones on her whole head. gelatin and sugar are relatively cheap as well and water is dirt cheap :p

> To achieve big 80's hair....AQUANET HAIRSPRAY ( in the pink can )is the  key...that a blowdryer and a good teasing comb.....good luck...!

use extra volume mousse of any kind and mix it with a gel of some sort (Dep was fine) in my hands and mush it all over my hair.  Flip hair upside down, blowdry for a few seconds, let it cool for a few seconds, and a light mist of aerosol Aussie Sprunch Spray.  (drugstore available, and works better
when your hair is upside down! :>)  Flip head back up the right way, and fix any lopsided spots with a squirt of spray and a comb.
I liked the gel/mousse mix, because it left my hair with a sort of crunchy-springy-boingy-chunky bigness, as opposed to a sticky spidery fluffy bigness that fell as soon as it saw moisture.

How to do the old Robert Smith hair:

I used to be a hairdresser and did many "Robert Smiths" the first go'round in the early 1980's. The answer is thinning shears- no they won't make your fine hair too thin. They can be had for under $10. in most beauty supply stores.
Section hair into casual 1/2 inch partings. Pull hair straight out from hair and cut about 1 1/2 to 2 inches away from scalp. You will start to be able to sense areas that are still
"too thick". Really chop into the bangs. This "springs" the longer hairs into standing out from the rest. Gel, dry upside down.

I saw on Pop-up-video that Robert Smith uses egg whites and sugar to get his hair like that. My friend did it once,  We mixed styling gel, pommade (from a salon) egg whites, and sugar together in a big bowl.  I ran it through his hair so it was all saturated with this vile mixture, and he hung upside down off a pipe in my basement for an hour while I blow-dried it.  When it was dry, he stood up and we sprayed it with an ENTIRE bottle of hair spray.  


Ok, first off I'd say stay away from the egg-whites and sugar concoction. Especially if it's summertime. Ick.
My short instructions for BigHair:
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-Hairspray. Crimp. Seperate Crimps. Hairspray. Tease. Crimp. Hairsrpay. Tease.
-Repeat until it looks good and isn't moving. I use Rave. My boyfriend uses Vidal Sassoon. Both work great.

If you have fine hair, you might not have to go through the whole crimp/tease thing. Just sprays your hair a few times,
letting it dry in between sprays and styles it with your fingers only, twisting bits and such.

Robert Smith used KMS brand hair products, I'm fairly sure, as I used to be a raving Cure head. Whatever super strength gluey hair product you use you really need a crimping iron and a good teasing comb.

what exactly makes for a good teasing comb?  Will just any comb do, or are there specific traits I should look for?

I think the main factor is closely spaced teeth or bristles.
Don't bother with the combs that you would use to detangle hair - they won't give you the lift you want.
I actually have a teasing *brush*, that I picked up at Sally's.
It has 5 rows of bristles at different heights and does a splendid job of creating big hair. My mother, queen of the beehive, swore by the "rat tail" combs that you can pick up just about anywhere.  Not only do they do a good job on the teasing, but you can section much more easily with the "rat tail".

heheh you have got a bible of how to make big hair. Sorry folks! anyway, here goes something kinda funny to cheer you up  :P

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Aquanet is the "Hurricaine Hair" spray! It will withstand any hurricaing force winds. Remember to feather the hell out of
your hair too. That was big in the 80's. Just spike those bangs up. One thing that will help is if you hold your bangs
between your fingers and blow dry the roots while you're holding your bangs up. Then curl them backwards, and tease the crap out of them, and apply your Hurricaine Hair Spray.

My best friend in high school had a lacquer layer on the dash of her Mustang from spraying Aquanet on her hair in the car while driving. How she never set herself, and the whole car on fire is beyond me, because she was smoking the entire time she was spraying her hair.

Before smoking, always wait your hair to dry after applying the aquanet hairspray. Otherwise accidents may happen, aquanet is great stuff for pyromaniacs! seriously!
some people recommend spraying aquanet in the face to make your make-up last longer, so if you sweat it wont get smudged all over. Close your eyes... be sure to not smoke, otherwise you will get a Freddy Krueger mask  ;D

wowww!!
thanx Digitales, and the others, i got to try all this!

you're welcome!
just don't try all the tips at once, i don't want you to be bald, LOL
_just kidding_ :P

good luck :-*

Quoting:
wowww!!
thanx Digitales, and the others, i got to try all this!

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