FF ♥ Rebecca: Tutorial No. 1 // The Faux Bob

Here is first in a limitless series of step-by-step hair tutorials in collaboration with hair stylist and purveyor of glamour, Rebecca Forsyth. We wanted to start out with a fairly simple tutorial, that can be done on various lengths of hair.

 Upcoming tutorials include (by reader request): The Giant Bun, Faux Fingerwaves, How to Tease and a tribute to the modern queen of beehives, Miss Amy Winehouse.

 You can find Rebecca’s contact information and see more of her work and inspiration on her tumblr, ROLLER WORSHIP.

THE FAUX BOB

1. Prepare the hair. Since I’d just shampooed Sarah’s hair, I blow dried it with a round brush to add a bit of substance/grip to the hair. This style works on a variety of textures, however, and can look great on straight, wavy, dirty or clean hair. I sometimes recommend a bit of dry shampoo at this step, just to make the hair easier to mold.

2-4. Impart your desired texture. To achieve a bouncier, looser feel, I curled Sarah’s hair with a 1 inch iron in fairly large sections. (Expect a tutorial on curling techniques in the future!)

5. Create desired base at scalp. Here, we established the part we wanted and backcombed a bit to give her lift at the scalp. A bit of backcombing sometimes makes the faux bob a bit more believable. When the ends are tucked under, creating bulk, the top un-enhanced volume-wise, can look a bit sparse in comparison.

6. Create a ponytail. You’ll want the ponytail to begin slightly above the base of the neck. Gather the hair gently into the ponytail, you don’t need to really brush the hair back or smooth it at all, just secure it together.

7-8. Tuck and secure the ponytail. I rolled the ponytail underneath Sarah’s hair and pinned it to her scalp. The ponytail makes pinning that amount of hair much simpler. I used 3-4 bobby pins during this step.

9. Secure any loose bits. Sarah has shorter layers around her face . Most of the time this is a good thing, because they’ll sit on the surface of the bob and look as though they belong there. Sarah’s pieces are a bit longer than the perimeter of the bob, so I worked with them a bit and pinned them underneath as well. This is a very visual style and the organic texture of the whole thing allowed me to play with the look. You may find you need to sort of fan the sides of out a bit, just to continue the bob shape toward the sides. For that, fingers and potentially a couple of bobby pins work well.

10. Adjust the form. I used an old fashioned lift, which can be purchased at Sally Beauty Supply for under $1. In the photo, I’m lifting up the backcombing and creating our desired bob-like full shape.

11-12. Hairspray and admire.

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