By: Alison O'Neill

My favourite part of Halloween is the preparation. For the past few years, I have made every effort to use my own hair for unique and authentic hairstyles to complement my costumes. Here are a few of my techniques to get perfect Halloween Hair:

Amy Winehouse:

Most easily done with straight hair, that falls past the shoulders. Star by creating a “Rat” - this is the piece that gives Amy all the height, while keeping her hair light and functional. Take an old, inexpensive wig or ponytail piece of hair that is close to your colour and tease it out into a big messy ball. Put this into an inexpensive hair net, and tie up the opening to give you a light ball of volume. Now comb your hair straight out, and use your comb to section a part horizontally across the head, from ear to ear and clip these sections separate. At the top of your head use your comb to create a triangle section with the point facing down towards the nape of your neck, and the bottom of the triangle is the part that we just created (the sides of the triangle should be equal and no more than 2 inches each. Put this section of hair into a pony tail, and pin it with bobby pins into a small bun. This will be your anchor. Now pin the Rat to this anchor – look in the mirror and make sure that it sits in the center of your head, and you’re comfortable with its size and shape. Take sections of your hair, tease them slightly and pull them over your rat. Don’t pin right away – you’ll want to make sure that you’ve combed and teased in a way that covers your rat completely, and leaves you some bangs at the front (if you have bangs) and some length at the back. Once you’re happy with your teasing and placing – use bobby pins and hairspray to secure the sections of hair to the rat. Be sure to place your pins randomly so that the hair stays put, but you don’t create a well at the top of your beehive puff. Now that your rat is covered, use a flat iron to soften out your bangs, and use a curling iron on the length you left at the back. This will give you nice long tendrils, a tall beehive and flirty bangs. And you’re done! Just go heavy on the liquid eyeliner, and you’re Amy Winehouse!

Marie Antoinette:

Do everything that you did for the “Amy Hair”, but leave your bangs un-ironed. Pin up your long tendrils, so that you have a complete updo, with the spiral tendrils seeming to fall from the back of your beehive. Tease your bangs, and spray and pin them back to ensure that all of your hair is up and off your face. If you’d like you can always leave a few strands of spiral hair down to flirt with your collar bone – but for the wow-factor, I definitely prefer my hair all the way up. Now Marie was the Queen of decadence. So use jewelled pins, feathers, barrettes, even a small fake bird, to spice up your hair. The more excitement the better! A nice touch is a spray of sparkles…. Who doesn’t love sparkles?

Bride of Frankenstein:

Do everything that you did for the “Amy Hair”, but leave your bangs and the length in the back of your head un-ironed/un-curled. Continue teasing, spraying and pinning until all of your hair is up in your wild and volumous updo, without any of the hair falling in your face. Now spray-spray-spray!! We can’t have any of your hair falling out, it’s got to be rock solid. Once you’re comfortable with the style. Use black, Halloween aerosol hair spray, and spray your hair to give you a lovely black beehive. Be sure to enlist a friend, so that you can get the back, and your colour is even. Now take an inexpensive white hair extension, and pin it behind the ear, so that the length of the hair is pointed up towards your beehive… Now pin it up, and spray it in place, and repeat on the other side. Tada! You’ve got hair fit for a Monster’s Bride! (Note: Be sure to test the black hair spray on a small section of your hair if you have very pale hair or highlights. You don’t want to create a problem with your hair colour for the next day. )

Mermaid:

The longer your hair, the better this style will work. For mermaid hair, you’ll need a crimper, small curler and flat iron. Comb your hair out, and use the comb to section your hair so that a row of length is left at the back of your head, ear to ear, and the rest is free to pin up into a pony tail. Take sections about an inch in width, and crimp, curl and straighten the hair in turn so that you have a rotation of three different textures next to each other. Continue from the bottom up to the top of your hair, sectioning your hair, and rotating through these three textures. Be sure to use lots of hairspray, because it’s better to have hard curls, than frizzy confusion. Once you’ve done your whole head, spray your mane with sparkles. If you feel like you need a bit of authenticity, you can add a strip or two of green organza material pinned in to mimic seaweed.

When it comes to Halloween Hair, practice makes perfect. Relax, and give yourself a chance to excel at this unique art, don’t expect to be able to come up with a perfect style on your first go around. Try your hair out the weekend before, and be sure that you’ve got an extra set of hands if you’re having trouble seeing or pinning the back. When it comes to length and colour, don’t feel confined to what you’ve got on your head. You can always pin hair pieces and add length or spray on some colour from an aerosol can. In the end – just have fun, and be inventive. The best styles are the ones you’ve created on your own. Happy Halloween, and see you at the party!