Friday 19 November 2010

Friday Feature: Torrin Paige, hair idol

Today's feature is my youtube hair idol, the fabulous Torrin Paige

As many of you probably already know, a year and a half ago I shaved off all of my hair to raise money for Comic Relief, and since discovering Torrin's videos a few months back I have become really inspired to start growing my hair longer than it's ever been before.
I crossed my fingers and asked if she'd be interested in being a Friday Feature and was delighted when she agreed to it.
You are known for your super long hair, did you make a conscious decision to grow it that long and if you did why?

I've had long hair most of my life.  About 12 years ago I had it cut in a chin length bob for a change of pace with the thought that a shorter hairstyle would be easier to take care of.  Boy was I wrong!  I had to put product in it and blow it dry and fix it every day.  I also just flat out missed my long hair.  I decided to start growing it back out immediately.  This time, I decided that I wouldn't fall into the "I'm bored with it, let's cut it" trap.  I started figuring out how to style my hair in more ways than just down, pony, or braid.  I can do a lot of things with my hair now, and try to share what I've learned with others.  I'm currently aiming on letting it grow to knee length, just so I can say that, at one point in my life, I had fairy tale hair.  So far I'm having a time getting it past tail bone length.  I struggle with quantity versus quality, and I'd rather it be shorter and look healthy than longer and look dead and gross. Thus, I've been around tailbone for around two years now.

I have very thick hair, and when I was younger I had quite long hair, but once it got past my shoulders it got very heavy. How do you manage to keep your head upright with such long hair?

Around six years ago I was having neck problems, so I went to a stylist and had her give me layers.  My head felt like I had no hair on it and my hair lay beautifully.   However, the love went out the door the first time I braided it.  The braid shred was horrendous.  I hadn't even thought of that when I went in for the cut.  I worked on my neck muscles while it grew back to one length and now I have no problems.   I think it also helps to move your hairstyle around a bit during the day.  A bun, to down, to braided relieves a lot of the scalp tenderness that sometimes happens when your hair is all piled up in one place.

You have an awful lot of hairstyle tutorials on youtube now, what inspired you to start doing this and where do you get your ideas from?

A gal in one of the long hair forums I was a member of was wondering how to make her hairsticks hold her bun up.  She didn't know the trick.  I'm one of those people that learns better by being shown how to do something, rather than reading about it, so I created a You Tube account so I could post a short vid explaining how to use hairsticks.  Shortly thereafter, someone asked if I knew how to rope braid, so I made another vid on how to do that.  Before I knew it, people were sending all kinds of requests in and I started trying to accommodate them, while also occasionally just throwing one in I'd learned for myself. Some of them I wear quite a lot (like the Hair taping and Regency styles...not to mention the French and Dutch braids) and some I've never been able to get right.  I'm still confounded by the Gibson (think Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman).  I got it to look right exactly one time in the over 50 that I've tried it.  It is the most seemingly simple, yet aggravating hairstyle that I've ever tried.  I'm still getting requests for it to this day, even though I've explained numerous times that the Gibson is just one of those hairstyles that is not in my wheelhouse.

 I try to replicate pretty styles that I see on T.V. or movies if they strike my fancy, although a lot of the time I have to make alterations because my hair is significantly longer than the actress in question.  I can usually manage a reasonable facsimile.  I do get frustrated by some of the styles that use hairpieces though.  Not so much for myself, as I can spot a hairpiece-helped style in a second, but for my viewers who see a style with bountiful braids and are upset because, even though they have a yard of hair, they can't figure out how to make it look right.  Sometimes you just can't.


Finally, what is your favourite hairstyle?

I have two.  For an everyday, get it out of the way style I like the simple Nautilus bun.  It takes 10 seconds to do, holds with just one stick, and looks nice and neat.  (I can not stand that messy bun thing that I see so many girls wearing...the one where they just pull it through a scrunchie kind of haphazardly and it just kind of flops around?  It drives me crazy for some unknown reason.  I always want to pull them aside and show them how to do a proper bun, but I realize that it's not my head of hair and I just take a deep breath and leave them be.  LOL)  Now, if I'm actually getting to go someplace fancy, or if I could pick for my hair to look like anything when I roll out of bed everyday, my favorite is a simple soft set.  Think of the old soaps from the 70's and 80's.  It's down, soft and wavy with big curls at the bottom.  It is hands down my absolute favorite hairstyle.
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So readers, how long is your hair and what is your favourite way to wear it? (this applies to guys and girls)

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