We're back with Part III in this hairing series. So far we've discussed our needed materials and tools, the types of hair you can use, and now we'll dive into some qualities of a good hair job so you know what to look for in your own work as quality markers. To that end then, there are seven hallmarks of a great hair job, or put another way, a great hair job has all these qualities working together:
Tidiness: Keep your tools clean of glue and keep the errant hairs in the garbage can, not in your work space. Likewise, keep your fingers pristine of glue and hair. The cleaner your tools and fingers, the cleaner your hair job. So rub those glue boogies off your fingers and onto the towel often! But tidiness also means that there's no errant glue in the strands of hair or down onto the body of the piece either; glue should only be at the hair roots where it's affixed to the piece, that's it.
Precision: A great hair job demonstrates absolute precision in the placement of the hair. That's to say the hairs at the dock and along the crest shouldn't have errant stragglers; that dock-line and crest-line need to be absolutely clean and precise. To that end, use your blade tool to shove hairs back into the bunch or those tweezers to pull out stragglers if necessary.
Scale: The amount of hair should be in scale to the piece...never too much so it's overly big and poofy! In fact, having too little hair is a better error than too much. What's more, the average horse like a Thoroughbred has a lot less hair than we think whereas a foofy cob has a lot of locks, so also keep your breeds in mind as you hair.
Naturalism: Your hairjob should look natural with organic-looking striations and natural coloration. Some hand-dyed hair can look odd in tone so be careful with that, for instance, while in contrast, a lot of alpaca ombre coloration can be perfect for a terrific effect. And when you blend multiple colors together, do a thorough job of it so you don't get a striped effect when the hair is moussed down. And try to use the least amount of glue possible; you don't want glue-soaked darker hair ends if you can avoid them.
Passive physics: Your hairjob should reflect the physics of your piece's movement or moment. So take note of the piece's narrative as you glue on and style the hair.
Authenticity: Note grooming trends, including braiding, before you hair. Each breed, even different show disciplines, can require different trims, lengths, bridlepaths, or other characteristics of the hair. Do your research.
Time: Take your time. A good hair job cannot be rushed because it's methodical and glue takes its own time to dry. Messiness is almost always a sign of a rush job. Slow down and go through each step carefully and with precision and care. Really, a solid hairjob takes about two hours, so block yourself out plenty of time to do it right. Also consider the time it takes for the glue to fully dry before you comb and style the hair, too. You definitely don't want to rip up all your hard work because you didn't wait long enough for the glue to truly dry (from one who knows).
Now to wrap up this third part, let's talk about practice. Oooooh Nelly, does hairing need lots and lots of practice! You're going to be terrible at it before you get great! That's natural and normal; making mistakes is exactly how our brain learns. So practice on some junker OFs first with some cheaper hair like craft fur. A lot of practice. Like, it'll easily take about ten to fifteen hairjobs before you start to feel confident with it.
As such, you'll probably discover six key things during practice. First, coordination is everything. Honestly, you're going to find yourself often thinking, "I need more hands!" Heck, I still do! So learning to coordinate what you have to do while wrangling unruly hair is probably the most challenging aspect of all this. This is where you really lean onto your methods and tools, and use tidiness as your baseline to stay on track. Second, your methods are key. If my methods offered in this series don't work for you, feel free to morph them into ones that do. To that end, be sure to do some research as there are other methods out there that may work better for you. Really, every hairer concocts methods customized to their predilections so don't hesitate to do that for yourself, too. Third, an organized workspace is important for streamlining your methods. Like, being able to easily grab your scissors or glue or whatever like a surgeon can be super conducive to easier and speedier hairing. You don't need a whole lot of space to hair, and that space doesn't have to be pristine either, but it does need to be organized for easy grabbing of things. Fourth, scale matters. That is, the scale of your piece can ramp up the difficulty level immediately. Absolutely, the smaller the scale, the more difficult the hairjob. Uffdah...those Stablemates! So do some extra practice on those mini-scales...you're going to need it! Fifth, hairing can be maddening at times. In fact, some people absolutely hate it while some find it meditative. So if you have a strong visceral reaction in any direction, you aren't alone! And sixth, you're going to get hair everywhere! So be sure to have that garbage can situated so that discarded hair can just fall into it to mediate the "hair creep" that happens. Even so, you're gonna need some tape to get it off your clothes because...wow...the fine hair we use is clingy stuff.
So that's it for Part III. We've covered a lot of ground so far, but in Part IV...we hair! Woot!
"The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance - it is the illusion of knowledge."
~ Daniel M. Boorstin
