6 Ways to Style Short Hair for Ballroom Dancing

Many people think that having short hair limits your hairstyle options in ballroom dancing. Not a chance!

When it is well cut and styled, short hair looks fresh and appealing. Your short hair look can also be very soft and retro or wonderfully edgy and modern.  One of these or the other is generally best. In-between is not as eye catching.  On that point, the best thing you can do in general is to stand out positively on the floor. If everyone has a style for long hair, then you and your short hair will have the advantage.

The main objective of any ballroom style, whether long or short, is to have shape and interest. These are a few suggestions to do just that for short hair.

1. If you have long bangs, bring them forward and up. Put on a lot of hairspray, starting near the root and shape the hair upward and back for height in the front. Pin the ends in place very securely. You can then take your remaining hair and pull it to the centre like a Mohawk at the back. Ideally the line of the Mohawk would be in a wave pattern rather than the straight. The hair in the wavy Mohawk line should be secured on each side of the line with pins and a lot of hairspray. Rolling the hair along that line, or even better, covering it with a hair net will help it to stay in place without strays. You can then decorate each side of the line with hair jewelry to highlight dimension. Barrettes with large (1 inch) round rhinestone clusters work well for this, but you can be creative with zig zag lines of rhinestones or some other pattern.
2. Take a curling iron and use setting lotion in a spray bottle to make small curls in 1 inch sections all over your head. Let the curls cool completely. Then design  them into a pattern. An easy way to do this is to gather the curls into sections at the side of the head, the top of the head  or in clusters in more than one area. Make absolutely sure not to loose the definition of each one of the  1 inch sections when you are making your pattern. If you do so you will loose a lot of the interest and dimension in this style. Use a lot of hairspray try to secure the final style.
3. Marcel waves like those seen on a 1920’s flappers are one of my favorite looks when styled close to the head and on shorter hair (shorter than the flapper chin length). Make sure there is a lot of shine from hairspray, with added shine spray if needed, to truly show this style off.  Rhinestone pins throughout the hair look great.  So does a rhinestone line in the part, or a rhinestone headband. An interesting twist is to have the Marcel waves only on one side of the head and a large decorative hair ornament against slicked backed hair on the other side.
4. If you have chin or shoulder length hair, a french braid around the sides of head is beautiful and soft looking look. It works the best when hair is thicker. The braid will be more prominent if you start it at the center part or close to it. The braid can then be decorated with rhinestone pins right in the braid, along the edge of the braid or both.
5. Short hair is rarely a concern in Latin and Rhythm. A short well cut bob looks great. You can also slick your hair back and look stunning. A boy cut with a razor back  and long top looks amazing.  See our post on a do-it-yourself tutorial for men’s hair cutting (and for women with boy cuts). Most of the suggestions above are also not only for Standard and Smooth, they can be used for Latin and Rhythm to add to your options.
6. If you are want an option to your awesome short hair, you always have the choice of adding clip-in hair extensions. This is your choice but not necessary. Short hair looks amazing on the floor so why not show it off? See our post on 10 Things Your Need to Know About Ballroom Hairstyles for more information on extensions and preparing your hair for ballroom competitions in general.

Author: Miss P [Celebrate DanceSport]
Photography: Egorich.ca
Exclusively for Dance Comp Review