Preparing Hairstyles for a Beauty Pageant

Series Summary

P.T. Barnum brought the first beauty pageant to America in 1854 and during the 1880s there were many photo pageants held by newspapers around the country. Miss America is the nation’s largest pageant and began in 1921. During World War II, pageant beauties sold bonds and pageants were held to entertain the troops. Beauty pageants consist of competition in areas such as talent, judged interviews, swimsuit and evening-wear modeling, and platforms.

Are you thinking about entering a beauty pageant? Do you need tips and information on preparing yourself for such an event? Our expert, a pageant contestant, judge and director, shares her knowledge in this series of informative videos. Learn how to apply makeup evenly and effectively for stage lighting. Get tips on choosing evening gowns, sportswear and swimsuits for the competition that complement your hips, shoulders, legs and bust. Our expert also shares tips on first impressions and how to introduce yourself to the judges, other contestants and the crowd. You will learn how to use body language and words to show confidence and interest. Watch and learn how to prepare for a judge’s interview so you leave a lasting impression on your judges. In this series of videos, get tips on great hairstyles, talent competition ideas and modeling tips. You will be a confident pageant contestant after learning what to do and what not to do from these expert interviews.

Video Transcript

"Hello I’m Erica Saylors and this is my assistant model, Ashley Charlton. I’m going to talk about different hairstyles for pageants. When you’re a contestant in a pageant, you have to think and prepare for what kind of hairstyle you’re going to have for each competition sector. When preparing for the swimsuit competition, you want to make sure that you don’t have hair falling over your shoulders loosely. When wearing a swimsuit you want to show off your shoulders and your physique as much as you can. Make sure you have your hair pulled back in either a low ponytail or a high ponytail so that they can see your back and your shoulders as you model and make your turns. When preparing for an evening gown competition, it is important to choose the style that you’re most comfortable with, but that is very formal. Some young ladies choose to wear their hair up, often that looks very good with a halter style dress. If you choose to wear your hair down, make sure that it is full at the top and that is curled at the bottom, unless your hair looks better straight. Some choose to go with the half up, half down look, if that is your case then you can do many things at the top. You can curl it at the top, do loops, or simply let if fall straight. There are other ways to do your hair as well. You can do braids, or pigtails, or buns, often that is a good look for interviews, a low bun. If you are singing talent or dancing, depending on the amount of movement, make sure that your hair is out of your face and not able to fall out loosely. That is very important when you are trying to focus on what kind of talent your are giving to the audience and the judges. Thank you Ashley, just remember it is important to prepare your hairstyles different for each competition, so that there is a variety to go along with your outfits. "