How To Make Your Own Hair Falls

Hair falls are temporary hairpieces which can be made to look realistic or fantastical, using anything from genuine human hair to synthetic hair to yarn or nylon tubing or ribbons or braided whatever you got!

Here are some great links and tutorials for making your own hair falls and dreads. The essential process is making a sturdy anchor for attaching the fall to your own hair. Much of the crafting of hair falls can be done just by knotting.

Remember that with synthetic hair comes a certain amount of fire factor, with a propensity for melting. Hair dreads made from natural wool would have a higher amount of resistance to embers and heat.  Braids would offer more structure than loose fibers.

Hair falls can be simple or complex, real hair or synthetic, or can even include ribbon, beading and other fibers. You can think of them as fake ponytails added to your hair or attached to a headpiece. They are often accessories in the world of dance, being frequently worn by tribal bellydancers but you'll also see them out at clubs and costume events. They can be as thin as one added strand or so big a bunch they almost look like a whole wig.

Yarn - One of the easiest and most popular type of hair fall to make is from yarn. A mix of sizes and colors can create a really fun effect. You can do little braids within the fall or just have a big bunch of strands. Economical acrylic yarn is easy to buy and comes in lots of colors and textures. Higher-quality falls are made from wool and often contain felted "dreads."

Cyberlox - This is a nylon material used for falls and it can come in neon colors or special blacklight-reactive shades. It's a thin tubing.

Kanekalon - This is a brand of synthetic hair most often used for the mass production of wigs. You can buy hanks in colors to match your own hair, or just about any color you might want.  This can be tied to be loose falls, braided or hand twisted into dreads.

Ribbon - Thin ribbon is sometimes used to make hair falls but most often it's mixed in with some other fiber as an accent.

Anchored to Buns - the most common way to attach hair falls is to make one or two buns with your own hair and then attach the falls to them.

Headband - one option that works for short-haired dancers is to have hair falls sewn to the edge of a fabric headband which is anchored by tying around the head.

Hair Clips - smaller, lightweight falls can attach on their own using hair clips.  Tiny teeth or clips which "lock" with pressure are popular choices.  You can also tie a fabric headband over falls that have been put in with hair clips.

Bobby Pins - one trick to remember when anchoring heavier hair pieces is to put on multiple bobby pins and to make it so they cross each other, forming X-shapes.  They can hold more weight that way.