Cinderella Live Hair Style Ideas
Disney’s live version of Cinderella features a much different look than the iconic one sported by the original Disney cartoon version of Cinderella from 1950.
She wears her hair long in french braids and curls as her everyday look and then half up and half down for her going to the ball look. Of note, Cinderella’s half up look seems to disappear from the promotional pictures, where it is all down, glistening and flowing.
Each of these looks is beautiful on it’s own and are likely to be very popular hairstyles for proms, parties and even a few Disney-themed wedding.
(Click on the images to see a larger version of Cinderella’s hairstyles)
Cinderella’s Hair Secret
The secret that everyone wants to know is how to recreate Cinderella’s sparkly ballroom hairstyle.
We’ve found out how they created the sparkles in her hair. Costume Designer Sandy Powell used 100’s of Swarovski crystals carefully glued into her costume hair (wig) to create the beautiful, bedazzling, ball room hairstyle that everyone wants for prom, parties and weddings.
We’ve come up with a few suggestions for how you can create your own sparkly hairdo for less. Use iron-on crystals, crystal rhinestone hair pins, hair tinsel and even just glitter.
What you choose depends on the number of available hands to fix the hair, the amount of time and money you have to spend.
Cinderella’s Everyday Hairstyle

Cinderella’s (Lily James) everyday style is long, curly and partially french braided. This style is quite different than Cinderella (1950) soft pulled back ponytail.
Earlier in the movie (before she gets banished to being the maid) Cinderella accents her hair with flowers, as seen in the image to the right.
To create this look start with hair in soft curls, then add in French braids on either side. Start with the braid close to the head from above the ear and keep French braiding to behind the ear. Once you get behind the ear finish the rest of the hair with a long regular braid.
Add in some beautiful blue flowers or a torn piece of fabric to complete her everyday look, depending on whether you are going for the earliest or the maid look.
Silvousplaits does an excellent video tutorial on two of the looks worn by Cinderella. The first is a two braid French braid look worn in her more casual look. This style requires a lot of long hair or a long blonde wig.
The second is a look at her half up, half down look worn to the ball (discussed more fully in the next section).
Cinderella’s Sparkly Going to the Ball Hairstyle

When Cinderella makes it to the ball, her hair is in a partial up, partial down hairstyle. The up style is created with a thick twisted rope braid turned into a self-made headband. The down style is done with large loose curls made with either a large curling iron or hot rollers.
Perhaps the most striking feature of this hairdo (and the one in the promos) is the hundreds of glistening crystals scattered throughout her hair.
Over 10,000 Swarovski crystals were used to create each of the nine versions of the her blue ballgown. No word on the number of crystals used to add the beautiful sparkle in her hair.
There are several ways to add in crystals, rhinestones, gems, tinsel and even glitter to the hair to give it the sparkle.

One of the easiest and fastest ways to add sparkle is to put in crystal rhinestone hair pins (like the ones above), though these are larger and more expensive than the iron-on versions.
Iron-on hair bling, rhinestones, hair crystals or hair jewelry like the ones below are a trendy new way to get crystals into the hair.
These 4mm rhinestones (below) can be added with a hair straightener and applying heating the crystals for a few seconds. The crystals are suppose to last for 3 to 10 days and fall out on their own.
The crystals can be added in long strips or individually. To recreate Cinderella’s ball look the hair crystals would need to be scattered individually all over her hair.
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The Secret to Cinderella’s Hair Sparkles
Glamour Lipstick website reported the same secret that we discovered: the secret to Cinderella’s hair twinkle and sparkle is iron-in rhinestone hair charms.
Glamour and the Charmsies website claim their iridescent rhinestones hair charms are one way to create the look Cinderella’s enchanting, twinkling hair sparkles.
The hair jewelry crystal gems and iron-in hair bling are other good options for getting those sparkles in the hair.
Swarovski crystals hair charms were also used to add sparkle to the Fairy Godmother’s (Helena Bonham Carter) hair style.
You can see the magical sparkle in the Fairy Godmother’s hair in the image below.
I would have probably picked glistening stars for the Fairy Godmother, but it looks like they used the round rhinestones to add a magical sparkle for Helena’s hair too.

Try Hair Tinsel for Sparkle
Another option for adding in hair sparkle is to use hair tinsel. Disney Style shared this tutorial from Beckii on Cinderella Tinsel Hair Transformation.
Hair tinsel is available in different colors and lengths. Choose silver or gold, 20 or 36 inch lengths to add to your hair. Adding in hair tinsel may be a bit easier if you have someone else’s extra hands to help with attaching the tinsel.
After you have your hair tinsel, follow Beckii’s tutorial, adding in the tinsel and then curling the hair.
Start by adding in hair tinsel with a slip knot and a single knot and then curl the hair to create Cinderella’s sparkling ballroom hairstyle.
Part up Part down Hairstyle with Glitter
Donna of Braidsandstyles12 shows her interpretation of Cinderella’s part up, part down ball do highlighted with a rope braid.
She also shows how to create extra volume for those with thin hair.
To finish off this look Donna adds in a bit of sparkle using glitter, after first putting hair spray in her hair.
Glitter, is by far, the fastest and probably easiest way to add that extra sparkle to your hair.
Cinderella’s Ballgown Promo Hairstyle

One of the glamorous Cinderella hairstyles seen the most is the one featured in many of the promo photographs and the movie posters where she is in her ballgown with her hair flowing in the breeze.
This style is looser than the one she wears to the ball with all of her hair in long curls.
To create the look you need to create large loose curls either with a large curling iron or with rollers.
Once the curls are brushed out, then add in the iron-on hair crystals, or spray with hair spray and sprinkle in glitter.
Cinderella Combination Hairstyle with Braided Headband
The video from Pretty Hair is Fun does a great job in showing how to do this an easy, relaxed version of her promotional hair, except that they use a braided headband, so it is a bit like the ball room look and a bit like the promotional images.
To recreate this look they used a chunky blonde braid hair headband extension, like the one to the left from Amazon, or ones you can find at your favorite beauty supply store.
To complete the look spray on hair spray and toss in some glitter (though I would go with white or silver instead of pink).
Cinderella-Inspired Style for Short Hair
This Cinderella-inspired updo hairstyle for short hair comes from LaMadelynn.
She does an amazing job in creating the half-up look using a loose French braid on both side.
After twisting up the hair she places in sparkly pins, like the Crystal Rhinestones Hair Pins or the Clear Crystal Hair Twists Accessories like the ones used in the video.
You might also want to use some of the iron-on hair bling, or sprinkle some glitter in your hair.
Watch the video tutorial to find out how to style your hair and feel like Cinderella, even if your hair is shorter.
Related Pages
Disney’s Live Action Cinderella is inspiring several costume, makeup and hair pages on the Costume Detective. For more information on making or modifying your own Cinderella costume, or getting her looks see these related pages:
Our Pinterest Board for Disney’s Live Action Cinderella Costumes
To share our ideas and inspiration for making your own Live Action costumes and to collect ideas from others we have a Pinterest board especially for the DIY Disney Live Action Cinderella Costume Ideas. Be sure to pop over to Pinterest and follow us for updates.
This board is a collection of Cinderella’s and the Fairy Godmother’s costumes (so far). We may be collecting costumes for the other characters, depending on the response to the movie.
Follow The Costume Detective’s board DIY Disney Live Action Cinderella Costume Ideas on Pinterest.

See it — Cinderella — Sensational