How Do I Handle My Wedding Day Hair

First Find Wedding Day Hairstyles That You Like

Your wedding day is coming, you must look perfect, you just found a wedding dress, but what comes next? it's time to start looking for your wedding day hair! Unless you already have an idea of your wedding hair day look, you want to look at lots and lots of pictures, of other bridal hairstyles. You want to look in Bridal Magazines, not only look at her wedding dress, but how she has her hair done and what hair accessory is she wearing. You also want to decide on a hairdo, do you like updos, half updos, wear your hair down, hair to the side, or wear a bridal veil.

Before looking for a hairstylist, you should come up with about 2 to 4 hairstyles that you seem to like. Once you have found a bridal hairstyle that captures your attention, either cut out or print out the photo and place the photo inside a baggy and staple the baggy to a wedding organizer or jot down where you found the photo, was it found in a magazine or a website, write down the page number of link in a website where you found the website picture.

Some brides-to-be have their own hairstylist already, the question they might not know, does their hair stylist have the knowledge, training, and skill to prepare wedding day hair. You might inquire about their expertise on doing wedding hair in a normal hairstyle appointment. Ask a simple question, don't let on you are looking for someone to do your wedding day hair. Just ask them, have they ever done wedding day hair. If they say yes, ask your hairstylist about how much experience do they have doing wedding day hair and see if they have a brochure on any hairstyles they have done for weddings. If you like what you see, maybe book them, if not begin your search for a professional wedding hairstylist.

Finding a Wedding Hairstylist

There are many hairstylist's out there, many even might say they are a wedding hairstylist, but they really aren't, they may know a few things about wedding day hair styling, but lack the formal training of a good wedding hair stylist. Only a portion of hairstylists are capable of creating beautiful wedding day hair. It takes some training and natural ability to be able to create a beautiful wedding hairstyle and the good wedding hairstylist knows how to communicate back and forth with the bride-to-be. A good wedding stylist is also a good listener and combines what the bride wants along with their knowledge and education and is willing to try out different dos with the bride-to-be until she finds a do that she likes. A good wedding hairstylist has patience to help their client to find their perfect wedding day hair.

There are a number of places to find wedding hairstylists. There are wedding planning apps you can download from the Apple store and some have vendors in them you can upload to your iPhone, iPad, or Android device, often the wedding hairstylists are listed under the Health & Beauty category. You can also find hairstylists under wedding directories, some of the more reputable ones are www.weddingwire.com , www.decidio.com , www.theknot.com , www.gatheringguide.com , www.mywedding.com , and www.eventective.com . Look for the ones in your state or city. You can also find wedding hairstylists from search engines, input your city or town followed by "wedding hairstylists" or hairstyle salons", check from their website if they do wedding hairstyles. Also ask family, friends, and other wedding vendors if they know of any good wedding hairstylists. You can also look in the local Yellow pages for them or ask aroound at hair salons and spas in your area. It's a good idea to interview with a few wedding hairstylists before choosing one.

Once you have identified a good wedding hairstylist, if you plan on them doing your wedding day hair, make sure they are available to work your wedding day. Some brides choose to use their wedding hairstylist, to find and create their wedding day hairstyle and get instructions on how to create their wedding day look. The formula is laid out so someone else, such as a sister, friend, or your regular stylist can prepare your wedding day hair the day of your wedding. If someone other than the wedding hairstylist is doing your wedding day hair, if possible have that person come to one of the sessions to learn first hand how to prepare your wedding day hair.

You want a wedding hairstylist that has some good professional training, that has a good background, someone that's good at communication, goes back and forth with what the bride is looking for and is reasonable in price. You don't need a celebrity hairstylist that charges a lot of money to do your wedding hair.

When you first meet with your wedding hairstylist, bring along 2 to 4 photos in which the hairstyles captured your attention. Very often it takes a number of sessions to find your wedding day hair look. A good wedding hairstyles will both try hairstyles that were pointed out in the photos and maybe try a few hairstyles the hairstylist suggests.

A good wedding hairstylist uses a number of factors to determine what hairstyles would look best on a bride. These factors include the neckline of the wedding dress, the face structure of the bride whether it be round, oval, square, or a little bit of heart shape. The hairstylist also uses the length of the hair and the texture of her hair whether it's straight, curly, wavy, kinky, frizzy, or Afro-structure. Other factors include the thickness of her hair, and the color of her hair and skin complexion.

A good wedding hairstylist will also take or allow photos and/or videos of each of the hairstyle looks. They should take a picture from numerous angles from the front, back, left, and right sides. Some are willing to take photos, if they don't agree, see if you can have a friend, sister, bridesmaid, or sometimes even a fiancée, be careful of the fiancée though, some would love to take photos and some would rather be some place else. Don't pressure the fiancée unless he would enjoy taking the photos. Share the different looks with family and friends and get their opinions on the hairstyles that they think look best on you.

When choosing a hairstyle for you wedding day, choose a style that would not be too difficult to maintain and consider the environment too. If you are going to spend much time out of doors, consider the sun, rain, or wind can mess up your hair, you may need hairspray for protection. Also on your wedding day, will your hair be more in dim lighting, normal light, or bright lights. Weather and lighting will have a great impact on the hairstyle that you choose.

Once you have made a decision on your wedding day hair. You should have your wedding hair stylist create notes and a checklist of steps of your wedding day hair. Ideally, it would be great to take notes, take photos, and video of each of the steps. If you can get the whole hairstyle process laid out, the hair preparation, the hair cutting, the curling, the teasing, the blow drying, etc. Also take notes of what name brand and products you should use on your hair during the wedding period.

By creating notes and following the checklist, anyone that has a little experience in hair styling can create your wedding day hair by following the guide with a little practice. If you are using your wedding hairstylist for the day of your wedding, book the stylist far in advance, to prevent another appointment from keeping you from getting the stylist you want. Most stylists operate on a first appointment basis.

If someone other than your wedding hairstylist is doing your wedding day hair, the word is practice, practice, practice. Make sure there is multiple sessions on separate days. Someone who does your wedding day hair, can easily forget a step or two if the process is not ingrained in their head. It's easy to forget steps if done only in one day. Try the steps in a checklist on different days, the steps then will tend to be more memorized. If your wedding hairstylist is unable to do your wedding day hair from illness or personal reasons, you have a checklist guideline backup to create your wedding day hair.

Also from your practice hair styling sessions you should note how long it takes to create your wedding day hair and apply your wedding day makeup. Ideally, your wedding day hair and makeup session should end from 1 and a half hours to 2 hours before the wedding ceremony or the photo shoot of the bride and bridal party.

If the hair is prepared too early, the bride's hairstyle might not look fresh for important parts of the wedding and wedding hair could look disheveled by wedding guests, wedding photography, and video. If the hair appointment is too close to the wedding ceremony or photo shoot, the bride could end up worrying about activities associated with the wedding. The hair styling could end up being rushed or the bride could get stressed worrying about the wedding and she may not look good for picture taking and video. Most good wedding hairstylists target 3 hair trials for creating the bride's wedding day hair.

When you have your wedding hairstyle appointments, try to wear an outfit that has a similar shape of the top of the wedding dress. Also wear an outfit that does not need to be pulled up over the bride's hair, wear a top that will unbutton, unzip, or unfasten.

Hair Accessories for the Bride's Wedding Day Hair

Before you even think about hair accessories for your wedding day hair, you should have decided on your wedding day hairstyle, whether it be an updo, half updo, wearing the hair down, wearing your hair to a side or go with the wedding veil look. You should also know the style of the wedding dress and note the color of the wedding dress.

There are hundreds of great hair accessories on the market to choose from. A hair accessory adds a gorgeous accent and helps the bride make a fashion statement. If the bride's wedding dress is white or ivory, look for hair accessories in the silver color area. If the wedding dress is champagne or gold look for hair accessories in the gold color area. If you are looking to add a little color to match the bridesmaids dresses or bridal bouquet you can add a little gem on your hair accessory that matches to a color scheme. Sometimes different cultures have bright colored wedding dresses, find jewelry that matched to the color. Any accessories you choose should harmonize to your wedding dress and shape to your facial and hair structure. You don't need to accessorize very much, try to keep your wedding accessories to a minimum, keep it simple.

When you are trying on hair accessories, try to have someone to take photos of the hair accessories in your hair at different angles. A hair accessory can have a completely different look depending on where and the angle the accessory is placed. Some wedding hair accessories are designed to give a balanced look near the middle in back of the head and some accessories look bast placed on one side of the hair. Some hairstylists recommend having a side accessory on the left side of the head so the hair accessory stands out a little when taking wedding vows when facing the groom.

If your wedding day hair is going to be an updo, there are thousands of hair accessory possibilities you can do for your hair. Some of the more popular accessories that brides use for updos are banana clips, barrettes, bobby pins, hair combs, flower hair clips, hair pins (usually sets of 3), satin scarf, spin pins, topsy tail, and bun maker. Some brides like to have crystal, Swarovski, rhinestones, diamonds, beads, and pearls embedded in their hair accessory piece.

For most brides, updos look great and there are so many ways to decorate their hair. Updos are not recommended for those with thick hair and some brides have an uncomfortable feeling having their hair heavily adorned for a long wedding day. Hair accessories not recommended for updos are headbands, tiaras, and bridal veils.

If a bride is going with a half updo for their hair, the hair accessories they mostly go with are the bridal comb, barrettes, half picks, flower clips to the side, feathers, flowers, hair picks (3 in a row or scattered), tiaras, and headbands.

Brides that choose to wear their wedding day hair down usually don't want to adorn their hair too much or use heavy hair accessories, or their hair accessories can make it uncomfortable for them. Good hair accessories for down hair include headbands, feathers, barrettes, flowers, floral hairpieces, veil, hair comb, hair style clips, hair pins (either 3 in a row or scattered), silk flowers, fascinator hat, or a cocktail hat.

You should test any hair accessory out when you do a trial hair run and try to wear it much of the day. You want to be sure the hair accessory is comfortable enough that you can tolerate wearing it for a good while on your wedding day.

A few online companies that offer beautiful hairpieces for the hair to check out are www.haircomesthebride.com , www.mybridalgems.com , and www.bella-tiara.com .

Preparing Your Wedding Day Hair

If you want your wedding day hair to be in excellent condition so that it looks great for your wedding day, you need to start working on it 6 months to 8 months before your wedding. It's not something you can do in 1 to 2 weeks before. Your major haircut before your wedding should be done about 2 weeks before your wedding. You should plan on getting a haircut every 6 to 8 weeks to keep it in good shape in order to keep your scalp good, to keep hair strands clean, and to avoid having many frilly ends.

Good hair depends a lot on the foods you eat. Watch the foods you eat 6 months before your wedding. Eat foods that are rich in vitamin C, vitamin A, and Zinc. For breakfast eat either unsweetened cereal, eggs, oatmeal, or breakfast fruit such as apple, banana, grapefruit, or orange. You can have one cup of coffee or tea sometime during the day. The rest of the day you can eat lean meat or fish, salads, green and leafy vegetables, cheese, nuts, cottage cheese, and yogurt. You can drink milk, a little bit of juice or mineral water, flavored water or fluids such as gatorade or powerade, but drink plenty of water to cleanse your body of toxins.

Two weeks before your wedding avoid oil based products in your hair. Stay away from Moroccan oil, coconut oil, other natural and essentials oils and avoid hair conditioners. These products make your hair limp, soft, and body-less making it harder on your wedding hairstylists to work their wedding day magic. These products are normally great for your hair, but the goal for your wedding day is to have your hair so it can be nicely styled for your wedding day. Also avoid texturizing your hair during this two week period, avoid Keratin treatments, Brazilian blowouts, applying color treatments, or chemically straightening your hair. Also if you find yourself in a hotel, avoid using their shampoos and conditioners, you can get unexpected consequences when using some hotel shampoo products, bring your own shampoo to use at a hotel.

Some other advice on prepping your wedding day hair. If you have thin hair, use a root boost product, hair powder, or volumizing foam. If you have straight hair and would like a little curl for your wedding day, use a volumizing mousse after washing your hair, the month before the wedding. If you have curly hair, find a hairdresser that is an expert on curly hair and follow their advice on which products to use for your type of curly hair.

If you have fine hair use a detangler. Brush it out with a paddle brush, start at the ends and work the brush up to the root. Don't be too strong while brushing it and never use too much heat or you may damage the hair. If your hair is dry or course, start deep conditioning treatment beginning 3 to 4 months before your wedding. Make sure you get your hair trimmed every 6 to 8 weeks, especially if you have long hair. If you have short hair, and you want an updo or even a half do, you will either need time to grow your hair or look into adding a clip on extension.

Leading up to the wedding day, the bride should get herself regularly manicured and pedicured and to have her finger nails filed regularly to keep her hands looking young. She should moisturize her hands daily and avoid harsh conditioners for her hair. One week before the wedding, it's highly recommended for the bride to get a herbal based conditioning treatment. The treatment will revitalize the bride's hair leaving it shiny and vibrant, luxuriously soft and full of volume. Simply massage the product into the hair, cover the hair with a plastic shower cap and sit under a dryer for one full hour. Two hours if these is no dryer available for use.

There is a protocol in regards to hair for the women of the bridal party, similar to the wedding dresses and wedding bouquets. The bride's hair is supposed to be elaborately prepared. The maid-of-honor's hair should be nicely done but not as elaborate as the bride. The rest of the bridesmaid's hair should be done nicely but a little bit more subdued than the bride and the maid-of-honor.