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Archive for the ‘Hair’ Category

You were picture perfect all day long. Your make-up was dazzling. Your attire and jewelry were stunning. And your hair style was like a dream come true. Now that the wedding is over and you have a little bit of breathing space, all you can think about is taking a few minutes to relax. But don’t be too hasty. You have carefully removed and hung your wedding dress; put away your jewelry and removed your make-up, your hair is the next thing that needs your immediate attention. With loads of hair spray and mousse intended to hold it in place and keep it beautiful throughout the day, it is likely that your hair will soon turn into some sort of bird’s nest if you simply ignore it and go to bed. Although shampooing at this particular time may sound crazy, it is essential that you do just that and your hair will thank you.

Tips for Post Wedding Hair Care
• Carefully remove all of the hair pins and accessories. Do not hesitate to ask someone to help you with this task since it usually requires more than two tired hands to remove them all. Make sure you don’t pull too hard because. If your hair is sprayed stiff, pulling may cause breaking or other damage to your hair.
• Gingerly comb your hair to get rid of tangles. Comb your hair very slowly with a wide toothed comb in order to minimize pulling. Divide the hair into sections and comb each section carefully.
• Take a warm water shower. Lukewarm water will ease out all of the chemicals and sprays that you used without damaging your hair. Follow by gently rinsing your hair under running water for ten minutes.
• Use a mild shampoo. Build up a rich lather all over your head and gently massage your scalp with your finger tips. Rinse your hair with lukewarm water and make sure all of the shampoo is gone. Repeat the process because hair sprays and mousse tend to be stubborn. It is important that you need lather and rinse twice to make sure there is no residue left behind.
• Follow up with a leave-in conditioner and blow-dry. Set the blow dryer on medium or low heat. Comb your dry hair with a wide-toothed comb. If you didn’t use a leave-in conditioner, apply a bit of oil on the scalp to make sure it doesn’t dry up.
• After three days, wash your hair again.
• Ask your beautician for a good protein treatment. The protein treatment will rid your hair of the chemical effect and restore it’s natural health.

The most important thing you can do when deciding on the right hairdo for your wedding day is to…
DO YOUR HOMEWORK! Take time to flip through all of the bridal magazines you can find and visit the many bridal sites available to you on the internet. Do not settle for a hairdo just because it is easy or because someone else thinks it looks good on you. This is your day. Do not rush the process. There are probably hundreds if not thousands of hairdo choices available to you. Keep searching until you find the one that suits you best.
Bear in mind that whatever hairdo you select must FLATTER YOUR DRESS!

Your wedding dress must guide the hairstyle you choose. A general rule of thumb is that updos are best suited for backless wedding gowns, while dreamy ringlets perfect with princess ball gowns; and long, cascading waves are ideal for a wedding on the beach.
Once you have selected your gown and decided where you will hold our wedding, the next step is to CHOOSE YOUR HAIRSTYLIST !

In case you do not already know which hairstylist you will use for your wedding, find one who specializes in formal, theatrical or camera-ready hairstyles. For this, you may want to get recommendations from friends and theatrical companies in your area. If you simply don’t know where to start, read the credits at the end of your local news broadcasts. They often show credits for local hairstylists who work on the personalities who deliver your local news. Nearly all good hairstylists these days have a pictorial resume. When you meet with stylists for the initial interview, be sure to ask to see their portfolio.

While you are shopping around for a wedding hairstylist, STOP DOING YOUR OWN HAIR.

For six months leading up to the big day, get a professional to trim, color, and perm or chemically straighten your hair. This is a perfect way to audition hairstylists. By going to professionals for these services, you will be able to judge firsthand how their services will be delivered on your wedding day. If the perm, color, cut or style do not hold up, then they can be eliminated from your list of possible wedding hairstylists.
Last but not least, remember that on the average, hair grows about one half inch per month, so if you decide you want to wear an updo on your wedding day, but your hair is short, start letting it grow out immediately.

A common mistake many brides make when they are planning their wedding is to completely loose their own identity and personal style when it comes to making decisions about hair and fashion for their very special day. You will no doubt want to look and feel special on your wedding day, but make sure you are very careful to ensure that the woman who walks down the aisle on the big day is definitely you and not an image of what you or someone else thinks you should look like.

When it comes to choosing a wedding hair styles, your number first and most important priority is to actually like the hair style you will wear. Bear in mind that there are no right or wrong and right choices when selecting your wedding hair style.

Far too often, planning a wedding can make you feel like you are involved in a major project management endeavor. You are suddenly responsible for coordinating and managing countless, not to mention dozens of people, all of whom have their own ideas about how things should be done. It does not matter if your wedding is just a small gathering of ten of your closest friends and relatives or a media event, you will still need a wedding plan; and the most efficient way to plan a flawless wedding of any size is to use a wedding checklist.

Just make sure you add your wedding hair style to your wedding check list… meeting with several hair stylists to discuss various wedding hair styles to fig your personality, your face, and especially your gown and headgear. It is best to start this process at least six months in advance of the big day – especially if your hair is short. Even if you want to sport a short hairdo on your wedding day, you may want to grow your hair out a bit to achieve the style and look that you desire to have for your wedding. You may even want to consider cutting it shorter if your hair is at one of those ‘in between’ lengths and a decidedly short hairdo is what you want for your wedding.

Nearly every professional hair stylist will have a portfolio of wedding hairdos to share with you and will be able to advise you on the wedding hairdo that would be best for you on what is no doubt the most special day of your life. With the right hair stylist and the right hair style, your hair will be perfect throughout the entire day from the first photo in the dressing room until the last guest has gone home.

Just like everything else associated with your wedding day, your hair should not be left to chance. It is a good idea for the bride to follow a schedule to make sure that her hair is not a cause for unnecessary stress when the big day arrives. The following timetable is suggested to help the bride make sure that her hair is as perfect as her gown, her veil, her jewelry and her shoes.

6 Months Before The Wedding Day
• Research: Start out by your personal style into account. Then considering your wedding dress and where your reception will take place.
• Interview: Schedule appointments to meet with hair stylists. Ask to see their portfolios, Discuss your own ideas for your wedding day hair style, and ask them for suggestions and input.
• Schedule: Set a schedule with your new stylist for your pre-wedding haircut, color, perm and other treatments.
• Get started: Start getting conditioning treatments six months before your wedding day to guarantee that your hair is shiny and healthy on the big day.

3 Months Before the Wedding Day
• Choose your veil or headpiece. You want to make sure that the hairdo you choose is compatible with the headgear you intend to wear on your wedding day.
• Take all of you hair accessories to your meeting with your hair stylist. If the hair stylist knows exactly what you intend to wear in advance of the wedding, they will be better prepared to give you that perfect hairdo on the big day.

1 Month Before the Wedding Day
• Get your hair trimmed, permed, straightened or colored. These treatments usually look better after the first couple of weeks; and if there is something you don’t like, you have enough time to get it fixed without a panic.
• Take your wedding day hairdo out for a trial run. Have a trustworthy friend accompany you to the stylist and ask for her honest opinion. Do not hesitate to reject a hair style that you and your stylist had previously agreed upon.
• Ask the hair stylist to show you how to remove your headpiece without ruining your hairdo; and practice by removing it several times before leaving the salon.
• Make sure you have a hair repair kit on hand for the big day. Your hair repair kit should contain extra pins and styling products for any last-minute touch-ups that may be necessary. Ask your maid or matron of honor or one of your bridesmaids to make sure have it with her when you get dressed.
Your wedding day
• Wear a loose fitting shirt that fastens in the front so you won’t damage your hairdo when you change into your wedding dress.

With a just a little bit of practice you can create an easy and quick updo for your wedding or other dressy hair event that looks like it was done by a pro.

Even if you are not getting married, this quick and easy updo hair style is great to have in your list of choices for your long hair for a night out on the town, competing in a beauty pageant or that preparing for a very special occasion. While brides are strongly urged to invest time and money with a professional hair stylist it is a fact of life that the budget sometimes will not allow for that particular luxury and she must do her hair herself.

The bride with long hair who decides to do her own hair on her wedding day may want to consider this easy updo style. Just be sure to practice it several times, so when the big day arrives, your hair will look like it was done by a professional.

This particular hair style is best for hair that is medium to thick and chin length or longer. While it works best with straight hair, curly hair can be very pretty in this style as well. If your hair is fine, you may want to add volume with a pin-on ponytail or add-on hair strands.
1. Use a good styling mousse and brush to smooth the hair around your crown and behind your ears.
2. Gather your hair into a loose ponytail at the top of your head while allowing some hair to fall on either side of your face to form soft ringlets. The ringlets will give the bun a softer and fuller look. Use a medium sized curling iron if your hair is fine, thin or tends to be flat, to give your hair additional fullness and body. Working from the bottom of your scalp, create loose curls with small sections of hair.
3. Encase the ponytail in a “hair friendly” elastic band the same color as your hair.
4. With a medium size curling iron, curl small sections of hair starting with the strands on the very outside of the ponytail. You may want to experiment to get the right curls size based on your hair and the shape of your face.
5. Use hair pins or bobby pins to make a bun by taking the following steps: Pull up a section of hair. Halfway between the base of the ponytail and the end create a tiny loop and pin the hair it at the base of the scalp. Use a hair pin to anchor the loop to the scalp. It should leave a few inches of loose hair that is not pinned down. Take the remaining hair and twist it once or twice to form a open loop and secure it with a bobby pin.
6. Repeat the process around the outer edge of the ponytail.
7. After pinning the outside perimeter part of the original ponytail should still be in place. Continue the process of looping and pinning to give the bun a good dimension and shape.
8. Use a curling iron to form soft ringlets around your face.
9. Use holding spray to keep the bun in place.
Now it’s time to really have some fun. Practice with the hair jewelry you intend to wear to your wedding. Play with glittery hair pins, combs and other hair accessories until you have achieved the lock that you really want. Just remember to spray your hair BEFORE you put in the hair jewelry. Hair spray can cause hair jewelry to tarnish and lose its luster.

Few things are more breathtaking than a bride walking down the aisle with her hair adorned with flowers. When choosing to use flowers as a hair adornment, however, brides should be careful in their choices.
If her hair is short, she should try to stick with small blossoms, like baby’s breath; although one large flower such as a gardenia could be used – but only one blossom. The amount and volume of hair should dictate the size of the flowers used. A crown of flowers works well with almost any length hair.

When choosing flowers for her hair, the bride must also consider her bouquet. It is a good rule of thumb that if she chooses to put flowers in her hair, she should use the same species of flower that will be used in her bouquet. If at all possible, she should make sure the same person who makes the bouquet also makes her headgear.

If a single flower or several small blossoms are used to adorn her hair, the bride should ask her hair stylist to insert them as she is having her hair done for the big day. If, however, her preference is for a crown of blossoms, she should rely on someone with experience in constructing floral crowns.

A professional florist will not only be able to help the bride select blossoms that are study enough to stand up to a full day of activity, they will also know exactly what tools and supplies to use to assure that the crown will not fall apart in the middle of the ceremony. The blossoms should also be treated with some sort of acrylic spray to hold them in place and prevent the petals from dropping off during the strenuous day. After all, the flowers that are in her hair will get a more strenuous workout than her bouquet. While the bouquet rests on a table, the floral hair accessories will be on the dance floor and meeting and greeting guests throughout the entire reception.

When it’s all said and done, the bride should be able to dry the flowers and save her floral crown just the same as she would save her honeymoon corsage. But, without selection and proper care before the wedding, there will be nothing to save afterwards except leaves, stems and pins or the supplies used to construct the crown.