Life and Love Planning For the Groom Bridal Party Style and Fashion Health and Fitness After the Wedding Special Occasions

Timeless Bridal Hairstyles by Karen Shelton The French twist, or more elaborate versions, known as the French seam, remain popular for weddings and other formal events year after year. Check out any formal Hollywood Awards ceremony and you will see celebrities and stars sporting modern versions of the French Twist every year. This has been true for many years. Not just for the 90s. Sophisticated updos also remain popular with curls and twists always providing a desired bridal look, especially for more formal weddings. One wedding trend for today is to wear hair down with an emphasis on shininess and romantic curls. Also, brides are opting for soft curls that are compatible with the new romantic hair looks that are currently popular. For every type of wedding and every type of Bridal party there is the "perfect" hairstyle. While many brides prefer a more formal "updo" just as many brides prefer a softer, more romantic look. Many times a bride can weave a common hairstyle theme through the entire wedding party by having the bridal attendants wear similar hairstyles. This common hairstyle theme works best when all of the attendants have hair that is similar in length and texture. As long as the bride takes the time to plan and analyze her wedding hair needs, just about any look can be carefully created for anyone in the wedding. Wedding Updos For Short Hair When Catherine Oxenberg married producer Bob Evans in the summer of 1998 she wore her chin length hair straight, soft and very shiny. She did not wear any type of veil or headpiece. Short hair can look stunning in a variety of bridal hair looks. Obviously the shorter your hair, the less likely you can adopt a classic braid, French twist or curly updo. A beautiful and timeless look for short bridal hair is hair that is accentuated with well placed finger or Marcel type of waves. Short hair also looks stunning in a soft bob that is highlighted with a tiara or jeweled barrette. Cameron Diaz caused a major stir when she appeared at an awards ceremony sporting a jeweled hair clip. If you want to wear some of the updo looks, temporary clip on hair is an option. You can also consider hair extensions as long as you allow enough time to have them added. Adopting Updos For Thin Hair While many brides will be able to adopt the wedding styles that are included in this article, some brides with very short hair will not be able to recreate the styles easily. Thin hair can be "plumped" up with volume enhancing hair care products. If the bride or her attendants have thin hair that is long enough, many of the bridal hair styles can be adopted successfully. When necessary or appropriate, thin hair can be "helped" with add on hair or extensions. If the bride or the attendants decide to enhance thin hair with extensions for the wedding, these should be done in plenty of time before the wedding to make sure they work well. Modifying Updos For Naturally Curly Or Wavy Hair Brides and attendants with naturally curly or wavy hair can adopt all of the styles. In some cases, they will need to temporarily straighten their curls first in order to re-create the looks. Brides with naturally curly hair could create the French Twist without first applying temporary straightening or smoothing gels like ARTec smoothing or KMS Flat Out. The Double Asian Knot and Simply Elegant Updo could also be created, in a modified form without any special straightening for naturally curly hair. To create the Two Strand or the Curly Updos, brides or attendants with naturally curly hair might find that they first need to apply a smoothing balm and dry their hair straight to re-create the looks. As with all of these styles, each bride and her attendants need to experiment to find the styles that work best for their individual hair types and textures. Professional Stylist Versus Do-It-Yourself Hair The way you wear your hair on your wedding day will probably be the most important "hair day" of your life. Not only will your hair either add or detract from your total bridal look, it will captured in photographs that you will keep the rest of your life. Having a "bad hair day" can be avoided with some thought and planning. One of the questions that many brides ask is whether it is better to go to a stylist or do the hair themselves. Advantages To The Professional Stylist Creating "perfect" hairstyles is their job. If you have a great stylist that you trust, let them take the worry of a having a "great hair day" off your list. Be sure that you meet with your stylist several months before your wedding so that you can discuss various styles that would work with your headpiece and your wedding theme. Many brides will take a photo of their headpiece to the stylist and discuss hairstyling options that will work best. Some brides will do a "dress rehearsal" with the headpiece to make sure that the hairstyle they select works perfectly with their wedding attire. If you are not sure what is the best hairstyle for your headpiece, wedding theme, hair type or facial shape, spend some time doing initial research. Look through several bridal magazines and fashion magazines to get some ideas for hairstyles. Cut out the styles that you think would be a good potential fit for your wedding. Take the style examples to your stylist and show them what you have in mind. A picture speaks a thousand words. Scheduling The Stylist For Wedding Day Visit Many stylists will make arrangements to come to the bride’s house to do her hair on the day of the wedding. Although this involves additional cost, it is often worth it. Many stylists will book an entire day to do all the hair for the entire wedding party. Some stylists work in teams with one stylist working on the bride and her attendants and a another stylist working on the groom and his attendant’s hair. A wedding that is planned for early in the day could involve scheduling problems for the hairstylist to come to the bride’s house. Any scheduling or timing concerns should be discussed as far in advance as possible. If you decide to go to the salon to have your hair done, make sure that you have arranged for the appointment as far in advance as possible. If you want the stylist to also do the hair for the members of your bridal party be sure to schedule their time appropriately. Wedding Hair Insurance As extra insurance, be sure to pay attention to how the hairstylist prepares your hair for your wedding style. Just in case there is an emergency and the stylist can’t do your hair the day of your wedding, you will be able to duplicate the style yourself. If you feel that you would be unable to duplicate the style, have a backup style planned that you could easily re-create. You can also ask your stylist to recommend a substitute stylist in case there are any last minute scheduling problems. Although it doesn’t happen often, sometimes illness or other emergencies may prevent your stylist from working on your hair on your wedding day. If you don’t plan for this possibility, it could cause panic or chaos. Taking this possibility into account will allow you to have alternate options all planned out. Remember to wear clothing that buttons when you have your hair done. This prevents the need to cut off clothing to preserve the style. Advantages To Do-It-Yourself Hair If you have a simple hairstyle that will remain basically the same for your wedding, you may prefer to do your hair at home. This certainly gives you more flexibility on when you prepare your hair. This also is a savings of additional expense, if you are on a tight budget. Another advantage to doing your own hair is that you don’t have to depend on your stylist to guarantee you achieve the right style. If you feel uncomfortable having a stylist do your hair on your wedding day, you may want to also considering having one of your bridal attendants help you do your hair. Sometimes the bride and all the attendants will get together and help each other create their bridal look. Whether you do your own hair or not depends on your own personal needs, budget, time constraints and hairstyle desired. It is significant to point out that most wedding hairstyles are formed from three basic hairstyles. These basics include the ponytail, the French Twist and a basic braid. If you can master these three basic hairstyles, you can move to more advanced styles and create advanced and sophisticated styles. Bridal Hair Checklist Many prospective brides get a pre-wedding itch to do something "different" with their hair. Any experimenting should be done several months before the wedding to guarantee time to change back to your original look if the new look doesn’t work. It is best to avoid any dramatic changes up to six months before the wedding. This means avoiding the impulse to drastically change the length, color or style of your hair. Many brides or their attendants get a drastic cut right before their wedding only to regret it. While hair color problems can be repaired, once the hair is cut, the only way to grow it back fast is to add extensions or clip-on hair. If you do decide to add extensions, make sure you do that several months in advance. The itch to change hair color at the last minute can be satisfied with color shampoos. Both ARTec and Aveda have a complete line of shampoos that are designed to add temporary color. If you want a drastic look, consider the temporary hair mascaras. You can add some temporary streaks and still wash it out the very next day. If you love the look, you can then add it permanently. Bridal Hair Do’s Allow plenty of time to decide on the appropriate wedding hairstyle. Knowledge is power. Spend time researching fashion magazines, bridal magazines, books and other bridal resources. If possible, surf the Internet. There are many hair sites like Hair Boutique that offer free advice and sample hairstyles. Cut out sample style photos and discuss with your stylist several months in advance. Have the stylist do at least one and maybe two hair dress rehearsals. Work out a plan with your stylist for regular trims, color touchups or other treatments so that you can maintain your current style in good shape for the wedding. Pay attention and take notes on how the wedding day style is achieved just in case the stylist can not be available on your wedding day. Once you have selected your style, test it with your bridal headpiece to make sure it works with the overall look you are trying to achieve. Discuss a plan with your stylist to "maintain" your current style until the wedding. Talk to the bridal attendants about selecting a basic style that would work for all of them in some modified way. Do a weekly hot oil or deep conditioning treatment for the 2 months prior to your wedding day so that your hair is healthy and shiny on your special day. Take B vitamins which help the hair overall and is good for stress. Bridal Hair Don’ts Switch from your standard hair care products to new brands. It takes hair awhile to adjust to new formulas. If you have hair care products that work well for you, use them for your wedding style. If you are going to have your stylist do your wedding style and they use a different line of hair care products, have the stylist try them on your hair a few times before the wedding to test the results. You may want to invest in those products and test them at home as well. Undertake any drastic changes to the length, color or shape of your hair in the 6 months before your wedding. Neglect routine maintenance on your hair to hold the current style. Wait until the last minute to discuss bridal styles with your stylist. Commit to a style without trying it with your headpiece. Bridal Headpieces Are The Crowning Glory When it comes to bridal headpieces, there are a couple of options that can work well with any hairstyle, wedding theme or face shape. Tiaras or jeweled headbands come in a multitude of shapes, sizes and cost. Both bridal headpieces are timeless classic that can work with any hair length, texture or facial shape. Both the tiara and the headbands can range from simple, elegant pieces that sit atop a sleek updo, or highlights a soft mass of romantic curls. A jeweled headband can look very sophisticated or very casual. The key to both of these pieces is that they work with virtually every hair style. Many brides with short hair will find the tiara or jeweled headband to work perfectly to "dress up" their style in a elegant, yet simple way. While bridal fashions continually change, the tiara and headband remain popular. In 1994 lace tiaras were very popular. Today jeweled tiaras are the rage. Modern Versions: Flowers, Hair Jewelry, Snoods, Bun Cages One trend that is very popular for 1999 is no bridal headpiece at all. When there is no headpiece the hair style takes center stage and may be dressed up with tiny jeweled and well placed pins or possibly flowers. Every since Drew Barrymore appeared at an awards ceremony in 1998 with a flower in her hair, flowers instantly became a popular hair adornment for brides and their attendants. Hair jewelry, especially the jeweled barrette adopted by many Hollywood stars is very popular along with jeweled butterfly clips and elegant pearl barrettes. Custom hand made snoods with encase a soft hair bun are also popular. Snoods are often crocheted although they are also make out of other materials such as soft netting or tulle. Snoods were very popular during the 40s but are enjoying a new popularity today. Snoods often look best with long flowing gowns. Bridal Hair Trends If you want to sport a bridal hairstyle that is in keeping with hair looks of today you can consider the following hair trends: Long hair is very hot. The longer the better. Hair extensions are very popular to achieve instant length. Invisible headbands that instantly remove bangs are on all the runways. Hair is being decorated with everything from glittery bric-a-brac to add on braids, ponytails, curls and wildly colored hair pieces. Braids are back with a vengeance but are woven with dental floss, fabric, bits of colored string and anything edgy that can be added on. Shorter hair is heavily tousled, unstructured, multi-textured (mixing curls with waves and multiple parts) and parted in the center. Backcombing, crimping, uneven and frayed ends are appearing in record numbers. Although the hot hair fashions include everything from dental floss to bric-a-brac, you may not wish to immortalize your wedding day with bits of floss wrapped around your newly knotted and spiked hair. It is usually wise to select a hairstyle that has classic good looks and is always popular. The Plain Veil Headpiece A plain veil works great when the focus of the bride’s hair style is centered around a high crown of hair. The high crown can be created out of a full French Twist, a curly updo, a beehive or an elegant updo. Elaborate bridal hairstyles look wonderful when they are simply adorned in the back with a plain tulle or netting veil that adds a very simple frame around the hair. When the hair is the major focus, the veil should act as a minor accessory allowing the hair to keep the focus. Brides with very short hair can also pull off the simple veil look if the veil is placed higher up on the head, near the crown. The simple veil headpiece also works great with elaborate bridal gowns since the veil does not detract from the overall look. Circular or Open Headpieces This headpiece works great with hair that is designed to be piled up on the head in big curls or ornate loops. The circular headpiece is as popular today as it was 10 years ago. When a circular or open headpiece is worn the bridal hair is carefully piled in curls with the headpiece centered around the updo. Juliet Caps Although the always popular Juliet Cap works well with any length of hair, it is especially suited for short swingy bobs and medium length styles that feature soft curls or waves. The caps come in a variety of styles from small to large and may be decorated simply or ornately with lace and beads. A cap is often worn far back on the head with a thick spray of netting for the veil. The cap looks great with most hairstyles that are worn plain, shiny and with lots of movement. The cap usually is the focal point of the hairstyle. Bridal Attendant Headpieces The hair for the members of the wedding party also need to be considered. Many brides try to pick a hairstyle that would work for all of the attendants. A French Twist that has variations to accommodate different hair textures and facial shapes can be an excellent solution. If the bridal attendants have different lengths of hair, two basic styles can be selected and then modified to suit each individual. While formal headpieces for the bridal attendants are rarely used, hair jewelry, flowers and other simple hair adornments are very popular. Jeweled barrettes and butterfly clips make a beautiful but simple statement. If either a formal headpiece or hair adornment will be used, it is important to consider the best hairstyle that can be adopted by all the attendants.