How to prepare your hair for your wedding day

Q: How do you get your hair in tip top condition?

A: Getting your hair in excellent condition is not something you think about one or two weeks before your wedding. This is something you need to think about six to eight months ahead. First consider how you’ll wear your hair. The safest rule of thumb is to grow it out. You can always cut it close to your wedding day but if you don’t have the length to work with, and you want to wear it up, that could be a problem. To look after the health and condition it’s all about, first of all, what you put into your body. Salmon is rich in Omega 3 fatty acids, dark green vegetables such as broccoli, are a good source of Vitamin C and A and almonds provide zinc. They’ll all not only benefit the skin but the hair also. Secondly, make sure you are treating your hair with the right shampoo and conditioner. It shouldn’t leave a heavy residue in the hair. I would always go for something that is sulphate and paraben free because I believe the less chemical in the hair, the better. And if you can get a shampoo with less chemicals but still give you those results then that’s the way to go.

Q: When should you shampoo your hair?

A: It depends on your hair type. I always advise hair is washed the day before if it’s being styled. Simply because, if it’s too clean, it can be slippery and it may not hold in place. If you find that your hair is in need of shampoo on your wedding day, shampoo it, and use a product that will give it texture and body, such as sea salt spray or a light-weight mousse. It will also give it grip.

Q: Is it a bad idea to change your colour before your wedding?

A: This is a crazy idea because most girls want to be the best they can be on their wedding day, not a totally different version. If you do, you’re going to look back at those photos and go, “That’s not how I see myself.” It’s like your school formal. Lots of girls pick formal dresses and then look back and go,“I probably should have gone a little bit more classic, more simple.” And it’s the same with wedding hair. I think it needs to be timeless and it has to be a good version of you. So if you always wear your hair down, wear your hair down for your wedding otherwise you won’t  feel comfortable and you won’t look like you.

As far as colour change goes, no. If you don’t like it, in many cases there’s no way to change it, and you’ll be stuck. You’ve got years after your wedding to try different things but when you’re going to be photographed by almost everybody you know, that’s when you want to be the absolute best you can be. If it’s something you’ve lived with for a long time, chances are, you know the colours that suit you. If you’ve picked your dress with a certain hair colour, if you go and change that, it’s going to change the way your dress ends up looking.

Q: What do you recommend specifically for blond, brunette and red-headed brides?

A: For blondes the big thing is maintaining your regrowth because you don’t want to see dark roots in your wedding photos. What I would suggest is having a glossing treatment a day or two before the wedding, something that makes the hair look and feel thicker, coats around each hair and makes the blow dry or style last longer on the day. Blondes usually loose shine, so by adding a glossing treatment, you can bring that back.

Brunettes need to be careful that the colour’s not done too far away from their actual wedding. That they don’t end up looking brassy or gingery on the day. Once again a toning product, or a toner a couple of days before will make a big difference.

For red heads the most important thing is to find the right red. It needs to be compatible to your hair and your skin tone. I also think most redheads tend to have a slightly rougher textured hair so a glossing treatment is great – whether it includes a colour or not – it will make the hair soft and easy to work with.

Q: Who’s your colour crush in the media?

A: For a very long time it’s been Jennifer Lopez. She’s is one of the few celebrities that works with her warm skin tone. She adds more gold by highlighting her hair, and it looks great. Blake Lively has a believable sun-kissed look and that’s what tends to work on most girls. You don’t want to go too far away from what you are naturally.

Q: Any other wedding hair tips?

A: Make sure you have your trial. The day of your wedding is not the day to trial. Don’t be scared of hair pieces because a lot of the time what you see in magazines or on celebrities is not all their own hair. So extensions and hairpieces are great. If you don’t have thick hair or the texture is not amazing, think about putting some pieces in to change it around because it will give you the thickness you want, the texture you want and it’s less to worry about. Consider the conditions you’re going to be in. If you’ve having an outdoor beachy wedding, having it all down and flowy is not going to work. If you don’t mind it being all over the place then go for it. If you’re wearing two dresses on the day, why not also change your hair? You’ve already blown 10s of 1000s of dollars, what’s a little bit more on your hairdresser? It will diversify your look and the photographs.