Your Hair Trial
When to have your trial
I always recommend booking the trial in for 6-12 weeks before the wedding day. The reason behind this is, you will have chosen your dress and have an idea of what styles will suit the dress.
Before the trial I will send you instructions on how to prepare your hair for the trial. This will include arriving with clean hair that has been blow dried. The idea that “dirtier hair is best for styling” is a myth. Blow drying it with a brush is to help smooth the hair out and reduce frizz and kinks. This can simply be achieved with a round brush if you are comfortable using one and if not, just by using your regular paddle brush. I ask that straighteners and curlers aren’t used because sometimes if I was to curl your hair after using straighteners on the hair, the curls may not hold as well.
What to expect!
The trial will last up to 2 hours and in this time, there is the opportunity to try 2 hair styles. When choosing what styles to try you should think about what you are comfortable with. Hair up or down and whether the hair up or down suits your chosen dress. When having your hair up an important detail to think about is whether you want some face framing pieces and if you do whether your current hair cut allows to have some shorter sections at the front. I always say that you don’t want the front sections to be any longer than collarbone. Ideally, they should be around chin level.
For wearing your hair down a common concern for many brides is that their hair doesn’t hold a curl. There are certain techniques I can do to help your hair hold but some hair types just don’t hold. If you are set on having your hair down then I highly recommend getting clip in hair extensions and bringing them to the trial. Extensions help with fullness and longevity.
Choosing a style
When choosing your hair inspiration pictures try and have a look at your chosen hairstylist’s page/website. After all you chose them for their work, so finding a style they’ve done will help when it comes to the trial and knowing that they can achieve it. Another place to draw inspiration from is Pinterest. There’s a wide range of styles on there showing on both dark and light hair. It’s always best to look at styles on the same colour hair as your own. Texture and braids look different on light and dark hair. You can also draw inspiration from your dress designer and see how the models wore their hair with the dress.
Your hairstylist
In the 2 hour time slot we will have the opportunity to get to know each other. This is just as important as creating the hair style because on the wedding morning you want a hairstylist you can get on with. The hairstylist is a very present person on the morning. Assisting you and your bridal party and sometimes, in my experience, I have helped you get into your wedding dress and helped to keep the morning on track.
What to bring?
It’s a good idea to bring with you any hair accessories you plan on wearing and the veil, if you are wearing one. Veils can sometimes be tricky so the trial is a great time for us as hairstylists to see if the veil will alter the style in anyway or if the hairstyle needs more backcombing to help secure the veil.
It’s up to you if you keep the style in after the trial or if you take it out. Sometimes brides don’t want their fiancé to see the style before the day so they take it out. However, keeping it in can be beneficial as it will give you the opportunity to see how it feels throughout the day and see if the style is definitely what you want. I also find that planning your trial for the same day as your make up trial or a dress fitting is a great idea as it will allow you to see how your hair looks with your dress/makeup.