Our Pre-Wedding Treatment Guide
Are you lucky enough to be saying ‘I do’ anytime soon? Then you need to make sure your hair looks the best it can so you don’t look at the photos and say ‘I don’t like them.’
The goal is to have the best hair day of your life on your wedding as it’s a time when all eyes will be on you as you walk down the aisle. Good hair is not an accident. Nobody magically wakes up with glossy, shiny hair without having done any preparatory work. This is actually positive news as it means the hair of your dreams is within reach…as long as you use the right products.
Sinéad knows what she’s talking about as she’s been the bride before. She knows how important it is to look and feel your best. This is how she looked on her wedding day:
This is Sinéad’s advice about what you can do to ensure your hair looks its best and you feel super special:
Pre Wedding Colour Prep
1) Choose a hair colour based on your skin tone
For warm tones dark browns, warm browns, chestnuts, rich golden browns, auburn, warm gold and red highlights, and golden blonde shades will look best on you. Go for colours with a red orange or gold base. Avoid blue, violet, and ash based hair colors which will wash out your skin colour.
For cool tones, try shiny raven-wing blacks, cool ash browns, or cool blondes in shades ranging from mink to platinum and icy white. Avoid gold, yellow, red, and bronze tones in hair colour.
The best thing you can do is have a consultation with an expert as they will be able to tell you immediately what would most suit you. Sinéad herself has had 20 years experience in the hair industry as well as leading her team to win the prestigious UK L’Oréal Colour Trophy in 2016. Everyone can have access to her directly in email or skype consultations – just explain you want one when you call to book and the staff will talk you through it.
2) Think about your eyes
Eye colour can determine whether a hair colour looks good on your or not. Do you want your eyes to pop? Green and blue eyes might look great with reds, brown, or blonde, while dark eyes might look great with a contrasting colour.
3) Strengthen the bonds of your hair
Once you have chosen a colour, you can do some hands-on prep. If you’re going platinum blonde, you need to use a product that helps repair and strengthen the bonds in your hair fibere. Olaplex Hair Perfector No. 3 is your must-have product here.
Comb a palmful of the cream through damp hair, leave on for as long as possible (overnight with a shower cap is best, but at least 30 minutes, if that’s all you have time for), then shampoo as usual. You’ll notice softer, shinier hair after one use, with less breakage after continued use.
4) Book 2 weeks in advance
You may think it would be best to get your colour done a few days before your big day but then what about room for error? If you leave a couple of weeks to manoeuvre, you’ll be more confident when you sit in the salon chair as there’s still time to change anything you don’t like. And because you’ve thought about it, the chances are everything will be ok like when you buy an umbrella and it doesn’t rain again for weeks.
5) Give your hair a trim
Dead ends turn into breakage once you transition hair colors, so this makes all the difference! It makes the style look really fresh, too.
Pre Wedding Hair Treatments
1)Shampoo
You will need to wash your hair after your salon visit and before the wedding so you need to find a shampoo that enhances your hair rather than clogging it up. If you went blonder, the best shampoo is L’Oreal Professional Shine Blonder shampoo as it has a purple element to brighten the hair and combat brassiness. The Kerastase chroma captive shampoo is also great for colour treated hair. It’s enriched with chelators, UV Filters and Vitamin E, so it helps fight the factors responsible for colour fading – including water particles and oxidative aggressors. This powerful formula with Rice Bran Oil helps to emphasise light refraction. The colour stays true and vibrant, while hair is left feeling nourished, supple with an intense shine.
2) Deep Conditioning Treatment
If you’ve coloured your hair you need to look after it. A deep conditioning treatment is vital. Go back to the Olpalex that you used to strengthen the hair before colouring and use it once a week. Ideally twice before your big day. Apply to damp hair, comb through, and leave on for a minimum of 10 minutes at home before washing as normal. If you want to maximise the effect, leave it on overnight
3) Heat Styling Serum
Before you blow dry your hair, you need Kerastase Therapiste Serum. It instantly heals and seals the ends of the hair. Split ends appear reduced and it has a high heat protection of up to 230° so you can use straighteners / tongs without worry that your hair will split before the big day.
Post Wedding Honeymoon Hair
It’s important not to let things slide as soon as your big day ends. After getting in the best shape of your life for your big day, keep up the momentum and you’ll feel so much sexier on honeymoon. We know that it’s not always easy to look after hair while you’re away from home so we suggest going for a boho vibe.
By day, braid your hair so that the sand, sea and sunbathing don’t affect it. Check out our recent post on braiding here.
At night, shake out the braids and you’ll have beautiful beachy curls. To emphasise those curls, run your fingers through them and then spray lightly with L’Oréal Elnett hairspray so they’ll be more defined and last all night long, whatever you get up to.
If you need any more advice, tweet @sineadkellyldn or call the salon on 020 8392 4444
