How To Create Effortless Bridal Hair Updo

By Andy Tseng

A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog post about one of the summer weddings I did at The Orchard in Hood River. It was an amazing wedding venue surrounded by gorgeous mountains and the smell of fruit trees. Today, I would like to share the nine-step process and the hair styling products I used to create this dream wedding hairstyle for Julia. 

Before applying any hairstyling products, I like to take the some time during our Bridal Wedding Preview to evaluate the hair condition and hair texture of my clients. For our bride Julia, she  has a lot of hair with very fine individual hair strands. The texture of her hair is very smooth.

STEP ONE: PREP THE HAIR

First, I start to prepping her hair with Bumble&Bumble Prep Primer. This hair primer gives a nice gripping texture, and it does not make the hair feel thicker, which sometimes could make the hair harder to work with. After applying the hair primer, rough dry it with your hand to work the B&B Prep Primer into the hair with the help of the blowdryer heat.  

STEP TWO: EVALUATE THE HAIRLINE 

After evaluating Julia’s hairline, it’s very obvious that her natural hair parting is in the center.  If we want to switch the hair parting for the bridal updo, one side will be higher than the other due to the natural growth of the hair pattern. Therefore, I choose to use the GHD blowdryer to blow dry with a boar bristle round brush to redirect her root direction.

STEP THREE: CREATE HAIR TEXTURE
To create some refined texture of our bride’s hair, I started the process with spraying the hair with Keratin Thermal Protection Spray before using the heated tool. This step is to help maintain moisture in the hair and to keep the shine. Then I start to curl the hair using the GHD Classic Curl 1 inch curling iron.  

STEP FOUR: CREATE A BRAID

Create a small side braid. Section out about two finger widths of hairs from the hairline before starting the braid. Use the hair that’s left out to adjust the facial framing. Pin them up loosely at the very end of the process. 

STEP FIVE: PINNING THE HAIR

Start pinning the hair from the mid-back. Secure the hair with strong Grip Bobby pins, and create a strong base. 

STEP SIX: SECURE THE BRAIDS

Pull both sides and the braid to the back, secure them in the center back of the head, and gradually pin them from top to the bottom. 

STEP SEVEN: USE THE DONUT MESH STRATEGICALLY

Cut a small section out from the donut-bun-maker-mesh, place it at the mid-lower back where all the hair has gathered. Secure it with bobby pins.

STEP EIGHT: WRAP THE HAIR 

Divide the hair that is gathered on the back into two sections. Starting from the left side, twist and turn clockwise and wrap it the donut-bun-maker-mesh. Take the rest of the hair and wrap in counter-clock direction on top o the previous wrap to fully cover the donut-bun-maker-mesh. 

STEP NINE: ADJUST THE BUN

Adjust the bun to blend into the rest of the  bridal hairstyle, gently pull and loosen up the trends. Use Sexyhair Big Spray & Play hairspray to give extra hold. Since it is a workable spray, it prevents the hair from looking too stiff and still keep the nice flow when the wind blows.