Wedding Hair Styles

With our wedding just three days away (oh my—three days), I have been asked questions about my hair almost more than anything. "How are you going to wear your hair?" seems to come up every time the wedding does.

And guess what? I have no idea how I'm going to do my hair on the wedding day. NO IDEA.*

Recently, I had my hair curled for my bridal shower, and afterward, I went home to play around with some styles. I took some photos to help make a note about what I liked and didn't like. I have a little archive of wedding hair ideas on Bye Bye Beehive, so I adapted some of those styles to make new ones.
Here are a couple of my ideas for wedding hair styles.

THE TWISTED HALF-UP STYLE. This one is so easy. It's the base hairstyle for most of the other ones featured here. It's really similar to this style, but instead of just pinning it back, I twisted the hair as I pulled it back & before I pinned it, creating a pretty and soft design in the back. It would be great to add a little pearl or flower hair clip to hide the bobby pins or gap between the twists.

THE PINNED UPDO. I took the Twisted Half-Up pictured above and simply pinned my bottom half all up to make this easy updo. It took about 10-15 extra bobby pins. I would just grab a strand of hair, twist it and then pin it into place, creating a little "poof" (best word I could come up with) of hair with each pin. In the end, I had about 10 poofs that came together to create the definition in this updo. I pulled and tugged at each one to make this style look nice and full.

THE TWISTED PONYTAIL. You've seen this one before. This time, I didn't pin the last couple pieces up so high, so instead of creating a waterfall look, they simply cascaded down the ponytail. To create this look, all you do is just twist & pin (going under the curls to hide the pins). It's so simple and stays in place all day if you add a little hairspray.

THE TWISTED LOW CHIGNON. I started again with the Twisted Half-Up style, and instead of pinning smaller pieces of hair all over the place and higher up like the Pinned Updo, I took a couple large sections of hair, pinned them in a low bun, and then tugged on them to make the chignon just a bit bigger. I think this style would be really pretty with a couple loose curly strands falling down from the bun.

THE SIMPLE TWIST & PIN. As the name implies, this one is simple. You tease the hair at the crown of your head, twist back the front pieces & pin them under your hair, and you're set. This style is perfect for the easy-going-hair-all-down kind of bride.

And there are 5-easy wedding hair styles. Each of these took me less than 10-minutes, with some of them taking much, much less.

*FYI: in case you're wondering, I will not be wearing a veil, and my dress is not strapless.

Which is your favorite?

Straight Straight Hair

Photos: Taylor Love Studios // Top: Romy // Bracelets: c/o Threads // Hair: c/o Hana Elite Flat Iron

Over the last year, my hair has transformed more than I ever thought possible. It has grown over 6-inches. Since I haven't colored my hair since May of 2011, I've found that my natural color is apparently a light brown (it looks lighter in the photos)... I've always thought I was a blonde. Imagine realizing that fact about yourself—that you've been wrong about your natural hair color for 26-years. Oops. It also isn't as "stick straight" as I always thought. In fact, it's actually quite straight in the front, but the back tends to take on a little awkward beach wave if I just leave it alone. Some days, that's OK. Other days? I want it to look nice. And I'll tell you what—in the time that you've been reading this blog (some of you a little over a year), you have never seen my hair as straight as it is today. I promise you that. Since I wasn't able to use a straightener for the entire last year due to my Bye Bye Beehive project, I didn't even remember what my hair looked like after being straightened. And let me just say—I love it. So yes, today's post is about hair. Straight hair. And as I sit here writing this to you, I promise you, this is a product I stand behind.

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This past July, I was contacted by a representative from Misikko about reviewing a blow dryer. Clearly, since I was in the middle of my 365-day no-hair-styling project, I had to tell them I couldn't do it. I was bummed, too, because I would have loved a new blow dryer. But then, a week after finishing Bye Bye Beehive, I sent Misikko a reply, letting them know that my project was finished and I'd like to review that dryer for them. They instead asked if I would like to review a Hana Salon flat iron. I was thrilled, to say the least, since I haven't owned a flat iron in years. I asked them, "How did you know?!" They were so sweet and the shipped off the flat iron that next day.

To say that I was impressed with the packaging would be an understatement. I was expecting just a flat iron. I got an entire box full of goodies. A flat iron, an iron case, an iron mat, a brush, lip gloss, eyelash curler, an ornament and even rose petals. You guys... rose petals. I emailed them right away to see if this was a mistake—all of it for me? My rep reassured me, this is how each Misikko product is packaged. Their guarantee of "OOOOOOHS and AHHHHHHS" is right.

Now, it's one thing to ship your product in the most eye-appealing package ever, but the real question is—does the product work?

I put it to the test. I showered the evening before I used it and went to bed with wet, un-brushed hair. When I woke up, my hair was pretty wavy—much more wavy than it normally air-dries. I busted out my straightener, heated it up (which only took a couple seconds), and got to work. Less than 3-minutes later, I had stick straight hair. Straight straight hair.

Now, I know I don't have the curliest or waviest hair you've ever seen, but for me? This is the best hair straightener. Let's just say, my hair stayed straight all day. I am in love. I think the only disadvantage of this beauty is the price tag. To be honest, my jaw dropped a little when I saw that the price for this was over $200. Maybe it's just me, and the fact that I haven't owned a straightener in years, but if I were shopping around, that's just not something I would go for, especially since I could get about 10+ new tops at TJ Maxx for that same price.

But—for those who live and breathe by their straighteners (and I know some of you do), when it comes to flat irons, you've got to see it as an investment. And this flat iron is an incredibly made, high quality hair styling tool. It has 100% ceramic plates, adjustable heat settings (I used mine on a lower setting since my hair straightens easily), it doesn't smell when it heats up, and it didn't make my hair smell like it had been burned, which so many flat irons out there are notorious for.

I have to say, I'm a fan. Misikko, you won me over. Do any of you have this flat iron? How long does it take to straighten your hair? Do you prefer straight or wavy? Let's talk hair!