Last September, my best friend asked me to stand up as a bridesmaid in her wedding. On the one hand, I was thrilled to play an important role in her special day, but on the other, the natural hair blogger side of me had great concern about what to do with my hair. Not only do I have an asymmetrical hair cut, a style that doesn’t easily lend itself to updos, but my trusted San Francisco stylist at Madusalon wouldn’t fit in my suitcase to make the trek back home to Minneapolis for the event. I considered just wearing my signature wash’n’go, but wanted to do something special for the black tie event.
Finally, the bride selected a salon at which all of the bridesmaids would be getting their hair done. I immediately hopped on the salon’s website and saw that they were a Deva retailer. “Oh joyous joy!” I thought to myself, “We’ve got a curl friendly salon!” But after a conversation with the stylist who admitted quite honestly that she didn’t want to ruin my curls with her lack of actual texture knowledge, she suggested that I should go talk to the stylists at a different salon. In a supreme stroke of awesome, she even went out of her way to find and recommend a curl-friendly salon for me: East 42nd Street Salon.
East 42nd Street not only immediately welcomed my texture, they also expressed excitement in working with my hair to create a totally unique style for uber fancy affair. During a trial run two days before the ceremony, we devised a style that would combine flat rolls and a bouffant that would compliment my texture and accommodate my asymmetrical cut. The final style was absolutely gorgeous, and I’m thrilled with how it turned out!
Here’s how we got the look:
- Begin on dry hair and use a rat tail comb to create half-inch vertical sections along one side of the head.
- Flat roll upwards using a gel or pomade and secure with a bobby pin leaving about ½” loose at the end.
- Continue flat rolling rolling the entire side and back of the head.
- Tuck the ends of the flat rolls under, creating a larger flat row “crown” around the perimeter of the smaller flat rows.
- Begin with the loose hair at the crown and pull sections of hair taut to create a woven look across the back.
- Pull the front and sides upwards and back to create a bouffant, tighter on the sides with more volume in the front. Here you can play with the shape and direction.
- Finish with a light hold spray to prevent any frizz or flyaways!
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Final Thoughts
Updo’s require a lot of manipulation, so be sure to begin on well-conditioned hair. When removing the style, apply deep conditioner first to soften the gel and hair spray before washing and styling as normal. Good luck and happy wedding season!
What is the best curly formal hairstyle you have had? What salon did you go to or did you create the look yourself?
