Planning out your Indian wedding hairstyles should be super easy – just pick out your photos and go, right?
I’m sure you have Pinterest pins with ideas, or you’re putting it off until the hair trial (or you’re putting it off until your stylist asks you what you want…at the wedding!).
With everything else going on during wedding planning, it’s easy to miss the details about planning your hairstyles.
It shouldn’t be complicated and it’s not if you do it the right way.
Follow these tips and you’ll be on your way to a stress-less wedding weekend (or at least a minimized stress wedding weekend!) Look out for some curated hairstyles throughout the post – perfect for an Indian wedding.
Be Open and Make it Your Own. Look at “regular” (i.e. Non-Indian wedding) hairstyles and see how you can interpret them 
to make it your own. You don’t need to copy exact Indian wedding hairstyles, just use any hairstyle as a start.
Try searching “wedding hairstyles” rather than only “Indian wedding hairstyles.” Keep your options open, you never know what you’ll come across.
Personally, I’m a big fan of Jessica Alba’s hairstyles so I searched for her specifically – I actually ended up using a few of her styles for my wedding but modified them to my liking.
If you haven’t already, keep track on a Pinterest board or paste your photos onto a word doc (and print it out for your trial). On that note…
Do a hair trial with all of your hairstyles. If you’re thinking about possibly skipping your trial because you don’t want to pay for it, scratch that thought! Yes, a hairstylist will charge you for a hair trial but it’s worth the effort and time, trust me!
You’ll be surprised what you end up liking and not liking based on what you thought were the hairstyles you wanted. Your stylist will make recommendations based on your style ideas and it’ll give you a chance to tweak them.
She’ll even tell you what won’t work- for many reasons – it could be that it might fall out, it’s not a good style for your type of hair or another reason. That’s what happened with my styles, and I’m so glad my stylist guided me through the process.
Decide if you’re planning to cover your head with a veil (chunni) before your hair trial. I cannot emphasize this enough! If you’re planning to use a chunni, take it with you to your trial so your hairstylist is familiar with how heavy and thin or think it is. It’ll also help you figure out a style.
If your chunni is a thinner material and you see through it, then you could do a hairstyle that’s a little more elaborate. On the other hand, if it’s a thicker fabric, there’s no need to do anything more than a basic bun since nobody can see through it. You get the point. And, even better is if your hairstylist can do your style and pin your chunni on after so you can see how it feels.
Pick an appropriate hairstyle for each event. If you’re going to be dancing (or doing a dance) at your sangeet night, then think about a more versatile hairstyle that’ll let you move around or a braid that’s more traditional. You don’t want to look like a statue because your hairstyle might fall out.
Don’t let a cousin, friend or random aunt do your hair unless she is a professional hairdresser. I bet you know at least one person who “does hair.” Well, that depends. Are they professional or not?
You could probably get “a great deal” from a friend who’s learning how to do hair professionally, but it’s not worth risking it for your wedding weekend. It’s fine if you want them to do guests’ hair or even do your hair for another (not so important) event like going out for your bachelorette party. But let the professionals do your hair for your wedding events.
Take care of your hair before your wedding. Wash your hair the day before you first event, and don’t use conditioner (or any other hair products) anytime you wash your hair that weekend. Let your stylist handle the products for you.
If you’re planning on long styles, grow out your hair, layers etc at least a few months before your wedding. Also, don’t attempt any new haircuts before the wedding. Save it for post-wedding.
All extra time with your hair and makeup schedule. Most brides don’t even think about this! Ask both your hairstylist and makeup artist how long they will need to do your hair and makeup (and also anyone else – your mom, sister, etc).
Add in additional buffer times to whatever they say. Worst case, you’re ready on time and have a few extra minutes to spare. Wow, that sounds terrible.. (sarcasm).
And last but not least…
Don’t go overboard! Sometimes simple hairstyles look 100 times more elegant than an elaborate style. We Indians are conditioned to think that more is more. Sorry to break it you but LESS is more. Or at least that’s my motto! You’ll come across some hilarious hairstyles as you look for what’s perfect for you. How about this one? It’s a really big bee hive.
Indian wedding hairstyle FAIL!
Check out my search tips below to help you filter to the exact hairstyles you want during your Google search:
How to search for the right Indian wedding hairstyles online:
- Try variations of words so you’re not going through only “Indian wedding hairstyles”
- Try searching for different celebrity hairstyles like “Jessica Alba hairstyle”
- If you like certain styles, go straight to searching those like “low chignon”
- You don’t need to include the word “wedding” every time you search.
- Widen your search beyond Pinterest. Search Google, then click the “images” link at the top. Now you can search for only images and it cuts out everything else. When you find styles you like, save the images to a word doc (and print out for your trial).
Love Deepika Padukone’s (Bollywood actress) modern braided updo, perfect for an Indian wedding!
Soft, long curls are perfect for your reception. Add flowers or jeweled pins to add a touch more.
A soft, updo for a welcome night/sangeet/raas garba night
Simple curls for short hair and a veil/chunni for your ceremony do (You can make this work for an Indian wedding too).
Simple curled look with a pin on the side makes for an elegant reception look.
Visit our Pinterest page for inspiration on Indian wedding hairstyles
For more ideas, visit our resources page.
Photo credits:
https://poojapradeep14615.wordpress.com https://www.pinterest.com/harpersbazaar/ http://www.a2zlifestyles.com/
http://therighthairstyles.com/ http://www.wedmegood.com/ http://www.percyhandmade.com/
http://Zuri.in http://www.desiphotographer.com/ http://polkadotbride.com