Q&A Fabsheaiountyand Look the best version of you with our expert advice BRIDAL PREPARATIONS Our wedding is a few weeks away! Is there anything we need to keep in mind to ensure a stress-free wedding morning? Firstly, ensure you care for yourself on the days leading up to the wedding. Avoid sitting in the sun and getting sunburn or bad tan lines, which will also really dry out your skin and even lead to peeling! Wear your shoes before the big day to soften them up and avoid painful blisters later. Do as much prep as you can the night before, like hanging those beautiful dresses up high so they don’t crease and are all set for any snaps the photographer might want to get. During the morning, have scissors on hand as someone always needs a label, tag or ribbon cut out of something in a last-minute panic. Avoid wearing bras, Apple Watches or anything that will leave indents on your skin that will be visible once your dress is on. It’s a great idea to wear a robe or shirt with buttons while getting ready rather than something you have to take off over your head that could potentially ruin your hair and make-up! A crochet hook will be your best friend if you have lots of buttons to do up on your dress, as it can be a time saver to help with those fiddly loops. Remember to take the flowers out of the water early so they don’t drip and make marks on the dresses! Plan to be in your gown about an hour before the ceremony to avoid the mad rush. Allow yourself plenty of time to soak up this quality time with loved ones, as it always goes quickly. Play your favourite music, pop the Prosecco, and soak up these special moments. Emily Hughes | Serendipity Brides | https://serendipitybrides.co.uk LIFT OFF My long hair is generally quite flat and lifeless, but I love the idea of wearing my hair down on my wedding day. What can I do to give it more volume? One of the easiest ways is to get some layers put in it. If you’ve got collarbone-length locks or longer, then longish layers are best with the shortest being chin or jaw length. This way, you take weight out of the hair but keep the length while creating body. Having a fringe put in is also a great way of achieving more volume. Blow-drying your hair properly is a good idea too. So, dry using a small, round brush dry from roots upwards. People think a big brush is the best way to create body, but actually a smaller size is better as you can get right in at the root lifting from the scalp. Blow-drying hair with your head upside down is also a good trick. Remember, you’re trying to defy gravity, getting the hair away from the head. The MDLondon Blow with a large nozzle and a really good bristle brush will give you a fantastic blow-dry with flyaway- and frizz-free shine and lots of volume! You’ll want to look for resin-based blow-dry products containing PDP VA core polymers such as mousse, blow-dry sprays, and hair protection sprays. These can go hard or a bit crispy but as long as you’re constantly moving the brush while you’re drying you’ll avoid the worst of this. But bear in mind that you do need some of that crunchiness as it’s this texture that supports the volume. I love a product called Sugarlift by Wella EIMI. Dry shampoos and dry texturising sprays are good at supporting volume too. I use Umberto Giannini Texture Boost on myself and on my clients. You can use it throughout the day, so if you feel your hair getting a bit flat, just flip your head forward and spray it in at the roots whenever you need to. Above all, you don’t want anything oily on the hair – no oils, no serums, nothing greasy as they’re heavy. Another good method for creating body is adding waves. If you put a curling tong through sections of your hair it creates push against other sections and that in turn creates volume. But if you don’t put enough wave in at the roots the hair sits a bit flat, so make sure you concentrate the tongs at the root, which is where you want the lift. On the big day, put medium velcro rollers in your hair and leave them while you have your make-up done. Try a bit of backcombing at the roots too, teasing the hair with a widetoothed comb. Michael Douglas | MD London | https://mdlondon.co.uk www.gettyimages.co.uk 69 ASK THE EXPERTS
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