Getting My Hair Did

In early February I had my bridal portraits taken, and I'm so excited to share those with ya'll! They turned out really well, and I love them. :)

In the meantime, getting bridal portraits done means I needed to become beautimus, so I knocked out a couple birds and had my hair trial then as well. You may remember my previous hair inspiration. In addition, I decided I wanted my veil to sit at the back of my head, and I wanted my hair to have a little bit of volume.

I didn't end up getting quite as much "bump" around the crown as I had planned for, because my thick hair was veering dangerously toward Snooki territory every time we tried to give it some volume! Luckily I think we reached a happy medium, and I loved the way it turned out. Also, it should be noted that when I curl my own hair, it doesn't hold longer than about two hours. I don't know what kind of industrial strength hairspray magic the salon used, but my hair still looked awesome 12 hours later, AND it's still curly after I slept on it!

And with the veil ... tada! I'm a bride!

How are you doing your wedding hair?

The Things We Do For Hair, Part 3

Last July, Hyena Sis called me to tell me about a recent purchase she'd made. Real hair extensions! Because they're made of real hair, they can be curled, washed, straightened and styled just like the rest of your hair. :) Hyena Sis has the same hair color as I do, although I've dyed mine a few (okay, a lot) more times than she has, so my ends are a little bit lighter than the rest of my hair. But, because she's a good sister, she offered to let me borrow them from her for the wedding. Hooray!

Mr. H was not on board with this when I first mentioned it. He said he liked my normal hair. Duly noted. :)

My current hair.

The extensions were long enough that they'd probably look a little weird if I chopped my hair off and tried to pull them off, but if I let it keep growing, they'd probably look pretty natural. Hyena Sis also is considering cutting them to be a little bit shorter. But it's cool to know that it's an option!

Extensions! (all photos personal)

Obviously I'd like it to be curly, which will probably make them blend in better as well.

Would you try extensions for your wedding hair?

The Things We Do For Hair, Part 2

((NOTE FOR PENGY - the reason I used the same source for all of these images is because I know the celeb fashion blog that posted them pays for the image service. If it is an issue that they all come from one site, please let me know and I'll find some alternatives.))

I showed you what I would do if I somehow manage to go another few months without taking scissors to my own hair. But one of the things I continuously stumble upon is that your wedding is a reflection of yourself, and therefore you should look and feel like yourself during it. I like this sentiment a lot, but I wasn't convinced I wanted to be a short(er)-hair bride. So I went searching for inspiration. (Now, I apologize that most of these don't actually count as SHORT short hair, but these are about the length that I typically like to keep my hair at.)

Shorter hair is still capable of some types of updos:

via Go Fug Yourself / Diane, Elizabeth, Charlize, Anna

Or pinned back with cute accessories:

via Go Fug Yourself / Carrie, Julie, Kate, Diane

Or the standard down-and-curly:

via Go Fug Yourself / Charlize, Jayma, Emma, Carrie

I guess I'm glad that, if I do go nuts and have to hack all my hair off, at least there are some cute options out there! (And um, it's not fair that Carrie Underwood looks cute no matter what she does.)

The Things We Do For Hair, Part 1

Like many brides before me, getting engaged meant I had to stop regularly chopping off my hair and actually let it grow. Dang it.

I've had long(ish) hair on and off all my life, mainly because I always think it'd be nice to have it, but then as soon as I actually get halfway to having long hair, I get sick of it and chop it off. It always gets too unruly, or too tangly, or takes way too long to blow-dry and I decide, screw it, see ya hair.

But I'm holding out, because of this:




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Oooooh, and this:

From Weddingbee user ddubzz's wedding

Which means ... I needed to drastically change the way I deal with my hair if I don't want to hate it and chop it all off again.

• Split ends and damage - I started going to get my hair trimmed every six weeks. You know, the way you're supposed to. :)
• Breakage at crown - Supposedly combing wet hair causes less damage near the roots of your hair than brushing it does. I don't really get the logic of this, but I'm doing it.
• Greasy-looking within a couple hours of shampooing - I've always had this problem when I grow my hair, so I switched to a fancy shampoo brand. I kind of hate how much money I'm spending on shampoo, but I've noticed that this is MUCH less of a problem now. So I figure I'll just stick it out with the high-quality brand until the wedding, then when I cut all my hair off, then I can switch back to the $2-a-bottle kind.

Anybody else growing out their hair kind of against their will? :) Or any hair tips I should be following?

To Veil or Not to Veil? Good Question.

Before I went dress shopping, I had decided that I didn't want a veil. I've always liked birdcage veils, but I wasn't sure I could pull one off. I didn't like the look of most regular veils, because I like to think I'm non-traditional and I didn't want anything covering up my face and/or getting in the way.

At the dress boutique, Sales Teenager tried to put a veil on my head when I came out in dress #1. I told her, no thank you, I don't want a veil. Bridesmaid J said, "Miss Hyena, when else in your life are you going to get to wear a veil? You have to have one!" Fine. I conceded and let them put veils on my head.

She was right. The veil made everything look more complete. I made an "Aaaaah I'm a bride!!!!" face at J and purchased the one that matched the beading in my dress.

I picked up my veil a while ago, so I paraded it around for Mom Hyena and tried to figure out how I should wear it, how I should wear my hair, and exactly what level of awesome my decision to get a veil was (Wicked Awesome, thankyouverymuch!).

I'd like to have my hair half-up, so here are my options for the veil. (Tyra, call me! I could be the next top model!)

On the back of the head, right where my hair would be pulled back:

Directly on top of my head. This was where Sales Teenager placed it, and it looked fine, but when I put it on myself, it looks dumb. Maybe it's crooked? But of course, I will have help the day of.

I think I'm leaning toward the first option. What do you think?

(Obi-Wan picture from here. All other pictures personal.)