Last week, we chatted with hairstylist Kelly Snesrud — who does hair and makeup for photoshoots for several of our sister publications — about the trend heard ‘round TikTok of a bride cutting her hair between her wedding ceremony and the reception.
Kelly here: I actually ran into Snesrud after our interview and the jury is still out for both of us on whether we like this trend or are worried that it could go horribly wrong.
Without the dramatics of a TikTok haircut, we wanted to pick Snesrud’s brain about more typical wedding hair practices and a timeline of events leading up to a wedding.
6-8 months: Start thinking about a specific wedding hairstyle.
“Many brides want to wear their hair down these days, so that will give hair time to grow. Hair grows about 1/4-1/2-inch monthly,” said Snesrud. “That is plenty of time to pick a style and also discuss if extensions are needed. Whether hair is up or down, extensions can add some thickness, fullness to the day of style with looking more natural. I also suggest, if a crazy fun color like bleach blonde or other colors are wanted, this can be achieved with the actual extensions so no harm would be done to the hair.”
3-4 months: Hair trial
“I would say a wedding hairstyle trial should be done about three to four months out,” said Snesrud. “Sometimes people will try a few styles out and take pics so they can see it and let it sink in. Any hairdresser for weddings would be happy to do this.”
2 weeks: Cut and color
“Wedding day hair cut and color should be done within two weeks of the big day,” said Snesrud. “I always suggest for women who don’t color their hair, to do a simple ‘shine’ treatment to make their natural hair shine like a diamond on their big day without any chemical processing. I do recommend that a bride does a blow out the day before — usually rehearsal day — which also is a time saver and ensures the stylist that their hair is properly prepped and ready to be styled.”
Every 2-3 months: Maintenance, leading up to the wedding
“To maintain the freshness of the color, I suggest coming in every two-to-three months up to the [wedding] date to maintain the color or too add to the existing color to make sure it is what the bride wants and likes,” said Snesrud. “A lot of people try something new and realize that they want to stick with their original hair color.”
Lagniappe:
In addition to her timeline, we asked Snesrud if she had any products that she would suggest to brides to get their hair wedding ready. She told us that shine shampoos are fabulous, as well as hydrating mask treatments at home can help with hair growth.
