Planning Your Updo

When you arrive at the salon on the day of your prom or of your wedding, you should have an idea of how you want to look. Your hairdresser will appreciate your input although she may need to make creative adjustments to allow for the texture, volume and length of your hair.
In preparation for your visit to the salon, think about the different parts of the style. Front, sides and back. Finally, what type of curls appeal to you?

FRONT
Pull your hair back off your face. When following the hairline from one ear, up and across your forehead and down to the other ear, is it fairly even? You have several options. Your hair may be pulled straight back into the updo revealing a pretty hairline. Your hair can be kept off your face while being combed to the side for an interesting effect. Finally, you can choose not to reveal your hair line by wearing bangs.

Is your hairline receding at the temples? Does it go up from the ear and then take a sharp turn to the back before it comes forward and across your forehead? Some of us have thin areas at the temples even though the rest of our hair is thick. You may be receding on one side and not on the other. It is usually more attractive to wear a full or side bang to camouflage thinning areas. Comb short bangs to the side or part long hair on the side and let it drape over the thin area.If your thinning temples are not pronounced, you may also choose to create individual tendrils for camouflage. This is often a dressier look than the look of either the side or full bangs.

Do you have a high forehead? You may choose to comb your hair off your face, revealing it. This can be a very sophisticated look. You may choose to wear side bangs to soften a broad forehead.

SIDES
Do you have a narrow face shape or do your ears stick out? Ask your hairdresser to create some fullness on the sides of your style to fill in the distance between the head and the tips of the ears. This can be done with backcombing to create fullness or by adding curls or waves to the sides of the style.

BACK
Do you want your curls to begin low in the back or to be held up higher on the crown, perhaps by a French twist? Do you want your hair brushed up smoothly or do you want interest created by folds or braids

CURLS

There are many styles of curls. Look at pictures with your hairdresser or take a picture to the salon at the time of your visit. Do you want soft natural looking curls or traditional rolls? Do you want a few large curls or lots of smaller curls?

When discussing the overall look of your updo, remember that you don’t have to settle on a picture of just one style. You can have parts of several styles so that your updo is unique and individually yours.