A girl’s wedding is arguably one of the most important days of her life. On such a day, it’s only natural to want to look our best and feel as pretty as possible. One of the biggest decisions in choosing a bridal look is the way you decide to wear your hair. For my wedding day a few years ago, it was an easy decision to keep my curls and waves that I was born with. For my big day, I embraced curly wedding hair. Here’s why.
My Relationship With My Curly Hair
I would describe my hair as a mix of waves and looser curls. If you follow curl typing, I would say I have a mix of 2C/3A curls that are most defined on day one and stretch out as the days go on. I actually like my hair better on day two and day three when they are stretched a bit and look longer. More often than not for the sake of my scalp, I won’t go more than three days in between washing. My hair is dry and frizzy by nature, and I’m also growing out some damage from toxic styling products I used in 2019 that I thought were safe but sadly were not.
As a child I had cute bouncy ringlets. Growing up while in elementary school and high school, I so badly coveted super straight, silky shiny hair that was popular in the late ‘90s and early aughts—which was pretty opposite of my naturally curly texture. From middle school through my early 20s, I straightened my hair often and even got smoothing treatments a few times to try and help tame frizz and straighten my hair easier. They were damaging for sure. Then, in my early 20s, I started working out very regularly and exercising daily. Frequently exercising while fighting nature to keep my hair looking straight was a very time consuming and damaging combination, which led me to learn to work with my natural curls. This was the start of the road that led me to ultimately become a naturally curly bride.
My feeling towards my hair definitely changed over the years. I used to be so insecure about the frizz and always feared people would think my hair looked messy. As I got older and cared for my hair more, however, I felt my ringlets really became a part of my identity and personality. If I straighten my hair (which happens less than once a year), I feel like a different person. My curls match my relaxed, easygoing, and carefree self. Once I learned to properly care for, hydrate, and treat my hair, laying off any chemical smoothing treatments and super hot hair tools, I saw the health of my mane improve and start to look better and better.
Why I Chose To Wear My Naturally Curly Hair On My Wedding Day
I knew that I wanted to wear curly wedding hair for several reasons. As mentioned earlier, my curls are definitely a big part of my identity. I was also nervous that if I did blow my hair out I would stress about rain (which it sadly did) or humidity and freak out thinking that it would revert back and look weird. Since there were so many other things on that day to stress about, my hair did not need to be one of them.
Another factor in my decision was that since I got married near a beach, I really wanted long mermaid hair. The biggest influence in deciding how to wear my hair on my big day was myself, honestly. I wanted to look like a better version of myself and curly wedding hair was part of that. I chose to wear my hair all down since this is how I feel prettiest. I don’t like how my hair looks up so, though curly updos are stunning, I would not have felt as good with one.
One thing I did differently from my day-to-day curls was wear clip-in curly hair extensions. My hair was a decent length at the time, but I really wanted it to look super long. After searching for months, I finally found quality curly hair extensions that matched both my color (which is naturally ginger) and my looser curl pattern. To be honest, these were the one thing I went over budget on, and to this day I don’t regret it at all since they helped perfectly execute my bridal look vision.
While I left my curl pattern natural, I did have a professional curly hair stylist apply the extensions and style my hair. I’m decent enough at doing my own hair, but it’s nothing compared to a trained professional that knows how to work with curls.
We had a practice run about a month before the wedding, and once my hair was all done along with my makeup and my dress, I felt like a princess. It turned out even better than I imagined.
Styling product wise, I did use a lot more products than I typically would in my daily routine, as it was important for my hair to hold up and not turn frizzy throughout the day.
I started off the morning shampooing and using a hair mask. Then, I applied leave-in conditioner, mousse, gel, and hair oil to seal my strands—and lastly, nearly a full can of hairspray. The curly stylist also diffused my hair because while air drying is my preferred method, it simply would have taken more hours than we had time to allow. Even looking back at my wedding pictures now a few years later, I couldn’t imagine wearing my hair any other way.
If you are an upcoming bride and have any texture to your hair, there are so many beautiful curly wedding hair ideas that are just as gorgeous as a blow out. Don’t let anyone pressure you into doing something with your hair on your big day that you don’t want to do. It’s your wedding and curly wedding hair is as stunning as straight hair!
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