Elegant updo wedding hairstyles

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Elegant updos are often sleek hairstyles in which the hair is swept up and off the face. These wedding hairstyles suit long hair with either long layers or no layering at all. A professional secret to keeping your wedding updo in place all day is to work on hair that has been washed the day before and had styling products applied to it. One-day-old hair, as its called, has more "grip" to it and will hold its style better than freshly-washed hair, which tends to be too slippery to style into an updo.

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1. Side Chignon

   • A side chignon is both an elegant and romantic wedding updo that is relatively easy to create at home. The hair should be shoulder length or longer with fine to medium texture. Begin by setting the hair in small hot rollers or Velcro rollers. If using Velcro rollers, each section of hair should be misted with a spray gel prior to wrapping the section around the roller. Allow the hair to set in the rollers, then gently remove each roller, being careful to keep the curl intact. With a cushion or paddle brush, gently back comb the roots of all your hair to create volume. Using the same brush, sweep the hair to one side and, using two bobby pins, create an "X" to hold the hair in place. With your fingers, gently sweep the front hair back and to the side, pinning where needed to hold the style. If the hair is especially long, the curls in the back can be pinned to create more volume in the chignon. Finish off with a firm holding hairspray to keep the style intact all day.

   French Roll

   • The French roll is a timeless wedding hairstyle that works for most any hair type longer than chin lengthm with little to no layering. To begin, back comb all the roots of the hair two inches from the scalp. Switch to a bristle brush and gently brush all the hair back off the face, smoothing out any bumps or fly-away hair as you go. Once all the hair is smoothed back, grab all the hair with one hand as though you were going to create a low ponytail. Begin twisting the ponytail, like a telephone cord, inward and towards the head. Insert a bobby pin into base of the twisted hair, catching some hair lying against the scalp to anchor the twist. Continue to twist upwards towards the crown area, creating a roll of hair as you go, until you reach the crown area. Insert several bobby pins into the seam where the rolled and non-rolled hair meet. For longer hair, any extra hair can be wrapped and tucked into the top of the roll, for a classic look, or can be left out and curled for a more modern updo.

   Ballerina Bun

   • The ballerina bun can be created quickly but is still an elegant wedding updo that looks more complicated than it is. For very straight or fine hair, begin by setting the hair in medium to large Velcro or hot rollers. This will make the hair more pliable and easier to work with. Once the hair is set, brush it out and back brush the roots of the hair to create volume. Next, create a side part, then section off the two front sections from in front of the ear, down. Pin these two sections aside. Gently smooth the hair at the crown area back, keeping some volume present and place a bobby pin, horizontally, just above the middle of the back of the head to keep this section's shape. Brush the two front sections down and back, keeping the sections sleek, with little volume. Gather the two front sections, and the remaining hair in the back, into one hand and create a ponytail just below the bobby pin. Use a 1-inch barrel curling iron to create ringlets in the ponytail. Roll these ringlets up, onto themselves, to create barrel-shaped curls and secure each barrel curl around the base of the ponytail to create a large bun. For a more modern look, some ends of the barrel curls can be left to protrude out. Finish with a firm-hold hairspray to hold the style in place.

Source: www.ehow.com

Tags: crown area, front sections, hair back, hold style, Velcro rollers, wedding hairstyles