The Perfect Hair for your Wedding with Anna ingram

Expert interview with Anna Ingram

We had the pleasure of chatting to Anna Ingram recently about all things hair including how to look after your hair in the lead-up to your big day, the products to use, the foods that will help heighten the gloss, what to think about for your hair trial and of course how to prepare for the big day itself.

Anna is a multi-award-winning hair stylist. She is also really friendly and reassuring and in our opinion, someone you want in your team on your wedding day! Her beautiful salon in Newquay is the perfect location for your hair trial - a place to get stylistic juices flowing over a cappuccino before creating the perfect look for your wedding.

Here are Anna’s top tips for achieving beautiful hair.

What are your top tips to achieve beautiful hair in time for the big day?

1. Book your wedding hair stylist well in advance. As soon as you have your date secured, that’s the time to book. When you’re booking your stylist look for someone who has evidence of lots of their work but also, importantly, you need to get on well with them as they will be with you on your big day.

2. I sometimes find that brides can be quite stressed with all that they have to do but this can have an adverse effect on hair and can cause hair to start shedding. To combat this, practice mindfulness and selfcare and where possible try to avoid stress.

3. Eat a well-balanced diet and don’t forget to hydrate. Your hair needs a variety of nutrients to stay healthy.

4. Focus on looking after your mind and body in the lead-up to your big day. This should be done around 6 months before your wedding but it’s better to think of it as a life style change.

Anna knows a thing of two about this and has recently launched a new business, The Bride Project which focuses on “giving you the tools you need to feel less stressed, more in control, strong, inspired, informed and capable” through yoga, meditation, skin and hair care, nutrition, stress management and anxiety support. Between Anna and Amy - a wonderful yoga teacher and massage therapist - they have all the knowledge to ensure the lead-up to your wedding is enjoyable and stress-free. Do check it out here.

What hair products do you recommend and why?

Ensure that you use hair products that have no silicone, sulfates or parabens. Silicone is the worst so definitely check your hair care ingredients for that one. I would recommend that you buy shampoos and conditioners that are all natural. Essential oils are great for feeding the scalp and hair and boost radiance and shine. I personally use a brand called EVO in the salon. It’s very clean and eco friendly. R&Co is always in my kit too. And for essential oils, I use brand called Centred. I love their preblended root oil.

How should brides prepare for their hair trial?

1. Bring all your accessories - your veil, anything that you would like to have in your hair.

2. Come with clean, dry hair so that the stylist can have a good look at your natural hair type, texture, density and condition of your hair. This will help to choose the best styling products and styling techniques to achieve the desired look.

3. Importantly, wear something light with an open neck so you can envisage how you will look in your dress.

4. Bring inspiration with you - pictures of what you do and don’t like.

5. Bring images of hair styles with similar hair colour to yours.

What happens at a hair trial?

It’s a chance to have a friendly meeting with your stylist. To chat about everything - your flowers, your dress, theme, colours, how you want to feel on your day - be it glamorous, elegant, romantic, or empowered. We’ll talk about your hair and your ideas. We’ll have a chat about which style might best complement your hair and features, the dress you’ve chosen, the look you want to achieve. And then once we’ve had a really good chat and got a really good sense of the style that you like and would best suit you, we’ll start to play with your hair. Very often, once we’ve finished styling the hair, brides will say to me “that’s exactly what I wanted!”

My hair trials take around 2.5 hours, which gives a really good amount of time to explore and style and to ensure that you go away feeing completely confident in the direction that we’ve settled on.

What are your recommendations for the big day?

Have freshly washed, fully dry hair with no products in it. It’s a myth that dirty hair holds the style better. Clean, fresh hair will ensure that your style holds.

Your hair and make-up artist (if you’re having one) will create a schedule, with the bride usually in the middle or the end. It’s important to think about what time your photographer is coming and whether having your make-up or hair done for the ‘getting ready shots’ is more important. If the make-up is more important then have it done first and vice versa. I allocate about 45 minutes for bridesmaids and 1.5 hours for the bride.

For more information about how to achieve the perfect hair for your wedding day, check out Anna’s blog here.

Photography - @howelljonesphotography from Chloe and Robbie’s stunning wedding day.