Wedding hairstyle for natural hair: 3 styles so you never have to wonder what to do again

The dress is chosen, the venue booked, and one question comes up late at night: what do I do with my hair? Many brides-to-be with kinky hair have never met a stylist who knows how to handle it.

The problem, however, is almost never the hairstyle itself. It's the timeline. A successful wedding hairstyle for kinky hair is decided two to three months in advance, tested once in real conditions, and relies on a supple and well-hydrated hair fiber. Here are three styles that last all day, and how to prepare your hair so they can do the job. To start from a healthy base, our step-by-step tutorial details the six steps of the Rituel Texture®.

Style 1The soft bun

The bun remains the quintessential wedding hairstyle, and the one that most often fails on kinky hair, for a simple reason: we try to achieve a perfectly smooth surface. On a springy fiber, this surface resists the brush and the gel, and pays for itself with pulling from the second hour. The soft bun starts from the opposite principle: we don't remove the volume, we move it.

The hair is styled without flattening the temples, wrapped around a cushion or a crown of braids, and held by pins rather than continuous tension. Worn high, it elongates the silhouette and clears the back; worn low, it suits a high collar better and leaves room to secure a veil.

That's always where it comes from: well-done braids and well-placed pins. If you want a clean surface at the front, ask for a light gel worked in with your fingers or a wide-tooth comb, never a hard brush on the temples, which hold the finest hair. Remember this criterion: a bun that pulls after half an hour of testing will pull much more after six hours of ceremony.

Style 2The enhanced afro

Wearing your hair down on your wedding day is no longer a bold move, and it's often the choice that looks most like you: the one you recognize twenty years later. An afro styled into a rounded shape holds perfectly all day, under the same condition as any other day of the week: it is done the day before, never the morning of. Our hairstyle inspirations provide the details.

What changes on a wedding day are three additional constraints. The veil first: it is secured under the volume at the back, or on a small hidden bun, never over it, where its comb would flatten the shape in an hour. The accessories next, and the afro can accommodate many: a crown of fresh flowers, delicate head jewelry, a decorative comb tucked to the side. Finally, the light, which makes even the slightest flattened side visible.

These three points are checked during the hairstyle trial, with the veil in its final place, when there is still time to change your mind.

Style 3Braids and twists

This is the safest option if the wedding takes place outdoors, in summer, or if the day promises to be long. Long twists gathered into a ponytail, braids pulled up into a bun, flat braided patterns that meet at the back: the hairstyle is done once and for all and will not move, regardless of the humidity in the air. Discreetly colored extensions can match the shade of the outfit. For ideas without extensions, see our hairstyles without extensions.

Here, the only real adjustment is the installation time. One to two weeks before, never the day before: the scalp needs a few days to relax, and it shows in photographs, with still-red roots and lines that are too sharp. Too early as well, because braids installed two months before will have time to come loose at the root and lose their design.

Then comes the tension, which cannot be adjusted with a calendar. The weight of the extensions, the way the root is held, and the condition of your scalp determine comfort much more than the number of weeks. A braid that still pulls the day after installation will not loosen on its own: have it redone immediately rather than discovering irritated contours in the photographs.

Preparing your hair, month by month

This is the invisible part of the big day, and yet it is what determines the result. A dry fiber will not hold a shape or shine for more than two hours, and no product applied the morning of can make up for three months of dryness. Here is the timeline we recommend during consultations.

1. 01
   2 to 3 months beforeA complete Rituel Texture® every 7 to 10 days, with The Repair Mask left on for 10 minutes, under a bonnet if possible. This is the time to trim damaged ends. See when to cut your kinky hair.
2. 02
   1 month beforeThe hairstyle trial, with the planned accessories and the veil. Keep the hairstyle for several hours, go out with it, sit down, walk: it's the only way to know if it holds and if it remains comfortable.
3. 03
   1 to 2 weeks beforeThe installation of the braids or twists, if you have chosen this style. From here on, no more novelties: no new product, no coloring, no untested treatment.
4. 04
   2 to 3 days beforeThe last complete Rituel Texture®, including protective drying, for a bun or an afro. On the big day, all that remains is to style already prepared hair.

Choosing and briefing your stylist

The stylist at the reception venue, your mother's stylist, the one who styled your bridesmaid: none of these criteria says whether they have ever worked with kinky hair. Yet it is the only question that matters, and it should be asked frankly from the first call. A professional accustomed to straight hair will work your hair as if it were a material to be flattened, and that is where the pain and hairstyles falling apart two hours later come from. Book early too: among the few professionals trained in kinky and curly textures, wedding calendars fill up nearly a year in advance.

When a full team comes on the same morning, the order of their visits is decided in advance. The hairstyle takes longer than expected and suffers from being redone after makeup: it is often the one that must start. Finally, send reference photographs taken on a texture similar to yours, because an inspiration found on curly hair does not translate directly. See how to find a good stylist.

The day before and the morning of

The evening before, the best service you can do for your hair is to try nothing new. Do exactly what you do on other evenings: a little of The Styling Cream focusing on the ends, six tight braids on the hair itself and never at the root, then a silk scarf and a silk pillowcase. It is not the day before a wedding that you change your nighttime routine. The role of each material is detailed in our article on accessories suitable for kinky hair.

In the morning, allow more time than what you were told. A soft bun or a constructed afro rarely takes less than an hour and a half once the hair is ready, and rushing is what makes the hand tighten. Keep a few extra pins and a little of The Styling Cream for frizz at the end of the day, and entrust it all to someone in your circle: you will not have your hands free.

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