As I scrolled through Pintrest, I saw loose pretty hair with fresh flower arrangements, the hair was natural, relaxed and beautiful. The demand for bohemian vibes and loose hair was becoming more and more apparent however, it appeared that the hair industry was still catching up as I couldn't find anyone who could do these hairstyles! As I searched for my hairstylist, I flicked through various portfolios. The brides had beautiful , shiny, glossy, perfectly curled amd pinned hair – Just not the tousled, relaxed and pretty natural hair I desired.
As I whinged about my hairstylist woes at work, my colleague recommended her hairdresser, Claire, who loved the boho/festival bridal hair and that it was "her thing". My colleague explained Claire was currently working on her website – hence not finding her during my big search!
I met Claire for a consultation/coffee to chat about what the feel for my wedding was and I think the aim was to give her an idea of who I was. She was attentive and professional from the start – we compared Pintrest boards and chatted – I immediately felt comfortable and knew she completely understood what I wanted . We organised my trial and kept in touch between time about any new ideas – this made me feel valued and that she really cared and had a genuine interest in my day and my hair. During the trial, we experimented, and Claire made me so excited about my hair because it was perfect. I didn't want to take it out!
The wedding day arrived and we had so much fun with Claire doing our hair for us. Claire created a beautiful, loose, pretty, perfectly imperfect, boho up do with big braids and sweeping hair and created a gorgeous half up look for my bridesmaids which was in theme with my hair. She also did gorgeous arrangements with fresh flowers for each of us to match our bouquets which stayed in perfectly (We all still had flowers pinned in our hair the following day!).
My veil was secured and Claire stuck around right until I was due to walk up the aisle – she even carried my veil for me so it didn't drag on the floor before I walked out and did some final checks to make sure everything stayed in place. After the ceremony, I went to take off my veil and grab my clutch – I opened my clutch to find a handful of bobby pins in the little pocket - from Claire, of course. I smiled – Although, I definitely didn't need them – My hair wasn't going anywhere!
I feel like Claire is so deserving of an award, the way she works is professional, she isn't just your hairstylist on your wedding day, she's your friend. She looked after all of us and made sure we had the best version of our hair on the wedding day and offered advice when needed.
Whilst her business is young, she is very established in her own right and has a flare and genuine interest in bridal looks and whilst she is unbelievably talented in creating loose, and less formal bridal looks, it is evident that she is so versatile and more than capable of putting the same amount of effort and love into creating perfect vintage, polished and glossy looks too.
I feel that most of all, what makes Claire so special is that she appreciates that no bride is the same. Us brides, we have different styles and different ideas of what suits us and different hair types, lengths and hair colours. Claire doesn't churn out the same hairstyles each time, Claire takes on board who you are and will adapt and tweak hairstyles to make them yours – In my opinion too many brides look the same and now, more and more brides are wanting to be different to some degree – Claire is niche and is an answer to those brides. Claire puts an end to conventional bridal hair without losing any kind of tradition or values. She deserves so much recognition for what she does. I feel so lucky to have found her and have her do my hair on the biggest day of my life. I looked exactly how I wanted to.
She isn't like the other hairdressers – she really, truly is a "bobby pin" in a haystack!
