Bridal Hair Business Building Tips

Whether you're a hairdresser who has a special knack for weaving stunning hairstyles for the blushing bride and her wedding party or you want to partner with a bridal hair expert to offer related bridal hair services (custom headpieces, fresh flowers for the nuptial tresses or special order bridal hair accessories) you have to market your expertise to the bride-to-be and her inner circle.

Keep in mind that happy brides will tell all of their friends about your stunning bridal hair styling skills. So will their mothers and attendants. Good bridal hairdressers can surprisingly be hard to find.

Why? Many hairdressers are unwilling to take on the stress of doing a bride's hair on the day of her wedding or at her home.

Are you eager to develop a bridal hair related business? Listed below are some tricks of the bridal hair trade:

1. Start by purchasing a great digital camera and recorder.

These are two tools even more important than your favorite hairdryer when it comes to building a bridal hair business.

Why? In order to build a solid bridal hair clientele and get long term referrals you mush be able to showcase your past work. Newly engaged brides-to-be want to see what you can do and visualize how they might wear their tresses on their most important day.

2. Get a legally binding release form.

Check out books of legal forms and find one that allows you to take photos of your bridal hair clients in order to show other prospective brides.

Even though a client may give you verbal permission to take digital shots or videos or your work, they may later renege on rights to showcase their hairstyles to prospective brides. Yes, this is rare but it has happened and the last thing you want is legal problems surrounding your bridal hair business.

3. Point and Shoot

Build a book or portfolio of photos. When possible offer all types of viewing options from the book you keep in your salon or shop to a CD and DVD that prospective brides can take home to review in their leisure.

Focus on creating high-resolution photos and then have beautiful bridal hair covers created for the outside of your CD and/or DVD. Give the CD and DVD as gifts to any newly engaged clients.

If you are concerned about using your real bride's hair, plan and book a professional shoot using real models and a good photographer. Many professionals will schedule a shoot and coif several different looks for a top quality book of hair work.

4. Display your CD and DVD prominently on your workstation.

Even if you don't have a lot of newly engaged women as clients, you still can get referrals from your regular clients. If they see that you specialize in wedding hair they will be more likely to refer you to their friends or family. If your existing clients don't know your are into bridal hair events, they won't think to refer you.

Send your best hair work in high res to websites that display bridal hair with your name and contact information. HairBoutique receives images from hairdressers on a regular basis who wish to have their hair work published.

Note: To send bridal hair images or other hair images for publication please email [email protected] for details.

5. Compile a detailed price sheet with clear styling options

One of the most common issues that occur with bridal hair is miscommunication between the bridal party and the hairdresser.

Some brides naturally assume if a hairdresser is coming to their house on the day of the wedding they will also do the hair of all the attendants and the mothers. Of course this could be problematical, especially if there are 2 mothers, 4 grandmothers and 20 attendants.

(Image of LR - Jessica Stern, Kenneth Haim - iVillage.com threw the ultimate destination wedding. To celebrate the site's new Weddings channel, Jessica Stern and Kenneth Haim of Brooklyn Heights tied the knot in a life-sized "Wedding In a Box" - 7/10/07 - All Rights Reserved).

Consider carefully what you are willing to do for a bridal hair party. Do you wish to only do the bride? Can you do more than one head and how many? In what period of time? Do you want the hair prewashed or completely dry? Will you go to the house or have the bride come to your shop?

Once you have a clear idea of what you can handle effectively and are willing to undertake you can begin to build a price list. Before you finalize your list check what other bridal hair consultants are charging.

Be sure to offer multiple options. Some brides can not afford for a hairdresser to come to their house. They also may prefer to come to you to give them a little distance from the craziness that often surrounds a wedding party.

6. Ask For A Deposit

Some bridal hair consultants will ask for a deposit to hold the wedding date. The amount is up to you but many bridal hair consultants will ask for a 50% non-refundable deposit to hold the date and their time.

You may wish to offer a package bridal hair deal that includes a pre-wedding day consulatation and styling test. Many brides wish to select one or two hairstyles and have them created in advance of the wedding to determine if they like the hairstyle.

Other brides will prep for the wedding by having any hair color or highlighting services performed a week or two before the big day.

(THE CELEBRITY APPRENTICE -- Episode 803 -- Pictured: Khloe Kardashian, Melissa Rivers, Brande Roderick, Tom Green, Claudia Jordan -- NBC Photo: Ali Goldstein - Tom Green dresses as a bride to try and lure customers into the team's bridal salon - All Rights Reserved).

The more information you can provide the newly engaged bride-to-be, the better chance you have of getting the hair needs scheduled, handled, confirmed and paid for.

7. Partner Appropriately

Some bridal hairstylists will only do bridal hair in their salons. Some will go to the home of the bride and do only her hair. Others will do multiple heads or take an entire team with them to do everyone's hair from the bride and groom to the flower girls.

The key to success is to know what you are willing to do, how much to charge and then partner appropriately. If you are going to do full service hair for the entire bridal party, find a team of hairdressers you trust and try them out first, before you book them.

You may also wish to partner with a bridal make-up expert or other bridal beauty consultants for cross referrals and to even work together as a complete package which includes hair, nails and make-up. Some fashion consultants are also great resources for getting the word out about your bridal hair business.

(Image of Tionne Watkins holding wedding gown on THE CELEBRITY APPRENTICE -Episode 803 - NBC Photo: Ali Goldstein - Tionne Watkins was helping brides select wedding gowns for her team's wedding gown selling event - All Rights Reserved).

8. Be Prompt, Dependable And Calm

We've all heard the horror stories of brides whose hairdressers stood them up on their wedding day. If you want a guaranteed way to have an angry bride, potential bad reports at the Better Business Bureau and a bad reputation with future brides you will be late, not show up at all or do a horrible job once you're there.

Always be very prompt, if not a few minutes early. Always call to confirm the time at least 48 hours in advance.

(FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS - "Tomorrow's Blues" Episode 313 - Pictured: (l-r) Stacey Oristano as Mindy Collette, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson as Angela Collette, Adrianne Palicki as Tyra Collette - NBC Photo: Bill Records - All Rights Reserved)

Schedules change and busy brides may forget small details like calling their hairdresser. Make sure if you are going to the bride's house you know how to get there, what tools to bring and the best time to arrive.

Summary

Once the bride's in your expert hands, do your very best to keep her calm and looking gorgeous for her big day. If you are new to the bridal hair business do a few dress rehearsals to consider all the possible snafus that might ensue and of course with a wedding their are always potential unplanned events that might occur.

More Information

For More Information on Bridal Hairstyles & Wedding Hair articles refer to: http://www.hairboutique.com/tips/bridalstyles.htm.

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