My September Brides

This has been a long time coming! I'm not even sure why I haven't put this up since but hey, better late than never right (as irritatingly cliched as that sounds!)

So in September, I got to do up 2 lovely brides - my first September bride (Rachel) had me travelling to Abuja to style her and TEN bridesmaids! I know! When she told me 10 I did a couple of double takes myself; but I'd already said yes so there was no backing out lol.

She was very specific about what she wanted her bridesmaids to have - A halo braid. First thing  I needed to figure out was how I was going to manage the different textures, lengths and weaves the bridesmaids would have ( she had a few naturals, 1 Caucasian, 1 Mexican  and a few Ladies with weaves)  while making sure the Bride got her wish.

The other thing I needed to figure out was how I was going to manage 11 people all before a wedding. I'm no superwoman (even though now and again I convince myself I am) and so made a few inquiries about a lady in Abuja I know to be really good with Natural hair handling and styling.

Thankfully, she was available and willing to work with me so that was sorted!



After conferring we decided we'd use regular 'Expression' extensions for the halo braid so there would be some uniformity with the bridesmaids.

Check out Rachel's stunning 2nd dress! 

On to the Bride - she wanted extra length and volume and so had purchased the  'For Kinks' Heat Free weave in 16 and 18 inches. We installed the hair at the salon the week before as her traditional wedding was in Benin during the week. I got into Abuja on the Friday evening and after settling in, called up the bride and her ladies so I could see their hair and if possible prep  as many of them as possible before the following morning. Even though the wedding was at noon, things have a way of quickly falling apart!

Long story cut short, we weren't able to prep ANYONE'S hair the night before so it was going to be an intense morning. By 6.30.am I was at the bridesmaid's room and we started the process. God bless Esohe who came to assist because Lord knows it would have been a disaster otherwise!

You can get a peek of the Halo Braids on one of the Bridesmaids here :)

With barely enough time to spare after working with some of the bridesmaids, I dash to Rachel's room to sort out her hair. I undid her hair and panic set in. It was a tangled mess with confetti and glitter ( from the traditional wedding) everywhere.

I called Laundry to get me a blade as I was determined to remove the weave and work with her hair. I guess the bridal hair gods had other ideas as Laundry never turned up lol! I took several deep breaths and started to detangle as gently as I could under the circumstances and had to do a complete change of style. Thankfully Rachel trusted me and loved the outcome!

 Let me just say I absolutely love the images captured by Damilola Elliot - head honcho at Damell Photography! He has such an amazing gift. Click here to visit his site.


My Second bride Denike - didn't want any fuss. She wanted hair that was free flowing but pulled back from her face. She wasn't able to order the Heat Free hair in time for her wedding so she ordered the Nazuri Curls hair. When the hair came, it looked really really curly compared to her texture and both packs were in different lengths.

 Also because of the time constraints while ordering, she couldn't get clip ins so settled for a weave. They were gracious enough though to include a pack of the clips ins and instructions on how to go about creating clip  in hair from the weave.

So the day before, we fixed the weave and eyeballing the hair I knew we needed to do something to get it stretched out because the curls were so tight and shrunken! I applied the Jane Carter Wrap and Roll Mousse to sections, braided it tight in as many sections as I could and then wrapped the braids round her head in a criss cross fashion.

Took the rest of the weave plus clip  ins home so I could create a few lines of hair in case we'd need them in the morning - it was a good thing I did!

The hair had stretched out by the morning but because there was such a marked difference in her curl type and that of the weave it was a bit of a challenge getting them to blend. I was able to use a few of the clip in's I'd created and twirl some of her hair into it, blending as best as I could. Phew!

At this point, her father had issued marching orders for everyone to leave so it was a mad dash scrambling to finish everything. As if that wasn't enough, the rain came down - HARD!!!  All in all, everything worked out and for that I was (and still am) very thankful!!

Denike's pictures were captured by @oluphotosolumide on Instagram!

Till my next post

xoxoxoxo