Jessica Hawkins Hair & Makeup Artist, Whitstable, Kent & London

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Jennie's Vibrant East Quay Wedding | Whitstable

Well as weddings go this was an absolute cracker! It was a beautiful September day and the sun was shining high in little old Whitstable for Jennie's gorgeous East Quay seaside wedding.

Wedding Venue : East Quay Whitstable

Photographer : Nigel John

Bride Dress: Halfpenny London

Jennie booked me to take care of her wedding hair & makeup, the brief was, low key beachy waves with minimal fuss. Everything about this gorgeous wedding was laid back and fun.

So it sounds like an easy hairstyle yes? well, I am going to take you through all the products I used and how we achieved this beautiful beachy hairdo - (without sticking your head in the sea) I would love to say it was a simple case of tong and go but like any “low key & effortless” looks it's all in the prep work.

When Jennie originally came for her hair trial, and we were discussing the look she wanted to go for, she said to me " I want my hair to look like a better version of this" showing me a holiday snap of where her hair had dried naturally after swimming in the sea. Perfect I love undone beachy waves and is there anywhere better than to rock this look when you are getting married next to the beach?

Jennie has beautiful strawberry blonde & medium thickness hair, with some beautiful layers and the ends are bleached lighter by the sun from a recent trip abroad. Her hair wasn’t to fine nor was it too heavy, the perfect combo for getting these waves to stay all day.

I started with damp freshly washed hair. I saturated the roots with Fudge Seasalt Spray and sprayed a fair amount through the ends. I used Bumble and Bumble Grooming Cream on the ends of Jennie’s Hair, this just keeps the driest part of the hair hydrated and stops it from looking straw-like. Then after sectioning, I started to blow dry with a medium round brush I love my Barnam 33mm brush at the moment. Although we want to end up with textured waves we still want a lovely smooth finish first, after blow-drying each section I looping up the hair in big sections and securing with setting clips. I just really want to encourage volume & body into the hair.

Once the hair is fully blow dried & after taking out all the sectioning clips I started tonging the hair, but alternating the way we want those waves to fall, so in sections, I tong the hair in one direction and then on the next section tonging in a different direction.

I used my GHD Creative Curl Wand, designed to give that stunning wave rather than a round barrel curl. I do pin up sections as I go & as I am tonging I am using my TIGI Bedhead Masterpiece Hairspray. We left the hair to set for about 50 mins while I applied Jennies makeup.

After removing all the setting clips, I got Jennie to shake her head about, shaking up those beautiful waves. After misting through the hair with my Redken Wax Spray, I brushed my tangle teaser through the hair, this helps merge & blend all those beautiful waves. Now I started to shape the waves around Jennie’s face. I tonged each wave away from the face. I just picked up random waves and redefined them with my tongs. I finished by using Loreal Tecni Art Salt Spray, it has a little oil infused in the product so it helps define those beachy curls without being too drying. I finished with a Moroccan Oil Hairspray to help hold the finish.