One of the niche fields that professional cosmetologists choose is to become a bridal hair specialist. People are always getting married, and the bride and bridesmaids want to look their best for wedding photographs and videos. The bride wants her hair to look perfect—this is her day! A bridal hairstylist helps the bride and her bridesmaids look immaculate for the wedding.
Some hairstylists make a good living from doing bridal hairdos. They usually go out on their own after working at a salon for a couple of years and getting valuable experience. If you’re first starting out in bridal hair though, you’re probably wondering how to get started and book your first bridal hair clients. We’ve put together some excellent tips for getting your first clients as a bridal cosmetologist.
Make It Known and Wide
When you’re first starting out, you won’t have a stream of clients coming to you, so you have to get the word out in any and every way possible. Use social media to make it known regularly that you are taking bridal hair clients, especially on Instagram, but also Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok. If you have business cards or fliers, go to bridal dress shops and other wedding planning businesses, leave them there and let people know you are available for bridal hair appointments.
Getting Social Proof
When brides are planning their wedding, they’re looking for a hairstylist. When you first start, you will be lacking social proof. You may have no reviews, or you may have done work on a wedding team and you may not get the credit you need.
This is when you need to lean on your personal network to get endorsements and inquiries.
Your family, friends, and colleagues can personally endorse you for bridal hairstyling. Word of mouth referrals from your network can also help you get inquiries and clients for bridal hair appointments.
Create Trials to Get Work in Your Portfolio
Must show people examples of your work, especially in bridal hair, because they are booking you for a date in the future. It is risky to book a bridal hairdresser with little to no work in their portfolio.
Trials are you doing the hair style ahead of time for no charge or heavily discounted so they know you can do hairstyles like updos. This shows you have the skills, competency, and professionalism, so they have no hesitation signing a contract and paying your deposit to have you show up on their wedding day to handle the hair styling for the bride and bridesmaids.
Once you have more clients, offering trial hair appointments may not be easy to maintain. This is a strategy you can use early in your bridal hair career to get some momentum.
Promote Your Services on Social Media
Post about your bridal hair services on platforms where your clients will look, like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok. Show your work, so people find you when they are browsing, looking for local bridal hair specialists. It’s a good idea to also create profiles for your business on places like Yelp, The Knot, WeddingWire, and any local business directories.
Your future clients are looking for bridal hairstylists by looking for images, so any social platforms that are based primarily around videos and photos are places you should be posting often. Be sure to use hashtags that mention your city and bridal hair keywords.Show Your Work to Clients
As you continue to gather photos and examples of your work, you can post these to a business website, along with your regular posting on Instagram and other social platforms. Creating a rich, broad portfolio of different updos, haircuts, and coloring you’ve done for weddings is a great way to attract even more clients looking for the same bridal beauty services.
Create Pricing Packages
When brides are ready to book your services for their upcoming wedding, they need to know how much to budget. Creating a list of pricing packages makes it easy for them to make a decision. Focus on a few pricing packages that show how much it is for the bride, and then how much it is for each additional person.
Handle Bookings in a Professional Manner
Bridal hairstylists are booking appointments for months (or longer) in the future. Since weddings take a lot of planning and coordination, you are usually waiting a while to do the actual hairstyling work. Most hairstylists use a contract to finalize the booking with the bride. Some bridal hair specialists take a small deposit when the contract is signed to make sure both parties are committed to working together.
Give Yourself Enough Time for Each Appointment
Updos are a big part of bridal hair styling, and they take a lot of time. The bride is going to take top priority, but the bridesmaids must understand that there is only some much time for each hairdo before the ceremony gets underway. If possible, finalize what hairdo each person will get ahead of time, so everyone can plan accordingly.
Communicate Clearly What You Need from the Clients
Doing hair for the bride and bridesmaids puts the hairstylist on a time crunch. Everyone must know exactly what condition their hair needs to be in when they arrive on the wedding day, so you can do your best work. Many bridal hairstylists write in their contracts that the bride and bridesmaids need to show up with clean, blown out hair, because it is difficult to do updos on a tight schedule otherwise.
Learn Professional Cosmetology at Campus Sacramento
If you’re ready to start your cosmetology career and take on hairstyling clients, we have a world-class cosmetology program to help you become a certified cosmetologist. Paul Mitchell the School at Campus Sacramento has a Cosmetology program that will teach you all about hairstyling and hair care, skin care, and nail care. For more information on start dates, flexible class schedules, tuition or student aid, contact our friendly Admissions team today!