CAN'T FIND A SIGNATURE STYLE? WATCH THIS!

The biggest mistake that I see bridal hairstylists and makeup artists making that's actually costing them wedding bookings is not having a signature style. If you're someone who wants to book more weddings, increase your Instagram engagement and see more inquiries in your inbox, then keep on watching. In today's video, I'm going to be covering the cost of not having a signature style. Why it's important for your bridal beauty business, the three main elements of a signature hairstyle and four of my top tips so that you can find your own signature hairstyle style look. If you're someone that's maybe just starting out. A common mistake that I actually made when I started my business was trying to attract every single kind of bride. You post photos of every single kind of look because you want to attract every kind of bride. And what if that one bride wants it or you feel like you need to showcase every hairstyle look under the sun. Braids, mermaid braids, Boho, polish, city, sleek. Because what if a bridesmaid wants that look? Why this is a big no no actually happens is when you're post any and all kinds of hairstyles and makeup looks don't necessarily look like an expert in any of them. And what also ends up happening is you start attracting brides who don't value hair and makeup services. Those last minute booking brides or brides who are just going to price shop or try to bargain you down for a discount. If you want your clients to trust you completely and value your services and see you as an expert, you need to give them a portfolio that they can trust. So for today's video, I'm going to be breaking down the elements of a bridal hair signature. There are three main elements to a bridal signature hairstyle. The first element is the shape or placement, such as low bun, high bun, a mermaid braid, a half up, half down style waves any of those. That is the overall shape of the style that you're creating. The second element to a signature style is details. This is the braids, the volume, the height. It could be the body in the hairstyle. It could be if there's pieces hanging, any of those little details. And the third element in a signature hairstyle is the texture. This is what I believe is one of the most important elements within a signature style, the texture. So whether that is boho, whether that's clean texture, whether that's polished or maybe it's airy, maybe it's very romantic for you, give you guys a better visual understanding. Let's Break each one of these elements down. Look at the crown area of this photo within this low bun. You can clearly see within this crown area. This is usually where the main texture of a style I feel is. And as you can see in this photo, it is a clean texture. Next, let's look at the shape or the placement of it. You can see that this is a low bun and the shape is within the neckline. It is not a big, wide bun. It is a shape that is narrow and within the neckline. Next, let's take a look at the details within this hairstyle. The details within this hairstyle are the little dainty pieces that are hanging below the bun, which, for this style, gives it an element of a romantic feel. And look to the style. These are the three core elements to any signature style. When you're able to break it down and visually see it like this, it makes it a lot easier to understand in order for you to start creating your own personal signature look. Which leads me to the first tip on creating your signature style. Ask yourself, what inspiration photos from clients do you love recreating? And then ask yourself, what photos from clients do you dread seeing that you're like, oh, my God, if I never see this photo again, I'll be totally happy with that. When you're able to understand what you actually like and what you don't like, you can really narrow it down to find out what sets your heart on fire. For me personally, when I started out, I got a lot of pictures of boho styling because if you saw my previous video, you would have seen that my Instagram starting out was kind of all over the place and I was attracting any and every kind of bride. And of course, there were a few photos that I would get all the time. Repetitious. Because we know Pinterest doesn't usually update their photos. And you see the same photos even now, they're recycled from like 2012. And I know some of you guys have a visual in your mind of exactly the hairstyle that you see all the time. And you're like, I wish I never saw this ever again. And when I actually narrowed it down, I figured out that those were those, like really boho styles, those like big mermaid braids that were really aired out texture. And the ones that I did love seeing were those sleek ones that were small within the neckline, that polished texture. That's what I really loved creating, creating for my brides whenever I would see those. And another way that you can dig even deeper to understand what exactly you Love and you don't love is ask yourself, if you were making a million dollars a year, would you still be doing XYZ style? That element of making money out of it and really put your creativity first. So if you were making a million dollars a year, would you still want to be doing those long mermaid braids with the right on the side? Or if you were making a million dollars a year, would you still want to be doing those New York style glam waves where they have like three packs of extensions in the hair? If you're like, yes, I would, then you are on the right path to finding out what your signature style could be. Me, when I asked myself that question, I was like, I could create soft glam waves. I could create low buns that are sleek, clean texture or even polished texture all day, every day. And I am one happy girl. Now, some of you guys might be saying, after you're thinking about those things and you're letting it processing of like the photos that you dread seeing from your clients and the ones that you love, you might be saying, well, don't we have to keep up with the trends, need to constantly be working on our styles and keeping up with the trends and what those things are. And I 100% agree. Which leads me to my second tip for finding your signature style. Instead of looking at a trendy style as a whole, look at the shape. Ask yourself three questions. What texture details, finishes are my favorite to do? How can I apply those that are my favorite to this style that is trending right now? Ponytails are a huge thing that I feel are trending right now within the bridal world. So let's just take ponytails as an example. Ask yourself, can I take this ponytail and add my flavor to it, Add my details, my texture, my favorite finishes to that style. To further explain this, let's look at the half up, half down style, which is an ultimate classic for brides. This hairstyle is so timeless, it has transcended ages. It is just so timeless for brides, bridesmaids, guests, everyone alike. However, over the years, things about the half up, half down style have changed, such as the curl pattern. Maybe it's the weight, texture, the details, adding in braids. All those things have changed over the years and those are the things that I consider are the trendy aspects of it. However, the half up, half down style is still a staple and it is timeless. Let's take a look at this example. On the left side you have my work, which is more of a clean texture, polished look. It is a half up, half down style. And then on the right side you have Ashley Glaser, who is a boho bridal expert. And if you're not following her, you need need to peep her Instagram right here and make sure you give her a follow. She is all about braids and boho and lived in styles. And I absolutely love her style because she nails this signature. When you look at both of our have up, half down, side by side, essentially they are both a half up, half down with a wave as well as a braid in it. But you can clearly see all those boho elements that Ashley has within her style, such as the boho element within her wave pattern, within the way that she braids within the details with the texture that she does, versus you can visually see in mind the clean polish aspect of it. But they're both the same. Let's look at another example, which is the classic low bridal bun. As you can see Ashley's gorgeous low bun on the right and then you can see my work on the left. Ashley's just screams boho, romantic, lived in. She's got those gorgeous pearls going through on the style. It's beautiful. She has all the accents, all the signatures of a boho look, whereas on mine you can see it's clean, polished, texture, chic with a little bit of a romantic feel. They're both essentially a low bridal bun, but they both have a totally different signature feel and vibe to them, which means that the brides that we both attract are going to be vastly different. And that's totally okay. I embrace this because I know my ideal bride has a very specific vision for her hair and goals for her hair. And that's something that I'm able to achieve. Which leads me to my third tip. Let go of the must know every kind of style and embrace saying. I'm not sure exactly how to do that. I think as hairstylists, we have a hard time embracing saying that we might not know how to recreate a style or a certain look that a client shows us in a photo, because we believe that we'll be seen by our clients as someone who doesn't know what we're doing or that we're not an expert in our space, when in fact I believe it's the total opposite. And let me give you an example. Let's look at doctors. Imagine that you're having this pain in the bottom of your foot. So you call up your doctor, you make an appointment, you go in for your appointment, your primary care doctors and you're telling them about the pain that you're having in your foot from standing on your feet all day. He gives you some advice on what you can do in the moment for your foot and what he thinks might be the best options for you. But he eventually ultimately refers you to a foot doctor specialist. He's basically saying like, hey, this is what you can do in the moment. This is what I believe might be causing it, but that's not actually my specialty. So let me point you in the right direction. He embraces that and he wants to give you the best that he can. So in that situation, would you rather him have over promised and given you a solution that doesn't work, or would you rather him refer you to a specialist and give you the advice that he has in the moment? Also think to yourself, do you lose respect for your doctor because he refers you to someone else? No, it's the same thing with us. People aren't going to lose respect for us or not see us as an expert if we're like, you know what, I'm not exactly sure how to do that, but I'm going to do my best that I can for you. Let me give you another example. One time I was at a wedding and a bride, day of it was her turn, I was doing her hair and I say, hey, is there anything you want to switch up from the trial? And she shows me actually a totally different look from what we did at the trial of a ponytail with an infinity braid and me on the inside. I, as soon as I saw that photo, I was like, I don't know how to do that. So in my mind, I had a split second decision. I could either one of two options. I could either over promise to her and say, oh yeah, we can totally do that. I know exactly how to do that look. I'm going to make it look exactly like the photo, yada, yada, yada. Or I could under promise to her and over deliver. So I went with option two and I decided to say to her, hey, I'm not an expert in braids and I'm not exactly sure how to recreate this braided style for you, but can try my best to achieve something similar to this style. Boom, pressure relieved. And what actually ended up happening was she was super happy that I was being honest with her and not over promising that I knew how to do something where I in fact did not. In the end, she was honestly super happy with the look that I created for her. And instead of an infinity braid, what I wound up doing was like a pull through braid. It wasn't exactly an infinity braid, but I knew how to do a pull through braid. You know, last minute you had to pull out those tips and tricks and she was super happy with it, which is always my end goal. I want my clients to be happy with the style that they have now. Imagine if I had said to her and over promised and said, oh, I can, can definitely do that. I know how to do that kind of braid style. When in the back of my mind I knew that I didn't. And then she looks at it and she's disappointed. That breaks that trust that you have with your client. What I'm saying is it's okay if you say how you're really feeling and if they show you something that you're not 100% comfortable in doing, but you provide a solution as well as honesty and say, hey, I'm gonna try my best to achieve this style. Okay, guys. So so far in this video, you should have been able to decide which styles you love creating, which ones you don't love creating based off of the inspiration photos you see from your clients, how to apply your signature detailing that you love to even new trendy style, and how to let go of the mindset that you have to know every single kind of hairstyle. But even with all that, you might still be attracting brides requesting looks that you're not a fan of. Which leads me to my fourth tip. What you post, you attract. If you found that you discovered you love all things polished and clean textured styles, but you're still attracting brides who are showing you mermaid boho braided styles at their trials. My tip for you is to take a look at the content that you're putting out out there on your Instagram. It's up to you to create the content that you want to attract. If you're like, I have no idea where to start when it comes to creating content for the clients that you want to attract for Instagram, then definitely hit that notification bell and make sure you're subscribed for next week's video. I'm going to be going over how I batch all my Instagram content by stretching one hairstyle into seven pieces of content. You guys have a great day and never forget it's a great day to create something beautiful. Bye, guys.