Sweat-Proof Wedding Hair: Notes From the Hottest Morning

The hottest wedding I ever styled was a morning ceremony at the Palm Beach Inlet in late August, and everything I know about heat and hair came from that day. Here is the accumulated version.

Sweat is not the enemy. Salt is. Sweat evaporates, but the salt in it stays at the hairline and the nape, and salt is a humectant, meaning it continues pulling moisture from the air after the sweat is gone. That is why a hairline can look damp two hours after you stopped sweating.

So the first rule is blot, do not spray. Nothing on the hairline unless it is blotting paper or a translucent powder. A setting spray applied over salt just seals it in.

Second rule: the nape is where heat shows. If you are wearing an updo, the underside at the nape will be the first place to look wet. I finish that area with a lighter product than the crown and I keep it off the skin entirely.

Third: cool the room before you need it. A getting-ready suite at seventy-two degrees is worth more than any product. I ask hosts to turn the air down forty minutes before I start, and I ask again when I arrive, because nobody ever does it the first time.

Fourth: no shine products. Shine plus sweat reads as grease and there is no recovering from it in a photograph. Matte is the finish for a hot-weather wedding.

Fifth: accept one touch-up and plan for it. I hand brides a small kit with blotting papers, a matte powder, two pins, and a mini spray, and I show them exactly how to use it in ninety seconds. Brides who have been shown do not panic. Brides who have not, improvise, and improvisation is usually worse than the original problem.

Planning a summer Palm Beach wedding? Inquire and I will build for the heat. Everything is on the investment page.