I’m not a trained hairdresser, nor do I pretend to be. But 26 years of coping with thick, wavy hair has taught me a few tricks of the trade when it comes to styling. Most days I rock up at work with unwashed, messy hair spritzed with Batiste dry shampoo, but I do love a bit of glamour when I have a bit more time. So my friends know who to turn to for an updo, roller set or help with their at-home highlights (a tip – don’t do it!).

My friend Kat is getting married in July and along with maid of honour duties, I’ll also be acting as hair stylist. I didn’t know it when I met her (she had a jet black crop at the time!) but Kat and I actually have incredibly similar hair, and now she’s grown it out and gone back to a blonde shade far closer to her natural hair colour, playing around her hair is freakishly similar to playing around with mine, except I can see the back without contorting myself.

So a couple of weeks ago we tried out some 1940s inspired styles to go with her 1940s inspired dress. Kat wanted some sort of low, soft bun, and I found an amazing style via Lauren Rennells (who wrote my hair bible, Vintage Hairstyling) so we decided to use that as a starting point. It was fairly tricky to put together. You can’t see in the pictures, but the top half is actually a french pleat which the roll is pinned against. Luckily, Kat has a great (and familiar) hair texture to work with. The joy of hair that’s been highlighted is that it has a slightly matte texture that grips stay in well! Kat’s hair is quite short at the front, so I created some pincurls for softness.

The finished look I really loved. As it’s a trial run I didn’t worry about hiding the kirby grips or taming the stray hairs so please forgive that in the pictures – there’s plenty of time to perfect it once we’ve decided on the final style. But the base is there, and now I know I can do it!

The second look we tried was a bit of a fluke. We wanted to see what it would look like softer, so I created a kind of roll / chignon to the side, and arranged the shorter hair so it gave some body on the sides. Believe it or not, there are only about 3 or 4 kirby grips holding this entire style, but it felt quite secure.

The one thing I’ve learned from reading up on vintage hairstyles is that the key to almost every look is to set hair in hot rollers first, or use tongs and pin the tonged curls to the head to cool. You can’t get a decent pincurl or roll, or any kind of lasting volume, unless the hair has some body and shape to it. But you must let the hair go cold before you style! It’s the change from hot to cold that sets the curl or wave, which is why if you have fine hair and you use tongs to curl it, you’ll find the waves fall out really quickly. Pin them up to cool and you’ll find it lasts much longer. I also swear by old-fashioned Wella hair set. It’s like liquid hairspray and holds a curl brilliantly. It does give a bit of a crunchy texture, but if you want a look that lasts, this stuff is the business!

More pics of the wedding hair soon…