Last year I was mentioning in quite a few posts that I had some exciting changes coming up with my career.  Having run a cleaning company for almost 13 years, I had made the decision in the mid-part of 2017 to do something for me!  I’ve always loved makeup and hair (despite not being very good at the hair side of things at least!) and decided I wanted to pursue this.   Years ago, I used to sell makeup for Virgin Vie and undertook bridal makeup training, but at that point, I didn’t have the time to attempt to pursue it as a full time career.  Fast forward all of those years and with plenty of makeup madness going on be it creating looks for the dance competition floor or just playing with makeup to create looks, I wanted to get some kind of formal training under my belt.

I researched ways I could do this and whether I should do a home-study course, a course in London, Bournemouth anywhere really but was trying to to keep it close to home if I could.  Cue…Mode!   Mode is based in Fourmarks, just outside Alton in Hampshire.  The studio based school keeps their class sizes small so that you have the attention that you need from the tutors alongside providing an environment that isn’t intimidating.  I have to say I was slightly nervous about going to do something completely new and essentially well out of my comfort zone having not been particularly great at hair styling in the past!  One saving grace was that a friend of mine was attending the course at the same time so that helped my anxiety!  I needn’t have worried anyway as the other lady on the course, Frances, who is a Makeup Artist was so lovely.  It was a great little group!

January 15th was the start of the Bridal Hair Up course as taught by the lovely Lisa Griffiths who has extensive experience in the hair and makeup industry.  The studio itself was bright and modern with mirrors and lights and inspiring makeup photos framing the mirrors.  Our kit contained everything we needed to do the course and we set to learning and practising straight away.

The course itself lasted for three days followed by a one day course in Blow Drying Techniques.  That in itself was a great day of learning – it sounds daft but even just knowing the tips to properly blow dry my own hair has made a difference in how my hair looks and feels after washing it!  During the initial 3 days we covered a few different styles and certainly gained a new-found appreciation and respect for the preparation that goes on before styling the hair.

After learning all about client consultations, the practical side of day one was Hair prep, the French Pleat and a Chignon.

Day two started with various platting techniques followed by a horizontal twist.

The final day of the Bridal Hair Up course focused on the horizontal roll and then completed with pin curling and a Hollywood wave!

Day four was also huge fun, Blow Drying techniques was a super useful thing to learn from a personal perspective also.  We were also shown some additional curling techniques and ways to pin the curls into another up-do.

It has to be said that at the start of the course I was totally unsure as to how I would fair given my ‘thing’ is makeup…I had decided to take this course more of an ‘additional’ skill to learn but I enjoyed it thoroughly and now feel confident that I could, with more practice, perhaps take this somewhere!

Lisa’s teaching methods were fantastic.  Her patience, ways of explaining things and hands on demonstrations were great, leading to a good understanding from my perspective in terms of what I was being expected to then produce.  The theory and business side of things plus advice on suggested products was also invaluable information.

If you have ever been interested in taking a course in Bridal Hair up, Mode is the place to learn!   Watch this space for what I got up to the following week!

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