18 Stunning Indian Bridal Hairstyles Curated By Bollywood Hairstylists

As an Indian bride, your wedding hairstyle might be lower on your potentially vast list of preparations. After all, you’re likely planning several different pre-wedding ceremonies that span multiple days. Since each of those ceremonies comes with outfit and jewelry changes, your brain might be burnt out on finding inspiration once the time comes to figure out your beauty look. To give you a hand, we’ve rounded up plenty of stunning Indian bridal hairstyles to choose from with the help of two Mumbai-based Bollywood hairstylists. 

Meet the Experts: 

• Amit Thakur is a Mumbai-based Bollywood hairstylist who created the bridal hairstyle for actress Kiara Advani’s wedding.
• Namrata Soni is a Mumbai-based Bollywood hairstylist and makeup artist.

Tips for Picking the Best Hairstyle for Your Wedding 

Figure out the rest of your look first.

Thakur, who worked with Bollywood actor Kiara Advani for her recent wedding, advises that you move your wedding hairstyle to the bottom of your to-do list. He tells his clients to choose their outfits, jewelry, and makeup first. “The hairstyle helps balance out the whole bridal look.” 

Consider the ceremonies and traditions you plan to partake in.

“Traditions play a very important role when deciding hairstyles, especially on the wedding day,” says Soni. For example, for pre-wedding rituals like the Haldi (which involves covering the couple in turmeric paste) and the Mehndi (where brides have intricate henna designs applied to their hands and feet), hairstyles that don’t get in your way and that are pulled up off your face are your best bet. “The Haldi and the Mehndi functions involve everybody coming together, celebrating, and having fun,” Thakur says. For those, he typically opts for “playful, cute braids or half-tied looks because the bride’s hands are covered with henna and you can’t touch your hair to move it away from your face,” says Thakur. 

For evening welcome parties and sangeets — ceremonies where friends and family come together to give speeches and celebrate — Thakur recommends a more glamorous hairstyle like Old Hollywood-inspired waves. 

On the actual wedding day, Indian brides typically wear vibrant and intricately-embroidered veils called dupattas. These veils — which are worn on the head and drape past the shoulders — are also often accessorized with a maang tikka, a piece of headwear jewelry that sits on the bride’s hairline as well. “Every region has its own set of traditions and rules when it comes to the main wedding ceremony,” Soni says. “For a lot of brides from Northern India, it’s quite compulsory to tie up their hair, while many South Indian brides traditionally tie their hair into gorgeous long braids.”

Keep your environment in mind.

This last tip is crucial for the success of any bridal hairstyle, including ones worn to Indian ceremonies. Soni says it’s important to consider the environment where you plan to have your different ceremonies. “There are so many brides who love and want to do [loose] hair for their main wedding ceremony, but sometimes the weather doesn’t permit it,” she says. If you plan on having your wedding in India, Soni stresses that you’ll likely be in hot weather, “unless you are lucky enough to get married in cooler months of January and February or are having the wedding in places up north like Rajasthan or Delhi.”

Indian Bridal Hairstyle Inspiration

Flower-Adorned Updos

“Flowers are a great way to add fun, freshness, and color to a look,” Thakur says. He recommends choosing flowers that have petals that are well rooted in the bud, like roses, carnations, or orchids. To attach the flowers, he suggests using long, U-shaped hairpins. “Fold one part of the u-pin and make it like a hook,” he says. “Then, attach the flower with the u-pin hook in the bun, and this will ensure that it won’t come out easily.”

Florals can act as pops of color to polished updos, like the above bun, side-bun, and chignon.