Making Waves (without a Curling Iron)

A good number of the hair tutorials for "beachy waves" involve blow dryers, round brushes, styling products, curling irons, and a couple more styling products. I may be mistaken, but waves are supposed to look effortless, aren't they? Well, I've finally found a method that works for me, no blow drying, round brushing, or heat styling involved. This is a style-while-you-sleep approach that creates a look somewhere in between French girl hair and the ever popular beachy waves.

What you'll need

• 1-2 minutes after an evening shower

• 1-2 minutes in the morning

• ever so slightly damp hair

• a dab of cocoa butter

• hair tie

How to

In the evening

1. After taking your shower in the evening, allow your hair to air dry, not completely, but around 80%. If the hair is too damp when you go about styling, it will still be so when you take it out in the morning.

2. Brush out your hair and swipe a tiny bit of cocoa butter on the ends.

3. Fasten your hair into a flip-through (or inside-out) ponytail. I believe the flip-through is what begins the loose wave pattern and helps to keep the hair away from the face. Not unlike using an iron to curl away from the face, as we're always told.

4. Begin twisting the entire ponytail in one direction. Not so tightly that it begins bunching up on itself, but a nice, uniform rope.

5. Coil the twisted ponytail into a bun shape and tuck this bun into the opening you made for the flip-through. If your hair is the right level of dampness, it should hold reasonably well without using any pins. And who really wants to sleep on pins?

In the morning

1. Undo the bun and ponytail, using your fingers to gently loosen up the twist. A full head hair flip is optional here, to further loosen the strands. :)

2. Another optional step would be a spritz or two of hairspray to hold the texture throughout the day. I tend to leave it natural, as I'm not a fan of crispy-feeling hair.

3. And there you have it! Soft, just about effortless waves with no risk of heat damage or burning yourself on a curling iron.

I will note that there is a certain amount of luck with how this style turns out. You are sleeping on it, after all! The waves may look better some days than others, but I think that's true of heat styling as well. On occasion, I'll even choose to leave it up in the tucked style if it looks acceptable.

Hope you find this styling technique to be as simple and convenient as I do!

'Til next time,

Eva