How to Achieve Wavy Hair

As we enter a new era of hairstyles that embrace individuality and champion natural hair texture, the always iconic beach wave has become popular yet again. And when it comes to creating beach waves there are a variety of ways to get the look. If you ask Vogue, Kevin Murphy was the original creator of beach hair and since its inception, we’ve mastered the tips, techniques and products for how to achieve waves in hair. From enhancing your natural texture to achieving beach waves in hair with heat styling — if you’re looking for how to achieve wavy hair, you’ve come to the right source.

A true beach wave has its own personality, but falls in the category of being looser than a traditional curl and having more movement than a bend. While the finished style will be based on your hair type and desired finish, here are a few of our top tips to achieve wavy hair both with and without heat.

If you have the natural texture to support it, creating wavy hair by air drying is one of the best ways to create the look. This is because it will enhance your natural texture pattern to create a one-of-a-kind style. If your hair is on the straighter side types 2A-3A, apply a product to damp strands to enhance the shape like HAIR.RESORT or KILLER.WAVES and scrunch. If your hair is on the curlier side (types 3A-3C), using an air-drying creme like KILLER.TWIRLS can enhance the look by refining your curls.

If your hair is on the straighter side or your hair tends to frizz, you can still use an air dry technique by coupling it with loose braids. This can help create a natural looking style while your hair dries. Simply apply your wave enhancing product like HAIR.RESORT, KILLER.WAVES, KILLER.CURLS or KILLER.TWIRLS based on your hair type and then loosely braid damp strands into two or three braids, depending on how big or small you want your waves. Once hair is dry, undo your braids and you’ll have a gentle wave made without heat.

There are a few ways to use heat to create beach hair. You can either use a curling tong or flat iron to touch up your naturally dried texture — to add more waves or perhaps smooth out your curls or to create waves on smooth hair.

When working on naturally air-dried hair, be sure your hair is protected with a heat protectant like HEATED.DEFENSE. (This can be layered during the air dry process). Then, section the hair and utilise a flat iron to enhance S-shaped waves or a curling tong to create tighter texture patterns. You can use a variety of waving techniques within your style to create a unique finish. This can be done all over, or simply in areas where the hair needs extra movement or may have dried overly frizzy.

If you’re creating waves from scratch, begin your heat protection with BLOW.DRY WASH + BLOW.DRY RINSE and then follow with HEATED.DEFENSE before beginning. From here, blow dry hair with a round brush to create volume and movement at the root and then smooth the ends to dry without making them too straight — this will make it easier to add a wave in.

From here, you can use your heat styler of choice — curling iron or flat iron — to create a mix of wave patterns or a single pattern depending on your style of choice. If your hair needs help holding a wave, prep hair with HAIR.RESORT.SPRAY and then apply heat. If you want to stretch out your pattern for a more undone feel, once dry apply DOO.OVER or BEDROOM.HAIR to your heat-styled hair and then rake through with your fingers or a wide-toothed TEXTURE.COMB.

Whether you’ve created waves with your natural texture or with heat, apply a layer of hairspray like SESSION.SPRAY or SESSION.SPRAY.FLEX to lock in your look and protect against humidity before leaving the house.

When it comes time to sleep, you can avoid ruining your style by sleeping on a silk or satin pillowcase. Then, to refresh second-day strands, a mix of FRESH.HAIR dry shampoo to sop up oil and enhance volume + YOUNG.AGAIN DRY CONDITIONER to provide nourishment and a velvety sheen is key to balancing your look.

Beachy waves are meant to look natural, so when creating the look, avoid overly perfect finishes and instead aim for an undone look. After creating your wave, avoid brushing or applying too many products as this can turn your beach wave into a more glamorous wave feel.