I find that when my hair is shorter I really rely on good product to achieve my go-to beachy waves look. My shorter hair is healthier, softer and smoother which means that it lacks the texture that is a must have for the beachy look. aka it falls flat and is lifeless! Overall I have to work harder to style my hair when its shorter, especially when curling it because theres no weight to pull the hair down!

When you curl long hair you can almost always count on losing the wave as the day goes on because of the weight of your hair!  I really like that because I never want a defined curl, just movement and bend.  When your hair is short it’s very easy to come across Shirley Temples curls. I honestly won’t let anyone touch my hair when it’s short because I’m soooo particular on how I want it to look.  Absolutely no tight poodle curls!!! I only trust myself with styling my hair!  I’ve gone to Dry Bar in the past for school dances and left in a bad mood because my hair was flat with crunchy, tight curls that would look decent after sleeping on them for 2 days! I would have to come home and fix my hair so that it would look the way I wanted it too!  (I love their products, though!) Ever since then I swore to get good at my hair and now I have it perfected for any occasion!

PRODUCTS I USE

I just discovered the Verb powder dry shampoo and holy moly I love.  I love it more than my batiste because it doesn’t give my hair a sticky sort of texture that I sometimes get from aerosol dry shampoos.  This stuff reminds me of the Bumble and Bumble pret a powder.  I place it all over the my scalp and let it sit for 2 minutes before rubbing it in. It’s quite easy to rub it in!  It gives automatic volume without making your hair super sticky or powdery. For day two and three hair, I’ll put it in my hair before going to sleep and then its good to go in the morning. I love doing this because then I don’t have to rub it in.

I do love the Dry Bar Triple Sec spray.  I absolutely love their products.  This spray is a texture, refresher, dry shampoo spray that adds the perfect amount of texture, tousle and lift without making your hair crunchy or sticky.  I HATE sticky and crunchy hair and I always want hair that I can always run my hands through. I spray this product in my hair after curling it to give it texture and lift.  It also helps to hold the curl a little bit.

The Bumble and Bumble City swept finish has great hold  without making you’re hair clump together.  It gives a good tousled effect but use sparingly to avoid sticky hair! The only thing I will say is the spray nozzle is jammed from the sticky product so for that I don’t think this is the best thing ever.

Verb Leave in conditioner. I love Verb products! This stuff de-frizzes, detangles and protects from heat. I spray on my wet hair then blow dry. It also makes your hair air dry without frizz!

Living Proof Dry volume blast adds good volume to the roots but can get on the sticky side. SHAKE the can. The first time I used it, it made my hair a sticky, oily mess.  Shake, shake, shake.

Verb hair oil. I love this hair oil for the ends of my hair.  I used to use moroccan oil but I just learned since the oil is that brownish orange color it will turn blonde hair brassy and add buildup!  The verb oil is clear so it’s blonde hair friendly.

If you notice I don’t use hair spray.  I don’t really like hairspray because I feel like beachy waves don’t need heavy hold….and not to mention crunchy hair.  I find that the texture sprays give enough hold.  If your hair doesn’t hold a curl then I recommend hair spray or texture spray before curling. My hair never held a curl until I dyed it.  It needs that texture to hold it!

I’m dying to try the Ouai texture spray, the IGK beach spray, the Bumble and Bumble Dry Spun spray and the holy grail Oribe dry texture spray. Its just so expensive and I just know I’ll try it and love it lol.  Those will be next on the list.

HOW TO GET THE BEACHY LOOK

Step 1.  I spray my hair with this verb leave in conditioner/ heat protector when its wet and I’ll blow dry my hair straight with a big round brush. I use a big round brush to make it straight.  The key to beachy hair is straight ends. I don’t dry it perfectly smooth because I like some texture and volume.

Step 2.  Usually I’ll blow dry my hair at night and curl it in the morning.  Sleeping on it allows it to be 100% dry and will add some texture to it.  You can also curl it after blow drying it, I just find that its too smooth and flat.  Sleeping on it mimics that day 2 hair look without having day 2 hair.

Step 3. Curling the hair. I use a Conair 1 1/2 curling wand. It’s like $17 from Target and I swear by it.  I don’t really use the clip unless I’m trying to straighten the ends.  The clip works very well for that.  Curl wise, I’ll curl the pieces going in different directions. Usually near my face I curl back and towards the middle and back I’ll rotate front and back.   I’ll leave the last inch of hair out of the curl, this is key for a beachy look.  I’ll wrap the hair around the barrel once so that its more of an S wave sort of look instead of a curl.

Step 4. Since you’re not really curling the hair you don’t have to brush out the curl right away.  You want the wave to hold so don’t run your hands through it or brush it.

After I’m done curling I’ll spray it with my Dry Bar Triple Sec and run my hands through it.  I’ll also apply the my Verb hair oil to the ends.  If I’m going somewhere and want the curl to last I’ll use the Bumble and Bumble spray.  If I need extra volume at my roots I’ll go in with my Verb Dry Shampoo powder or my Living Proof dry blast at the roots.  I also have a teasing comb so I’ll tease the front pieces for some lift.  My hair falls flat very easily and it’ll look glued to my head which is sooooo not flattering!

You can see in this picture that my hair is more S waves and not really full curls. The ends are also super straight. There’s some fly aways but it all adds to the beachy, bed head look.

When my hair is longer, I’ll curl it with the wand and spray it with texture spray.  The curl will fall and look for beachy!

TIPS FOR BEACHY HAIR.

• leave the ends out of the curling iron. you want to keep them straight!
• don’t brush your hair.  you want to preserve any natural texture.
• at the same time, don’t curl tangled hair because that will burn your hair off!
• don’t hold the curl on the iron for too long.  we want waves and movement, not defined curls.
• defined curls with short hair will make it look much shorter and coily!
• sleep on it, it gives the best texture.

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