For many women, their hair is an investment. We spend hundreds of dollars all throughout the year trying to maintain the perfect cut and color for our face, experimenting with new products and accessories, not to mention the luxury and maintenance of hair extensions—all so we can look like perfect little dolls. If I’m being perfectly honest, I love long, luxurious hair. So much so, that I spend a lot of money on making sure it’s to my liking. Unfortunately for me, and my bank account, I have high standards—and that, as we know, comes with a price.
With all that money we spend on our hair, it’s important to learn how to style it. I mean, what’s the point in spending all that money just to put it in a ponytail everyday and never show it off? One of my favorite hairstyles that I believe every woman should learn how to do is a classic beach wave. So, today, I’m going to show you how to get beach waves with a curling iron and some key products you’ll need for this hairstyle.
Best Tools For Styling Beach Waves
Something I’ve learned over the years is that no matter how skilled you are at styling your hair, it will never last longer than an hour or two if you’re using the wrong products. So, if you want to learn how to get beach waves that look good even hours after you’ve styled it, you’ll need a few key products.
Everyone’s hair is unique and depending on the type of hair you have, whether it’s straight, textured, curly, thin, thick, porous, fine, coarse, brittle, damaged, or color-treated, you should always use a product that works best for your hair type. With that, these are a few of my favorite products that help me achieve a beautiful beach wave.
L’Oréal Paris Advanced Hairstyle BLOW DRY IT Thermal Smoother Cream
Before using any hot tools you should always use a heat protectant. The Blow Dry It thermal smoother cream by L’Oréal Paris is a heat protectant and styling cream that prevents frizz all in one. For me, having my heat protectant and my styling cream in one product is a huge bonus because I want to style my hair as quickly as possibly.
Revlon One-Step Hair Dryer & Volumizer Hot Air Brush
I kid you not, this tool completely changed the way I style my hair. It’s an all-in-one blow dryer and round brush that helps you achieve a beautiful blowout at home, in LESS time. From wet to dry in only 14 minutes! But, not only that, it tames all of your frizz and makes the beach wave styling process so much faster! Believe it or not, the Revlon One-Step hair dryer is only $41.
Hot Tools Signature Series Gold Curling Iron/Wand (1 ¼ inch)
Selecting the correct barrel size of your curling iron is crucial if you want to get the perfect beach wave. A 1 ¼ inch barrel will give you the perfect wave that will last all day. I’ve always used Hot Tools Signature Series curling irons and own multiple barrel sizes. I highly recommend them. It also has a feature where you can adjust the level of heat you want which is a huge plus.
ORIBE Dry Texturizing Spray
Another mistake that most women make with the beach wave hairstyle is the product they use to set everything. The biggest mistake you can make when doing any sort of curled hairstyle is to set it with hairspray. Hairspray weighs down your curls and can oftentimes make them sticky! Instead, you should be using a dry texture finishing spray on your beach waves. The Oribe Dry Texturizing Spray is lightweight but gives your hair a good texture. This allows the waves to stay intact and not fall flat.
Teasing comb
A teasing comb is another must-have for getting beautiful beach waves. Any teasing comb will do but it’s important that you use one specific for back-combing. This helps bring extra volume to the roots of your hair.
Wide tooth comb
After you’ve created your beach waves, you’ll want to brush through them ever-so-slightly with a wide tooth comb. This helps break up the waves and make them less coily while smoothing any gaps in your hair. Using a wide tooth comb also helps brush through the curl without pulling it straight. Any wide tooth comb will work.
How To Do A Beach Wave Hairstyle
With the right products and tools, learning how to do a beach wave is simple. Here’s how to do it:
- Step 1: Wash your hair with shampoo and conditioner and towel dry.
- Step 2: Add a quarter-size amount of heat protecting styling cream to your hands and generously apply it all over your hair.
- Step 3: Use the Revlon One-Step styling tool to dry your hair completely with a center part. During this step, you should preheat your curling iron at a high heat.
- Step 4: If you are using clip-in extensions, place them onto your head before curling
- Step 5: Begin curling your hair by placing a small chunk of hair in your curling iron with the curl facing away from your face. You should be curling away from your face until your ears and then periodically switch the direction of your curl.
- Step 6: Once your hair is completely curled, spray the dry texturizing spray throughout your hair.
- Step 7: Using your teasing comb, backcomb the roots of your hair focusing mainly on the top of your head and around the crown.
- Step 8: Flip your head upside down and fluff the roots of your hair. When you flip your head right side up, flip the front part of your hair to become a side part.
- Step 9: Use hairspray to tame any flyaways on the root of your hair. DO NOT use hairspray all over.
- Step 10: Give one last spray of dry texture spray to finalize your look.