Easy Ways To Get Fresh From The Beach Wavy Hair

Since we moved to Las Vegas, we are really nowhere near a beach. The closest true beach I guess would be west of us, in California, about 4 1/2 hours to five hours away from us. Not being near the beach doesn't mean that we can't have beach wave hairstyles for summer though! I do spend about four days a week at the pool. I don't stay out there all day, but just for an hour or two. And later when I'm done swimming, I love to have easy ways to style my hair that go into the evening looking fresh and pretty.

One way I put beach-inspired wave style into my hair is by wearing a french braid during the day, then taking it down in the evening, leaving soft and pretty waves. You can fluff it with a pick until it looks the way you want it to, then spray to hold it.

Another way I use to get soft beach waves is to put hair buns into my hair. Basically, buns are made by twisting and twisting hair until it starts to turn over into a circle, then follow that circle with the rest of the length of hair and keep twisting as you go. Once the hair is wrapped completely in a bun shape, I use three hair spirals to hold it in shape. This allows my hair to be up and out of the way for swimming. Then, I put a little light spray onto it to hold it and keep it in a bun for the day.

If we go out for the evening and I'd like to have my hair down, I remove the three hair spirals and it falls into soft, cascading waves that look really pretty. I fluff it until it looks the way I want it to, then spray the soft curls lightly and like ** magic** you can go into the evening with soft curls.

I learned how to french braid my own hair years ago. The way I learned it was from pictures and instructions in a library book! Remember those? I am so glad there is so much information today on the Internet. It makes things so much easier! I checked out that library book for three weeks and worked with my hair until I had it down. Watching a video is so much easier, but just as effective! The wonders of technology are amazing sometimes!

To french braid your own hair, simply follow the video instructions at the bottom of this text. The reason a french braid is called a french braid is because as you are braiding it downward, you are continually adding more hair from the sides of your hair to the braid as you go, eventually getting all of the hair into the braid.

Once you have all of your hair french braided, put a soft hair elastic onto the end of it. Don't use a plain rubber band. You want something with some material covering it to keep hair from breaking. Rubber bands tend to cause breakage. Wind the elastic around the end of the braid several times to keep the braid in place. Then spray lightly with a lightweight hair spray. This will keep your hair french braided for the day, which is great for swimming and other activities.

In the evening, you can either leave it french braided for a classic and sophisticated look, or take the braid out and let it fall into soft waves for evening. I switch off between the two styles and do both, depending on what we are doing that night.

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One of my favorite accessories for putting pretty waves and big curls into my hair are these three little spiral hair twists. Since I have a lot of hair, but each individual strand of hair is "fine"... (at least that's how it was explained to me) - with fine hair, I put my hair into one bun close to the top of my head. The bun ends up being in back, but up towards the top of my head.

I have heard that if you have very thick hair or just too much hair to make just one bun, you can make two or three of them, or even FOUR of them! If you put the buns in at night while your hair is damp and leave them in overnight, you should be able to take them out in the morning and have big flowing waves or even curls.

What I do with my fine hair though is put a bun in it in the morning, and put the spiral hair twists in it to hold it there for the day. It's great for swimming, it keeps the hair up and off my neck. Then I spray it lightly to hold it in place. In the evening, I can either leave it in the bun style, or take it down and have the big soft curls pictured here.

To use spiral clips - if you are putting just one bun in your hair, take all of your hair and put it up as if you are putting it into a high ponytail. Begin twisting and twisting and twisting (seriously!) until it begins to naturally go into a circle, I keep twisting it into the circle until a nice circle is formed, the continue twisting the ends of my hair as I follow along the circle.

Once I've done this, I hold the bun with one hand and hold the first spiral clip with my other hand. You take the first clip, SPIRAL open end DOWN... then you twist it into the hair bun from the top down, in a vertical line. Twist the spiral into the hair all the way, until you can barely feel the rounded end. Then you take the second spiral hair twist going from the right hand side and put it into the hair bun HORIZONTALLY... put it into the bun and twist and twist until it feels like it is twisted all the way into the bun.

Then take the last spiral clip on your left hand side and hold it horizontally just like you did with the right one. Twist it into your hair all the way until you can barely feel the rounded end. Now you have all three clips in your hair and you should be able to "let go" of it and it should stay in a bun.

Normally I get the clips in my hair right on the first try, but if hair is sticking out and not in the bun shape you'd like, you can remove one or all of the clips and try again. Once you've got it into a pretty bun, lightly spray to hold it. Later in the evening if you want to wear your hair down in soft waves (mine tends to "curl" more than wave), you can do that. Then fluff and spray lightly and you now have a pretty look for a night out on the town.

Using a spiral curling iron like the one I use (pictured here on the right) is easy once you get the hang of it. The thing to remember with a spiral iron like this is that there is no metal clip going the length of the barrel to hold hair in place. There is a very short metal clip that I don't even use.

To curl (or wave) hair, you take the hair in very small sections and wind it, beginning from the widest end of the waving iron barrel and wrap hair around it as if you are winding ribbon onto a spool. Hold the ends of hair (being VERY, VERY careful not to touch this barrel!) I do mean be careful! These particular waving irons are very easy to burn your hands with if you get distracted even for a second. AND, they get extremely HOT very FAST!

Hold for about 20 seconds and release, and your hair should fall into soft waves. When I begin to wave my hair, I take about 1/2 of my hair and put it up on top of my head and wave the bottom half first, then I release the top half (usually I clip it up to hold it), and then I curl the top sections of hair. This makes hair look fuller because the waves go throughout the hair.

Some people actually buy and use heat resistant gloves when using this type of curling iron. I've read both positive and negative things about doing that. Some say it is harder to use the curling iron because you can't feel your hair with your fingers, others have said heat resistant gloves don't really work. I've never tried them. I did get a couple of small burns on my fingers the first time I used this iron, but since then I've gotten used to it and no longer get burned.

I DO have a cat that LOVES to watch me when I'm doing anything to my hair, I DO NOT let her in the room while I'm using this iron since it does get so hot and it is easy to burn your fingers if you get distracted.

This curling iron is my favorite. I do have regular curling irons as well, and use those to curl my bangs which are too short to curl with the Goody waving iron.

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And there is one more way to get "beachy" style waves in your hair, one that I haven't tried yet! There are sea salt spray formulas you can buy that you simply spray on your hair and "scrunch" it to make it wavy. I've heard that these sea salt sprays work very well for hair that already has some natural wave to it. Mine has a little bit of a wave, so I might try it one of these days!

You can either buy sea salt spray already made, and it usually sells for about $12 to $24 a bottle. OR, you CAN make your own sea salt spray! Just buy an empty spray bottle (they are often found in the travel section of department stores like Target or Walmart) and put 8 ounces of water in the bottle. Add two to three teaspoons of sea salt and a small amount (about 1/2 teaspoon to one teaspoon) of either conditioner or nourishing hair oil into the mix and shake vigorously until well mixed. I have heard that the home-made sea salt spray is almost as good as store-bought, for a LOT less money!

Then, twist hair, spray it with sea salt spray, and then gently dry it using a diffuser. Continue to do this until all hair has been twisted and sprayed. Once it is dry, you should see some great beachy looking waves!

So, my next project might be to try a sea salt spray and see how it works! I'll have to update this hub if I do that, and share a picture if I am able to get my sometimes stubborn hair to wave that way! Until then, surf's up!

I guess... the closest surf is in California! :) Happy hair-styling!