Beachy Waves for Hard to Curl Hair

I have very long, very heavy, stick straight hair.  That does not curl.  Or hold a curl.  Or anything resembling curls.  I have worked hard over the last 5 years or so to achieve healthy hair and my hairdresser now describes my hair as “Pantene Perfect.”  However, the down side is the healthier my hair is, the harder it is to curl.  I have spent hours searching Pinterest for how to curl your hair tutorials to have nothing work yet.  I tried french braiding my hair while wet and all I got was wavy frizz.  I tried the sock bun and my curls brushed right out.  I have spent so much money on various curling irons, wands and such and nope!  Still no curls.  I finally asked my hair dresser what to do and she suggested I wasn’t using the right products so I made a trip to Sally’s and loaded up.

You guys!  My hair is curly! Well, wavy but that’s about the curliest I’m guessing it will ever get.  So, for all of you with stick straight, heavy, healthy, long hair I’m here to save you hours and money with my tutorial on how to achieve beachy waves for hard to curl hair.

This is what I started with.  I washed my hair the previous day and let it air dry with just a touch of leave-in conditioner.

As hinted at before, it’s the products that make all the difference when trying to curl my hair.  I started with a volumizing dry shampoo and worked it into my hair.  The So Gorgeous brand is a generic version of Big Sexy Hair you can find at Sally’s.

To get started I clipped up the top half of my hair and sprayed some KQC Thermal Shine Spray in protect it from the heat and to give it a little healthy shine.

Flat Iron Experts sent my this 1 1/2 inch Babyliss Pro Tourmaline Ceramic Curling Iron to try out and OMG!  It is the best curling iron I have ever tried!  My favorite part is the temperature dial pops out to adjust and then pops back in to lock it in place.  That way you don’t accidentally change the temperature while curling your hair.

To get started, I sprayed some Hot Hot Hot Curler Thermal Spray on a section of hair before wrapping sections of my hair around the outside of the barrel of the curling iron.  The thermal spray helps set the curl without leaving sticky residue on your curling iron like hairspray will.

This is the bottom half curled.  I curled away from my face on both sides and after curling, gave my hair a blast of firm hold hairspray.  I found that if you use a nicer hairspray it will hold without being sticky.  Again, I get mine from Sally’s.

Then I repeated the same steps on the top half of my hair.  If you want to rat your hair to give it a little lift, rat it before curling.  I have brushed many a curl out when I tried to rat after curling. Oh, and side note, I really am a nice person.  I guess I have resting witch face, haha!

Blast it with hairspray again.

Finished.  Wavy hair!

Full body shot so you can see all of my hair.  My cramped little 50’s bathroom doesn’t provide the best lighting or space for pictures.  And a special thanks to Ballerina Fashionista for taking my pictures and making me look like the nicest person ever, haha!

Flat iron experts sent me a Babyliss Pro Tourmaline Ceramic Curling Iron and KQC Thermal Shine as compensation for this post.  All opinions are mine.