If you’d rather be on the beach this summer rather than blow-drying your hair in the bathroom, then these tips for how to let your hair dry naturally are for you:
Benefits of this styling method: keeps your hair healthy, adds great texture, saves on time, it’s super easy.
For all hair types the prep in the shower is the same: Brush your hair while the conditioner is in it. Then part your hair the way you would like to wear it. Brush the hair on the sides of your head downward (not back behind your ears). Make sure your bangs are going in the right direction. Rinse the conditioner out without disturbing the direction of the style of your hair. (You should not brush your hair again once you get out of the shower, it will disturb the curl pattern in your hair.)
Remember using the right amount of product will help it from going fluffy. Here are some products that I recommend:
For wavy & curly hair: Towel dry your hair lightly to remove excess water with a water absorbing cloth. (I personally like to use a sarong or house cleaning towel.) Next, apply a product that works for your hair. I love “Curl Cream” – by Osis because it’s a mixture of gel & smoothing cream in one and doesn’t weigh my hair down. Quickly divide your hair into four sections and distribute the product evenly. (You don’t need to get too close to your roots.) You can use your fingers like a comb to lightly distribute the product. Next flip your head over and towel dry your hair again. Scrunching toward your head to encourage the shape of the curls. This takes a certain skill that you will develop with practice. Some people scrunch the hair with a towel in their hands to make a more texturized look, other twist and cup their waves in their hands with a towel and push toward their scalp. Some choose to swirl their hair in sections in a towel and push it upward. The idea is to scrunch the water out of your hair with the towel at the same time you are molding the shape of the waves or curls. Repeat this in different sections of your hair moving your head side to side. Get your bangs going in the right direction. Then let it start to dry.
When your hair is about 85{394ba9b977cdb97484e9e35f39db822ee8275a3caece20bc8b8378ea68910770} dry – scrunch it again. You may even want to flip your part to the other side till it dries to add a little more volume. Once it is 100{394ba9b977cdb97484e9e35f39db822ee8275a3caece20bc8b8378ea68910770} dry, take your fingers at the roots with your head flipped over and ruffle them up to loosen the style and open the texture a bit. After this don’t play with it too much. It will make it frizzy. Speaking of frizz… If your hair still looks frizzy after all this you can try use a smoothing cream or even a light oil to tame it down.
Note: If you want more volume and shape – apply a volumizing mouse thru the crown at the roots. Feel free to play around with different products until you find the right one. For my hair I like the way it looks when I use a mouse through the hair instead of a curl cream. It gives a totally different look.
For straight hair: If you have straight hair and want to add more texture I recommend still following the same steps above, but use a volumizing mouse instead of a gel / cream mix. Take it lightly on the product and consider using an oil or smoothing cream on the tips to give it some texture. Consider using a dry shampoo on the second day.
Tips & Tricks:
- Remember that everything begins with a good cut and color. Having more layers will give more textures.
- After it’s dry, you may want to touch up a few pieces with a curling iron to give it a more polished look. (Remember to choose the right size iron according to the size of your natural curls or waves. Leave the ends out when you curl to give it more of an undone look.)
- Try twisting, braiding or adding a few buns when its about 80 {394ba9b977cdb97484e9e35f39db822ee8275a3caece20bc8b8378ea68910770} dry in sections. I like to sleep with loose braids in my hair to get some added texture or put my hair in a loose bun to give it a nice wavy. They key is to make sure that all your hair is brushed in the same circular direction and that its not kinked near the scalp. When you place the bobby pins to secure it, make sure they are not pulling on the hair so that the waves don’t have marks.
Hope this helps to keep your hair healthy and happy and give you more time to enjoy the summer.
Love & Light,
Neysa