How to Achieve Heatless Waves

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The benefits of heatless waves

Styling your hair with heat every now and then shouldn’t cause too much damage. Of course, that’s provided you maintain a healthy hair routine and don’t overwash your hair. Using a curling iron every day can burn or harm hair, leading to split ends, breakage, and dullness. Heatless waves are an awesome alternative to deploy at work or school for that casual, yet put-together look.

On the days you give your hair a rest, consider the following heatless styling ideas. Most require setting overnight, but when you wake up in the morning with picture-perfect glam waves, you’ll be oh so glad you did. 

1. Heatless twist waves

Heat wave? No thanks. Heatless waves? Yes, please! In just a few, quick steps you can achieve bouncy, voluminous waves without compromising your hair’s health to heat damage. Let beauty influencer and digital creator, Tara of @tarmarz show you the ropes.

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2. Heatless paper towel waves 

For this look, all you need are some hair ties, a roll of paper towels, hairspray, a hairbrush, and a spray bottle of water:

• Prepare the paper towels by ripping off as many lengths (around twice and long as your hair) of paper towel as you need. 
• Dampen hair with water, and divide into your chosen number of sections. Larger sections mean bigger, looser waves, while smaller sections lead to tighter waves. 
• Braid a paper towel into each section and secure each one with a hair tie. 
• Finish with hairspray and leave overnight. Unravel in the morning for classic heatless waves. 

3. Heatless french braid beach waves

For these heatless beach waves, all you need are two hair ties and a French braid tutorial if you can’t already do them:

• Wash your hair as normal. Follow up with a custom leave-in conditioner to battle humidity and help set your waves perfectly.
• Split wet hair into two sections and tightly french braid each side.
• Loop the ends and tie with a hair tie so the ends have a cute curl.
• Sleep on your braids overnight and reveal tidy waves the next morning!

4. Heatless silk roller glam waves

Find rollers with a silk coating for extra-glossy heatless waves. Use hair clips, hairspray, and a spray bottle full of water, and you’ve got everything you need for this heatless ‘do. Expect big, loose waves that add volume to hair and frame the face. To get the look:

• Either add rollers after washing hair or spray hair with water until it’s evenly damp.
• Section your hair and carefully roll each chunk around your roller, wrapping each curl away from your face.
• Use a hair clip to secure the curl at the top of your head.
• Spray generously with hairspray and leave for 30 minutes to a few hours, depending on how much time you have.
• Spritz again with hairspray and unleash your gorgeous waves. 

5. Heatless toilet paper roll curls

If you’re on a budget or you simply can’t be bothered to buy rollers, you might be surprised by our suggestion for a replacement: toilet paper rolls. That’s right, you can recycle a finished toilet roll as a magic wand for heatless waves. Grab six to 12 rollers (depending on your hair’s thickness), custom curl cream, some hair clips, and follow these steps:

• Wash your hair, gently towel-dry and add in custom curl cream.
• Section your hair and tightly curl each one around a toilet roll, securing them with hair clips.
• Allow hair to dry naturally, or leave them in overnight if it’s comfortable.
• Carefully unpin each curl and enjoy your glorious, bouncy hairstyle. 

6. Heatless bun waves 

Another easy, breezy route to cute curls is the overnight bun. This method is particularly effective for people with thicker hair, but it works on all hair types. All you need is hair oil and some hair ties to get the look:

• Wash hair as normal, towel-dry, and add hair oil to the ends.
• Part hair all the way down the middle and split into two sections.
• Twist hair into a tight bun on both sides, and secure with two hair ties on each.
• Unravel hair in the morning and check your reflection in the mirror to reveal heatless waves.

Taking great care of your hair is the only way to get the glossiest, healthiest waves. Get started with a Prose hair consultation today to create your own customized formulas.