6 Easy ways to curl your hair without heat

Beachy Waves: 6 Easy no-heat hair curling techniques

Sarah Khan

27 Sep 2016

updated the 28 September 2016 à 17:06

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Heatless curling techniques
Want gorgeous red carpet-worthy beachy curls like Emily Ratajkowski's? Scroll through our gallery for 6 quick, easy heatless curling tips with tools you definitely already have at home.
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Bobby pins – for defined curls
1. Take a two-inch section of hair (use a smaller section if you have thick hair or want a tighter curl) and wrap the section around two or three fingers, right next to the roots of your hair, creating a doughnut shape.
2. Pin that circle of hair with a bobby pin. The smaller and tighter the doughnut, the tighter the curl, and vice-versa.
3. Continue this step until all of your hair are in pin curls.
4. Wrap a bandana or a headband around your head to protect the curls overnight and allow them to dry naturally as you sleep.
5. Remove the pins in the morning to release all your glorious curls. Lightly tousle them with your fingers to loosen them, and spritz some hairspray if you want them to last.
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Sock curl hack – For defined waves
This technique works best on damp (not dripping wet) hair. You'll need about 6 to 8 regular socks (more if your hair is thick) - the longer and thinner the sock, the better.

1. Grab a 2-inch section of hair and place your sock perpendicular and halfway across that hair section.

2. Wrap the end of your hair around the sock, leaving about one or two inches loose.

3. Then, roll the sock towards your roots. Once you reach the roots of your hair, tie both ends of the sock together securely.

4. Repeat on each section of hair. Start with the bottom sections of your hair (as it is easier) and work your way up.

5. Allow hair to dry either overnight, or naturally in the sun if during daytime.

6. Once your hair is fully dry, release each sock and spritz hair with hairspray for lasting curls.
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Headband hack – For loose waves
All you need for this tip is a simple headband.
1. Part your (damp) hair as you normally would and put on the headband.
2. With the headband in place, work your hair around the headband in small sections, moving towards the back.
3. Wrap your hair as tightly as possible around the headband until all of your hair is off your neck. (At this point, you might look slightly ridiculous but trust us it'll be worth it in the morning).
4. In the morning, unwrap each section of hair from the headband.
You'll find gorgeous, loose, Victoria's Secret-esque waves that still managed to curl overnight in spite of your tossing in bed.
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Braids hack – For beachy waves
1. Separate damp hair into 2-inch sections.

2. Braid each section (any braid style works), and secure the ends of each section tightly with a hair tie.

3. Hairspray each braided section and leave to dry overnight.

4. Release or untie each braided section the next morning - and you will see beachy, loose curls.

5. If you want to enhance the beachy texture of your curls, spray it with a texturing sea-salt spray.

6. Then, spritz it with hairspray to make the curls last all day and a shine serum for extra gloss.
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Sea salt spray – For beachy, textured waves
Simply spray a texturing spray, such as the sea salt spray pictured on the left, on your hair and scrunch it up with your fingers to create tousled, beachy waves.
This results in that piece-y, effortlessly chic look that can add volume and life to otherwise limp and flat hair days. If you don't want to fork out the money for a store-bought texturing spray, you can make your own DIY sea salt spray by simply combining a mixture of salt and water together.
Photo: Toni & Guy
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Flexi-rods or foam rollers – For tight curls
Flexi rods are extremely affordable long foam tubes that can create gorgeous, bouncy ringlets in little to no time.

1. Brush out your hair to remove tangles, and then apply a small amount of oil to hair ends to keep the curls soft.

2. Begin sectioning your damp hair. Start at the ends of your hair and twist your hair around the rod till you reach your roots.

3. Bend the ends of the rods to secure your hair in place on top of your head.

4. Leave the rods in for a few hours if you're getting ready in the day, or sleep with them overnight (the longer the rods are in your hair, the tighter your curls)

5. In the morning, remove the rods, and gently comb through your hair with your fingers to loosen the curls.

6. Finish by spraying your hair with hairspray or a shine serum.

You can toss out your curling tongs in the meantime with these 6 heatless, fuss-free curling techniques that actually work.

Lush, bouncy curls, or gorgeous, beachy waves reminiscent of summer vacations – we all want them.

But they can be incredibly time-consuming in the morning and may also result in extensive heat damage to our precious locks. Thankfully, ‘no heat’ or ‘heatless curling’ techniques can actually give you the same (or even better) results, sans the heat damage and extra hour struggling with the curling tongs in the morning. Win-win, right? And yes, even for those of us whose hair just can’t seem to hold a curl.

To help you protect those locks, and catch those glorious, extra hours of sleep in the morning, we have compiled a list of 6 easy ways you can achieve gorgeous Victoria’s Secret-esque curls, without the heat damage! So grab some hair pins, texturing spray and some hairspray – this is one hair hack that you definitely need to pin down for those lazy days you want to sleep in.

Sarah Khan

Photos: Getty Images

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