Wavy curls? The fuss-free hairstyle that gives you that off-duty look, as though you were on holiday all year round. Stéphane Weyl, head of training at Fabio Salsa, walks us through drawing a beautiful wave into our lengths, with or without a straightener.
First, prepare the hair
If your hair is naturally frizzy, you will have to tame it before anything else. To prepare the texture, apply a pliable product such as a memory-hold mousse cream: it disciplines the hair and already gives the lengths some shape. A leave-in all-in-one treatment before styling works just as well.
To make the curls hold, apply a spray styling base that will keep the shape alive through the day.
If you are lucky enough to have supple hair, you can draw a wave by hand straight away to sketch the wavy movement, using a curl-perfecting milk.
The right tools for a beautiful wave
“There are two ways to get a lovely wavy effect,” explains Stéphane Weyl. Either take a round straightening iron with a fairly wide barrel, or a curling iron, conical if possible — forget rollers, which give a result far too tight.
And if you own neither a straightener nor a curling iron, Stéphane Weyl has a trick: after applying a styling base cream, wind a section around your finger, then pin it to your head. The styling products set the wave. Once the hair is dry, unpin it. For the curl to take, though, the hair has to be supple to begin with — the technique is fiddly and calls for dexterity and patience.
Wavy curls with a straightener, step by step
Start by taking a section of hair the width of the straightener. Catch the section in the iron, then turn the iron a quarter or a half turn without ever letting go of the section, so that it twists inside the plates as it moves.
Then wind the rest of the section around the straightener and turn another half turn. You can now slide the iron downwards, always holding the end of the section in your hand. What makes a beautiful wavy, Stéphane Weyl insists, is drawing a fine wave and keeping the ends perfectly smooth.
Vary the thickness of the sections depending on the result you want. Stéphane Weyl advises testing, letting the hair cool and, if the curl looks too tight, stretching it out with your fingers or starting again. Want to explore other textures before you decide? Our round-up of the cuts, styles and colours of the moment offers other leads.
Wavy waves with a curling iron
With a curling iron the procedure is the same: wind section by section without letting go of the ends, then wait a moment for the heat to print the movement into the hair. Unwind and adjust to taste.
Stéphane Weyl’s golden rule: start on one side and always wind backwards, never forwards.
How to set a wavy style
The whole point of a wavy wave is its lightness. So the products used beforehand are the ones that hold the style. You can also add a finishing spray. And to bring shine to the curls, use a definition cream or a styling oil. In hot, humid weather the hold may need extra help: our beauty moves for hot weather keep the style alive longer too.
The ideal length for a beautiful wave
According to Stéphane Weyl, the ideal length falls below the shoulder, between the collarbone and the armpit. A pretty wavy is trickier to pull off on a bob, and on very long hair the exercise turns fiddly. That same care for a style suited to the occasion runs through our guide to which hairstyle for New Year’s Eve, for the nights when you want to bring the wave out in style.
